I’m not sure exactly when I decided that I liked electronic music.  When Ricky and I started dating, I quickly found out that he had a love for the genre.  I remember listening to it at his place and thinking what I’d always thought, that it was just repetitive beats that got old quickly.

At some point, I found out that some other friends of mine were also pretty into electronic music and were planning on going to see a DJ that I’d never heard of, Paul van Dyk, at a local club, Talbott Street.  When Ricky found out, he decided to see if he could get tickets.  He writes for IndyConcerts.com and is often given press passes to concerts and show so that he can write about them for the website.  He got passes, and I went with him.  We got there pretty early and laid claim to spots right up in front of the stage.  I remember that once the music started and everyone around me started dancing, I started thinking that maybe I understood now why people liked electronic music.  And maybe, just maybe, I could get into it after all.

Once Ricky discovered that I had somewhat of an interest in electronic music, we started making plans to see more DJs.  At first, I hadn’t heard of many of them, but quickly became familiar with the bigger names such as Armin van Buuren, David Guetta, and Paul Oakenfold.  Now I’ve seen each of them live and even had the opportunity to randomly meet Armin.  I loved his show in Chicago that we went to.  It was a great venue, at the Aragon, and the crowd really got into it.  I can’t help but think that everyone felt a sense of community dancing together to the beats.

When I think back to how I really got to loving this genre of music, several times come to mind.  The Paul van Dyk show at Talbott Street, of course, and the Armin van Buuren show in Chicago.  When we went to Las Vegas last year (my first time there), Ricky had gotten tickets to some clubs.  We didn’t realize until we were there that Paul Oakenfold was actually going to be at one of them, Rain, while we were there.  We jumped on the opportunity to see him mix beats live.  That ended up topping my list of experiences as well.

One show I will never forget is seeing David Guetta at BoMA in Columbus, Ohio.  When Ricky introduced me to David Guetta, I almost immediately fell in love with his music.  Honestly, I think that the best word I can use to describe it is “fun”.  Guetta isn’t for everyone, but if you like to dance, and you just like music that is easy to get into – he’s great.  I have all of his albums on my iPod, and I think I know the words to almost all the songs.  He has become one of my favorite ways to get my day going or as a pick-me-up when I’m in a bad mood.

Armin was probably my first venture into the world of trance.  I remember being at home and trying to focus on some reading I had to get done for school one day.  I had just downloaded one of Armin’s albums, so I started listening to it while I was reading.  I loved it!  The music just put me into a, well, trance.  I can see why it’s called that.  It just got me in the groove, made it easier to focus on the reading.  Great music to play in the background while you are working as well.  I have several fellow programmer friends that I know listen to electronic music while they are coding, and I can see why that is.  It gets you going without being distracting.  It’s almost like a state of Zen sometimes.

So now, I’m hooked.  I listen to almost exclusively electronic music most of the time.  So when I heard that several of my favorite DJs as well as some recent discoveries I’ve made were going to be at a music festival that went all day for two days in New York City, of COURSE I wanted to go.  And so did Ricky.  So we acquired passes, bought a plane ticket, booked a hotel, and later this afternoon will be on our way.  Friday evening is my one chance to see New York City (my first trip there as well), as I will be spending most of Saturday and Sunday dancing my face off to the beats of some of my favorite DJs.

This is only the second year for Electric Zoo, but it has already established a following and appears to be very well organized.  It’s held on Randall’s Island, an island smack dab in the middle of New York, just a ferry ride away from Manhattan.  I can’t wait to enjoy the music with the epic skyline of the Big Apple in the background.  Last year’s festival brought 15,000 people on Saturday and 11,000 on Sunday, with this year even more tickets already purchased!

So I hear I go… only a few more hours until I board a plane and head to the city to meet some DJs, make some new friends, and get my dance on.  Electric Zoo, here I come!

Last week was quite the week of surprises.  Well, I guess at this point it is now the week before last.  I kind of consider my weeks as starting on Monday, since Saturday and Sunday kind of go together as the “week end”.  So to me, even though it’s 11:30pm on a Sunday night, I still consider what I am talking about to be “last week”.  Anyway, the week I am talking about is the week with July 22 in it.  July 22 is my sweetie’s birthday.

I started the week very excited, because I knew it was a big week with a lot of fun stuff about to happen.   It was also very much full of surprises.  Not so much surprises for me, but surprises for Ricky.

The first surprise came on Wednesday, the day before his birthday.  He had told me about how on his birthday last year, nobody at his work said a word about it.  So I decided to send him balloons for his birthday, at his work.  I almost had a scare when I found out he was working from home on his birthday.  I had scheduled the balloons to be delivered to his office on his birthday, and that wouldn’t work if he wasn’t there.  So on Monday I called and rescheduled to have the balloons delivered on Wednesday instead.  The hardest part was keeping my mouth shut about it.  Ricky and I talk a lot via IM during the workday, so I knew that when he got them, I would know about it shortly after.  And sure enough, I did.  “You are awesome!” is always good to hear.  Glad he enjoyed the balloons.  They are still sitting in our living room at home, now mostly shriveled up raisins, although the Mylar balloons are still floating around a little bit.

Next surprise: my new MacBook Pro.  Now, you might not think of this much as a surprise for Ricky, but it really was.  I had talked about getting one before, and Ricky, of course, encouraged it since he loves his brand new one as well.  But when I was about to tell him that I was going to order one, I got “I’ll believe it when I see it.”  So… I decided to not tell him when I did.  I was just going to keep it a secret until I got it.  But then I ended up being so excited about it and anxious to get it that that day before it was delivered, I decided I wanted to visit the Apple Store.  So Ricky tagged along, and while I was on one of the MacBooks there, I looked up my order just to see if he was paying attention.  So the truth came out then, and fortunately, my MacBook was delivered the next day.

The big bang, end of the week, biggest day of surprises, was Sunday.  I had told Ricky that we had something going on that day at 1:00pm, but I wouldn’t tell him what it was.  I love setting him up for surprises.  It always drives him crazy, but I’m also pretty awesome at it and come up with pretty great surprises.  You’d think he would just know and trust this by now, but he still went crazy trying to figure out what this one was.   I had taken advantage of a Groupon a few weeks before to order a brewing kit, ingredients kit, and beer home brewing class for us.  Once he finally figured out where it was that we’d ended up, he was super excited.  The class was interesting, and we left with a kit and ingredients, ready to go home and get started brewing our own soon

The final surprise was last Sunday evening.  I had told Ricky that I was going to spend some time with Seren, going out to see a movie.  I honestly made up all of the details as I went along, since I really had no plans with Seren, but that was my excuse so Ricky would think I was busy.  In reality, I had planned a surprise birthday party for him.  I was hoping that Johnny could get him to go out to dinner or something (since I was presumably out with Seren) and then people would show up to surprise him when he got back.  I didn’t have to work too hard, as the same day he found out I was hanging out with Seren, he called Johnny to make plans for a guys’ night.  So predictable.   So Johnny and Ricky went out for sushi, and several people showed up for the surprise while they were gone.  We scared him as he walked back up the stairs in his own apartment.  He seemed very surprised, enjoyed spending time with friends, and was surprised by both the party and the awesome golf course cake that Carrie made for him.

So, all in all, it was a great week full of surprises.  Balloons, surprise birthday parties, beer making, and new Macs.  Can’t get any better than that, right?  I was very pleased and fortunate and excited about surprising my guy, and it all turned out perfectly, making for a wonderful week even better than I expected, and a wonderful birthday for Ricky.  Hope your day was great – I love you, sweetie!

The world is changing.  This is officially the very first blog post that I have typed on a Mac.  I know… crazy, isn’t it?  Why am I doing that, you ask?  No, I didn’t borrow Ricky’s computer.  No, I didn’t Hackintosh my netbook again.  I actually bought my very own, very first, Mac.  O. M. G.

Yep, I did it.  I bit the bullet.  I have considered getting a Mac for a while, and I knew it would be a MacBook (aka laptop).  Ricky, of course, praises the whole Mac experience.  I have used Macs a bit, at work when I was at IUPUI as well as when I have borrowed Ricky’s or “Hackintoshed” my own Dell netbook for a while.  But I never really saw the need to spend so much extra money on a laptop when I could get one for 1/4^th the price of what a MacBook would cost me.  But then I started hearing from people about how long Macs last, and that the extra cost was worth the extra investment.  And I decided they were right.  These reasons, along with a couple more, prompted me to make the decision to finally purchase my own.  I got an education discount on it because I’m a student at IU, and right now they are also offering a special where you can get a free iPod as well.  I didn’t need an iPod touch, but I thought a new iPod Nano would be nice to use for exercising, since lately I’ve been using my iPhone.  And it’s kind of inconvenient (plus scary, if you think about the possibility of dropping it!) to have to carry my iPhone with me when I go jogging.  So I snagged a purple (of course) 16GB iPod Nano along with my new MacBook.

After anxiously awaiting the shipping period of a week, my new MacBook Pro (along with the Nano) arrived today via FedEx.  I was VERY excited.  I’d been tracking them both on FedEx every day since I ordered them.  And now, here they are!  It’s really interesting, kind of a new feeling for me, or at least one that I haven’t felt in a very long time… using a computer that I don’t know everything about.  I have been using a PC with Windows since 1995, and computers in general for even longer than that, since I was about 12 years old or younger.  I mean, I know my way around a Mac well enough – but it is still definitely an unfamiliar operating system and NOT one that I know everything about.  It’s kind of cool, though… it’s rekindled my passion for learning about computers.  I’m very excited to learn my way around Mac OS X, and hopefully even try my hand at programming iPhone apps at some point.  I know, I know… those of you out there that have tried it say that the language sucks.  But I may give it a shot anyway, just to see for myself.

So here I am, blogging on my brand new (and very first) MacBook.  I hope we have a lasting and wonderful relationship!