Been a little while since your post, but I highly recommend Sublime Text 2 for python work. A full IDE really isn't necessary if you're just starting out, but when you do get more proficient, sublime's quite extensible and can add lots of great python-specific features.

Plus, editing text on 30 lines simultaneously is just awesome.

For my personal account, I use some local graffiti from my neighborhood. Awesome Speed Racer piece on the side of a tire shop. (I really wish the dumpster wasn't there. Maybe I should try to move it and take a new photo.)

And my work account on the same computer (I like to keep a separation of concerns), a mural from downtown.

This is the perfect story to read on halloween. I'm really curious about that high frequency speaker data transfer theory. That sounds fun to play with. Anyone seen anything about this? All I found (via very, very casual googling) was this Chirp thingy a year ago.

While I definitely wouldn't argue for Denton or Plano to be included over Austin, maybe its godawful infrastructure gave it a hard enough hit to knock it out of the list?

It's the only season I can ever listen to Bon Iver, specifically the album For Emma, Forever Ago. It's just too somber for any other time of year.

This is also when I start getting into PBR&B (still the greatest genre name ever) like How To Dress Well. His first album's a little too lo-fi for a lot of people I've tried to share it with, but man it's so nice and dreamy. Ready For The World is a favorite.

In general, my music tastes tend to get a lot quieter starting about now.