Hello, and Descartes discussion of dreams and the Matrix

My name is Ed Amey.  I am a philosophy major and will graduate this fall. 

On to discussion of Descartes.  I really like his give and take about dreams in the first mediatation, and I think the viewing of the matrix only adds to the questions about what is real and what is imagined.  Is anyone less certain about what is real in light of the meditations and the movie?

I have often wondered after waking up from a particularly realistic dream if it was tied to reality somehow, or in some different dimension.  For instance, dreaming you won the lotto then trying to remember the winning numbers but you cant (If you could remember, would you win?), or many other dreams which return as deja vu later in real life (if this is truly real life that is):).

This would be a great classroom discussion but as we can't do that in this format, any discussion or comments would be appreciated!

Looking forward to sharing ideas with you all.

Ed