terrancew_hod

^^Oh my. They're starting young these days! Terry

I haven't gained my independence from housework... darn laundry! Just had a huge downpour before I was heading to the gym... guess I'm pulling out the bowflex for a smaller workout. My roommate is BBQing on the patio, he's glad he had an awning installed else he would have been drenched when that rain came down! Terry

It's all in the presentation: (this is my girl ) Terry

I was thinking the exact same thing. When I took my 8 month sabbatical, I managed to fit a few coaster trips while driving across the country. I did however put a few days break between them to just rest and relax. That's a lot of walking and standing you are planning to do! And I had just bought a new car to do the trip in; you do have to get from your hotel to the park and to your next destination! Scale your trip down smaller and put a few breaks inbetween or you'll burn yourself out. Terry

One of my clients called this morning to tell me he has an iPhone. He said "I figured I tell you since you weren't getting one. I know you want to see it, play around with it and set it up." mmmhmmm. I knew there was a catch. Somebody always wants something. "Brown, you can't plug the phone in and set let iTunes set it up for you?" My clients are so helpless. But at least I can act like it's my phone for a minute. I'm not switching companies and signing a new contract for a phone. Besides I already bought a windows mobile phone last year for $500. And I barely use that except sending a text message or calling to see where someone is at. Oh I can play Galaga on my phone too. Terry

You definitely need to talk to a support group or a professional to help sort out these feelings. From your post it looks like you're telling the wrong people about your feelings and it's created a lot of drama for you. I mean telling your husband, although he's supposed to be your biggest support, wasn't the best thing to do; things like that will definitely put your relationship on the skids. Telling him that you may be interested in the same sex is definitely damaging to his ego. One thing you do need to realize is that no matter what, you have to live your life for you and no one else. I'm going to go out on the limb and say that you've probably had these feelings for a long time but you've suppressed them, even maybe thinking getting married will get rid of them. Now you're finding out that that's not the case. That comes from not being totally honest with yourself. Marriage will make any situation about identity very complicated, because it's not just your decision--it's a partnership that you've entered into and there's another person involved. Hopefully you don't have kids, because then it gets really difficult for you. But still you have to be honest with yourself, because it's nothing worse than going through life and you're living for other people's expectations and you're not happy. You'll probably need marriage counseling since you let the cat out of the bag too. It's sounds like you're on the road to acting on your feelings so you both better come to some resolution now, even if it does mean you'll end up divorced. I knew a guy that I worked out with that was bi, yet he struggled with his identity; I think he was actually gay but he so scared of the lifestyle he barely acted on it or if he did he would sneak around and not tell anyone. Sneaking around is the worst way to handle it; it puts you at risks for some risky behavior. We met some guys that both were married with kids that were now in a gay relationship together. They told him that they saw a lot of them in him and he just needs to learn to be honest with himself and he needs to talk to someone professional about his feelings... if you don't they have a way of coming out and sometimes it's not the most positve way. That of course freaked him out even more. I don't talk to the guy now because he was a flake, but I hope he's taking care of his issues--but I doubt it because I saw him self destructing when we hung out. Well this was a "War and Peace"-sized post! Hope some of it helps you and good luck. Terry

I think a lot of people don't realize that; and it's one of the reasons that if someone next to me is being "secured" in that manner, I'll make the operator stop and get them off the ride. Not only are they risking their health but mine too if that restraint comes undone. And you're not injuring me, I'm selfish like that. But one thing that kind of puzzles me when I read all these threads and posts about people not being able to fit in a seat or getting a certain number of clicks in: If people really love coasters so much, shouldn't they be in a position to do the thing they love? If you know these companies make seats to certain body sizes, then I think instead of complaining you should be taking care of what needs to be done to ride them. I mean I'm gay and like going out with hot muscle guys so I'm up in that gym working the shape out so I can try to get them instead of supersizing at McDonalds. If I was "value mealing" all day, I can't complain if I can't get or do what I want. Same thing goes for coasters. It's as simple as that. Terry

^Um, I guessed you missed these sentences from my post you quoted: Go ahead and look what you quoted me on, it's there. Then you also missed the subsequent posts that were back on topic. Guess you derailed the thread again. You should probably pay more attention before you chastise me! Let me put it back on track once again. KrakenKing, how big is your hard drive for the OSX86? I before I got my intel-based mac mini, I installed the hacked version on my laptop. It was pretty fast and I used it to encode some video to put on my ipod. I like the fact that there are a few free utilities out there to compress video from my DVD collection to watch on my ipod and get songs off of it when my hard drive on my powermac went south. I remember years ago when I bought this kit from a company to put mac hardware in a PC case. I had about 4 hard drives and 2 DVD writers in it; more than what you could put in Powermac at the time. I posted the pictures of it on the web and the diehard mac people went crazy! You should have saw some of the emails and posts I got! Of course I read the boots off of them, gee, I'm an angel in my posts here compared to what I said to them on the other forum! Eventually apple strongarmed the company and put them out of business, but a week after they did they dropped the prices on the machines to about what the guy was selling them for! So I guess I did my part at the time to get Apple to budge on their prices. About a few months later I bought my apple laptop; I attributed that to my PC case-based mac... I got a chance to play around with a cheap mac and liked what I saw. My preference is for mac, although I wished they had a lot more configurations available for me. Like a mac mini with a decent video card. You know something I can plug into the 20-inch monitor I already have. I don't really need an iMac since it includes the screen; but if I could get a mini with the iMac internals, life would be good. Terry

Let me ask you a question. What do you do for a living? Have you worked computer phone support with people or provided desktop support for users in a company? Have you done side work where you did "house calls" for computer problems? To be honest I don't think you have, else you wouldn't be telling me about "they can ask in a forum." The problem is, until you get the experience like I have, you won't know even though you think you have the answers. I get people coming to my desk that supposedly know so much about computers and say "I don't know how to put this in words so I can enter it in the helpdesk application." Now apply that to someone that doesn't even have someone to ask that sort of thing, and you want them to put a post in a forum instead of getting some type of phone support? OK. That's where are differences are. Different perspectives based on experience. So I'll leave it at that. Moving back to the original topic, because there's no point going 'round and 'round on something that's derailing the thread. Hopefully I can start saving up for a new Mac Book Pro in September after the coaster trip in August. But you know in the Mac vs Windows argument, it all comes down to what you want to use it for. People would ask me about a computer and the first thing I would ask them is "What do you plan on using it for?" They would usually have to stop and think for a minute. Right now I have a few macs and a dell laptop at home. I use my macs more because that is my personal computer to me. If I have to log in to the network at work or do some coding at home, that's when I pull windows out. Most of my gaming is done on windows, but I hardly have time for that now. When others are getting machines they want to make sure they can go to the store and buy any hardware, such as a webcam or printer and be able to plug it in and it works. The want to be able to go to the store and buy a program off the shelf and install it without having to call for help. And of course they want their ipod or other music player to be able to be plug and go too. So once we hash out the details, they have a better idea of what os they want to use.

http://www.ubuntu.com/support/paid It's right off the main page at the right where it said World Class technical support. You guys shouldn't have missed that. I think you guys are missing the point, since you are naming resources such as IRC, that the average user wouldn't know what it is. Both of you guys seem smart and know about linux. But I'm talking about the uninformed user off the street. If they don't know where to get it, then your argument is already in trouble. I know of it from coworkers and from the various technical sites I read. The average user is not going to build a computer; they are going to get it from some retail outlet. The only retailer that sells linux I know of offhand is Dell, and that's for business. Why is it that no retailer will sell a linux system to the regular user? I'm figuring between the demand and support costs, it's not worth it for them. Every systems needs an initial level of support; just because something is free at the initial outlay doesn't mean it's still going be cheaper in the long run. Now I'm not saying Ubuntu isn't friendly to the informed; I installed a version of linux on one of my computers. But it's all about knowing your users and I've been doing this since I was 17. I'm looking at this from the user's standpoint; but I'm thinking neither of you are. Terry

^"Quoted for truth" ? Whose truth? What I got of it is that it's good for the average-informed user. Help can be gotten by looking on the community forum, and it's not ready for the "grandmas" to use. If that's the truth that I pulled out of that quote then you're agreeing that it's not really for the average, uninformed user. What if you have the plain average user and he can't connect to the internet? What are his options then? The forum is out, thus he has no help. Being in the industry for almost 20 years, most users aren't informed. They aren't capable to scouring a community form; they're gonna want a human voice to walk them through this issues. Only thing they know how to do is to surf for porn and bootleg music. Both Microsoft (or the OEM providing the computer) or apple does offer limited phone support for a few days. That's so they can at least get you up to speed. If I'm recommending a system to someone, I include support in their costs because I'm not going to be a 24/7 support desk for basic questions or issues. Although Ubuntu is free, they're gonna hit you with at least $250 for support per year. That's how they stay in business. Sure I've heard Ubuntu is the most user friendly flavor of linux, but it still isn't ready for the regular user. If being a techie is your occupation or hobby, then you could go either way. Right now it's a good alternative for some businesses, since admins can control how users use it and what applications can be installed. This article for example: (http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2126937,00.asp) goes through the installation, but there were a few spots they had to do some tweaks--which I doubt the average user could do. Most Mac vs Ubuntu comparisions kept bring up cryptic commands and programs that if you told them to the average person would glaze over. If I showed them the package manager, I would get cursed out by a few of my old clients, especially the doctor who complained about not getting on the internet and I went over his house and found the people remodeling his bathroom unplugged the cable to the router. But once again, this is about Windows vs Mac OS X. So my discussion is really moot. Let's pick one of the above choices and discuss that. Terry

I wouldn't recommend Linux for the average user. They would just get confused and ask to put windows back on their machine. Although Linux has made a lot of strides in terms of usability it's still not there to recommend to someone that can barely update their virus definitions on a regular basis. I have yet to see one article that says Linux's ease of use is better than the mac. Can you link that article for me so I can check it out? There are lots of free programs for both windows and macs too; in some cases the same programs that are available for linux are also available for macs as well. Mac's OS does has its Unix underpinnings. You just have to do a quick search on net and find them. Several tools and utilities that I use on my mac were originally written for linux and just recompiled. But I guess the choices list at the top of the page are for EITHER windows or Mac OS; so I guess it doesn't matter what I say huh? Terry

I've been craving a steak for weeks; but I haven't had time to go. Maybe this week I'll stop by Longhorn for dinner or lunch on saturday. Some guys I knew from out of town was going to get steak and invited me but after getting two hours of sleep from partying the previous night, I was too exhausted to go. Did get in 12 hours of uninterrupted sleep last night though. Terry

That's Adobe, not apple. Most of adobe's stuff is buried and you gotta find it. My roommate bought a mac last year and I didn't show him anything and he has no problem updating software or even finding stuff. The only thing I set up on his mac is the mail server address in Mail. But then most of time he just uses hotmail and MSN messenger to talk to people and send mail. Terry

^unfortunately it's almost like you get what you pay for at the place of employment. If they're not getting paid that much you're not going to get that much in terms of employees. Where I work it's like that, most of the non-salaried people are not getting paid that much, plus the environment isn't that great for morale; thus you get a lower class of employee. Heck I had to roll back security cameras to see who was the last person out of the ladies bathroom to see who left the poop on the floor! I think somebody missed! That's the type of employees we're getting! I also saved footage from an altercation between our community relations director and the general manager. The general manager original said he had to fire him because they almost got into a physical fight after arguing. I looked at the video and said "Yeah I would be fighting mad if you flipped me the bird too." I need more highbrow employment. Terry

Tell me about it. Two months ago, a friend sent me an email of what he called some hilarious pictures and commentary. I opened it up and somebody basically scraped parts of my website (including pictures and commentary) and put it in the email. The rats! I was... well you can guess the word! Terry

It's much better when you have a little visual help to finish the spell! Let's try it again (everyone say it with me so it will work): Messy, messy, messy queen! Post no more, you should not be seen! I think that's better! Sometimes you gotta put old "Tink-Tink" on the payroll!

I decided to write a book a month ago and it's going great. I have all my notes and comments on a hard copy that I'm using for a stopping point for the first draft. I tried to work through the revisions and it took an hour and I only got through less than a quarter of what I have so far! Guess that means I got a lot of stuff! People that thought I was joking now see the big manuscript I'm carrying around and they're shocked! Terry

Doggone! I'm a day late to the party! oh well! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Elissa, I don't think your last random thought was just your thought! I saw Scott K's post this morning and thought "This fool hasn't cut check #1 for the running of the site but he's got his mouth open! Boo! It's free to be here! Why are you showing out on the site owners? Shut all that noise down! Go to CarrieFairfield.com and sign up with the other messy kids. You'll fit right in!" When I saw posts like that on that site I used to put That's why I try not to go in bars that don't have a cover charge; you'll get some undesirables coming through the door with the good customers that think they're the "end all". Miss E, do your thang and ignore the "messy ones"! Terry "Being a bit too real in the morning" Weaver

^Oh he gives you a little blurred out 'surprise' when he sits down for Q&A. Terrance

^It's all a blur back then. I didn't really see spandex until the 90s. You guys are SO quick to correct sometimes. It's kind of geeky when people do that. It's not really Jeopardy! Hold it in, you won't burst! Terry

^I see spandex and I get 90's flashbacks with Olivia Newton John. Not cute. Shirtless is waaaay better than the spandex. Terry

Exactly. You should be proud of your accomplishments. It's hard work and takes dedication; not everyone can do that much. My friend is proud of his accomplishments and I'm definitely proud of mine. I looked in the mirror the other day, wearing just a pair of shorts and said "You're hot!" Not to mention I'll rip my shirt off in a minute at the club to get the people staring! It always is. I do my workout right after work; I change in the bathroom and go. If i had to go home first, I would never make it. Of course the most difficult is getting out of bed in the morning in going. I did that for a while and my friend has done it for three weeks to up his aerobic activity. You just have to make yourself go, no matter how tired you think you feel. Go! Then you'll get used to it; you body won't fight you anymore... unless you get the flu! Terry P.S. I'm not brave enough to wear spandex.

a new tire... $130. I hate construction on I-95 and the turnpike.

^That's great news! Keep it up! You know if you stay focused, you'll notice slowly how your lifestyle will be modified by your fitness goals. I had a conversation with my friend that lost 110lbs yesterday and I commented on the topics we covered. In the past before he lost the weight, we talked about food and the restaurants we went to; this time we talked about different diets, exercise programs and supplements we take. I told my friend that he was taking more stuff than I was and he just wants to lose the weight! Looks like he's trying to get those abs really flat too! But you can hear it in his voice how his weight loss is changing his life; he's more active, goes out more instead of sitting at his computer eating, and he's always shopping--but he said he has to cut that part out since he bought too many clothes! He said I got a few more compliments; one said he was skinny and another said that he always sees him in the gym and that is how he's getting such great progress. He also got invited to a pool party so he's buying board shorts for the occasion; before he would have never went because of his weight. Although he dreads coasters (I was the one that made him ride them in exchange for going on roadtrips), I hope his example can be a bit of encouragement for you all. Terry