Terrence’s Blog

I remember getting his song way back when Finding Forrester came out. I just LOVE the Over the Rainbow rendition he does. I recommend everyone buying a copy of his album Facing Future.

His lyrics are amazing the timbre and tone of his voice are extremely soothing.

Plus, who doesn’t like a guy that weighs in at 800 pounds… well I don’t know if it’s that much but he definitely loved to eat.  As do I!

The Game

Take turns asking and answering the questions below. There are no exact rules. The idea is to have fun mostly with just the conversation. You can modify questions for younger children. You can introduce drawing or painting, singing or charades. You could throw a bean bag back and forth each time you do a new question? You can do this standing, sitting, or walking. It can be played inside, outside or over the phone. It’s not a competitive game. It’s a game of fun, warmth, and relationship building.

Print out the questions below. You can either take turns asking questions you like from the list or you can randomly choose numbers, whatever works for you. If other questions follow naturally, all the better. Let the conversation flow! Let us know how you modify the game for more fun!

The Questions (for any age – feel free to modify)

1. What is your favorite color?
2. Who do you admire most?
3. Who is your best friend?
4. What is your funniest habit?
5. What do you dislike/hate?
6. What was your favorite dream ever?
7. What was your scariest dream ever?
8. What famous person would you like to have dinner with? What would you talk about?
9. Have you ever dreamed you could fly?
10. What is your favorite smell?
11. What is your favorite song?
12. What do you like to do when you’re bored?
13. What’s your favorite adventure you’ve been on?
14. What are you most scared of?
15. If you could live anywhere and bring anyone you want, where would you live?
16. What place are you keen to visit? Far away and nearby.
17. What are you most proud of?
18. Did/Do you have an imaginary friend? Tell us more.
19. What is your favorite holiday? Why?
20. What is your favorite holiday memory?
21. What was the best and worst day of your life?
22. What is your favorite food? Least favorite?
23. What is your favorite word? Least favorite?
24. How do you express your creativity?
25. Where do you believe we come from before birth?
26. Where do you believe we go after death?
27. What is something that always makes you laugh?
28. What person always makes you laugh?
29. If you could change one thing in the world, what would it be?
30. What would be the consequences if you got your wish?
31. Do you collect or live simply? Explain.
32. What drives you crazy?
33. What makes you smile?
34. What do you know about your heritage? Grandparents and back.
35. Do you have a favorite story from your family history?
36. What’s the most shocking thing you ever did?
37. What would you like to have a “do-over” on?
38. What is your favorite story to tell?
39. What’s your favorite animal? Why?
40. What is your favorite season? Why?
41. What is your favorite hobby?
42. What is your favorite thing to do on the weekends?
43. What one thing do you want to change in yourself?
44. When did you feel most alone?
45. When did you feel most happy?
46. What do you do to cheer yourself up?
47. With whom would you like to trade places for a day?
48. What makes you mad?
49. Do you want to have children?
50. What’s your favorite thing you own?
51. What do you wish you could do?
52. What are the colors of the numbers 1-10? Letters?
53. What are you afraid of?
54. What would your dream house be like?
55. Do you believe in angels?
56. Are you ticklish?
57. What is your favorite place?
58. What’s your favorite place in nature?
59. Which do you like better: hot or cold?
60. What was your favorite Halloween costume?
61. What was your favorite thing to do as a kid?
62. What is your favorite memory from high school? college? grade school?
63. What makes you sad?
64. What does your name mean? Why did your parents choose it?
65. What are your favorite clothes?
66. Who is your favorite person to talk to? Why?
67. What’s your favorite hiding place?
68. What do you want to be when you grow up?
69. What do you want people to remember you for?
70. What is your most annoying habit (to others)?
71. In your most difficult relationship, what makes it so?
72. How do you show compassion?
73. What are you always curious to learn more about?
74. Whom do you miss?
75. What do you like to teach?
76. What is your favorite gadget?
77. What do you like to write about?
78. What is your favorite “bad” thing to do?
79. What is your favorite movie?
80. Favorite book?
81. Favorite band? Song?
82. Do you like to go camping?
83. What fascinates you?
84. What makes you special?

Questions Especially (but not exclusively) for Young Children

1. Do you remember being born?
2. What’s your favorite story about when you were a baby?
3. What’s your favorite game?
4. Who is your favorite hero?
5. Who is the worst villain?
6. What can you do better than mommy, daddy or sibling?
7. What are you really good at?
8. If you could have any pet, which one would you choose?
9. If you have a child someday, what would you like to give to him/her?
10. What’s your favorite thing to cook with mommy/daddy?
11. What color are your eyes?
12. What color are you inside?
13. What word do you think is really funny?
14. What do you like to draw/paint?
15. What songs do you like to sing?
16. What is your favorite book/story?
17. Can you play music? How?
18. Where were you before you were born?
19. Why is the sky blue?
20. Why is there day and night?
21. What is mommy/daddy really good at?
22. Whom do you like to cuddle and kiss?
23. Where do fruits and vegetables come from? How?
24. If you were King/Queen of the house, what would you change? Rules, things, etc?
25. What wish would you ask of the wishing star?
26. How do you make people smile?
27. How do you make people laugh?
28. Is there anything special you can do with your body? (jumping, dancing, funny faces, etc)
29. What do you hope never happens?
30. What do you think is scary?
31. What do you notice when you go outside your house?
32. Which do you like better, sand or snow? Why?
33. What’s the scariest animal?
34. If you could be any animal, which would you choose? Why? What would you do?
35. Do you have any secrets to tell?
36. What is something you do every day?
37. Can you name all the people in your family? Extended family too.
38. What toy would you like to make?
39. What color is a smile?
40. What’s your favorite bug?
41. How do you know when you are tired?
42. How do you know when you are hungry?
43. What games do like to play when you’re alone?
44. Can you tell if an apple is good by how it looks on the outside?
45. What’s the funniest looking fruit or vegetable?
46. What are the morning sounds you hear?
47. What are the night sounds you hear?
48. What is your favorite park?
49. What do you like to do at the park?
50. What’s your favorite thing to do at the beach?
51. Can you see underwater?
52. How does a fish breathe?
53. Can you make a rhyme? Can you add a tune to it?
54. Which do you like better: the woods, the beach, mountains, field, etc?
55. What’s your favorite thing to do in summer? Winter?
56. What was life like in the old days?
57. Tell me about the dinosaurs.
58. Tell me about your brothers/sisters/cousins/friends?
59. What’s your favorite baby animal?
60. Do you ever fight? With whom? Why? How?
61. How do you show love?
62. How do you help someone who is sad/hurt/sick?
63. What ways do you help out with chores?
64. What does mommy/daddy/grandpa/grandma always tell you not to do?
65. Did you ever have a hard day? Why?
66. What is the most fun?
67. What is sooo funny?
68. What is your favorite thing to feel?
69. What rules do you get to make?
70. What is a star?
71. What is the moon? Why is it there?
72. What mysteries do you want to know?
73. What mysteries have you solved?
74. Did you ever track an animals footprints? Tell me more.
75. What’s your favorite game?
76. What do you always do before bed?
77. Describe yourself. Looks, type of person.

Ok, I can completely understand the trials and tribulations with writing and publishing a work of fiction.  But seriously, I’m not going to pay $25.00 bucks for your new hard cover novel; no matter how much I’d really like to read it.

The way I see it is that you’re losing a customer and potentially my interest in your line of novels when you play this game.  I can go through a 500 page novel in about a day and a half, so if I break that down to 12 hours of reading, that’s like 2 bucks an hour.  Nope, just can’t justify that kind of investment.

Now I’m even finding it hard to pay the $7-8 for a novel.  It’s just out of control.

I suppose I can suegue into buying the Kindle… but dear lord, that’s like $350 and the books are still $5 a piece.  So I’d have to buy 175 books to pay for the damn thing.  I doubt I’ll make that committment.  I think I’ll wait until the price comes down significantly or until there is competition.  I use to read books on my old cell phone.  My new cell phone is crap now though, so I have to wait until I upgrade.

So… here’s the breakdown:

1. Buy Kindle

2. Upgrade Cell Phone

3. Stop Reading (I doubt that will fly.)

Really, the cell phone upgrade will pay for itself in the long run.  I get many many uses from one product instead of one use.

I will let you know how this pans out.

I just had a great meet and greet with the guys from Immunity Inc., makers of Canvas and other pen testing products.

I met with Alex and Dave (the owner) and they were really down to earth and fun folks to chat with.  We had an amazing meal at Ray’s In The City, which I later found out was a really great restaurant and highly rated.  I hadn’t heard of it before.

We purchased Canvas about a month ago and we’ve been happy.  There are definite cosmetic and reporting improvements, but the functionality is sound and it’s built on an extensible framework.  I’m excited to be working with the product and having the ability to reach out and “touch” the folks there.

If you haven’t heard of them check out their site: http://www.immunityinc.com (Makers of Canvas)

I just got back from one of the most relaxing and best weekends ever.

After work on Friday and RAN out of the office to beat traffic and meet up with Vu at his friend’s place where he’d be leaving his car for our journey to the mountains. I’m a fairly schedule oriented fella, so when his roommate and friends weren’t there on time and I was ready I was like, “well, let’s go they can meet us up there”. I didn’t want to waste any time.

So that’s exactly what happened, we left and they met us up there at 10pm (yeah I would have been so pissed had we left that late).

We got up there, relaxed, set a fire in the fireplace using a flint and steel, fluff from the drier, and some paper towels… oh yeah! I felt like McGuyver!

The cabin was really nice. 3 rooms, hot tub out back, covered and screened porch. Nice kitchen, jacuzzi tubs in each bathroom and a 2 person walk-in shower. All-in-all one of the nicests cabins I’ve stayed in.

So after a while we were getting hungry on Friday and decided we’d go into town because I was sick of waiting for his friends and I was hungry. Well, we went into Helen and to my amazement, it was this little German village. Very small, quaint and kind of fun looking. It was showing signs of its age though. And not like, this place has been here for a hundred years age, more like 1970s old Disney World age.

We kept trying to find parking… and EVERYTHING was pay… so we finally found a lot but it was a restaurant’s lot and it was really pricey!

So anyway, we left the village and proceeded north towards Cleveland. I stopped for gas just south of 368 (i think) and the lady in there told us about a buffet a few miles up the road. So I was like, it’s better than nothing. It was a West’s Family something or other.

You could tell this was the place where people go that live there on a Friday night. We were getting there about 8:30 and everything closes at 9pm, so it was all a little worse for wear, but still pretty good. It was SO expensive! It was 17 bucks per person and drinks. I was like… dear lord, we’re in the middle of nowhere country and it’s this expensive? I guess they can do that because they are the only shop in town.

So anywho, after gorging ourselves; I ate a good bit of fish (friend and not) and some mashed potatoes, and Vu ate 3 WHOLE fried catfish, with some mash and some popcorn shrimps. He didn’t blow up like a balloon so I’m guessing he’s not that allergic to shell fish… haha.

After we waddled back to the car after our feast we headed back to the cabin… in the dark! So, driving in the dark and rain in the mountains with no street lights… not easy!

As I headed down GA-78 looking for the GA-368 I saw it approaching and prepared to turn… and I was going WAY too fast to make the turn! I was pissed that I missed it and Vu did not let me forget it! haha So I had to drive like 3 more miles to find a turn around… and some guy was on my ass the whole way… I mean like 3 inches from my bumper. Not happy about that. But after a while, I turned around and headed to GA-368 and then turned down it… I made it this time.

So we winded our way back to the cabin, which was off road for part of the way… in my Ford Focus… haha!

Anywho, we made it fine and dandy and relaxed in from of the HDTV Dish Network and proceeded to build another fire… I think we like playing with fire.

After we had relaxed for about an hour, the girls finally showed up. INTO THE HOTTUB!!!

So, I didn’t wait for those slow pokes… I dressed and hopped in the hot tub… it was freezing outside and raining… but the porch was roofed and screened in… it was great. I shivered and then hopped in the hot tub. It was 101F and great! So I’m sitting in there steaming, but after about 15min I was hot. I stood up a bit to cool off in the breeze. We sat in the hot tub, then the girls and Vu hope in… well the hot tub had a bit too much water in it for that many people… so a water fall ensued! haha

We sat in there drinking and talking for a while until I got WAY too hot and decided my boiling time had been met. I hopped out and got changed into my night clothes. I got my camera and start taking some shots of the group. I never really understand people that want digital pictures on their camera… it’s all digital I’ll just give you copies of mine… from my WAY better camera… dumb!

Anyway… after taking a few shots we curled up and watched some videos on the TV.

One of the girls had their boyfriend drive out… I think he was drunk… not happy about that. Anyway, he showed up and and bummed around with us the next day in Helen.

Helen was ok… it is very small and I’d be hard pressed to justify paying as much as we did for things while we were there the next time we go. We ate lunch at a little german eatery… I had the weiner schnitzel with pasta and sweet red cabbage. The cabbage was MUCH too sweet for me. We shared a hot cider too. After that we walked around a bit, it was rainy and miserable, so we cut the day short, but I got to see the town and the river so I was happy. They have these nice little sweets shops, so those were fun.

We headed from town up to the Ingles in Cleveland, and there is a little winery on the way so I made a sharp turn into there to see what they had. They’ve got a great selection of some local wines. Their wines are quite sweet, so I wouldn’t recommend it to those who like their wine very dry. I think it was the Habersham Winery or something along those lines.

I bought so Peach Treat wine and then a Chalet. The Peach has a very distinct peach flavor.

We went back to the cabin, started a fire and then the girls decided to leave and go back to Atlanta, but come back later. That made NO sense to me, but it gave me and Vu some alone time. So we hopped into the hot tub with our wine/drink (he was doing ameretto sours) and we relaxed for about 30-60min. It was nice.

We got out and cooked dinner, we were going to wait for the girls (they said they’d be back in about 1.5 hours. So at 8 I was like, fuckit! I cooked us some steak, Vu managed the vegies. The steak was a bit tough, but it was the cut I got and we didn’t have a grill to make it all tasty! It was a really nice little dinner we had.

We watched TV and built another fire (I bought some long burning logs from Ingles… they are great!). We laid on the leather couches and relaxed for another couple of hours until the girls arrived. We then hopped back into the hot tub for another 30-45min. Drinks were had!

I got out a little early and headed for the TV and couch. We wound up watching Saw V. Gees… that franchise needs to die!

The next morning was breakfast and packing/cleaning. So I made an egg sandwich and ate in front of the TV while the rest of the crew didn’t do too much. Vu cooked for everyone else and they ate together… haha I was watching TV and didn’t feel like getting up, I had eaten already too.

So we cleaned and headed back to Helen for funnel cakes and ice cream. We poked around a bit, but then decided that’s really all there was to do and started our rainy journey back to Atlanta. I dropped Vu at his friend’s house to get his car and made a B-line for home.

And that’s my trip to Helen!

Wow, I remember this from growing up in New Orleans. These guys were down off of North Broad I think. Definitely not the neighborhood I’d want to be in at midnight.

I’ve begun doing Bosu crunches in the evenings.  Let me tell you… PAIN!!!  That’s an intense exercise.  I like it though, I can actually feel the soreness, which I couldn’t doing my crunches previously.

Not that any of my friends care, I’m posting this for my own edification and/or amusement.

How to Use the Registry to Deactivate the Symantec Uninstall Password

If uninstalling Symantec antivirus from the server is no longer possible, you need to deactivate the uninstall password. Follow the steps below to disable the password.

1. From the Start menu, select Run.
2. In the Run dialog box, type regedit and press Enter.
3. In the Registry Editor, locate and open the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREINTELLANDeskVirusProtect6 CurrentVersionAdministrator OnlySecurity
4. In this registry key, locate the entry called UseVPUninstallPassword.
5. Right-click the entry and select Modify in the popup menu. Change the Value from 1 to 0.
6. Close the Registry Editor.