Spitting Into the Wind

Straight on the heels of my last post about the outrage I felt at parents dumping their teenage children in Nebraska, I'm equally outraged at the behaviour of teenagers over the last couple of years. Every day the news seems to be filled with more and more stories of teenage terrorists, teen murderers, robbers and just plain aggression.

In one night's reading I came across the following headlines, and this is just in Australia:

13-year-old girl wields knife at Casuarina Square mall

Melbourne Xavier College muck-up boys scared neighbours

Youths charged over shooting

Youths charged over attack on media

Gold Coast schoolboy zaps mate with stun-gun

Vehicle slams head on into police car

I wrote a post two years ago about bad teen attitudes, wondering if things would improve or get steadily worse, and I've come to the conclusion that the latter is the case.

Just last night I had a run-in with my own 13-year-old son who had a stretcher in his ear. In case you're wondering what that is, it looked like a tapered nail. Stretcher piercings are a trendy way to be a little different to the normal person who just has normal pierced ears. Alex was quite adamant that it was cool. I've confiscated it, but there's no guarantee that he won't try doing it again.

I know there's plenty of teens out there that are doing the right thing, and having normal teenage fun. Both my teenagers are good kids. They like to argue to get their way and they want everything they see, but I take much of the blame for that on myself. They've been given nearly everything they want. I think this generation of teens has been over-indulged, and we as parents only have ourselves to blame.

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I was quite shocked after reading a news item tonight on BBC News :

A mother has driven for 12 hours across the US to abandon her teenage son in Nebraska, under a law allowing adults to leave children at state hospitals, and the state's safe-haven law prevents prosecution for abandonment.

I have a 13-year-old son and know the trials that raising teenagers can bring. Carly is nearly 16 and we've had our share of clashes and screaming matches. Alex is just now trying to assert himself with lots of arguing and refusals. True, I don't know the circumstances surrounding this mother's abandonment of her son, but surely things couldn't have been that bad.

The boy was left in Omaha in an emergency shelter, and I can't even begin to understand how he might be feeling. It's a really sad reminder of how lucky we are to have strong family ties. Mine is not a perfect family by a long shot, and I have my moments when I wish the kids were old enough to be out on their own, but I quickly think how lonely it'll be when that time comes.

So sad, I hope they can work it out and there's a happy ending here.

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Lou Reed was my hero back in the early 80's and I owned all of his albums. He had a passion and the guitar music was fantastic. I owned a stereo that I used to crank up full bore and Lou Reed poured out of those speakers 24/7.

These days I own a computer with surround sound and though sometimes I crank up the sound, it doesn't even come close to the sound of those early 80's days.

In a recent interview Lou Reed compared his music of 35 years ago and how it would stand up today. He talked about the iPod,

"It shows you films on a screen the size of a postage stamp and reduces a song to the size of a pin drop,"

and technology

"Technology is taking us backward. It is making it easier to make things worse. If no one knows any better or doesn't care, it's gonna stay on a really, really low level, and people who like good sound are gonna be thought of as some kind of strange zoo animal."

And as for Rap and Techno, I don't want to go there....

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The right ribbon can turn a plain package into a gift that wows. Why not let it do the same for a blank wall? Add a festive holiday punch to your home with this simple, inexpensive artwork you can make in an afternoon.

Add a festive holiday punch to your home with this simple, inexpensive artwork you can make in an afternoon. Paint nine 12-x-12-inch artist's canvases with crafts or acrylic paint in your favourite holiday colour, and then attach ribbons using double-stick tape. Vary the widths, styles, and placement of the ribbons to keep the design interesting.

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Australia is one of the driest inhabited continents in the world, and its inhabitants some of the biggest consumers of water. With the future looking drier and hotter, water conservation is a priority for many people. With only 1 per cent of the water in the world fresh and available for use, it's hard to justify wasting it on things that don't require good drinking water, such as toilet flushing and garden irrigation.

By installing a rainwater tank and using rainwater for things that don't require fresh drinking water, or even recycling used water from baths, you can reduce the amount of fresh water wasted unnecessarily. With a rainwater tank, you'll:

• Collect most of the rain that falls onto your roof through gutters and downpipes straight into your tank
• Reduce your consumption of mains water and, in the long term, cut your water bill
• Lower your impact on the environment by reducing your demand on mains water as well as the amount of stormwater run-off into rivers and oceans
• "Harvest" water that tastes better and is generally less salty, which is better for appliances and plants
• New technology and innovations now enable experienced tradesmen to cater for all shapes and sizes of properties (the latest under-deck tanks that are designed to fit between standard piers, under verandahs or under the house are very popular). Make sure to check the tank meets Australian Standards for drinking water, taste, colour and UV stabilisation for rainwater storage; but this seems like an ideal solution for any homeowner wanting readily available water

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I've done my share of complaining about those phone calls from phone companies trying to get you to switch to their services, so today I searched for the website where I could enter my phone number to have them blocked.

The Do Not Call Register is a government initiative that enables individuals with Australian fixed line and mobile numbers to list their telephone numbers on the register and opt out of receiving a wide range of telemarketing calls. Once you register your home phone or mobile numbers, telemarketers are required, by law, to stop calling you. The register is intended to regulate and minimise the number of unsolicited calls made to Australian numbers regardless of whether they originate from overseas or within Australia.

It takes 30 days to process the registration, but since this kind of harassment has been going on for years, one more month won't be such a burden. The benefits will certainly outweigh it.

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Christmas is just around the corner and if you're like me, you never know what to buy for some people. Here's some great gift ideas for those "hard to buy for" friends and family.

Love the movie? Now you can own the Transformers Earphones

Something for the traveller, a washing machine that folds up. A great idea for the caravan.

For the computer buff, now you can have waffles that look like a keyboard.

A remote control where you can see the buttons. Wouldn't be easily lost either.

Is there a man in your life who likes to appreciate the female body? He'll love this remote control.

www.shoppinghoho.com

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