unsigned podcast » Deep Thoughts

Raising Teenagers is Tough

podcaster — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 19:50:32 +0000

Have you ever noticed that there are very few advice and self help books on the subject of raising teenagers? I always say that the reason is that there are no experts on dealing with teenagers. No one has the magic answer to getting through the teenage years successfully.

It is really hard to deal with kids who are growing quickly, trying to deal with school and their peers, popular culture and testing boundaries. Anyone who can produce a kid that doesn’t end up in jail or pregnant before turning 18 is doing a good job. I know that is a low threshold, but it seems like the majority of kids cannot even measure up to that.

End of Football Season

podcaster — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 22:43:23 +0000

My home team was eliminated from the NFL playoffs last week. It doesn’t really seem like watching any games today will give me much satisfaction. I am not a fan of any of the remaining teams. I think I’ll just close the book on football for this year. With the exception of the Super Bowl. And we all know that most people only watch the Super Bowl so they can see the very best of TV’s commercials. The half time entertainment is going to be Madonna, so I really do not care about the Super Bowl other than the commercials. Isn’t that sad? To think that what should be a tournament of champions and have the whole country united during a game, that the only thing of interest is the commercials that will air?

Daylight Savings Ends

podcaster — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 19:55:12 +0000

Goodbye, Daylight Savings. I’m going to miss you. The darkness always comes too early to suit me.

Haircut

podcaster — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 20:28:44 +0000

Got a haircut today. I just needed to get out of the office for a little while and clear my head. Most days I go out for lunch, but today lunch was not long enough to refortify. I called the receptionist and told her that “I was going to be out for another hour and to forward any calls to my cell phone. It rang a couple of times, but I let it go to voice mail. I just needed that hour undisturbed and doing something for myself for a change. And I look better for it.

Paper Delivery

podcaster — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 20:22:22 +0000

The days of having a daily newspaper delivered to your door are numbered. I remember as a kid we had three newspapers delivered to our house every day. In the morning we had the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal delivered to a metal box on top of a metal fence post at the end of the driveway. Every morning my dad would call to our dog, Lucky, and walk down to the paper box and get the newspaper. He read them both over his morning cup of coffee and then the breakfast that my mom cooked for him.

In the afternoons we would get the Evening Star delivered to the house. The Star brought us up to date on all the news that had happened that day, missed by the early edition of the Washington Post, which had to go to press at midnight. The Star also carried a lot more of the local news. The Lions Club meetings, the high school football games and high school events, and speeches by the Mayor or other dignitaries.

I do miss those days. The cable news and the internet give us the daily and breaking news, but it just is not the same as reading the newspaper in the easy chair with a hot cup of coffee and Lucky sitting beside you.

Sheila Bumped Into Me

podcaster — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 16:50:31 +0000

Pushing my grocery cart through the aisles at Food Lion I was all about trying to find the 9 or 10 things on my shopping list and out of the blue someone bumped into my cart and burst out laughing. My first reaction was to frown, well, scowl and snarl, actually. But then I saw that it was Sheila and I had to bust out a laugh, too.

I cannot believe that Sheila shops at the same grocery store that I do. She is clear on the other side of the Lake and the Kroger is much closer to her. But she says that she likes the smaller store because she can get what she wants and check out ten times faster than going to the huge, crowded Kroger. So I have to agree, I avoid the Kroger for quick trips like today and only go there once every 4 to 6 weeks to stock up on meat and other things that Food Lion doesn’t carry.

School Calendar Controversy

podcaster — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 16:24:40 +0000

The new Superintendent of Schools has decided that the only way the kids here will learn enough to pass the minimum grade levels tests is to go to school for more days out the year. He wants to take away most of the summer vacation days and make them go to school earlier in the year.

I already think it is ludicrous for the kids to start back the first week of August. That is awfully early to be going to school when most of the rest of the country does not start until after Labor Day. As far as I am concerned, they need to bring in extra teachers and extra tutors to help the kids who are struggling. The kids who are average and better are being punished for being in the same classes as the dumb ones.

One of Those Days

podcaster — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 19:04:30 +0000

Ever have a day where absolutely nothing goes right? It’s like everything I touch breaks, falls, spills or something bad happens.

I tried to change the water in the fish bowl this morning and I killed the fish accidentally. That made me incredibly sad and frustrated. Trying to do a good thing and mess it up. I think I’ll take a nap and start today over again.

Saturday Mornings are Rough

podcaster — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 19:56:28 +0000

Stayed up way too late last night. I was having too much fun to quit and go home. I wanted to sleep late this morning – but, no.

When the phone rings at 1:00 am

podcaster — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 15:55:19 +0000

It was 1:00 am when my phone rang and I knew as I reached for it to answer that it would not be good news. When the phone rings in the middle of the night it is never good news.

A woman was calling, crying, to tell me that her son had just committed suicide by taking a massive prescription drug overdose. Both the mother and her son work for us in the warehouse, third shift. So she was calling to let me know that they would not be at work this morning. The bad news was a shock – I had no idea her son was so depressed that he would ever do anything like that and now I feel guilty for not paying more attention to him. How could I not see that something was so terribly wrong in his life that he would do this? But then, it came as a complete surprise to his mother, too.