Archive for the ‘Childraising’ Category

Malibu Echo for Teens

Tuesday, August 28th, 2007

Many adults and most parent will recognize one of the most significant things we can do is to keep teens clean and sober, barring that the next best things is to get them off the drugs.

Teen Rehab ECHO MALIBU is a solution if your teen has already found themselves with a problem involving substance abuse. Teen rehabs are a growing trend indicating to us the disturbing news, that kids are involved in substance abuse. We would love to deny it, but its better to address it.

If you are going to attempt to get your child to volunteer to enter ECHO MALIBU theres gonna be questions, and its best if you have answers ready to give to listening ears.

First, the center is located on the ocean in Malibu California. Your child may have their own room if its requested in advance, else the center couldn’t have time to make preparations, as normally they would have a roommate. The program is roughly 30 days, but these things are based on the individual.

You can expect daily one on one sessions, coupled with group sessions held by a licensed professional. Academic plans can be worked out with the child’s school, if the family grants this permission. The residents at Malibu Echo are not asked to do chores, because their treatment time is valuable and should be used to rehabilitate, not clean. Their is training and education offered to the parent, because every child needs a strong support net, and perhaps the addicted child more so.

Every interested party is invited to visit the facilities and to tour and ask questions of on hand staff. I suggest you do, and then if you got a problem to enroll, change your life while you are still young.

Addiction

Friday, August 24th, 2007

Addiction is a disease.

My brother was plagued by it. Thankfully hes recovering now.

Before he chose to get help, it was a nightmare. Not just for him, but for everyone who cared about him. He was suffering, and a slave to his addiction. He didn’t want to be like that, yet he didn’t know how else to be, he was powerless to escape it on his own.

Every day he grew to hate his life more and more, and for a time, he stayed at the bottom, simply wanting to die. Makes me sosad to think of him suffering like that.

I recall him doing 55 miles an hour on a road with a speed limit of 30. I asked what was wrong, and he said its 5:30 PM and it should be half smashed by now, if I don’t hurry I will miss happy hour. When he said that, i realized just how pervasive the addiction was. After Dad died, he really went down hill.

Fortunately, after a particularly disastrous day, Mom lead the crusade to see him get help, and that night he signed into a rehab center. I am so pleased to tell you it saved him life, and he turned 26 today. Perhaps, without rehab, that wouldn’t be the case.

Rehab is an option for anyone who wants to change, and Watershed makes it an affordable and viable solution for everyone, they care, and that shows in the way they approach their plan for each patient. If you know someone who is in need of alcohol or drug rehabilitation I sincerely hope you will encourage them to join a rehab program.

Banana Substitute

Monday, July 30th, 2007

Often, if a recipe only wants an egg or two, you can omit the egg. Be sure to add a bit more liquid to it though, to keep things balanced.

Perhaps someone in your home has an allergy to eggs, in that case a full substitution will be needed.

1 egg = :

1/2 banana

or

1/4 cup applesauce

There are others i am sure, but those are the ones i know. Perhaps your dietician can recommend others. As far as i know theres no commercial soulutions available, as there is for items like milk.

The “Hot Coffee” Controversy

Monday, July 16th, 2007

Video game creation is difficult. Developers must make a quality, function product, it has to be enjoyable to play, they must dance around the ESRB so they can reach their target market, then the publishers have to liek the game as well. And hopefully the creators will still be proud of it when this is all said and done.

The creation of games is chaotic, you throw things about, shift it in and out, like pieces of a puzzle, finding things that fit and things that do not, what works and what wont. After a few weeks of that, the process really begins.

Often things areleft out of the game, but the code remains intact and within that game. Thats odd you think. But if ti were removed then it may create other bugs in the code.

Example: A dev creates a jumprope minigame and he decides it should be a rhythm type excercise, he goes on to develop the system for the rhythm(algorhtyhms and such), he adds some things like related graphics, and gets it approved and ready to go

Now,the other developers will review this work and see what of it they can build upon, the graphics people will add good graphics to the original devs stuff. These graphics might be exclusive to the jump rope sequence, and they may also be found elsewhere in the game.

In a few months time, the original coders work is used by several other devs in their code, and the art is spread around as well. Then suddenly some higher up cuts the jump rope sequence.

How can you remove such an embedded portion of development? It is present, and functional. Other portions of the development are built upon it, dependant even, the praphics are there as well. What now? Simple, you simply never have the jump rope sequence called by the game, essentially the main program never calls for that function. It doesnt alter any of the code, the sequence is just never seen by consumers.

Most games have “easter eggs”. We see this all the time, and the example above is likely what happened in GTA:SA. Most hidden code is not sexual, but then again GTA:SA is a “mature” rating.

Do we blame the ESRB? Of course not! The hot coffee minigame is only there if you hack it. Sure, its just a single bit, but its a modification to the game files, to play the game in a manner not intended by the publisher/developer.

The Parenting Debate

Wednesday, June 20th, 2007

Pros

  1. Might be fun
  2. Might become less self absorbed
  3. Parenting could be interesting
  4. A new unconditional  relationship.
  5. Seeing things through the eyes of a child
  6. Improves sense of joy!
  7. A child is what you leave when you pass, they pick up the torch for you;

Cons

  1. Kids require alot of attention
  2. babies are very expensive
  3. Parenting could be boring
  4. Bye Bye Spontaneity
  5. Diagreements between parents.
  6. Might change your mind later.

I am of the thought that everyone, well, everyone in the sense of a mentally stable, non addict, should likely be a parent. I mean lesser people are doing it. Hell, my son gave me a reason to live. If i ever do anything great, i will do it in his name, even now just thinking of him i have tears in my eyes. hes the greatest thing in the world. SO yeah. if you can, do. Becuase the moment your kid is born, its like the colors get brighter, and nothing is the same, everything you thought you knew, it changes, your view changes, when you first hear his first sounds, they are backgrounds by angels singing. its just god damn incredible.


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