Teen Guide to Money

The UK currently has the highest rate of teenage pregnancies in the whole of Europe, and even though emergency contraception is available to buy over the counter, the reality is that most children dont have the money to buy them. However, they all have access to their school nurse, who they say is in a ideal position to prescribe emergency contraception.

These proposals could have several implication which must be consider. What message is this sending out to children who fear pregnancy resulting from sexual relationships? Could this encourage promiscuity as was once thought of the supply of free condoms. Should we just deal with the consequence of the childrens mentality of earlier sexual relations or should more be done to improve sex education in schools to prevent children growing up with the mindset that it is acceptable to be a teenage parent.

School nurses are also asking to be able to prescribe the following to their students
Emergency post-coital or regular contraception
Eczema ointment or antibiotics
Antibiotics
Medication for bed wetting
Paracetamol and other common analgesics
Immunisations for those who have not already received them
Nicotine replacement therapy

Should all these additions be granted, the school nurse will be given the authority to prescribe a number of highly controversial medications to children. Again,w e must ask ourselves, are GPs under such strain that they can not handle this themselves? Will school nurses have to seek consent from parents before prescribing medications to children? Will they have the time to fully explain the implications and side effects of the medications they prescribe? Will the children they are prescribing to fully understand what it is they are being asked to take? Most importantly, is this really necessary.

It is no secret that drug companies play with statistics to make certain conditions seem more serious than they really are in order to increase sales, and incentives to prescribers is extremely common in the industry. We should hope our children are not being made guinea pigs to fulfil financial goals.

With the proposed improvements that are being made in the nutrition of children, more should be done to seek other natural organic methods of improving the health of children in schools. The way of thinking should be along the lines of the children arent concentrating well in school, lets get them to drink more what and less fizzy drinks or a lot of our children are becoming obese, lets introduce more exercise time and incentives for healthy eating and not children keep getting infections, lets kill of their natural defences and given them a course of antibiotics to wipe all bacteria in their bodies good or bad or too many children are smoking behind the bike sheds, lets give them nicotine in the form or patches instead of cigaretes and hope they stop. If they dont, they cat say we didnt try.

A question we really should be concerning ourselves with is. Are the schools of today really where we want to send our children. Whether you have children now, may do in the future, or are just a member of the society these children will grow up into, remember there are always choices. You can home school your children, thereby ensuring a nurturing fulfilling environment for them to learn in (ignore people who say home schooled children dont have social interaction, do your research, this is far from the truth). You can become as involved as you can in your childs school, one conscientious mother I know is on the board of governors for her sons schools where real changes can be made. Or finally you can at least investigate the school you send your children to, even if it means they leave the area they live in and continue their education at home with you.

Take care and be healthy

As children, you rode in cars with no seat belts or air bags.
Riding in the back of a pickup truck on a warm day was always a
special treat. You drank water from the garden hose and not from
a bottle. You shared one soft drink with four friends, from one
bottle, and no one actually died from this. You’d leave home in
the morning and play all day, walk to school, as long as you
were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to
reach you all day. And you were OK. Besides Mom was always back
home. You only had one car.

You’re a Boomer and now you’re turning 60. You’re going to be
experiencing your second Saturn Return.

Baby Boomers are turning sixty! So much to think about. So much
still to learn. Yours is the generation that was conceived to
heal the war weary, wounded, bereft and traumatized. Your
conception after the death of over 40,000,000 soldiers in World
War II symbolized a rebirth of hope in humankind. Life goes on.

Some of you were born into families in countries that were
victorious to fathers who were heroes. Other were born to men
dealing with the bitterness and humiliation of defeat and lost
personal opportunities such as educational years and job
advancement. In all countries that participated in the War
including the United States, lack of essential goods continued
for many years. Your families lived with want and hope as
companions.

Conceived at the same time as you, the countries of India and
Pakistan (founded August 15, 1947 with Saturn at 13 degrees Leo)
and Israel (founded May 14, 1948 with Saturn at 16 Leo) made as
controversial appearances on the world scene as could possibly
be imagined, all three fighting for their lives from the moment
of birth. Civil unrest broke out immediately between East and
West Pakistan. Hundreds of thousands were killed. A year later,
India and Pakistan warred over Kashmir. Within 24 hours of
Israel’s birth, it was attacked by the combined armies of its
Arab neighbors, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq.

The war cry of the Baby Boomer could be, “Fight for your life!”
This is because Saturn was conjunct Pluto during these years.
This was the beginning of a new world order commenced when the
two planets were partile on August 3, 1947, just days before the
founding of India and Pakistan.

These three countries are celebrating their second Saturn
Returns along with Boomers. At their first Returns around 1975,
Israel and the Arabs were again at war - the Yom Kippur War. In
India, Indira Ghandi declared a state of emergency after being
found guilty of electoral malpractice. Nearly 1,000 political
opponents were imprisoned and a program of compulsory birth
control was introduced.

In Pakistan, riots erupted over allegations of vote-rigging by
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). General Zia
ul-Haq staged a military coup and a year later, Zia was
proclaimed president. Bhutto was hanged.

The Defense Department and the CIA were created in 1946. South
Korea was founded (August 15, 1948 Saturn at 28 degrees of Leo).
At South Korea’s first Saturn Return, General Park Chung-hee,
who assumed power in 1961 through a military coup, was
assassinated. General Chun Doo-hwan assumed power. The following
year, martial law was declared. In the city of Kwangju at least
200 were killed by the army, causing resentment that has yet to
fade. The fifth republic and new constitution resulted.

At this point you might be wondering, “What happened to me at my
first Saturn Return?” Answering this question can help predict
what will happen at your second Return. Please refer back to
1975-79, when you were 28-30 years old. This can help you make
sense of things in the overall game plan of life.

Many Boomers began new careers, divorced or married for the
first time between the ages of 28-30.

Karen Lafferty (the names are changed, the stories are true)
describes it this way: “Thirty years ago in 1975, I had moved
across the country, taken up residence with a nice man, and had
entered college. In 1976 or 77, I did the old est Training and
afterwards approached my dad about creating our relationship all
over again and he agreed. I also discovered that one of my
daughters had … a genetic condition…. My other daughter had
decided to live with her father. So things were going on. I
think I faired well through all of this and did quite a bit of
maturing. It was the 70s and I was exploring all my boundaries,
my intellect, my mothering skills, and testing pretty much
whatever waters I could. I had no idea what I wanted as a
profession and I floundered around.

Karen hasn’t experienced her second SR yet but wishes to: “… rid
myself of the vestiges of emotional c— that my father put on
me. The things he pounded into me: I’m dumb. I’m not good
enough. I’m ugly. I can never have what I want or be what I
want. I will cause suffering to the people who are closest to
me. I’m being punished just for being here. I don’t deserve to
be alive. I should have died instead of my brother….Just a
real load of garbage that intellectually doesn’t make sense, but
some of which I still feel. I’ve worked through the worst of it,
but there are still some hangers on, like I’m not good enough.
Monica Short says, “I hated my father and I remember it was
especially so around 1958 to about 1974 or 75…. When I got
married in 1975, it seems our relationship became softer, and
after my parents moved back to Xxx in 1976, we became almost
friends. I still never was able to discuss my real feelings or
beliefs, or talk to him about world issues, but we were able to
laugh about things. I must say he taught me a lot about
electricity, about cars, about how things work, and I miss him
for that. … I also think he would have loved computers and what
they do.” Monica’s sister also married that year and they began
to have a better relationship. Monica is currently making a
transition from management to creative writing and is pursuing a
bisexual lifestyle.

Boomer Leon Tuttle explains, “My father and I had quite a
problem when I was growing up. Teenage rebellion as I recall it.
I did however, tell him that I hated him and he still continues
to bring it up. I explained to him that I didn’t hate him but
didn’t like the way he treated me…. In 1975 my wife gave birth
to our daughter. She [had] promised to raise our children as
Catholics, but when our daughter was born she took her to [a
Protestant] church to have her baptized and never bothered to
consult with me or to invite my relatives. This broke a promise
to my father who did not want me to marry outside the church….”
Leon divorced his wife. At that same time, the company he worked
for burned to the ground. Leon was not allowed to see his
daughter. He never had enough money to go back through the
courts. He feels his life was ruined. Leon mentions several
career things he would like to happen at his second Return. He
is an inventor. He says, “Hope springs eternal. Perhaps the last
years of my life will bring to fruition some of my dreams?”

Rory Peters was in a bad marriage and because of that she had an
abortion at her first SR. She stayed in the marriage another 20
years. At her second SR she’s “overworked, underpaid and not
respected” in the cosmetics field and is “currently in a
relationship with a gentleman 16 years [her] junior. “He has
lived with me for 4 years,” she says, “and has paid nothing for
his upkeep. I’m nothing more than a mother maybe less to him. I
am so in need of clear direction for my crazy life.”

Latonya Xandra lost both parents at her first SR, divorced,
began a new career and started on her spiritual path. As a
single parent, she had little time to date and was scarred by
childhood incest issues with her father. At her second SR she
reconnected with a man she met at 30 who had always loved her.
She was able to work through her sexual issues with him and
their relationship has been very healing. She feels it is her
reward for working on her Saturn issues. Saturn is in her 8th
house of sexuality, trust and bonded relations.

As you can see, often Saturn in Leo has issues with the father.
Karen Lafferty and Monica Short tried to heal relationships with
their fathers, something that still troubles Monica at her
second Return. Leon Tuttle’s father and ex-wife made his life a
living hell. Latonya Xandra’s father had an incestuous
relationship with her which she has tried to heal.

Some famous Boomers are also preparing to experience their
second Saturn Returns. Camilla Parker Bowles married Prince
Charles during her second Return. At his first Saturn Return,
Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared in the documentary Pumping Iron
which made him famous. He also met and married Maria Shriver.
Near his second Return Schwarzenegger’s future as Governor of
California is uncertain as he sinks lower in the polls. Laura
Bush married George Dubya during her first SR. Steven Spielberg
produced Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

One of my favorite actors, Jeremy Irons married his second wife,
Sinead Cusack. Mikhail Baryshnikov, who defected to America in
1974, switched to the New York Ballet at his SR to work with
George Ballachine. Perhaps Andrew Lloyd Webber will have a
reversal of fortunes at his second SR. At his first, he produced
the hit Evita. Recently he has had many failures and lost
millions.

Whether famous or still waiting to be famous, the task for
Boomers at the second Saturn Return is to come to terms with the
life they’ve lived. It is best to take life in two segments:
From 0 to 30, how did your childhood,

Recently, I have come to the earth shattering realization that
the closer one is to attaining the age of forty the more one
begins to value their own life and livelihood in general.

Although I am quickly approaching the “ever dreaded” mid-forty
mark I am fully aware that time is running out for me.
Everything and everyone meaningful to my existence becomes
significant to the third power divided by two. As I have
mentioned in previous posts I have come to grips with my own
mortality and I now scurry to do a little bit of this, and a lot
more of that, in terms of meeting my long term goals and
spending invaluable interpersonal time with loved ones and
friends.

As we watch our children grow into adults we yearn for quality
time with them. I know I do. Anyone who’s ever been to my house
and questioned why I am always home alone have heard me quip,
“My children don’t even know who the hell I am anymore”. I say
this sarcastically of course, but I rarely see my children and
spend quality time with them even less.

They are both involved in “love” relationships and spend
extended amounts of time interacting and engaging with the
friends and family members of their significant others. My son
goes to school full time and my daughter works for now. So where
does that leave me as a parent? When do I get to spend real
“quality time” with either of them?

When my children entered the world of “teenage hood” it was very
difficult for me because throughout their lives I sacrificed my
life in hopes of a better one for them. Their well being became
my entire world. What dedicated parent doesn’t do this to some
extent? It would appear that they have no time for me now.

Now I settle for moments. Sometimes when my son comes home from
school (school ends at 8 p.m.), he comes into my room to say
hello, flashes that killer smile of his, and we automatically
are engaged in momentous conversation. He might talk to me (or
“kick it” with me as he describes it) for an hour or so. When
it’s over that’s all the time I get. That was MY “moment”. I
might not have another “moment” with him for another few weeks
so I take what I can, when I can, and I am grateful. At my age,
those small “moments” are precious.

Yesterday I presented my son with a card. I am a “card giving”
type of person and I had no particular reason for doing such. I
realize that this is my way to somehow grasp his or her
attention and reel them back into my zone if only for a brief
while. My son was surprised that I had given him such a card. He
was visibly touched and reminded that he is still loved. The
card served as a reverberation that his existence and his
opinion of me, and the distinct relationship between mother and
son remains valued BY me. Every now and again I feel the urge to
remind them of “who I am”, a “remember me” type of deal.

Before I was even able to comprehend speaking publicly, creating
a blog or writing a book I yearned to leave a legacy for my two.
A gift of some sort for them to be proud of once my life has
been reduced to a memory. With my children’s father paralyzed
and no longer able to actively participate in their lives on the
level he once was, I am it as far as the one who “actively
parents”. I now comprehend wholeheartedly that I must seek a
legacy no more. Each time I write, each time a book is
published, a story posted, printed, downloaded or e-mailed, my
legacy is emphasized, underscored and exclaimed on each page
that bears my words.

I am hopeful that my two have the logic of mind to read the
words that I’ve written while I am alive, fused with energy,
healthy and well. Reading words soaked with love and drowned in
mood after a loved one has passed can be hauntingly
overwhelming. Long after I am gone, my expressions will unleash
profound emotion within their hearts each time they choose to
examine them. What you’ve just read and what you read now is
history in the making. This is my children’s history and THIS IS
THEIR legacy.

In previous years most of the women in my family sooner or later
succumbed as a result of some form of cancer. More often than
not, their fate usually was huddled with breast cancer. As a
result, I carry the weight of having to tirelessly give myself
self-breast exams once per month and endure painful mammograms
yearly. Because of the high risk that I carry of acquiring this
dreaded disease, and at the persistence of my physicians, I also
have a sonogram soon after my mammogram. I am told one test
picks up what the other test does not. So far I have been lucky.
Every woman over the age of forty should have a mammogram at
least once per year. (And you don’t need me to restate what all
of us continually hear on television concerning this fact.) We
as women must assuredly know what we need to do in order to
remain healthy, hopefully we’re all doing it.

As of late, I started grappling with one very important question
that I would like to ask my children. Unfortunately, and due to
a recent outbreak of spinelessness (hopefully temporary) I have
not yet queried my two because they will unquestionably believe
that I know something that I am not sharing with them regarding
my health. The question I want to ask them is this: “If I found
out that I had a terminal illness would you want to know?
(Before I continue let me state unequivocally and to the best of
my knowledge and belief that I am not suffering from any illness
terminal or otherwise. Wouldn’t want to get any sympathy
sentiments and e-mails just yet.) Although I have no idea why I
have a need to have this question answered, I just do. I know I
feel that it is my children’s God given right to know or not to
know if I’m going to be around for another Christmas,
Thanksgiving or birthday.

I do not want to take away their right of choice as was
unavoidably done to me. When I was a young girl my mother sat my
sister and I down and told us that she was dying, point blank.
There were no if ands or buts about it. There was no heads-up to
offer. It was the end of the line for her and that was that! I’m
sure that she must’ve known how little time she had left
although she never shared her timeline with us. I was stunned
coupled with disbelief and fear. From the moment the words “I’m
dying” left her mouth, my childhood as I knew it would be no
more.

My two are well beyond the age that I was when the bomb was
dropped on me. However I had no choice in whether I wanted to
know the inevitable pertaining to my mother’s premature demise.
Maybe she told my sister and I in the manner and with the level
of acceleration that she did because her time left on earth was
minimal. She probably felt pressed, wanted to get it out of the
way and get on with her funeral arrangements, which she did.
Nonetheless, I still think that my two should have a right to
decide if knowing of my pending death beforehand is something
that they’d want to take on.

When I think of my death, wake, funeral or cremation, I weep. I
shed tears because I know how it feels to have a parent die.
Sure I was 12-years old but the pain was still laced with
anguish even so.

I tell my two the day that I pass, the way that they view people
in the world and the world itself, will change for them forever.
Their response is usually “Oh Ma, you look healthy. You’re gonna
be around for a long, long time. What does “looking” healthy
have to do with anything?? For their sakes, I hope their
intuition is correct.

When I began to think of their lives (especially present day
before they are fully ready to live on their own in the real
sense), I cry. I cry because I know how hurt my son is going to
be when he remembers each time that he brushed me off when I was
telling him something for his own good. I cry because I know
full well how painful it’s going to be when they must go through
my belongings to determine who gets what, what goes where or to
whom, or what must be thrown away. I cry when I think of my
daughter and how terrible she is going to feel when I am gone
and she remembers and realizes that her “attitude” was one
attitude too much and not warranted at the time. All teenagers
have attitudes, especially girls. I’ve excused her and moved on.
But will she be able to “forgive” herself? Will my son?

When I am clairvoyant and allow myself to envision the scenarios
surrounding my death, I weep still. But when I cry I am not
crying for myself because if I am taken from this world today, I
will depart knowing that I have lived my life to the richest
extent possible. My rewards have never been defined by money or
materialism. I cry for my two beautiful children. They have
never had a family member that’s “considered close” to them die.
Although one can never properly prepare themselves for the death
of a loved one no matter how much one tries to convince himself
otherwise.

I am hopeful when I pass that my two are at least engaged or
married having someone to share their grief while they come to
terms with my demise themselves. I know that my two are not
“babies or little ones”, and my death will have a different
effect upon them as opposed to if they were young children. With
that said, it is not a painless task nonetheless, but it is one
undertaking that the survivors of the deceased must confront one
day, some way.

I cannot protect my two from the inevitable pain of the loss,
the pain of loosing me, their mother. I don’t want them to feel
destroyed in the world as a result of my passing nor do I want
them to suffer with guilt for what they should or should not
have done where I was concerned.

The bitter realization for me is that some things in life are
foreseeably unavoidable. I have protected my children from many
obstacles and hurts in life, it may very well be their
misfortune that I cannot shield them from this one and THIS is
why For THEM I Cry.

© 2005 by C. V. Harris. All rights reserved.

As a Horror writer I’ve been often and pointedly been asked why
I write this stuff. It’s not ever said directly, but it’s always
there: Is there something wrong with you? In my own defense,
quite a few people enjoy reading this same stuff and even more
get a thrill out of watching it on the big screen. Just to
hazard a guess, I’d say most people have in their life read a
horror book or seen a horror movie. The question then becomes:
What’s wrong with us?

My first occasions to hear horror stories was as a child in
church. I was told that there was a man in a red suit and horns
who carried a pitchfork and watched everything I did and wanted
to send me to the worst, most horrible place ever if I did bad
things. Worse than this, I was told that there was something
called ‘original sin’ and just by being born I was on God’s crap
list and if I didn’t repent for things I’d never done, the man
in the red suit would still get me. It didn’t seem quite fair to
me that my little three year old wrong-doings could earn me the
same trip to Hell that someone like Hitler got.

I was scared constantly. And that was the point of those
stories, to scare little boys into behaving as their parents
wanted them to.

Fairy tales have the same theme: Obey your parents, or bad
things will happen. I can’t swear that I remember all of my
fairy tales, but I do remember as a child being - probably -
unreasonably worried about being eaten. For the time, being
eaten seemed about the worst thing that could happen to me and I
looked warily at strangers trying to evaluate in my mind whether
they would try and eat me. Fortunately, there were very few
cannibals in Wisconsin at that time. Jeffrey Dahmer was one, but
for the life of me, I can’t think of any other Wisconsin
cannibals. Oh, wait. Ed Gein - but that’s it.

Parents frightening their kids is one thing, but why do people
want to scare themselves? Did you ever wonder why you paid good
money at the bookstore and at the movies for this service that
your parents would happily provide you for free? Well, horror
stories are about fear, but it’s not just about making yourself
scared - that alone is no fun. Horror stories are about
conquering your fear, and the way they do that is symbolically
by creating a monster that represents a fear and by having that
monster defeated. Thus it helps you to overcome your
subconscious fear/Monster by identifying with the destruction of
the one in the story. Works out pretty neat, huh?

Here’s how it plays out in a few familiar scenarios.
Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, was thought to the first real
science fiction book, although it really is a horror story. In
the story Victor Frankenstein discovers the secret of life -
itself! As an experiment he creates for himself a man sewn
together from cadavers and then embues it with life, and then
seeing what an awful looking creature he’s created, he abandons
it. He does this because it looks so hideous, though for the
life of me, I can’t figure out why he had to make the thing out
of several icky corpses instead of just finding one beautiful
one and giving that one life. Anyways, the monster runs away and
then comes back to haunt him and he has to destroy it.

The explanation for Frankenstein is that the monster represents
science and the Victorian fear that science and progress had
gone too far. Science, once the obedient servant of mankind,
had, like Frankenstein’s monster, broken free and turned against
its master - us. A hundred or years later this same theme is
echoed in the movie The Terminator, only this time the science
that breaks free is computer science. Computers, our formerly
docile servant, turn against us and band together to become one
giant warlike mind which for some reason or other decides that
all humans must perish throughout time. I guess we had it coming
to us.

Vampires, another popular monster, have represented the once
prevalent infectious disease that used to regularly wipe out
giant swathes of human population. In modern times, Vampires
have been reinterpeted to be kind of sexy, that is, they
represent the dark sexual impulses people have inside themselves
that they also think may destroy them. Vampire stories, then,
become our victory over our dark, forbidden desires. Which are
represented by those sexy, sexy vampires.

Sex is a constant theme in the slasher movies. The Scream movies
brilliantly satirize this by having the teen-agers in the movie
aware of the conventions of the genre they are living through,
yet helpless to change them as those conventions become their
fates. In the slasher movies young girls fear of their own
sexual maturity is confronted symbolically by the slasher who
represents teen-age boys through the menace of wielding the very
Freudian penis/knife. You’ll notice that the heroine that
inevitably prevails in these movies is the virgin who never
succombs to the temptation of sex and not coincidentally, does
not succomb to the slasher, either.

My favorite monsters are the ones from the Japanese monster
movies, Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan and, of course, Monster Zero.
The reason I love these monsters is that they are political
monsters. Think about it: Godzilla is a giant, super-powerful
radioactive monster who comes from over the sea who is created
by radioactivity and then attacks Japan with that same
radioactivity. Sound familiar? (Hint: It’s America). All these
monsters from overseas are constantly attacking Japan and being
beaten up by the cohesion of the Japanese people.

Now, the obvious question for me - being a horror writer and all
- is: What are the symbolic monsters in my book, Breakfast with
the Antichrist?

Well … I’m not telling

Anyone who has experienced a disease like alopecia can tell you that it is the emotional pain that hurts the most of all. Losing ones hair is like losing a part of your identity. Every time you take a shower a little piece of you goes down the drain. Your mind goes into a defensive mode and you want to stop the loss of hair any way you can. Suddenly, your life is dominated by constant thoughts of how to deal with your thinning mane. You turn to science and medicine in hopes of a cure, but their official answer goes something like this: nobody can stop the hair from falling out faster than it is growing back. They can tell you what the stars in a distant galaxy are made of but they cannot find a cure for hair loss. The cold reality of the situation is that there really is no cure for this problem. There are only ways to treat the symptoms of the disease and cover up the problem to make it look like there is no problem.

Some treatments of alopecia, or baldness are better than others. It all depends on how much money you are able to spend and how far you are willing to go with your commitment to battling your disease. Some men accept their fate and walk around bald and proud, while others take on the fight to reverse their fateful condition with a vigor and passion that would make you think their life depended on it. In the old days you just walked around bald unless you wanted to wear a wig or hat all the time. Now there are a few more choices to treat conditions and diseases of the hair and scalp.

If you happen to be one of those people who chooses to take advantage of the latest treatments available for hair loss, then your first step should be a trip to a dermatologist. A dermatologist deals with diseases and conditions of the hair and skin and they will be able to steer you in the right direction for treatment. They will do a thorough evaluation in an effort to find the specific cause of your hair loss. There are a lot of different factors that determine the causes of thinning hair such as diet, medications, family history, hair care habits and menopause to name a few. A dermatologist will ask you a series of questions, examine your scalp and take a few hair samples to put under a microscope for further analysis. They may also perform a blood test and a scalp biopsy if they feel it is necessary for an accurate diagnosis.

The most common cause of hair loss is a certain gene you can inherit from your mother or your father. In this case the disease is literally in your DNA and there is not much you can do about it. If you have a parent, grandparent, aunt or uncle that has/had a problem with baldness then you are definitely at risk of having a problem too. The good news is that you can be ready to attack the problem right away if you know that your family has a baldness gene. Also, the mental anguish will be less if you prepare yourself psychologically ahead of time.

Hereditary balding can happen to women as well as men, but it is much less common. The official name of this disease is androgenetic alopecia and it can also afflict young women in their teenage years. This disease usually does not result in complete baldness with women. As is the case with men, there is no cure for womens baldness. However, there are some very good treatments available these days and women are much better off regarding alopecia then they were just twenty years ago.

Another thing that causes baldness is poor hair care. Constant bleaching, dying, shampooing, straightening, combing and brushing can do damage to hair and follicles which leads to an excessive amount of hair falling out. A relentless use of pony tails and braids can also cause this to happen due to the constant pulling.

Once you have received your diagnosis from your dermatologist you will be ready to take advantage of the treatments that are available for hair loss. Minoxidil is a lotion that is used on the scalp. Both men and women can use this lotion and both have seen positive results. Propecia, or finasteride is a pill that men can take several times a day to block the hormone that causes alopecia with most males. There have been some very positive results with men who have used Propecia and it is the most widely used treatment. Both of these products can be purchased at any brick and mortar pharmacy store. You can buy Minoxidil over the counter and Propecia can be purchased with a prescription. Propecia can also be purchased safely and securely online at an online pharmacy. This way you can have your hair loss product delivered right to your door which saves you the embarrassing trip to the local pharmacy where you run the risk of experiencing an awkward moment in public.

Getting a hair transplant is another option that is available for anyone seeking treatment for their thinning hair condition. This is definitely the more expensive and most ambitious choice. You have to be very serious about looking good to take on this option, for it requires actual surgery where they cut a strip of your scalp from the back of your neck at the bottom of the hairline. The idea is that you have an overabundance of hair on the back of your head so that area is not going to miss it if you cut a little strip away. The donor strip is then harvested of its follicles. The follicles are then surgically implanted on the bald areas of the scalp so that you will have your own actual hair growing in that area again. After surgery is performed it then takes a few months before you see any positive results.

Human beings can put enough information to fill a large library on a computer chip the size of a pinhead but they still have not discovered a cure for hair loss. Losing your hair may be inevitable, but there are ways to get some of them back. It may be in your DNA that your hair will start to thin, but fret not. There are a lot more choices these days for treatment than your poor ancestors had only a couple of decades ago. Science and medicine can help you out if you are willing to apply a lotion to your scalp, take a pill a couple times a day or go under the knife. You can be on your way to a thick head of hair again, depending on your bank account and your level of commitment.

© 2006 Copyright. Michael Connelly

Adult Acne sounds funny, doesn’t it? Well you will be surprised to know that adult acne is not uncommon amongst adults although acne and pimples are generally associated with pubertal youngsters.

Adults feel discomforted when they get acne affliction at a point where they had begun to assume that they were free from it. For those who withstood their teenage years without any sort of acne and were spectators of their peer’s acne-laden faces, getting adult acne is the worst sort of calamity for them. They often end up perplexed and upset. The oft repeated question is – isn’t acne an adolescent ailment so why now?

The bad news is that that acne outbreak in adults is a bigger problem than imagined. You will be surprised to know that about 40% of all acne cure products in America alone are sold to adults who have this skin condition.

One wonders about the reasons behind the occurrence of acne in adults. The reasons are many. The theory of poor personal hygiene seems to be the most popular one but is a myth. However, hormonal imbalances and blocked pores of the skin are a major cause of acne even adult acne. Infection of the sebaceous glands or defective closing of hair ducts on the face also causes acne amongst adults.

All acne to an extent is curable. So those who are acne afflicted need to relax. A lot of people are so exasperated with their acne that they resort to measures that do more harm than good. Most adults rush to the nearest pharmacy for an over the counter remedy, little realizing whether the medication would solve their acne problem.

Another fact is that most of the medicines and treatments are created specifically to deal with adolescent acne. Using the same line of remedial measures for tackling acne outbreak in adults, which probably might have different underlying causes, brings about poor results.

An important thing to note is that although adult acne is similar in appearance and form to regular acne, it necessitates more potent remedies. So what does one do when confronted with an acne outbreak?

Go to a dermatologist and get a diagnosis of the underlying cause of the acne. Once this is done, follow the line of treatment it demands. It could be a simple prescription drug that will do away with adult acne forever. And you would be secure in the knowledge that your one visit to the dermatologist to find a diagnosis and cure has been effective than shelling out money in that umpteenth visit to the drugstore.

All those acne sufferers stop feeling embarrassed. Just remember that it is not you alone having acne out there. There are many adult acne victims. All you have to do is get the right treatment and you will be an adult- free of acne.

Summary:

Acne outbreak amongst adults is a major problem which needs to be tackled in a proper manner. The first step is to avoid getting embarrassed and the next step is to consult the dermatologist and get rid of adult acne.

Adult dating greatly differentiate itself from teenage dating in many terms. First, adult dating tends to be more “allowed” or need not have the consent of a parent, a guardian or just any older companion of the daters. Second, adult dating is not as spontaneous as teenage dating.

Considering these elements of adult dating, here are a few secrets on how you can make the most out of the adult dating game.

1. Enjoy your freedom. Unlike before, when peer and family pressure could really get in your nerves, now you have the hand and the mind as in the level of maturity to choose whom to date, when to go out on a date and where to go. Who knows? This could be your first time to finally have a say on these matters, right? Better maximize it by being your best-looking and think of good thoughts to emanate that adult dating-ready comehither look!

2. If you have long mourned a divorce or separation, better loosen up that long face. Stop slouching on your couch and work it! If it feels like it’s high time to savor another company or relationship, by all means, entertain that feeling. It’s not like you’re getting married again on your new adult dating endeavor.

3. Being alone is always better. Remember that time when you go out with your clique and nobody seems to notice you? Nah, you’re just too guarded. With adult dating, you are advised to consider that now is the time that you go out a bit more often. And please do yourself a big favor. Do go out all by yourself. Don’t wait others to do the first move. But don’t look too desperate when using these approaches.

4. Ever played a serious game? Adult dating is equal to playing a serious game. What an oxymoron, you say? It just fits that description well since looking for a new partner in your adulthood is not supposed to be as playful as when you’re young but you still have to have some fun while in the middle of adult dating.

5. Keep those little tricks to yourself first. In playing the adult dating game seriously, no tricks or manipulations are allowed. Just like in teen dating, manipulating anyone can backfire. Be yourself to attract those who are worthy to invest a good relationship with. Look for the one who likes the real you.

6. That’s entertainment. If someone’s exerting effort and spending money to date you, he surely deserves a treat. Simply bringing up a fun and engaging conversation will do it. If he’s into it, an intellectually stimulating talk won’t hurt. No clowning or contortionist’s moves allowed.

7. Flash your most sunny smile. No, you don’t have to keep on smiling like Playboy bunny. (As if bunnies really smile that much.) What I mean is, save that lust worthy grin on the next stages of your adult dating. But if the timing is right and you both got it burning… hey… As long as you show your most approachable side, to what it leads to needs not much discussion really. But remember the tip number five!

8. Don’t cancel dates. If you prefer to do something else, re-schedule! Don’t break dates. Be fine with changing partners. It’s a part of the adult dating game.

With those secrets in hand, now you are more armed with adult dating tactics and ethics. Never forget that in an adult dating game, nobody becomes a loser. One just has to keep on playing to win. Have fun!

Well, I have to say the last few weeks have been very educational for me.

I never went to university (or college, depending on you location.) My family thought it quite strange, as even as a little girl I always had a thirst for knowledge.

In fact I was the geeky kid at school that looked forward to trips to the factory because it meant I got to see how things were made and what really made them work.

But I’ve also always had a very strong work ethic.

From my teenage years I always wanted to get a job and start earning my own money. Even at 14 I knew that there was something different about the pocket money your family gave you and the cash that you could earn for yourself.

Well, now at the ripe old age of 27 I have finally began to put those 2 passions together and am teaching myself how to build my very own website which in turn will build me my very own income.

This seemed like a reasonably straight forward project when I started out. Oh, I knew there would be a learning curve and I knew also that there would be times when I felt a little out of my depth but that’s ok I said to myself, because I like a challenge.

And oh boy did I get one!

You see up until about a year ago I was what could very easily be described as a technophobe. I had never had an email address, I didn’t have a clue what an mp3 player did and I still don’t understand quite how this whole World Wide Web thing works. But having said all that I have never before felt that there was so much free learning and such possibilities right a my fingertips, all available to me just at the touch of a button.

In the last few weeks what I have learnt - been able to teach myself – about building my very own website has been nothing short of phenomenal - even if I do say so myself

The thing is I know I still have a long way to go and I realise that there is so much more out there to learn but when I think back to the 26 year old girl who didn’t have enough belief in herself to write an email and I compare her to the 27 year old woman who dedicates herself to the passions that drive her, I’ve got to say: I can’t wait for the rest of my journey.

They say a journey of a million miles starts with a single step. But I don’t know if that is enough. I believe that our journeys start long before we start counting the steps, what we need to do is not to be afraid to keep on stepping even when the terrain is a little unfamiliar.

Believing in yourself and the things that you can learn to do is the very first step in working your way to your own future of success.

Anything I can do you can do better.

Email communication has expanded itself from professionals to normal home users. As a child enters into teenage, he becomes familiar with the power and usefulness of email communication and uses emails to correspond within his circle of friends and relatives.

If we quickly look at some of the public email portals like Yahoo, Hotmail, Rediff etc; it can be analyzed that these portals regularly increase email storage limits for its users and as long more space is provided will thus encourage the user to utilize it.

Email communication proves more useful in the corporate world where hundreds of emails are exchanged daily between the professionals. They could be meeting notices, memorandums, important business attachments or simple emails of well being.

If the importance of email communication has increased, so has increased the importance of data storage and the level of corruptions of email messages. This importance has resulted into duplication of data and information, data archives, and waste of hard drive storage space.

Email Storage:

As you receive many emails in a day, have you ever wondered where these emails get stored? The answer could be an email server or on the user’s computer system.

MS Outlook and Outlook Express are the widely used email clients because of their ease of use and user friendly features. While working on MS Outlook, the email files are stored in PST and OST file formats and an exchange server is maintained to handle the incoming and outgoing emails.

Now arise the common questions; what is exchange server, .pst files and .ost files and how are they used to store emails?

Microsoft Exchange Server:

Microsoft Exchange Server is a messaging system which supports transfer of internal and external electronic messages. The application is widely used in organizations where Microsoft infrastructure solutions are used. The exchange server stores data in highly organized relational database with the help of algorithms thus helps in transfer of mails and manages communication between other Exchange servers also.

How does Exchange Server work?

As the Exchange server stores messages and manages incoming and outgoing process of emails, the working of the messaging server also becomes a crucial point. The process of receiving, sending and managing the messages by Exchange server is as follows:

Step 1: The client connects to the server and sends the message.

Step 2: The exchange server then processes the message and determines saving location in the messaging database.

Step 3: The recipient of the message is notified by the server.

Step 4: The client to receive the message connects to the server and receives the message.

The simple working of the exchange server makes it easy for us to send and receive messages, thus transferring data electronically.

MS Outlook – Personal Storage Files

“The file where MS Exchange server delivers messages”

The Personal Storage File (.pst) is the most robust storage container of emails and MS Outlook has the ability to store and deliver messages in the .pst file format, other file types can also be stored inside the PST file. But the PST file can get corrupt due to accidental file deletion, virus attacks or it can get damaged internally causing into data loss. There are number of email recovery and pst recovery software which effectively recovers mails and data from the corrupt pst files.

MS Outlook – Offline Storage Files

“The storage file where emails and other information can be stored, which can also be accessed offline.”

In the corporate arena, Exchange Servers are used to store email messages. The Outlook Offline Storage Folder (.OST) in Microsoft Outlook provides unique synchronization method with an Exchange Server and existing mailbox accounts. The OST file gets stored on a users computer system which constantly gets synchronized with the Exchange mailbox account, which results into duplication of data on exchange server and on the user’s system.

Access to .ost file requires an Exchange mailbox account, and if the mailbox is damaged, missing or removed, the .ost file will not open. For this you need to convert the .ost file to .pst file on your own or try the exchange ost recovery software.

Here I would like to guide you with some simple steps, following which you can convert the damaged .ost file to .pst file successfully in Outlook 2002 or 2003. This is the method which worked for me:

1. Backup the ost file(s)

2. Rename the outlook.ost file to outlook.pst file

3. Use scanpst.exe from Outlook 2002 to repair the outlook.pst file. (C: Program FilesCommon FilesSystemMSMapi1033)

4. Rename outlook.pst back to outlook.ost

5. Run OST to PST which will then successfully convert the file to outlook.pst

6. MS Outlook will then open the outlook.pst file.

OST/PST file formats are very complex and are designed around relational database concepts. The messages in these files are organized in hierarchical format using folders to store the messages. If the above mentioned steps do not work in your case of corruption, then it might be due to major corruption which can be effectively repaired by the ost recovery software. There are number of OST file recovery and PST file recovery software to convert and repair your damaged email files.

The OST conversion software is such corrupt ost recovery software which effectively converts .ost files to .pst files which become inaccessible due to virus attacks, exchange server crashes, accidental deletions and database corruptions. The pst recovery software effectively repairs outlook pst emails with complete emails, attachments, email properties etc.

The Mayor of San Francisco announces that he’ll enter rehab and counseling for alcohol after it’s revealed that he had an affair with the wife of his campaign manager. Isaiah Washington is undergoing counseling for his use of a homophobic slur. Michael Richards is in counseling for yelling racist epithets. Met Gibson enters rehab for alcoholism after making anti-Semitic remarks when stopped by police for driving while intoxicated., Sen. Mark Foley enters rehab for alcohol after it was revealed that he had sent sexually suggestive e-mails to teenage pages., Reverend Haggard enters rehab when confronted with having a sexual relationship with a male prostitute.

The list goes on and on and on.

Then there are the Lindsey Lohans and Nicole Ritchies who enter rehab for drugs, alcohol or whatever, become ‘experts’ on addiction recovery, tell everyone how their lives have changed, yet within a short amount of time are seen partying, driving under the influence, and acting out.

We read the newspapers, listen to the radio and go online wondering, who is next in the line-up for rehab? Who will come out a few weeks later, write their memoirs, go on the speaking circuit, and tell us to live our lives?

There could be a gold mine in running rehab centers for celebrities that don’t want to take responsibility for their actions and for counselors who specialize in famous people who make racist, homophobic, or any other hate-filled remarks.. There’s probably also money to be made by graphic artists who create diplomas for graduates of rehab and counseling who are declared ‘cured’ of alcoholism, drug addiction, racism, homophobia, and homosexuality.

Rehab is getting a bad name and soon there will be no room for the average alcoholic or drug addict who works hard to stay clean and sober, takes responsibility for their actions, and knows that there is still work to do after the first 30 days.

I’ve been clean and sober for over 22 years and I’ve put a lot of work into transforming my life. One of the first things I learned in AA was that alcoholism and drug addiction are not excuses for injuring yourself or others. Part of my recovery was making a list of people who I had harmed, making amends to them personally and accepting the consequences of my past actions. I didn’t make an announcement to the world and I still don’t think I have all the answers, but I do know a thing or two about rehab.

I realize, for example, that my amends and apologies have to mean something and indicate a change in actions and thought processes. I also know that “apologies by proxy”—when celebrities make inappropriate remarks then apologize to well-known people from the group targeted by the remarks—just don’t cut it. There seems to be no end to well-known people who make racist remarks about Black people and then call Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson seeking absolution, as if they have the power or time to forgive and make such comments ok.

Entering treatment for addiction means you get treatment for your addiction. Any other changes you make are up to you. That also means that.a racist alcoholic, who gets treated for alcoholism can still be a sober racist, anti-Semite, homophobe, or engage in inappropriate behavior.

As a diversity and inclusion strategy consultant, I speak to individuals and organizations throughout the world. I hear racist, homophobic, anti-Semitic remarks from all kinds of people. At the same time, I’m with people who work hard to understand others who are different than themselves, who learn to break through incorrect assumptions and stereotypes, and appreciate the opportunity to interact with others in meaningful dialogue.

Rehab is not the cure for all the -isms or for hate. The cure is education, self-examination and the willingness to get to know people from diverse backgrounds as human beings and understand their lives and experiences.

Simma Lieberman

P.S. The cycle continues: Ms.USA was on Larry King talking about her new self and giving advice after several weeks of rehab.