Just a couple more ideas that could make our world a better place to be. Or at least slightly more ridiculous, a bit less road-hoggish, and maybe a bit more uncomfortable at football games.Teen MomTeen Mom, an extremely successful MTV reality show, has done wonders glorifying getting knocked up while in high school. Props to them for making this once frowned upon lifestyle choice into a culturally acceptable state. After watching a few episodes in a row, I always find I leave the living room slightly dizzy, and overwhelmed with the need to procreate. It's like brainwashing in the weirdest, responsibility-reducing way possible.In an effort to make kids realize that having a baby as a teenager maybe isn't always cool, I have a suggestion that will not only make Teen Mom more entertaining, but will act as a deterrent and hopefully steer young people away from unplanned pregnancy. Effective starting Season Three, all Teen Moms will be required to give their children names like Dwinkle, Harrypotter, Blueberry Intentions and so on. All names will need to be completely ridiculous and horridly unrealistic, in an effort to make teenage pregnancy less cool. Maybe a couple of the street smart moms will realize what a raw deal they're getting and back out of being on the show. Consider, however, that viewers are guaranteed that it'll only be the crazy ones who sign on for the show, leading to better TV (at least by MTV's standards). Real life teens engaging in unprotected sex who had previously been inspired by the show may think twice, because who really wants to name one's child Sookie Stackhouse?TrucksI think that I'm going to save up all of my pay cheques from the Mercury and put them away so that someday, when I'm all grown up, I can buy myself a big, sparkly, four-wheel-drive truck to get me to places I need to go. Namely, 1) the golf course on sunny days, because I need the box to haul my single bag of clubs; 2) work, because I need tons of torque and jacked up hydraulics in order to navigate through flat-except-for-pot-holes Estevan; and 3) the gas station, because driving around with this much style requires me to hit the pumps every three days.I personally fail to see the point of owning an oversized truck if all you need it for is to get home and back every day. They make cars for that. I'll admit that the winter weather can get pretty nasty, but with a reasonable amount of common sense, it's fully possible to get around Saskatchewan on a winter day in a car. People do it every day here in Estevan, winter after winter.However, if you own a boat, or a camper, or anything that needs a hitch to be towed, then fine, maybe you do need a truck. But for everyone else who jumps in their trucks in the morning and drives six blocks to go to work pushing pencils, maybe it's time to consider downsizing to something a little more fuel efficient and a little less jacked up.Rider DomeMaybe someone forgot to let the government know that there was a heck of a lot of flooding in Saskatchewan this summer and a lot of the crops didn't get planted. Whatever the case, the plans for a domed stadium in Regina seems ill-timed and well, just kind of dumb. Sure, 99.9 per cent of Saskatchewan residents love the Riders and many of them swarm to Mosaic Stadium every season to watch a few games. But it's unreasonable to promise these fans a new stadium when thousands of farmers are facing huge financial worries (despite the government's "rescue" plan). That $350 million dollars budgeted to build the stadium should be divided among the farmers whose crops can be canoed across and who face a pile of economic worry. They're as much a part of Saskatchewan as the Riders are, and our tax dollars will be better spent finding a way into farmers' pockets.Sounds like the government needs to make a list of priorities and start crossing off those that are not immediately important. I'll admit, a province like ours that finds so much identity and pride in our football team needs a stadium we can be equally proud of, but there's a bigger issue facing our people.
