Jay van Zeeland hopes Tell-My-Mom.com will steer teens straight
Jay Van Zeeland likes teenagers. He just doesn't like the way he meets them on his shifts as a part-time emergency medical technician. "I've seen plenty of accidents, but the ones that keep me awake at night are the ones that have kids and teens involved," says Van Zeeland, 36, of Suamico, Wis., who also runs a computer consulting firm. So he revved up an idea hot off an 18-wheeler's bumper: Paste a Tell-My-Mom.com bumper sticker on a teen's car so other drivers can report misbehavior via the Web or a 24-hour phone line. Van Zeeland, who racked up 16 tickets as a teenager, understands the ick factor: "I think, 'Oh my God, I've become my parents,' " he says. But he's sunk $10,000 into the idea (users pay $50) and has his stepson Jay, 19, drive a bestickered family car when not at college. (He's also stepdad to Becky, 8, and dad to Sydnie, 1, with wife Lois,. 39.) His own mom's reaction: "She asked me, 'Where was this 15 years ago?' "
My Favorite Sites
Cybill Shepherd
Ever hunt down star dreck on the Net? So do the stars. Shepherd moonlights as a souvenir hunter on eBay.com, where "I bid on things for my collection: a Kodak cardboard cutout [of herself], a Lady Schick hair dryer with me on the box," she says. The pro-choice activist and host of the new syndicated chat show Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus also visits plannedparenthood.org and naral.org to keep up with news about "my No. 1 political cause," She had cause for alarm, though, when she found a site sporting faked nude photos of herself ("with breasts bigger than my head," she notes with a laugh). The Net, she says, "is exciting and terrifying."
Internet Manners
When I begin an e-mail with a greeting such as "Dear Daughter" and conclude it with a closing like "Love, Dad," isn't it good manners for my children to respond using a greeting? They just launch into a message and frequently sign it "me." They tell me I don't understand computer protocol.
You're not in cahoots with my mom, are you? She zings me with the same gripe. It's a generation-gap thing: You probably think of e-mail as akin to a letter, while your kids see it as a speedy, informal way to stay in touch. Both styles are perfectly polite—so don't try to persuade each other to change. Just move on to the next argument.
Is spamming illegal? I offer a legitimate product for sale (I own a jewelry company), not some get-rich-quick scheme. I wanted to send e-mail out in bulk to advertise.
A growing number of states have laws imposing various regulations on unsolicited e-mail ads, and sending junk e-mail may also violate your Internet service provider's policies. But most important, it's an etiquette felony: Can that spam.
Shopping in a Winter Wonderland
Love making your list and clicking it twice? Or already wishing it were Dec. 26? No matter what your holiday-shopping M.O., the Web can be as helpful as your own personal elf.
IDEA-BEREFT: Get inspired at Surprise.com, which suggests gifts for kids and grown-ups in hundreds of hard-to-please categories. "Harry Potter Fan" might like a child-size broom; "Still Lives with Parents," a mini fridge.
IN A HURRY: Under strict orders to go fetch Poo-Chi (the hot-selling electronic pup, above, with pal MeowChi) or fellow kiddie faves Diva Starz (below)? Find a Web seller pronto by searching at an online mall like shop ping.yahoo.com or aol.com/ shopping—or, of course, mega-mart Amazon.com.
BARGAIN HUNTER: Several sites scour the Web for bottom-dollar prices on products. But none of them is perfect (or perfectly easy to use), so visit a couple if you view the words "list price" as a personal challenge. Two top stops: mySimon.com and BizRate.com. Or snag a discount for your favorite Web retailer at a coupon-tracking site like Dealitup.com.
BROKE: You could always send the "Redeemable for one free wrapping paper cleanup" e-card at Regards.com
Click and Get It
Celebs Get Carded
Get season's greetings designed by Julia Roberts, Ashley Judd, George Lucas, Jeff Bridges (right) and other artsy stars at Yahoo!'s Hope for the Holidays (hope.yahoo.com). Users can bid on the original artwork through Dec. 14, buy $10 sets of the cards (proceeds benefit the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation) through Jan. 1 or send e-versions free.
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
