Hello and welcome to Mac's Picks of the Week. If you are interested in why this site exists, how it operates, and a little about Mac, then click on the Why and How Info link and see what is there. When you have finished please return to this Home page and see what sites I have chosen this week to receive a Mac's Picks of the Week award. Thank you for visiting and please share this site with friends, family, and colleagues who you feel will enjoy it.

This page is updated on a weekly basis, each Monday Australian (Queensland) time (GMT + 10 hours according to the world clock). Please come back and visit often.

It's that time of year again when Halloween is celebrated in North America (though not all that often celebrated in other countries around the globe). Unfortunately Australia has started to join the club of countries falling under the marketing spell of this holiday and stuffing themselves with junk food for no good reasons. If you have decided to celebrate this festivity, then the games and ideas found at the Billy Bear's Halloween Party - BillyBear4Kids.com site might be fun to see and try. Of course gross looking foods are also concocted at this time of year for suitable parties as well, and some nasty sounding stuff can be found at the Halloween Recipes site. If you don't quite find the things you're looking for there, you might like to try the Halloween Recipes - Wanda's Halloween Recipes Cookbook site to see if you have better luck there. And, if you're having a party and want to dress up those invitations with the appropriate Halloween symbols, you might like to bookmark the Halloween Clip Art - Witches, pumpkins, ghosts, cats - Fun for kids - Kaboose.com site as well so that you have those images at hand. Have fun - and don't scare too many people on the night.

I'm a big fan of using email addresses other than my own when registering for any program or service. If that email starts getting spammed after you register, so what? One can be found and taken out for free at the Emailias.com - The Dedicated Email Address Service site. The email address is totally disposable if you start to get hit with junk mail. I'd bookmark this one for future use.

Most of us own a car and use it regularly to transport ourselves and our loved ones on various necessary jaunts. If you maintain it on some kind of regular basis you can also save yourself a lot of time, heartache, and money in the long run. Have a look at the Car maintenance illustrated tips - how to maintain a car site and you'll find a lot of useful information to help you maintain your vehicle in top condition. Again, this one is worth a bookmark.

Still haven't found that blog or podcast you wish to subscribe to? Then give the Feedster - over 17 million feeds Blog search engine a try. It could help you find one of real interest to you. Try it.

Living on the Gold Coast of Australia, with all of the tourists who weekly visit this place, we hear of an amazing amount of situations where first aid would have come in handy. Do you know your first aid? You might like to consider taking, and having your family and friends take, the St John Ambulance - Learn First Aid Online course. Enrol for the "Crash course" online now. It's free and it could help you save someone's life. You never know when the need will strike so take the course now.

As age advances we are told to exercise the mind as well as exercise the body to ward off ageing conditions of various kinds. The FREE Crossword Puzzles -- Crossword of the Day -- FREE Games site is a valuable site to bookmark and visit often. It has some good interactive crossword puzzles as well as other games that will make you think and keep that mind agile. Have a look and see if it helps your memory too.

When in school (in those caves we cave men used to live in...) I can remember History being a subject that various teachers taught with various levels of skill. To some it was simply a class geared to impart information and to others it was an experience to share with eager young students. Naturally the latter had much more effect and success, but had we also had the Best of History Web Sites to use (or the net for that matter) our history educators may have been able to make it so much more interesting, interactive, and entertaining. If you teach this subject you should have a look at this site. It could prove very useful.

Wellbeing is something most people aspire to but some seem to be able to achieve it better than others. If you feel your own situation could stand some improvement hop over to the Tetleywellbeing4life site and have a browse around. You could be forgiven for thinking this site is primarily for women. However, suffice it to say it is for the whole family but as women usually are the historical caregivers to families, it is directed slightly at them. Have a look. You might pick up some interesting tips here to help you and yours remain fit and well.

Australia has always prided itself on its relationship with its children. I must admit that the normal Aussie family seems well cared for and well catered for. During the school holidays and our long hot summer it can be a task for any parent to find interesting and fun things for the young folk to enjoy as well as the rest of the family. One of the States that has taken on that task is New South Wales (just south of me). The Kid Friendly activities accommodation & events for children in NSW site covers the greater Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Blue Mountains and the Central Coast region. Having said that, the Gold Coast of Queensland, where I am, has 5 major amusement parks, plus numerous smaller zoos and wildlife parks, not to mention the 35 kilometres of gorgeous white sand, public access beaches available for use as well. Maybe it's time you considered bringing your family to NSW and Queensland. It could be an adventure of a lifetime.

You no doubt have heard of YouTube where thousands and thousands of folk post their videos for you to see and enjoy every single day. However, YouTube is far from the only site that does that. For instance, have you had a look at the MySpaceTV.com site yet? You should as it contains videos of all kind. it's definitely worth a look. Youtube doesn't have it all.

Most of us listen to the news at least once a day, and there are normally enough scary things there to have us worried. However some ideas and "scary facts" simply are not true but are put into circulation to simply see if someone can create fear in the planet or not. However, thankfully one site at least, debunks the most obvious untruths with its Wellington Grey -- Miscellanea -- The Truth About Wireless Devices site. Is it true? Well, the spoof is a true spoof but the urban legend? Um - should we all put on our aluminium foil headsets yet? Enjoy.

Rebecca Game of "Digital Women - Women with their modems running...", is my web designer and a graphic designer who is superb to say the least. Her site, dedicated to women on the net, is worth seeing and bookmarking for future reference. If you are looking for links of interest to women, please visit her site. And if you need the best graphic designer on the planet, I seriously can't recommend her more highly. Oh yes, and when you visit her site, tell her Mac sent you. Thank you Rebecca. I am eternally grateful for your assistance and expertise. ;-)