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.

Have you ever noticed how many holidays are centred, in some ways, on food? Christmas is no exception to that rule and indeed the goodies found on the Christmas Recipes - Holiday Cooking - All Recipes site have set my mouth salivating. If you celebrate this holiday, and even if you don't have a look at these recipes. Simply scrummy.

And what Christmas would be complete without the odd cookie (or bikkie as those of us in the South Pacific label them) filled with Christmas cheer? If you haven't made yours yet you might want to hop over to the site titled A Christmas Cookie Celebration Must-Try Recipes where you'll find some yummy comestibles to go with that cuppa on Christmas (or any other) morning. Enjoy.

Mind you, the young folk shouldn't be left out of the kitchen either. Thus the Easy Recipes for Kids site was born, to show you how good it is to include the children in the Christmas food making process. So gather your young folk around, get out those ingredients and make your own wonderful Holiday treats.

I have often heard folk complain that they must 'endure another day with relatives' which, to me, seems to counter the whole idea of family gatherings. If, somewhere in the past, your family and you have gotten into loggerheads about some issue, isn't it time to resolve it and move on? The CRN The Twelve Skills - Conflict Resolution Network just might be able to help you with that process by providing hints of things others have found useful. Come on, be the adult in this situation and resolve to end that conflict once and for all. Now, if only we could get nations to do the same thing...

Have you ever thought about someone, maybe a friend or neighbour, and said to yourself "hopefully someone will write their story for others to see"? Well, if no one else is going to do it, maybe you should. If you hop over to The Australian Book of Memories you'll see stories of people who others remember fondly. Maybe you could do the same for someone. It would be a lovely gesture on your part I feel. Tell their story so all of us can benefit from it.

One of the things I enjoy about looking over blogs is seeing how diverse the subject matter can be. Some blogs are centred on one subject while others have a different subject with each entry. Have a look at ze's page at zefrank.com and you'll see a good example of the latter kind. Interesting blog though. Now, when were you starting yours?

If you have (or indeed, for Christmas, get) a new digital camera you might like to have a look at some free software that can definitely help you with the processing. Have a look at the Paint.NET - Free Software for Digital Photo Editing site and read what others say about this freeware. I think it's worth a download and I plan on doing just that this week and trying it out on those family shots of our grandchildren. Have a look. It's not as difficult as you might think.

If, over the holiday, you receive music in the form of a CD and wish to a) get rid of the DRM so you can play it on your car stereo, or b) convert it to another music type so it will play on your mobile music device, then look no further than the well written article on the Ask Bob Rankin - DRM Removal site. He will point you in the right direction of freeware to do what you wish to do, legally. DRM, or Digital Rights Management, is fair enough, but equally fair is your right to make a backup copy of what you bought to enjoy in other ways.

Did you get a Holiday card written in another language? Or, do you need to send one with a nice message to someone who speaks another language? If so you need to have a look at the AltaVista - Babel Fish Translation site which is a free translation service for you to use. You simply put your text in one box, say what language you wish it translated into, and hit translate and you're done. It then appears in another box for you to copy and paste into your card. Simple really isn't it? I can remember when IBM first introduced the concept of computer translation at the World Fair in New York in the 1960's and now it's available online for you to use for free. Doesn't time march on though?

Ever thought of turning your computer monitor into a television so you can watch television at your desk? Well, if you go to the Joost - Free online TV - Comedy, cartoons, sports, music and more - Download today site, download the appropriate software for free, install it, then go back and pick what you wish to watch from those categories, you'll have television on your computer at no charge. Now that has to be a bonus. Enjoy.

All good educators know the value of well thought out lesson plans. Having been a University Lecturer myself I can tell you that writing one can, at times, become a daunting task. However, there is help at hand. If you educate the younger folk you might want to bookmark the Daily Lesson Plan site for those days when you just don't know what to teach next or how to teach it. Without doubt this is the most comprehensive lesson plan site I've ever seen online and it's free. It can save you hours of work even if you only take the ideas used and develop them yourself. A must see for all teachers.

And finally, a site, based on translation again, but this one even translates websites for you. Have a look at the Crapola Web Translator site (unfortunate name) and maybe even translate my site if you wish by entering the url in the appropriate box. And, which language would you like? Well, it's not your normal run of the mill languages, but how about translating it in Yoda, or Martian, or Valley Girl, or Jeff K, or ... well, you get the idea. 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. ;-)