This page on my site provides information on where I find my Picks of the Week, general rules I use for picking or not picking sites on the Internet, general advice to those who may be considering adding their sites to the Internet, awards that may be used on your site if it is picked as a "Pick of the Week", and a little about me and my family. 

• What
  

• Why
  

• Where
  

• General Rules
  

• General Advice
  

• Awards
  

• Who
  

Mac's Picks is a collection of family friendly interesting and useful sites, updated weekly. These sites cover subjects dealing with a focus on the family as a whole; search, Internet, Internet radio, news, health, medical resources, household hints, education, educational resources, recipes, food, strange and different sites including sites I call "head scratchers", help sites, homework, kids, diy, and/or new sites dealing with all kinds of things of use to the general Internet community.

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

Why is "Mac's Picks" here at all?

In my previous work as an internet consultant and a computer and internet trainer for government departments (NZ), companies (NZ), corporations (NZ), and as a university lecturer on the same subjects (NZ/Australia), I have found that most people, when they are first connected to the internet, tend not to know where to start or what to see first. Therefore my site at least gets folk into the habit of thinking in different directions and possibly opening up their horizons to the possibilities of searching for information and "surfing the Net" by clicking on highlighted hyperlinks.  

I became interested in the Internet while serving as a communications specialist in the US Air Force in 1965. We worked on the application of this new technology as a worldwide method of instant communication. Of course in those days it was a highly classified military secret and no one, including me, envisioned where it would ultimately lead to. When one works on IBM 066 and IBM 067 Punch-Card readers, which when combined with a relay display fills a reasonable sized air-conditioned room, one tends not to think of some small computer on a desktop in a home that can do the same thing better, more powerfully, and more efficiently. *smile* 

I also like to share with friends and colleagues useful and/or enjoyable sites I find. Hopefully these sites fill both of these objectives for you and your family, friends, and colleagues. Have a click around the site. I'm confident you will find things useful to you and yours.  

Where do my links come from?

There are many places on the net which act as repositories of new or different sites on the Internet, and I visit these often. Some of the search engines also produce lists of new entrants to the cyber world and some even send out, in email form, lists of new sites to see. 

I also spend (possibly an inordinate amount of) time on the Internet myself. Am I a "Net Junkie"? Possibly so, but I feel I could be doing a lot worse things with my time. In these long hours of surfing the net, I find, sometimes by accident, sometimes by design, new or interesting places I feel meet the criteria of my site and include them there. 

I also am privileged to have various individuals around the globe who email me monthly with new and interesting family friendly sites they have found. And I receive email from those visiting my site suggesting that I visit certain sites they found and feel might be appropriate to the site and an award. For these kind people, I am especially grateful and indeed, I encourage you to do the same if you come across something you feel meets my criteria. Recommending a site is not a guarantee that it will be included.  

Advertisers and link requesters PLEASE NOTE: I do NOT make permanent connections or "swap links" to or with other sites unless I feel the site meets the criteria of my site, and that I should. The only sites I've ever done that with are the site belonging to my web designer (see below), a blog about the plight of the members of the Baha'i Faith in Iran, a blog about blogs (lower right side of this site), the "Missing Children" site, various charities I feel warrant a constant reminder to us all (lower right side of this site), and a game site, all seen and accessible from this site and the home site. If you have a commercial site please don't email me requesting link exchanges as I simply don't and won't do it and you are wasting your and my time and clogging the net with uninvited traffic. This site is here to help those relatively new to the net, not to sell someone's product. So no matter how "wonderful" you think your product is, if you're not giving it away, I don't want to know. Thank you.

However, as owner and web-person of the site, I reserve the right to show those commercial sites which give something to the internet community without charge, and/or shareware or freeware computer programs that may help everyone.
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General Rules for sites on Mac's Picks of the Week.

Though there are no "hard and fast" rules about my site (with the exception that there will never be sites promoting pornography, drugs, alcohol, or hate or prejudice of any kind on my site) there are certain things I try to adhere to. These are: 

a) All members of the family, regardless of age, race, religion, education, or color may visit the sites I find without fear.

b) I should also point out that reciprocal links to my site are not a criteria for inclusion on the "Picks of the Week" site. They are always appreciated, but are definitely NOT a necessity to be included here. Usefulness, in my opinion, to the Internet community at large, is the deciding factor in any site being listed.  

General Advice.

If you are maintaining a site on the Internet, I suggest that you ensure that it does not include massive amounts of large graphics. The reason is that a large proportion of Internet users do not have direct, fast connections to the net. If your site takes too long to download a sizable percentage of your prospective audience will simply go elsewhere and be lost. 

Try to ensure that the information on your site is informative, useful, and complete. Also, the frequent updating of useful information will ensure that the Internet community comes back to see your site. The phrase? "Keep it useful, keep it current, and keep it simple." 

And finally, but most importantly, if you have a site online about anything, include an email link somewhere on your front or home page so those who visit your site can contact you. I cannot emphasize this enough. Amazingly many sites, including many commercial sites and some site designers, continue to forget this simple rule. 

Important Note: If you are returning to my site,Welcome Back! Please click your "Refresh" or "Reload" button on the top of your Internet browser to ensure you are seeing the current week's site of my "Picks of the Week" site.  

Hopefully this information has been useful to you as an Internet citizen and a prospective webhuman of your own site. Thank you for listening and again, Welcome to "Mac's Picks of the Week". 

Awards General Advice.

For those who have been picked as one of "Mac's Picks of the Week" and who have asked for a visible award for their awards site, here are two award logos you can add to your site to link back to mine. You may use either of these logos ONLY if your site has, indeed, been picked as one of "Mac's Picks of the Week". You may also resize them to your particular requirements. And a BIG Thank You to Rebecca Game at www.digital-women.com for the creation of her logo for me (on the right... the good looking one). 

Who Is Mac And What About His Family?

I am a 65 year old American/Canadian/New Zealand citizen who now lives in Australia on what is known as the Gold Coast of Queensland. This semi-tropical paradise is the place you have always dreamed of retiring to - 35 km of unbroken white sand beach facing the Coral Sea, with waves that prompted early settlers to the area to name it Surfers Paradise. As stated previously, I started working on the internet when it was a top secret military exercise in the US Air Force and other military agencies in 1965. I don't consider myself to be a guru of any kind, though some have labelled me a geek occasionally.

I am married to the same saint of a woman (Barbara, my tireless proof reader for many years) since September of 1965 (41 years and counting) who is also an administrator at the School of Education at Griffith University locally. We have also been truly blessed with two lovely wonderful loving daughters, both born in Nova Scotia Canada. Our youngest daughter, Deidre, lost a 20 year battle with Multiple Sclerosis at the age of 31 (see the Dedication to My Daughter - Deidre Lee McLellan - 26/10/1969 - 30/04/2001 link for my permanent memorial of her), while the older of our daughters, Heather Jo, lives here on the Gold Coast as well, with her wonderful husband, Jigger Johnson (CEO of Black Magic Glassing - manufacturer and finisher of only the highest quality surfboards), is mother to our two wonderful grandsons, Kaitoa Nathan (age 5) and Che Tainui (age 1 year), and she also manages to be Practice Manager of the largest medical practice in the area, and has completed her Certificate IV Practice Management this past year.

I am also the survivor of a series of 4 mini strokes, a massive coronary and subsequent quadruple bypass operation 5 years ago, and am an insulin dependant diabetic with diabetic peripheral neuropathy - thus my retirement. I love good people, good jazz, my family, many sports, and the net - usually in that order *smile*.

Thank you for persevering and reading this page.

Please return to my site often and share it with family and friends.

Mac McLellan, CEO of Up 'N Running and author and site owner of Mac's Picks of the Week.
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Rebecca Game of "Digital Women - Women with their modems running...", is a graphic designer who is gifted and superb to say the very least. Rebecca is and has been my web designer almost since its inception and I can't praise her work enough. Her site, dedicated to assisting 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 not recommend her more highly. She is a designer of exceptional ability and well trained internet savvy. She knows what works and what doesn't. 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. ;-)

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You can choose to search The Net or My Site via Google based on the "Family Friendly" content found on my site from here. The balloons show sites close to the content of my site.

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