There's nothing better than a good book....

So, here we are at the beginning of a New Year but the weather is still cold and the nights are still long. So how do you fill the long evenings?

Personally, I am never without a good book...and there are so many ways to get hold of great reads. Charity shops are an obvious place to go for cheap books, but if you don't feel like going out into the cold, then you can go online and order direct.

One such website is: Oxfam Secondhand Books

Another great source of books, new and used, is Amazon - Books.

What I like about Amazon is that it has readers' reviews, which can be very helpful when there is so much choice. Once you have an account with Amazon and start buying books from them, you can find out what they recommend, what other people who like similar books have bought and, of course, Bestseller lists and so on.


My final suggestion for online help about what to read is Lovereading, a website entirely dedicated to books and reading. Here you can even read Opening Extracts of books, get Like-for-Like recommendations based on writers you already enjoy reading and, best of all, you can compare prices at various online stores.

So, there's no reason not to stay snug and warm in your armchair and get all the good books come to you. At least until all this weather blows over...

Eating Out - in and around Edinburgh

I enjoy eating out but, like everyone else, I want it to be a great experience. There's nothing worse than paying for a meal you could have cooked better yourself (and I'm no cook).

So, I usually do a bit of research before booking a meal out. My favourite source of interesting restaurants in and around Edinburgh is The List Eating and Drinking Guide. This is an extensive guide to all kinds of restaurants in Edinburgh, Glasgow and further afield. 

You can start searching by working on categories such as Scottish, World, Pubs, Cafes....you get the idea....and I usually head straight to the Hitlist in each. These are the most highly recommended for the current year (The Guide is re-issued annually). All the information you could wish for is included in each entry, including opening hours, prices, dietary requirements and, more often than not, a link to the eatery's website. There are often reviews as well.

I have been using The List for years now and I can honestly say I have rarely been disappointed.

So what are my recommendations? Well, this is always tricky, isn't it? Everyone has different ideas about a good restaurant, but here are a couple of mine:

Creel Restaurant, Dunbar - an excellent day out....a walk in the John Muir Country Park then a meal in the Creel.

The Dogs - I am a little biased here as it's where I was taken for my 50th....but excellent home cooking in the heart of Edinburgh

Wedgwood - we had a lovely Christmas lunch here and, judging by their website, they're going from strength to strength.

Of course, it's always great to get a personal recommendation...so thanks to Iris for this one:

EH15 at The Jewel and Esk - this is the college training restaurant, so the food is excellent and the prices even better. And we can walk home afterwards.

So, any recommendations to add? Would love to hear from you...



Quest: a search or pursuit made in order to find or obtain something

I like the idea of internet searching as a quest....because that is often what it turns into. Here's what I mean...

I am currently teaching PowerPoint Presentation skills to Primary school children. While thinking about a suitable topic for a presentation, I decided to work with animated films. This was only partly because children like them: I think they are fantastic....and my favourite is Coraline.

To create a presentation, I wanted to find out more about the film, the story and, in particular, to find good images. So, I started googling. The first source of basic information came as no surprise: Coraline on Wikipedia. This is often a good way to set off on an internet quest. In this case, it included a plot outline and a cast of characters, which would be very useful for deciding what images I'd like to find.





The second result of my search was the wonderful The Internet Movie Database - an excellent starting point whenever you want to find out about films. Scrolling down the webpage, I was able to read about the film and, very excitingly, discover a link to one of the most entrancing and imaginative websites I've yet to find - Coraline - the official website.

Once you enter the site, the best way to navigate it is to click on MAP and then explore. Wherever you see a link, you will find information about the making of the film, or get the opportunity to be creative. For example, if you click on Coraline's bedside table in her Bedroom, you will see a video about the creation of the costumes for the characters. Go into The garden and you can create your own flower. And so on.....

There is really too much to tell you about here, but you can learn more about the author (Neil Gaimon), the actors, the director (Henry Selick).....it is a really fascinating site. Is it obvious that I really got hooked on this particular quest?

Finally, to find the images I wanted for my presentation, I went back to searching the internet. This time, I set my google search to Images instead of Web, from where I was able to create an album of internet images in Pictures.

As you can imagine, making a PowerPoint presentation has never been so much fun!

Mid-term Break...all booked online

Not to gloat, but we are taking a break next week and heading to Spain.

We booked the entire trip online and saved ourselves a huge amount of money. It all started with Ryanair (not my favourite airline, I admit, but they are cheap and they fly from Edinburgh!). We checked all the destinations available at this time of the year and found that we could fly to Alicante direct.

Although the Costa Blanca has negative connotations for many, we decided to see what there was inland. One of our favourite travel websites is Responsible Travel. It proved to be a good starting point as they feature environmentally sound holiday options all over the world. In fact, the accommodation in the Alicante area turned out to be unsuitable, but it helped to define the area we wanted to go to....and we started Googling.

Our luck was in and we struck gold with La Murta....and now we are off to spend a week in the mountains some kilometres inland from the coast.

Not only did we find well-priced and unusual self-catering accommodation, but through La Murta's informative website were also able to hire a car very reasonably too.

So, we're all set. Now all we have to do is find time to do our packing.....

My favourite keyboard shortcuts

Years ago, Jonathan (the other half of The Potten Computer School...and my husband) asked me why I never used keyboard shortcuts. I, like many people, was totally dependent on the mouse whenever I was doing word processing, surfing the Internet or, indeed, doing anything on the computer. 

Now that I use the computer so much, and am teaching it as well, I really appreciate the fact that I can save time (and my wrists) by alternating between using the mouse and the keyboard.

So, I got to thinking about which of the keyboard shortcuts I found most useful and here are my top 10, in reverse order. 

10.   Home key - go to the beginning of a line

9.     End key - go to the end of a line

8.     Ctrl + Home - go to the beginning of a text

7.     Ctrl + End - go to the end of a text

6.     Ctrl + P - print a document

5.     Ctrl + C - copy

4.     Ctrl + X - cut

3.     Ctrl + V - paste

2.     TAB key - move from box to box in an online form or a table

1.     ENTER - confirm an action instead of clicking

I realised as I was typing this, that were many more than 10 that I use on a regular basis. However, I'll leave you with these for starters. Once you start to use them, you'll wonder how you ever survived without them.

Not everyone has the same ideas about the Top 10 keyboard tips, so here are Another ten tips...some are the same, some are not.

Once you start to get a bit more curious about how to use your keyboard effectively, you will probably be ready for the next link....The Keyboard.

You may never use your mouse again!

Photos...taking, editing, entering competitions

This post is dedicated to those of us who love taking pictures but often find that what we thought would be the best photo ever, doesn't quite make the grade.

One of our most popular courses at the school is photo-editing. We start off with PICASA, helpfully provided free by Google. For more advanced editing skills, we then move onto Photoshop Elements. And there is no doubt that with good editing, you can certainly make the most of an otherwise average photo.

However, it doesn't hurt to think a bit more about what you're doing when you are taking the original shot, or shots. So, here's some advice from the professionals...

Established in 1888, they should know what they're talking about....and yes, Kodak are still going strong.

Here are their Top 10 Tips for taking great pictures. I love the way they show you the 'before' and 'after' pics. Very clear, very user-friendly and the advice makes sense.

Once you get onto their website, there are also some great photos to get your inspiration from.

Another website that might interest you, and this one even offers online courses, is BetterPhoto.com. They have Another Top 10 tips, with some variations on the Kodak ones. This website has an interesting gallery and advice on cameras as well.

These are just a couple of websites. As you can imagine, there are plenty more if you spend the time googling or Asking Jeeves, or however it is that you like to surf.

However, once you've applied all the tips and learned a bit of editing, you might wonder what to do next. Well, you might decide to enter a competition. In that case, have a look at Photography Competitions. That should keep you busy for a while...

If you have children who are interested in photography, I would recommend having a look at Woodland Nature Detectives. They have some downloadable tips and, even better, their current photography competition for under-14s is still open. The deadline is September 30th.

So, that's it for now. Happy clicking.....

Fashion for all Ages

Hi there

Here at The Potten Computer School, our motto is All Ages, All Levels. So, with the All Ages part firmly in mind, I've been looking at some fashion blogs this week. 

Even if you're not 'into' fashion, these are worth looking at because they give a real insight into how style, design and fashion can make people happy. Here are some of my favourite ones.

Starting at the top....this one's called Advanced Style with the byline Proof from the wise and silver-haired set that personal style advances with age. It certainly shows how stylish and interesting the older crowd are, with some excellent videos too.

Another of my favourites is The Sartorialist. For me this is about the photos as much as the fashion. Scott Schuman takes stunningly cool photos of fashion as it is worn in the streets, predominantly though not exclusively, of New York. Gorgeous.

In a slightly more Ugly-Betty-esque way, What Katy Wore is a homage to colour, clothes and doing fashion in your own way. You might need sunglasses to view the brighter ensembles, but she has certainly risen to the challenge of wearing-a-different-outfit-every-day-for-a-year with relish.

And finally, in case you thought that only adults blogged about fashion, meet 13-year-old Tavi Gevinson from Chicago:

from The Observer, Sunday 20 September 2009

Her mature and insightful blog The Style Rookie has made her into a celebrity in the fashion world....

So, as I said, fashion really is for all ages.