I’ve been reading a few newspaper articles lately about the increase in popularity of networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook and how they are increasing the risk of identity theft. Many people who use these sites are posting details on their real names, their date of birth, their employment, where they live and the names of their kids - all information that can be exploited. As a result, I’ve decided to remove some info on my Facebook profile and increased my privacy levels.

The lovely Claudie presented me with this award and now I have to pass it on to five other bloggers. First, an explanation!

Schmoozing as defined by Dictonary.com is the ability to “converse casually, especially in order to gain an advantage or make a social connection”. When it comes to blogging, schmoozing is your ticket to making new friends, getting yourself noticed and building a reputation. Some bloggers are gifted with the ability to effectively schmooze and others not so much. Mark and his friend Danielle wanted to recognize those bloggers who exhibit strong schmoozing skills. In order to do so they created the new Power of Schmooze award! The award should be passed on to five other bloggers and I’ve tried to select those who haven’t been awarded it yet!

Erica from Down Under because she has a real gift for writing and isn’t afraid to bare her soul to her readers. Erica’s stories about her past got me hooked on her blog.

Chelle is a Canadian girl who lives in the States and has two beautiful kids and a fantastic husband. If they ever create a husband-cloning machine - she’d make a fortune!

Lynn is another Canadian girl and if you are looking for a blog with variety - then make sure you pay her a visit. She tells great stories and usually shares fab photos!

Buttercup is a lawyer from NY who is passionate about life and isn’t afraid to share her darkest secrets. Her blog is always entertaining and well worth reading. The trip to India was a fantastic adventure.

Gattina! Who else would have a post about toilets? Gattina’s post are always unique and often very funny. A bright spot in anyone’s day!

The weekend is almost over again. Why can’t we have longer weekends? I’ve been in a total funk for most of it as well and I can’t even blame female hormones this time. I was pretty tired for most of last week and I’m not sure why. I was getting plenty of sleep but I woke up feeling like I had been fighting all night. I can’t remember any of my dreams so no help there. I was very much looking forward to a few long lies this weekend but they never seem to happen. I guess I’m just to used to getting up at a regular time.

A neighbour was having a garden party on Saturday night so that didn’t help. I was really tired and I desperately wanted to let go but it was just too noisy. I’m not blaming them or anything because they did stop the music at a reasonable time but the damage was done by then. I was wide awake and my brain started thinking about things better left to a saner time of day.

I guess the whole problem lies with the fact the first anniversary of Grandma’s passing is this Tuesday. It seems incredible to me that a year has gone by already and I’ve been thinking about her a lot - truth is I never stop thinking about her but the good memories usually outweigh the bad. I suppose since that day is approaching, the bad memories of losing her are beginning to win. So, as I lay there trying to sleep, I started thinking about all the things she has missed this year and just started crying.

Grandma was a huge part of my life and whenever something good happened to me, she was the first person I called and I cannot begin to describe how lost I feel without her. I don’t have many friends, none that I would consider close anyway, and I suppose that role was filled by Grandma. She was always my best friend and I’m not sure I really appreciated that enough. We had so much in common, more so than I have with my mum, and we used to joke about how some things had obviously skipped a generation. I miss sharing my life with her and I miss how enthusiastic she always was about what her grandchildren were doing. I guess you could say she was the family cheerleader.

I have this big, gaping hole in my heart that is never going to be filled.

I just had to post today just because of the date! It has to be a lucky day for someone, right? I’ve not really got much to say. I’ve been very busy at work this week and soooo tired. I think the constant rain is depressing every one but I guess I shouldn’t complain since we’re lucky not to be waist deep in water like poor Yorkshire.

I had a very busy weekend last week up at the caravan so I’m making it up for it this weekend by doing not much of anything. I took advantage of WH Smith’s 3 for 2 offer and bought a load of books which I hope to devour over the coming days. I used to be able to read a book per day but I just don’t have the time anymore and when I get home from work I’m too damn tired to focus on the page. The weekend at the caravan was a total wash-out so that meant I got some quality reading time but, man, am I pissed at one of my favourite authors. I’m not going to reveal the author or the book so as not to spoil it for anyone who stumbles by here but it depressed the hell out of me.

(God, it’s raining…. again…)

I bought a portable DVD player for the caravan and it arrived on Thursday. I was about to hack it to region free when my cable and internet both went down for the rest of the evening which meant I couldn’t get the code! It’s so dinky though! I thought it would be good for the kids when they stay at the caravan. The school holidays started last week and my mum’s hoping my brother will bring the kids over so she can take them up to the caravan.

The caravan is situated at Craig Tara, Ayrshire which is one of those Haven Holiday places specialising in holidays for families. The kids have stayed there before and they really enjoy it but it’s really not the type of place I would have chosen. It’s nice enough and the kids will be safe there but nothing about it appeals to me. Thankfully, there are plenty of historic places around. We went to Culzean Castle on the Monday and it is an amazing place. I’ll do a post about that soon but there are pics in my Flickr account for those interested. Ayrshire itself is quite an old town and normally that would thrill me but it is so rundown, I found it quite depressing. It really needs a lot of investment but there’s just no money to do that. Like a lot of places, the new big retail parks and shopping malls are killing the local industry and many shops are closing down. I love the convenience of shopping malls but part of me regrets the loss of all those unique little shops. Shopping malls are the same wherever you go and that’s probably why shopping bores me so much.

Heroes For Our Time seems to be the phrase adopted by the press when reporting various acts of bravery performed by members of the public and airport crew in regard to the terrorist attack on Saturday. These are ordinary people who disregarded their own safety to save the lives of others and I think the nation owns them a huge debt. Things are slowly returning back to normal here and the security level has dropped to “severe” from “critical”.

Scots are being urged to be more vigilant but the underlying feeling seems to be one of determined resolution not to live in fear. As the holiday season gets underway, Scots are refusing to cancel their holidays and the airports are as busy as usual for this time of year. I’d like to say there have been no revenge attacks on Muslims but that is sadly not the case, however it seems to have been limited to a few idiots who really didn’t need much of an excuse anyway. We still don’t know why Glasgow was chosen and the favourite theory seems to be about Gordon Brown our new PM who was born there. Who knows? Anyway, theories aside, this is our message to the terrorists:

YOU ARE DEALING WITH SCOTLAND NOW. HURT ONE OF US AND YOU MAKE FIVE MILLION ENEMIES. WE HAVE SHED BLOOD, SWEAT AND TEARS TO PROTECT OUR LAND AND WE ARE PREPARED TO DO SO AGAIN. BE WARNED!!!

I didn’t even see the news reports about the terrorist attack on Glasgow airport until Sunday morning and a cold shiver ran through my body. Of course, the news has been full of the aborted bombing attempts in London and the whole country was on critical alert but no one even dreamed Glasgow would become a target. They are calling it the first ever terrorist threat against Scotland but as far as I’m concerned, Lockerbie is and always will be the first. Scotland may not have been the target that fateful day but the whole country was profoundly affected by that tragedy and the shockwaves reverberate to this day.

I’m so glad the car never made it into the main terminal on Saturday because the cost of life would’ve been tremendous and a work colleague of mine was flying out to Florida with her family that day. I’m pretty sure the flights for Orlando leave from a different terminal anyway but it just doesn’t bear thinking about what could’ve happened. I’ve no idea if she even made it out to Florida or had to endure a long wait like many others.

I find it totally despicable that two of the suspects are medical doctors - people who are supposed to be dedicated to saving lives instead of taking them. I will never, ever understand the mentality of suicide bombers and what they hope to achieve. I’m sick of living in a world full of fear and hatred.

Apparently, law agencies in the US knew about a possible attack on Glasgow and Prague two weeks ago and started placing air marshals on their flights to these places. Why weren’t we told? So much for the hand of friendship…