Carl's Journal

Have you ever had a child, or your partner was pregnant? Then you know how stressful having children can be. Some good friends of mine have just gone through the process of artificial insemination and are now happily expecting twins, though she's in her mid 40s so is justifiably worried about the dangers.

We were talking last night about the things she has to be aware of, actually she showed me a photocopied sheet of don't dos that her doctor gave her, with the two biggest being don't handle raw meat without wearing gloves or thoroughly washing her hands in hot water and soap, and not to handle cats.

This means she can't come to my apartment because of my cat.

OK, that's fine, I can handle that, it's no problem to meet them at their place or at a restaurant. Though it begs the question what sorts of things do people need to be aware of during the Pregnancy Calendar from inception to birth?

My own partner wants us to have kids and she can be quite sensitive at times, and this conversation got her nervous that with her internal body clock ticking along, well you know how worry plays havoc with the mind and people who are pregnant naturally become more cautious. Thankfully her and I aren't pregnant yet but her mother keeps dropping hints.

Next week my friends find out if they are safely into the second trimester, and then they can stop worrying, I hope, and get on with enjoying being pregnant and looking forward to having their twins. It's exciting times for them. Anybody else pregnant? Share your stories in the comments below.

Chatting to a friend from Jordan about the Middle East revolutions that are occurring I mentioned that aside from religion, in the west we are always very concerned about the rise of tribalism, so she explained to me how tribes in Jordan and other Arab countries work.

First a little history, hundreds or thousands of years ago, Arab tribes all started as extended family groups, and over time they've grown and parts of the family group moved away in search of new opportunities, but they maintained connections with their family group, and so that others within the family also benefit, the tribe became more than just a family connection.

The upshot of this is that in the western world we have more or less abandoned our traditional familial loyalties and allegiances in favour of small families and our friends, but in several places around the world the tribe (similar in this context to a Scottish clan) has maintained its strength, and people in the Arabian world identify themselves by their tribe first before their country.

In time this will probably break down just as it has in all developed countries, but for the moment the tribe is still important, most especially in parts of the Arab world where secularism hasn't yet taken hold. In Spain we have seen this occur quite recently with the advent of democracy, except that tribalism in Spain has been more closely identified with the village rather than the greater extended family.

In Scotland the clan system is still alive and many Scots are proud to identify with their clan, most of which also have foreign offshoots in countries that used to be British colonies. However, unlike the Arab tribes, Scottish clans don't have much political influence except in the cultural arena.

Spanish tribal groups are these days more or less restricted to the gitano populations, and their tribes have almost no influence, but tribal members will often group together for combined benefit, sadly this is most often seen in their criminal activities.

New Zealand's Maori tribes could be another example of how Arab tribes are perceived within the Arabian world. Maori tribes operate as political and economic units that campaign for rights and benefits for the members of the tribe, all of whom are related by common ancestry. Arabian tribes aren't quite as organised, and in some places their power is waning, but still they are a huge part of the fabric of Arab society.

It will be interesting to watch how tribal affiliations change over the coming years, Scottish clans are talking about strengthening their traditional base to support members more in a connected world, and in the Arab states young people are saying the tribes are a relic of the past to be discarded in the search for progress and modernization.

I love Convertible Cars. Period. How about I add an exclamation to that as well, convertibles have always grabbed my attention ever since a child when I would watch James Bond, Elvis Presley, the Brat Pack, or any of the other films of the era where the epitomy of style and class was a fast sport car with no roof.

In the 21st century it seems that less major manufacturers even bother producing a convertible, most actually leave that to niche performance manufacturers, so it's nice to see a major brand like Audi releasing models that are straight off the production line, and not left to third party performance specialists.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I've always though a convertible needs to be designed from the floor up by the original design team, sure you can tweak and modify all you like, but I want the peace of mind of knowing the vehicle is intended to be a convertible. Audi Convertible Cars get the thumbs up from me for being amongst the best sport cars from a major you're ever likely to see.

Being cars from Audi, they are marketed at a different type of client, so engines and running gear are uprated and enhanced for performance, a typical Audi convertible is not a typical car. Check out the Audi A4 Convertible Cars which look similar to a regular model, but not really. The added body styling makes this vehicle stand out even though it was first brought to market in the mid 90s.

Other vehicles like the Audi R8, the TT, the S4 almost look like they were always intended to be convertibles and putting a roof on them is a sin. However there is no accounting for taste, and if you're looking for a decent sporty convertible, give the Audi range the once over before making any decisions.

Are you looking for a car? So am I, well, I will be very soon when a friend of mine moves to California, but she's retiring and needs something smaller than she already has, and can't afford to pay for a new car.

OK, so technically the car won't be my car, but I still know more about four wheeled transportation than she does. Right now she has a little Nissan Micra with an automatic gearbox, nice little car, but she can't take it to the US, and since she has to change anyway, she might as well look at other models as well.

Cars Guide has some nice reviews of smaller cars that could be tuned, yeah I know, a retired lady isn't likely to need a tuned car, but you know what, when a tuning review says a car can be easily given a performance makeover the thought that goes through my mind is that the car obviously is popular, or easily worked on.

That has two advantages for a retired lady. First, she'll have no trouble finding a mechanic who can work on her car efficiently, and second, the easier and more popular a car is to tune, the cheaper they often are to service. For a retired lady that is a huge advantage.

I must confess I know nothing about American cars, but I see European and Japanese models in Spain every day, so I can ask friends here about the models that are also available in the US, and give my friend an informed opinion of the brand and model to look at when she gets there.

Volkswagen, and it's many variants such as Seat, Skoda etc are very popular here, so buying Lupo Cars from VW are always going to be a sound choice. They might not be easy for me to fix, but any mechanic worth his pay would be able to fix typical problems quickly.

Japanese vehicles like the Almera Cars, actually a badged Nissan Pulsar, are also a fantastic choice I'm serious about recommending because she plans to drive between Las Vegas and Los Angeles regularly, and my gut feel is that a slightly larger car would do the job better, and it has the additional advantage of being a brand she already knows and loves.

I'm BACK!!!

Yes, it's true, it really is me, I'm back and ready to get back to work again. The last couple of months have been crazy, me, my backpack, a small tent, and nothing else, no laptop, no phone, just me and nature touring Spain on foot. What a blast, but it's time to get back to work again.

The funny thing about taking a couple of months off is the amount of spam messages filling your email box, or the number of comments you need to clear from blogs and websites. It took me all day to get back to a state that I can start working again, but hey, I enjoyed my walk so that's the main thing.

Being back in front of my laptop after a couple of months is interesting, it's amazing to see which websites have performed, which are just sitting there costing me money, and which domains I don't really care about any more. Read More