It was an interesting genealogy day - filled with discoveries and useful exercises. However, I didn't advance the "ball" on new ancestors or sourcing data for the ones I have.
I was on the computer by 8 a.m. and read my email and blogs, but I got hung up for awhile and didn't post the Software question for iFamily until 9 a.m. Reader John did all the hard work - I just copied and pasted. However, I wasted no time in posting the first installment of Della's Circle of Friends and took the better part of an hour transcribing about half of Della (Smith) Carringer's autograph book from the late 1870's. I read more blogs and saw Ruth's post about RPAC's Case for Open Records brochure and posted that also.
Then things got fairly interesting. I decided to install and run the FamilyTreeMaker 2008 software that I won last month. It installed easily, but took some time, and then I uploaded a big FTW file and it took more time. I spent some of my waiting time bringing the periodicals back into the Genealogy Cave. When the database was loaded, I started making screen captures and putting them into an OpenOffice presentation file. I had about 40 screen shots in the presentation, and saved it. I went out to lunch at McDonald's (6 chic nuggets, 3 choc chip cookies, choc shake, yum!), then to the pharmacy and finally to the bank. Genea-Man does not live on databases alone - he needs chocolate, drugs and money to support Mrs. G-man's lifestyle. I was home by 1 p.m.
When I got home, I attacked the periodical pile in earnest. I decided to throw out the useless papers and newsletters that have collected for some time, and I tried to put the SDGS, CGSSD, CVGS, ESOG, NEHGS, NGS and Tag periodicals in date order - latest on top. In the process, I repopulated the tops of my three filing cabinets. I'm still wondering about the value of all of that - should I just donate them all to the genealogy section at the CV library? I could visit them on occasion if I needed an article. Frankly, I don't read them very often. By 3 p.m., I was tired of stacking my dead-trees, so I sat down and started the first of my posts about FTM2008 using the screen captures in the post. I added a few more screen captures for later blog posts. I feel like I can maneuver around in the database now - the big challenge will be to figure the most efficient way to create new people and facts. At 4:30, Angel Linda asked if we could go out to dinner. Being a real smart astronaut, I said "yes!"
We went to Daphne's for their gyros sandwich and salad, then to Cold Stone for ice cream, and we sat and watched several little ones playing nearby - our grandma/pa fix! We were home by 6. Linda did her email until about 6:45, and I watched the news, read the paper, and watered the front plants and back dirt/grass clumps. Then it was Padres game time (we won, 4-0), and during the game I brought in the big box of family photos and other goodies that has been hiding in plain sight for several years in the Cave, and went through it item by item. I found several great photographs to scan, and read again some of the Smith/Carringer/Seaver archival books and papers. I even found the summary of the Carringer/Smith house that our friends wrote up - they lived in it from 1970 to 1977. At 9:45, after the game and a short walk, I came back to the computer and read my email and blogs, and started this post.
Genealogy today was 10.0 hours - 0.5 hour doing email, 0.5 hour reading blogs, 2.0 hours researching and writing blog posts, 3.0 hours working with FTM2008, 2.0 hours sorting periodicals, and 2.0 hours sorting family pictures and stuff.
No comments:
Post a Comment