I stayed home today, but had some household chores to do - like finish the taxes (we get to pay lots more...) and mow the front lawn (I fertilized a month ago, and now it's too long after one week).
I was on the computer after 8 a.m., and read my email. I had a response to my John McCain post on the APG list and took some time to respond to it. Then I read my Bloglines and decided to post the last Carringer family letter already transcribed on Genea-Musings. I did a little more research on Alexa.com and posted "5 Year Statistics for Ancestry.com Traffic." It should garner some interest! I played with Alexa, Quantcast and Compete a little longer, then decided to finish the taxes. I use Turbotax and had entered all of the data two weeks ago. I checked everything out and printed out one copy to send to the IRS and Cal FTB. I rewarded myself with lunch - baloney, cookies, pudding.
I read my email and Bloglines again, and posted "Christine Rose Seminar in Carlsbad CA on Saturday March 29" on Genea-Musings. I answered several emails and did some searching for the Kemp data I posted earlier - without luck. I did find the list of people in a photograph I was searching for, however! I sent the Elusive ancestor form out to the CVGS list for people to use at the seminar. I checked out the newest Ancestry databases and the Rootsweb databases. Then I bought the Professional Genealogy book online and made a hotel reservation for this weekend (to celebrate our anniversary). Linda came home and needed the computer, so I read the paper and watched TV, then went out front and mowed the lawn. Dinner time.
After dinner, I was on the computer at 6:30 p.m. and read everything one more time. I worked two hours on my April 5 presentation, adding the final touches - only 65 slides for a 75 minute presentation (BG). I'll have to talk fast, I guess! No questions. Then this post, and I'm done for the night - I have an overdue library book and need to finish it!
Genealogy today was 7.0 hours - 1.0 hour reading/writing email, 1.0 hour reading blogs, 1.5 hours blogging, 0.5 hour working on CVGS things, 1.0 hour doing research and 2.0 hours on my presentation.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Monday, March 24, 2008
Genealogy Journal - 03/24/08
This was an interesting genealogy day... interrupted by an abortive shopping trip to buy my wife an anniversary gift.
I was on the computer soon after 8 a.m., and read my email and Bloglines. I posted "'English Research' is CVGS Program on March 26" on Genea-Musings. I spent an hour or so trying to figure out how Kory Meyerink ranked the 50 top genealogy web sites and I think I figured it out. I made a list of Kory's 50, then used Quantcast to determine the reach, then checked Alexa. I compared Kory's list to my earlier list, and found that I missed quite a few of his top 50. Oh well. I exercised Alexa.com a bit more and found I could compare Ancestry with Rootsweb and other sites, so I played with that for awhile, saving the graphs.
At 10:30, I took off for Costco and Walmart to look for jewelry for my Angel Linda. What a bust. I did get flowers at Costco - two dozen roses for $14.95 - a great deal! I had a Polish dog there for lunch. At 12 noon, I was at the library, looked in on Shirley's class, and joined John and Dearl at the weekly table talk. I read the new Everton's GH too. I headed for the shopping center and struck out again - not what I want, too expensive, etc. I was home by 2 pm.
I checked email and Bloglines again, then posted "Ancestry and Rootsweb Traffic" on Genea-Musings. I posted about Santa Cruz and several funnies on Randy's Busy Life, then answered some email. One emailer had found my web page and helpfully suggested I could find more English ancestry of Joseph Clark of Dedham MA in the January 1998 issue of NEHGR. I dug it out and input the excellent data into my FTM database. By this time, it was 5 p.m., so I went in and read the paper, took a brief nap, and we had dinner, then watched the news a bit.
I was back on the computer at 7 pm. and decided I'd better get my April 5 presentation in hand. I moved some things around to make the flow better, removed some duplication, added more pictures and document images with labels, and have it now almost ready to go. I need to caption some pictures, add a summary chart and run through it again for content, typos, flow and interest. I checked my email and Bloglines and wrote this post. I'm done.
Genealogy today was 9.5 hours - 1.0 hour with email, 1.0 hour with Bloglines, 1.5 hours blogging, 1.5 hours researching the Top 50, 1.0 at the library with CVGS, 1.0 hour adding data to my database, and 2.5 hours working on my presentation.
We've decided to gift ourselves with another weekend away from home - we're off to Disneyland (again) next weekend - we'll meet Lolo and her parents on Sunday for fun at the Magic Kingdom. Angle Linda loved the roses - there are enough that she can share them with shut-ins and friends.
I was on the computer soon after 8 a.m., and read my email and Bloglines. I posted "'English Research' is CVGS Program on March 26" on Genea-Musings. I spent an hour or so trying to figure out how Kory Meyerink ranked the 50 top genealogy web sites and I think I figured it out. I made a list of Kory's 50, then used Quantcast to determine the reach, then checked Alexa. I compared Kory's list to my earlier list, and found that I missed quite a few of his top 50. Oh well. I exercised Alexa.com a bit more and found I could compare Ancestry with Rootsweb and other sites, so I played with that for awhile, saving the graphs.
At 10:30, I took off for Costco and Walmart to look for jewelry for my Angel Linda. What a bust. I did get flowers at Costco - two dozen roses for $14.95 - a great deal! I had a Polish dog there for lunch. At 12 noon, I was at the library, looked in on Shirley's class, and joined John and Dearl at the weekly table talk. I read the new Everton's GH too. I headed for the shopping center and struck out again - not what I want, too expensive, etc. I was home by 2 pm.
I checked email and Bloglines again, then posted "Ancestry and Rootsweb Traffic" on Genea-Musings. I posted about Santa Cruz and several funnies on Randy's Busy Life, then answered some email. One emailer had found my web page and helpfully suggested I could find more English ancestry of Joseph Clark of Dedham MA in the January 1998 issue of NEHGR. I dug it out and input the excellent data into my FTM database. By this time, it was 5 p.m., so I went in and read the paper, took a brief nap, and we had dinner, then watched the news a bit.
I was back on the computer at 7 pm. and decided I'd better get my April 5 presentation in hand. I moved some things around to make the flow better, removed some duplication, added more pictures and document images with labels, and have it now almost ready to go. I need to caption some pictures, add a summary chart and run through it again for content, typos, flow and interest. I checked my email and Bloglines and wrote this post. I'm done.
Genealogy today was 9.5 hours - 1.0 hour with email, 1.0 hour with Bloglines, 1.5 hours blogging, 1.5 hours researching the Top 50, 1.0 at the library with CVGS, 1.0 hour adding data to my database, and 2.5 hours working on my presentation.
We've decided to gift ourselves with another weekend away from home - we're off to Disneyland (again) next weekend - we'll meet Lolo and her parents on Sunday for fun at the Magic Kingdom. Angle Linda loved the roses - there are enough that she can share them with shut-ins and friends.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Genealogy Journal - 03/23/08
It's been a long week - I've posted some summaries on Randy's Busy Life blog at http://randysbusylife.blogspot.com for those interested in my family matters.
I was able to read my email, read Bloglines and post one or two previously prepared blog posts each day. My daughter got the tablet Windows computer fixed, so at least I wasn't fighting the MacBook keyboard and browser. I can't connect my laptop to their network. Other than posting and reading, I did no genealogy work until today at the airport where I reviewed my 5 April presentation on the laptop and tried to see how it flowed - it sucks... I need to move things around and add even more charts.
I arrived in San Diego at 1:30, Linda picked me up and we went to Hob Nob Hill for a late lunch. We were home by 3:45 p.m. I unpacked, finally found my keys, and lurched to the computer. My goal today was to read everything, make a list of things to do and blog about, and post the Best of the Genea-Blogs for the week. Unfortunately, I hadn't written anything down while at my daughter's, so I had to hunt for the posts I thought I remembered. The one thing that struck my fancy was the John McCain genealogy story - that he is related to Robert the Bruce and Charlemagne. As someone said, aren't we all? I Googled a bit, read the newspaper article, found some web sites and wrote my post "John McCain's family link to Robert the Bruce." There - that should get some knickers twisted!
Genealogy today was all of 5.0 hours - 0.5 hour to read email, 0.5 hour to read Bloglines, 1.0 hour reviewing my presentation, and 3.0 hours blogging happily away!
I was able to read my email, read Bloglines and post one or two previously prepared blog posts each day. My daughter got the tablet Windows computer fixed, so at least I wasn't fighting the MacBook keyboard and browser. I can't connect my laptop to their network. Other than posting and reading, I did no genealogy work until today at the airport where I reviewed my 5 April presentation on the laptop and tried to see how it flowed - it sucks... I need to move things around and add even more charts.
I arrived in San Diego at 1:30, Linda picked me up and we went to Hob Nob Hill for a late lunch. We were home by 3:45 p.m. I unpacked, finally found my keys, and lurched to the computer. My goal today was to read everything, make a list of things to do and blog about, and post the Best of the Genea-Blogs for the week. Unfortunately, I hadn't written anything down while at my daughter's, so I had to hunt for the posts I thought I remembered. The one thing that struck my fancy was the John McCain genealogy story - that he is related to Robert the Bruce and Charlemagne. As someone said, aren't we all? I Googled a bit, read the newspaper article, found some web sites and wrote my post "John McCain's family link to Robert the Bruce." There - that should get some knickers twisted!
Genealogy today was all of 5.0 hours - 0.5 hour to read email, 0.5 hour to read Bloglines, 1.0 hour reviewing my presentation, and 3.0 hours blogging happily away!
Monday, March 17, 2008
Genealogy Journal - 03/17/08
Today was not a wonderful genealogy day because I was in a rush to get things done before my trip to Santa Cruz tomorrow morning.
After reading email and reading blogs on Bloglines, I went searching for my missing Rootsweb Reviews. I found them, and signed up for receiving them via email again (somehow I was unsubscribed a month ago). Then I posted "Are you reading Rootsweb Review" and after doing a bit of research, "Using SearchThingy." I opened up my Seaver database and checked to see if I had the information from the first 50 matches in my database - I found several that I did not have, so I put them in the database. That took me up to about 11:15, so I gathered my stuff and went down to McDonald's for lunch and then to the Library.
I stopped at the Computer Basics class in the Computer Lab and watched for awhile. I accessed Ancestry Library Edition and found three marriage and death records in Canadian records and sent the links home via the "Share" button. Then I went back to the table by the "Family Research" section and talked to Dearl for awhile. I went over to see John helping two of our new members on the computers in ALE. I was home by 2 p.m.
I checked my email, and clicked on the three messages from myself that Ancestry kindly sent me with links to the images I saw on ALE. I clicked on the image, and it said that I had already seen five images like this and they weren't going to show me anymore. Hmmpphh! The nerve of those Ancestry folks... I'll get them at the FHC next time I go - there's more than one way to skin that cat.
Then I read my blogs, and saw Lisa Cooke's post about the LOC's Chronicling America having more newspaper images posted. I spent a good hour browsing through them after I posted "Chronicling America has 500,000 Images."
I wondered what new databases Ancestry had put online since I last checked, and found they had the Missouri marriage and death indexes. I opened my Seaver database again and entered data for a number of folks - mostly death dates and locations that I didn't have previously. I'm amazed at how many Seaver people I don't have in my database - probably two thirds of the ones on the Missouri death database. I went in to read the paper, watch the news and get ready for dinner.
After dinner, I was on the computer at 7 p.m. I copied the databases, my blog pages, my 5 April presentation and several other items onto my flash drive to transfer to the laptop - that way I can work on my databases or presentation if I have the opportunity while I'm away. I changed my Genea-Musings blog colors back to not all-green. Linda needed to use the computer, so I read my book for 90 minutes before coming back to put my "light blogging" post on Genea-Musings and write this ode to inanity.
Genealogy today was 8.0 hours - 0.5 hour reading email, 0.5 hour reading blogs, 2.0 hours blogging, 2.0 hours on CVGS things at the library, 2.0 hours researching and entering database information, and 1.0 hour messing with my directories and copying files for the laptop.
The Geneaholic will go dark for the next five days - I doubt if I'll have a chance to post while I'm in Santa Cruz. I'll be back Sunday night.
After reading email and reading blogs on Bloglines, I went searching for my missing Rootsweb Reviews. I found them, and signed up for receiving them via email again (somehow I was unsubscribed a month ago). Then I posted "Are you reading Rootsweb Review" and after doing a bit of research, "Using SearchThingy." I opened up my Seaver database and checked to see if I had the information from the first 50 matches in my database - I found several that I did not have, so I put them in the database. That took me up to about 11:15, so I gathered my stuff and went down to McDonald's for lunch and then to the Library.
I stopped at the Computer Basics class in the Computer Lab and watched for awhile. I accessed Ancestry Library Edition and found three marriage and death records in Canadian records and sent the links home via the "Share" button. Then I went back to the table by the "Family Research" section and talked to Dearl for awhile. I went over to see John helping two of our new members on the computers in ALE. I was home by 2 p.m.
I checked my email, and clicked on the three messages from myself that Ancestry kindly sent me with links to the images I saw on ALE. I clicked on the image, and it said that I had already seen five images like this and they weren't going to show me anymore. Hmmpphh! The nerve of those Ancestry folks... I'll get them at the FHC next time I go - there's more than one way to skin that cat.
Then I read my blogs, and saw Lisa Cooke's post about the LOC's Chronicling America having more newspaper images posted. I spent a good hour browsing through them after I posted "Chronicling America has 500,000 Images."
I wondered what new databases Ancestry had put online since I last checked, and found they had the Missouri marriage and death indexes. I opened my Seaver database again and entered data for a number of folks - mostly death dates and locations that I didn't have previously. I'm amazed at how many Seaver people I don't have in my database - probably two thirds of the ones on the Missouri death database. I went in to read the paper, watch the news and get ready for dinner.
After dinner, I was on the computer at 7 p.m. I copied the databases, my blog pages, my 5 April presentation and several other items onto my flash drive to transfer to the laptop - that way I can work on my databases or presentation if I have the opportunity while I'm away. I changed my Genea-Musings blog colors back to not all-green. Linda needed to use the computer, so I read my book for 90 minutes before coming back to put my "light blogging" post on Genea-Musings and write this ode to inanity.
Genealogy today was 8.0 hours - 0.5 hour reading email, 0.5 hour reading blogs, 2.0 hours blogging, 2.0 hours on CVGS things at the library, 2.0 hours researching and entering database information, and 1.0 hour messing with my directories and copying files for the laptop.
The Geneaholic will go dark for the next five days - I doubt if I'll have a chance to post while I'm in Santa Cruz. I'll be back Sunday night.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Genealogy Journal - 03/16/08
Today was a typical Sunday - go to church, come home, blog, have lunch, do chores, blog, take a nap, watch TV, eat dinner, blog, research, etc. Do you get the impression that my life revolves around blogging? Maybe I should be the Geneablogaholic! I don't need another blog...
We went to church early today at 8:30 because Linda had to teach Sunday School at 10 and had her deacons meeting at 11:30. I came home at 10 and read email and blogs to my hearts content. I posted "Best of the Genea-Blogs, March 9-15, 2008" and went off in search of more blog topics. I almost posted another diatribe about the Ancestry/Rootsweb TIAT (that's a Tempest in a Teapot, folks) but decided not to right now. I've said my piece. The APG list has many comments on both sides - interesting.
I had lunch and watched some basketball, but was back on the 'puter by 12:30 p.m. and did a bit of searching in Ancestry using both the Old and New search boxes. I emailed my observations to Kendall about them. I answered several emails from distant cousins - one that just found me after I dropped messages on the boards for him. Then I posted the TOC for the May 2008 Family Tree Magazine. It's another good one - there are some active article links at their web site. I went to watch the NCAA brackets on TV and took a nap, then watched TV and read the paper until dinner time.
After dinner, I was back on the computer at 7 p.m. and read email and blogs. I posted several posts on the Chula Vista Genealogy Cafe blog, wrote an email to the CVGS email list, and added another 6 posts to my "bank" for next week when I'll be up in Santa Cruz. It's almost 9:30 so I'm going to go read my murder mystery and watch TV.
Genealogy today was 7.0 hours - 1.0 hours reading and answering email, 0.5 hours reading blogs, 4.5 hours writing blog posts, and 1.0 hour working with Ancestry.
We went to church early today at 8:30 because Linda had to teach Sunday School at 10 and had her deacons meeting at 11:30. I came home at 10 and read email and blogs to my hearts content. I posted "Best of the Genea-Blogs, March 9-15, 2008" and went off in search of more blog topics. I almost posted another diatribe about the Ancestry/Rootsweb TIAT (that's a Tempest in a Teapot, folks) but decided not to right now. I've said my piece. The APG list has many comments on both sides - interesting.
I had lunch and watched some basketball, but was back on the 'puter by 12:30 p.m. and did a bit of searching in Ancestry using both the Old and New search boxes. I emailed my observations to Kendall about them. I answered several emails from distant cousins - one that just found me after I dropped messages on the boards for him. Then I posted the TOC for the May 2008 Family Tree Magazine. It's another good one - there are some active article links at their web site. I went to watch the NCAA brackets on TV and took a nap, then watched TV and read the paper until dinner time.
After dinner, I was back on the computer at 7 p.m. and read email and blogs. I posted several posts on the Chula Vista Genealogy Cafe blog, wrote an email to the CVGS email list, and added another 6 posts to my "bank" for next week when I'll be up in Santa Cruz. It's almost 9:30 so I'm going to go read my murder mystery and watch TV.
Genealogy today was 7.0 hours - 1.0 hours reading and answering email, 0.5 hours reading blogs, 4.5 hours writing blog posts, and 1.0 hour working with Ancestry.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Genealogy Journal - 03/15/08
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
This was not a day for genealogy research - I really didn't do much today but write blog posts and read. I had my men's Bible study breakfast today at 8 a.m., and got home around 9:30. I was ready to go, but the d*mn 'puter froze up and I rebooted, wasting about 30 minutes. Then I read my email and blogs using Bloglines. I posted my "It's St. Patrick's Day!" on the multi-hued green Genea-Musings. Then I posted "New England Historic Genealogical Society databases" to summarize what is on that web site, and to indicate that it is not served well by sites that list vital records available on the Internet. Finally, I wrote most of the next "Best of the Genea-Blogs" so I can post it tomorrow morning.
It was lunch time, so we had leftover pizza, then I went out and cut the back "lawn" (more like weeds...) before the rain comes tonight. I came in tired and cold, watched basketball on TV and read the paper, fell asleep but was awakened by the doorbell, and watched the Fox News Watch program. We're trying to figure out where to go for our anniversary, so I looked for hotels in downtown San Diego since we have Padre tickets for opening day. Everything is sold out - there must be a convention that week! Then it was dinner time.
I was on the computer by 7 p.m., and read email and blogs. I made a long comment on Eastman's blog about the Rootsweb/Ancestry thing. Then I started "banking" some blog posts for next week when I'm in Santa Cruz. My computer time will be limited but I should be able to post one or two items each day in the evening. It's 9:45 pm. and I'm done for the night.
Genealogy today was all of 5.0 hours - 0.5 hour reading email, 0.5 hour reading blogs, and 4.0 hours writing blog comments and posts. I'm just a genea-blogging fool, eh?
This was not a day for genealogy research - I really didn't do much today but write blog posts and read. I had my men's Bible study breakfast today at 8 a.m., and got home around 9:30. I was ready to go, but the d*mn 'puter froze up and I rebooted, wasting about 30 minutes. Then I read my email and blogs using Bloglines. I posted my "It's St. Patrick's Day!" on the multi-hued green Genea-Musings. Then I posted "New England Historic Genealogical Society databases" to summarize what is on that web site, and to indicate that it is not served well by sites that list vital records available on the Internet. Finally, I wrote most of the next "Best of the Genea-Blogs" so I can post it tomorrow morning.
It was lunch time, so we had leftover pizza, then I went out and cut the back "lawn" (more like weeds...) before the rain comes tonight. I came in tired and cold, watched basketball on TV and read the paper, fell asleep but was awakened by the doorbell, and watched the Fox News Watch program. We're trying to figure out where to go for our anniversary, so I looked for hotels in downtown San Diego since we have Padre tickets for opening day. Everything is sold out - there must be a convention that week! Then it was dinner time.
I was on the computer by 7 p.m., and read email and blogs. I made a long comment on Eastman's blog about the Rootsweb/Ancestry thing. Then I started "banking" some blog posts for next week when I'm in Santa Cruz. My computer time will be limited but I should be able to post one or two items each day in the evening. It's 9:45 pm. and I'm done for the night.
Genealogy today was all of 5.0 hours - 0.5 hour reading email, 0.5 hour reading blogs, and 4.0 hours writing blog comments and posts. I'm just a genea-blogging fool, eh?
Friday, March 14, 2008
Genealogy Journal - 03/14/08
Today was not a day of much genealogy research or effort because Lolo and her mother were here. I had breakfast (waffles and banana) and Disney Channel duty this morning - and finally handed her off at 9:30 a.m. - they went shopping. They left tonight after dinner - we hate to see her go because she is so much fun to be with, really a delight in all ways.
My genealogy efforts started with reading email and blogs using Bloglines during one of the Disney shows, and then after Lolo and her mom went shopping I posted "Rootsweb to be in Ancestry domain," which addressed the issue raised yesterday on many lists and blogs. Then I filled out the latest "New Ancestry" survey and answered my email about it, and then tested it for more than an hour. This time I captured several screens on the New Ancestry to be able to show how it works, and also captured screens for the same searches using Old Ancestry. I like Old Ancestry searches much better, frankly, at least at this point in time.
After lunch at home, I had to find more images on NEHGS www.newenglandancestors.org so I did that and emailed them off. I searched on NEA for Russell Smith data (I think I did that previously ...). I decided to see what databases there are on NEA and was surprised to find so many useful ones. I knew they were there, but haven't really investigated them for a long time. NEHGS doesn't advertise them much - they could do a much better job, I think. Lolo came home, it was nap time and I came back to the computer at 4 p.m. and read email and blogs. Lolo woke up and we went off to dinner at Chick-fil-A - we met Linda and Tami there, they'd been shopping (big surprise, that!). Lolo and I shared a chocolate milk shake (you should see the big eyes when she is sucking on the straw!). Priceless. After we ate, she played about 30 minutes on the equipment with about 10 other kids.
When we got home, Tami packed up, Lolo gave hugs and kisses, and they left for home - we were immediately lonesome! I watched some of the SDSU-BYU basketball game (SDSU lost) and came back to the computer and puttered around for awhile. I found some Seaver data on the NEHGS site and entered it into the Seaver database. It's 9:45 p.m. and I'm done!
Genealogy today was 7.0 hours, of which 0.5 hour was reading email, 0.5 hour was reading blogs, 1.5 hour was writing my one blog post of the day, 1.0 hour was researching for colleagues, 2.0 hours was researching on the NEHGS site, and 1.5 hour was playing with New Ancestry.
My genealogy efforts started with reading email and blogs using Bloglines during one of the Disney shows, and then after Lolo and her mom went shopping I posted "Rootsweb to be in Ancestry domain," which addressed the issue raised yesterday on many lists and blogs. Then I filled out the latest "New Ancestry" survey and answered my email about it, and then tested it for more than an hour. This time I captured several screens on the New Ancestry to be able to show how it works, and also captured screens for the same searches using Old Ancestry. I like Old Ancestry searches much better, frankly, at least at this point in time.
After lunch at home, I had to find more images on NEHGS www.newenglandancestors.org so I did that and emailed them off. I searched on NEA for Russell Smith data (I think I did that previously ...). I decided to see what databases there are on NEA and was surprised to find so many useful ones. I knew they were there, but haven't really investigated them for a long time. NEHGS doesn't advertise them much - they could do a much better job, I think. Lolo came home, it was nap time and I came back to the computer at 4 p.m. and read email and blogs. Lolo woke up and we went off to dinner at Chick-fil-A - we met Linda and Tami there, they'd been shopping (big surprise, that!). Lolo and I shared a chocolate milk shake (you should see the big eyes when she is sucking on the straw!). Priceless. After we ate, she played about 30 minutes on the equipment with about 10 other kids.
When we got home, Tami packed up, Lolo gave hugs and kisses, and they left for home - we were immediately lonesome! I watched some of the SDSU-BYU basketball game (SDSU lost) and came back to the computer and puttered around for awhile. I found some Seaver data on the NEHGS site and entered it into the Seaver database. It's 9:45 p.m. and I'm done!
Genealogy today was 7.0 hours, of which 0.5 hour was reading email, 0.5 hour was reading blogs, 1.5 hour was writing my one blog post of the day, 1.0 hour was researching for colleagues, 2.0 hours was researching on the NEHGS site, and 1.5 hour was playing with New Ancestry.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Genealogy Journal - 03/13/08
I accomplished nothing significant today in genealogy terms, mainly because Lolo and her mom came to visit and I enjoyed five hours of Lolo-centric activities. We watched TV eating crackers, she played on the floor while I napped, we went out to dinner, we watched the Peter Pan movie when we got home, she got me all wet while taking her bath, we hugged and tickled and played a lot - isn't making family history great fun? I think so!!
Then I got a bonus tonight - Logan and Lucas and their mom called and we talked for about 20 minutes - I'm going up there next week, so it was fun to talk to them - I can't understand anything Logan says, but he tries so hard - he's just 2. Lucas talks a mile a minute and I have to slow him down sometimes - he's 4 and a half.
After reading my email and blogs this morning, I posted my biography/musing about Abigail A. (Vaux) Smith, my great-great-grandmother who lived in an interesting and full life. I wrote this for the upcoming Carnival about Women in my ancestry. That took me right up to lunch time - I ran down to McDonald's for my weekly McNuggets and choc chip cookies, then picked my friend George up for our two mile walk on the bayfront - it was about 70 F and clear, a beautiful March day! I was home by 1 p.m., and gathered some material together in my "to-do" file and input it into my Seaver database. In the process, I found more to do but didn't have time to do it. Then I posted "I Love conference Syllabi" and Lolo came before 3 to brighten the rest of my day and night.
Tonight, after she went to bed, I spent about an hour reading email and blogs and then found six entries in the NEHGS database for Massachusetts VR for a friend. The blogs and mailing lists are full of the news about Rootsweb being taken into the Ancestry.com domain names - I think the concern is warranted, but panic and doom and gloom worrying about it is not. As long as Ancestry keeps their promise to keep Rootsweb and other free web sites FREE to everyone, I don't see a problem. Just my $.02.
Genealogy today was only 5.0 hours - 1.0 hour reading and answering emails, 0.5 hour reading blogs, 1.5 hours blogging, 1.0 hour in my Seaver database and 1.0 hour finding Mass VRs on the NEHGS site.
Then I got a bonus tonight - Logan and Lucas and their mom called and we talked for about 20 minutes - I'm going up there next week, so it was fun to talk to them - I can't understand anything Logan says, but he tries so hard - he's just 2. Lucas talks a mile a minute and I have to slow him down sometimes - he's 4 and a half.
After reading my email and blogs this morning, I posted my biography/musing about Abigail A. (Vaux) Smith, my great-great-grandmother who lived in an interesting and full life. I wrote this for the upcoming Carnival about Women in my ancestry. That took me right up to lunch time - I ran down to McDonald's for my weekly McNuggets and choc chip cookies, then picked my friend George up for our two mile walk on the bayfront - it was about 70 F and clear, a beautiful March day! I was home by 1 p.m., and gathered some material together in my "to-do" file and input it into my Seaver database. In the process, I found more to do but didn't have time to do it. Then I posted "I Love conference Syllabi" and Lolo came before 3 to brighten the rest of my day and night.
Tonight, after she went to bed, I spent about an hour reading email and blogs and then found six entries in the NEHGS database for Massachusetts VR for a friend. The blogs and mailing lists are full of the news about Rootsweb being taken into the Ancestry.com domain names - I think the concern is warranted, but panic and doom and gloom worrying about it is not. As long as Ancestry keeps their promise to keep Rootsweb and other free web sites FREE to everyone, I don't see a problem. Just my $.02.
Genealogy today was only 5.0 hours - 1.0 hour reading and answering emails, 0.5 hour reading blogs, 1.5 hours blogging, 1.0 hour in my Seaver database and 1.0 hour finding Mass VRs on the NEHGS site.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Genealogy Journal - 03/12/08
The day started with email reading at 8:30 a.m. and blog reading using Bloglines. I posted "WDYTYA Coming to NBC in USA" on Genea-Musings. I printed off some forms and two of my Beginner's Guides, plus my Genealogy News for March, and gathered up my Legacy and FTM charts and got ready to go to the CVGS Research Group meeting.
After lunch at home, I went to the post office box to get the mail, then to the library for the 12 noon meeting. We had 14 there, including 5 recent new members, so we took some time with introductions and explanations. I left after 2 and was home by 2:30 p.m. I quickly sent the Genealogy News for March to the email list, then posted it on the Chula Vista Genealogy Cafe blog here. I also posted the Research Group summary on both the Cafe and Genea-Musings. I post it both places because Genea-Musings has more readers than the Cafe and perhaps other researchers will have comments or offer to help. Linda came home about then, so I removed to the family room and watched Fox News then took a nap before dinner.
After dinner, I was back on the computer at 6:30 p.m. I read email and blogs, and then went searching for two images for my 5 April presentation. I also made a Oneida County NY deed index for David and Russell Smith and will use that in my presentation too. I spent several hours trying to find data for our new member Charlotte in the MA Vital Records on the NEHGR site www.newenglandancestors.org. I finally found them - they spelled the name different and collected birth records of 5 children, death records of the father and one child, and the parents' marriage record. I looked for the next generation back without much luck. I saved all of them as JPG files off the NEA site and will email them to Charlotte tomorrow. She will do a happy dance, I think! Then I checked for more census records, but I didn't find many for these people - their parents came from Ireland to New Brunswick and the kids came to Boston I think in the 1860-1880 time frame. That was fun!
Genealogy today was 9.5 hours - 1.0 hour reading and writing email, 0.5 hour reading blogs, 1.5 hours blogging, 3.5 hours on the CVGS meeting, 1.0 hour on my presentation and 2.0 hours researching in the MA vital records and census.
After lunch at home, I went to the post office box to get the mail, then to the library for the 12 noon meeting. We had 14 there, including 5 recent new members, so we took some time with introductions and explanations. I left after 2 and was home by 2:30 p.m. I quickly sent the Genealogy News for March to the email list, then posted it on the Chula Vista Genealogy Cafe blog here. I also posted the Research Group summary on both the Cafe and Genea-Musings. I post it both places because Genea-Musings has more readers than the Cafe and perhaps other researchers will have comments or offer to help. Linda came home about then, so I removed to the family room and watched Fox News then took a nap before dinner.
After dinner, I was back on the computer at 6:30 p.m. I read email and blogs, and then went searching for two images for my 5 April presentation. I also made a Oneida County NY deed index for David and Russell Smith and will use that in my presentation too. I spent several hours trying to find data for our new member Charlotte in the MA Vital Records on the NEHGR site www.newenglandancestors.org. I finally found them - they spelled the name different and collected birth records of 5 children, death records of the father and one child, and the parents' marriage record. I looked for the next generation back without much luck. I saved all of them as JPG files off the NEA site and will email them to Charlotte tomorrow. She will do a happy dance, I think! Then I checked for more census records, but I didn't find many for these people - their parents came from Ireland to New Brunswick and the kids came to Boston I think in the 1860-1880 time frame. That was fun!
Genealogy today was 9.5 hours - 1.0 hour reading and writing email, 0.5 hour reading blogs, 1.5 hours blogging, 3.5 hours on the CVGS meeting, 1.0 hour on my presentation and 2.0 hours researching in the MA vital records and census.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Family History Journal - 03/11/08
I stayed home all day and did genealogy work most of the time.
I read my email and blogs using Bloglines, then wrote " 'Learning to unlock their past' article on SDGS" on Genea-Musings. I followed that up with "My top 3 'genealogical regrets' " and then got ready to not go out. I researched my Genealogy News of the Month feature for CVGS and will post it tomorrow on the Chula Vista Genealogy Cafe blog. Lunch time ....
After lunch, I worked for awhile on gathering the forms for my CVGS Beginner's Guide, and I created a few new forms and edited some old ones of mine. I'm also a formaholic and a formaphobe, it seems. I love to make them, but have
resisted using them regularly - I use them for my brickwall cases. I answered some email and Googled for awhile for Stephen Feather's Revolutionary War records - I didn't find any, notwithstanding what some books say. Frustrating! Linda needed to do her email, so I went and watched TV and took my nap, then had dinner (she went out with a friend to see a performance of some kind).
After dinner, I checked email and blogs again, and wrote "My top 3 "genealogical smart moves" in response to footnoteMaven's post about regrets and smart moves. Then I spent about 3 hours working on my 5 April seminar presentation on "Finding Your Elusive Ancestors." I added a whole bunch on the GPS, used Mark's Research Map, added more documents and images, and had a great time. I figure I'm about 80% done now - I'm up to 58 pages of Powerpoint slides.
Genealogy today was 10.0 hours - 1.0 hour reading and answering email, 0.5 hour reading blogs, 1.5 hours blogging, 1.5 hour researching the Genealogy News, 1.5 hours on CVGS things, 1.0 hour researching Stephen Feather, and 3.0 hours working on my presentation.
I read my email and blogs using Bloglines, then wrote " 'Learning to unlock their past' article on SDGS" on Genea-Musings. I followed that up with "My top 3 'genealogical regrets' " and then got ready to not go out. I researched my Genealogy News of the Month feature for CVGS and will post it tomorrow on the Chula Vista Genealogy Cafe blog. Lunch time ....
After lunch, I worked for awhile on gathering the forms for my CVGS Beginner's Guide, and I created a few new forms and edited some old ones of mine. I'm also a formaholic and a formaphobe, it seems. I love to make them, but have
resisted using them regularly - I use them for my brickwall cases. I answered some email and Googled for awhile for Stephen Feather's Revolutionary War records - I didn't find any, notwithstanding what some books say. Frustrating! Linda needed to do her email, so I went and watched TV and took my nap, then had dinner (she went out with a friend to see a performance of some kind).
After dinner, I checked email and blogs again, and wrote "My top 3 "genealogical smart moves" in response to footnoteMaven's post about regrets and smart moves. Then I spent about 3 hours working on my 5 April seminar presentation on "Finding Your Elusive Ancestors." I added a whole bunch on the GPS, used Mark's Research Map, added more documents and images, and had a great time. I figure I'm about 80% done now - I'm up to 58 pages of Powerpoint slides.
Genealogy today was 10.0 hours - 1.0 hour reading and answering email, 0.5 hour reading blogs, 1.5 hours blogging, 1.5 hour researching the Genealogy News, 1.5 hours on CVGS things, 1.0 hour researching Stephen Feather, and 3.0 hours working on my presentation.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)