Upcoming Presentation

Pattie and I are gearing up for a late January presentation in South Florida. We are going to be presenting two sessions: Taming Templates; Next Generation. Taming Templates is going to get a face lift. A few things have changed. We'll need to look at the Next Generation too because Pattie and I have both made discoveries since the last time this one was presented. Then we have to rehearse...get the timing down pat. Pattie and I could each go on for hours. We never suffered from not enough to say. It's always not enough time to say it. Tis' a good problem.

Pattie in Sharon Tate Moody's Column Today

The amusing tale of the birth of Pattie's calendar--Everyday Genealogy--is in Sharon Tate Moody's column today in the Tampa Tribune. Congrats to Pattie. I hope this makes her sell out of calendars.

Click here to see article.

Editor's Position Update

I didn't get it, but it's OK. Getting it would have meant that a fun hobby would have had to become a business. I'm not all that interested in turning my hobby into a business at the moment. When I retire, I'll perhaps pursue this type of thing then. In the meantime, I get to learn more and have fun.

Editor's Position

Hmmm...so far no word on whom they picked. I did get an email for one of the people on the interview committee. He said that the interview with me gave the group "lots of food for thought." I'm sure my opinionated stance didn't go unnoticed. Sometimes it's a plus, sometimes a minus. It's situational. So I'm waiting to hear. I was happy to simply be able to give them an opinion and be included in the interview process. I'll post to the blog as soon as I get any news...

Enter to Win a FREE Everyday Genealogy Calendar

Suburban Woman is giving away 3 Everyday Genealogy Calendars for just posting a comment to their blog!

You must post your comment by December 17th to qualify.

Paste this link into your browser: http://www.suburbanwoman.net/blog/?p=639

Good Luck!

Mailing Lists, Facebook and Farmville - Taking Inventory of Your Research Toolbox

This week a mailing list I subscribe to had an interesting discussion: Does Facebook have a place in genealogy research? The response from the subscribers on the list surprised me. While I expected some people not to be interested in Facebook I was surprised that some found little to no value in what Facebook had to offer.

While Facebook will never replace 'boots on the ground' research it does offer the people doing family research a chance to connect with LIVING people. Sometimes I think that genealogists forget that searching and finding living people can be just as important as finding their ancestors.

Using Facebook or any other social networking platform allows genealogists to reconnect with their immediate family and find distant cousins. I have reconnected with many first cousins that I have not seen for over 40 years. I have also 'met' second and third cousins who have helped me round out family stories and identify people in family pictures.

Will Facebook replace Rootsweb, Ancestry.Com or FootNote? No, but it does allow us to draw people in who do not consider themselves genealogists, but may have information and artifacts that may enhance or jumpstart our research.

Think about it - do you know where that family bible is that you have always heard about... It could be in the attic of a distant relative who could care less about genealogy, but loves playing Farmville!

Editor Interview

Interviewed for job as Editor in Chief of a national magazine. I think I did OK but who knows. At any rate, I was so happy to be included in the first cut...honored really. I've worked hard on all of the publications for which I've been responsible.

This job would be much bigger and very high profile. I'd have to kick everything I do up a notch. The opportunity is coming a bit sooner than I had hoped. I was planning on pursing this type of thing when I retired. But I decided I have to strike while the iron is hot. Who knows when the spot will open again? So wish me luck!