Thankful Thursday ~ My Winter Slump Is Over

February and March were busy months ~ so busy in fact that while I focused on some of my goals (research, organization, and education) I completely let others slide (writing and blogging). The funny thing is I commented on several genealogy posts on Google+ and attended several Google+ Hangouts so I was "interacting" a great deal, just not on my blog. I need to work on that.

Something that was really heartening to see was that several other bloggers were also going through a "winter slump" (it is always nice to know you are not alone). After giving it some thought I decided that I really overloaded on RootsTech in February, what with the livestreamed and recorded lectures, the blogs, the bloggers' comments, the interviews, and all the other "goodness" that was RootsTech 2012. Don't get me wrong ~ it was great and I learned so much, but it was a busy couple of months for webinars, conferences, and social media.

I am addicted to Google+ but wish that there was smoother incorporation of Google+ with Blogger. That is tops on my wish list and I hope that the Google engineers are reading this as this is a wish of many of us using both Google+ and Blogger. What do I like so much about Google+?  The Stream is great ~ all my interests are in one place and I can easily read posts and leave my comments in Google+. Others who read the posts and the comments add to the conversation and it makes for a great real-time conversation. I do hope that the Google engineers can figure out a way to have the comments published both at Google+ and also on at the individual Blog (I find that oftentimes it is a real pain to sign in and jump through the various hoops in comment moderation ~ so much so that I have pretty much given up posting at the Blogs).

I am also a big fan of Google+ Hangouts and I am using them with both a Virtual Legacy Family Tree Users Group and the Guild of One Name Studies. It is terrific to interact with people "face to face," get answers to your questions, and brainstorm together. The ability to share screens and see how other people do things (especially how they customize and use Legacy) is a real treat.

Along with everyone else (or maybe it just seemed that way) I spent a good part of March busily preparing for the release of the 1940 US Census by cleaning up my database and using the Census Search Tool that Legacy introduced in March (many thanks to the Legacy programmers for making my genealogy life easier). I was up bright and early on April 2 and watched the livestream of opening day for the Census. I thought the speeches were great and it was fun to be a part of history ~ the first digital release of the US Census. Thank you to all the employees of the US Census Bureau, the National Archives, Archives, FamilySearch, and FindMyPast, as well as all the member Societies and Associations who banded together to provide such a terrific experience (the census images, the indexing program and the 1940 Census website) and a real community service to/for the rest of us. Kudos to Ancestry for putting together a great website to showcase the 1940s by way of photographs and stories, as well as putting the census images online.

I am indexing through the Community Indexing Project ~ it is interesting and really easy to do. The Family Search Indexing Program is well thought out and a breeze to use.  I encourage everyone to get on board and give back to the genealogy community by indexing.  Next week ~ back on track with Motivation Monday!

Thankful Thursday ~ An Attitude of Gratitude



Created with Wordle.net ~ Thanks

Here is what we are whipping up this Thanksgiving. Our extended family won't all be together but we do have the family recipes to share. Wherever you are and whomever you are with today ~ Happy Thanksgiving and thanks for reading. So, what are you serving at your Thanksgiving Dinner?

Thanksgiving Table ~ 1962

2011 Thanksgiving Menu in Carver

Appetizers

Spicy Cashews, Warmed Mixed Olives & Sweet Potato Chips

Thanksgiving Cocktail ~  Poinsettias

Dinner

Ashley's 7 Layer Salad

Aunt Diane's Cherry Jello

Mario's Brined & Herb Roasted Turkey

Chuck's Garlic Mashed Potatoes & Gravy

Mom's Stuffing

Susan's Crescent Rolls

Kris' Sweet Potato Casserole

Green Bean Casserole

Dessert

Pumpkin Cheesecake Tartlets
  Caramel Apple Cranberry Torte

Coffee/Tea

Food for Thought Today

Question ~ Who was your favorite teacher and why?
Question - What are your family's Thanksgiving traditions?

Visit National Day of Listening

Motivation Monday ~ National Day of Listening

This Friday, November 25th, is StoryCorps National Day of Listening.  Please take a few moments to check out their website National Day of Listening and contact a teacher who has touched your life.  You can call, send a letter, post on Facebook, Google+, or your blog, or use other social media to get your message out.  If you are really industrious you can interview that teacher and share it with the rest of us on YouTube! 

There are so many avenues available and everything you might need (instructions, helpful websites, and tips) is available at their website.  Thanksgiving Day is just around the corner  ~ why not take a moment to remember and thank those teachers (past and present) who touched, improved, or perhaps changed your life. 

I am thankful for the great teachers I had from grade school through college ~ especially these fantastic five:

• Mrs. Jaffie ~ You were the first teacher I really connected with and because of you Great Expectations was an incredible reading experience.  
• Mr. Adams ~ You were the most amazing history teacher ever and made the past come alive for all your students!  You were singlehandedly responsible for my abiding love of history and learning.
• Mr. Paul Boring  ~ You made science fun and encouraged all your students to be good people.
• Mr. Glen Jackson ~ If everyone had the opportunity to take your course Rights & Responsibilities, we would have an amazingly bright and thoughtful citizenry.  You taught me the wisdom of always being prepared rather than playing Jackson roulette ~ something that has served me well in life. 
• Professor James Klonoski  ~  You taught the hardest courses, assigned the most reading, gave the toughest exams, and demanded the most work from your students.  You were a great lecturer and you put your ideals into practice by not only teaching but also doing in the political arena!  I took every course you taught and am a more discerning citizen  for the experience.

Hopefully today's post has motivated you (on Monday) to be thankful (on Thursday) and share your story of a teacher who touched your life with the rest of us either now or during the National Day of Listening (on Friday).

Cheers

Thankful Thursday - Online Lectures & Webinars

There has been a great deal of discussion lately about genealogy and money ~ how to make a living doing genealogy, whether to and how to monetize genealogy blogs and websites, whether the genealogy community thinks that everything should be free (and what "free" means), whether the genealogy community understands the true costs of providing information in a bricks and mortar setting, online, and through sharing with each other, and how the genealogy community should determine the value to place on genealogy resources.  This was a much-needed discussion and scads of bloggers provided lots of great responses to the daily posts. 

Digital Image by Felixco, Inc. ~ Thanks

Online Lectures & Courses

One of the discussion topics focused on online lectures and webinars ~ their availability, the costs associated with them, and how to value them.  Since this is a Thankful Thursday post, I would just like to say thank you to the individuals and organizations that provide online lectures and webinars for our benefit.  A special thank you to FamilySearch which gathers lectures from a variety of sources and makes them available at its website.  Kudos to the following organizations and individuals for placing their lectures with FamilySearch-Learn and making these lectures available to all of us:

• Midwest Genealogy Center
• Library of Congress
• Afro-American Historical & Genealogical Society
• Tulsa City-County Library
• Association of Professional Genealogists
• Board for Certification of Genealogists
• ICAPGen
• Several Individuals who provide their lectures through the above organizations, individually or through their employment or in their volunteer capacity at the Family History Library

There is an amazing amount of material out there online.  I have said it before and will say it again ~ these online lectures, courses and webinars are a great resource for genealogists and should be encouraged and appreciated.  If you have not been to the FamilySearch-Learn website lately, check out the lengthy list of research courses ~ there are some great new additions. 

Webinars

Yesterday I attended AncestryTrees with DearMyrtle, a webinar that focused on publishing your family tree online.  As usual, DearMyrtle gave an excellent presentation.  I have attended some of her in-person presentations as well as presentations through Legacy Family Tree webinars and now her own webinar presentations.  She is one of the most comfortable, "go with the flow" presenters I have encountered.  She is extremely personable, stays focused on the major points of her presentation, provides useful PowerPoint presentations, and organizes her presentations to include a lengthy question and answer period. 

In this presentation, DearMyrtle explained why and how she began using online trees, walked the attendees through the process of setting up and using a tree on Ancestry.com, together with her co-presenter she showed attendees how to make a GEDCOM and upload it to Ancestry.com, and answered attendees' questions. There were about 100 attendees at the webinar ~ at least one was from Sweden, a few were from England, and several were housebound (either in wheelchairs or unable to attend an in-person presentation due to medical conditions).  The webinar was interesting, she addressed the pluses and minuses of publishing a tree on Ancestry.com, and I think made the attendees comfortable with the idea of publishing their trees (whether on Ancestry.com or another website).  DearMyrtle recorded the presentation but I am not sure how or when it will be available ~ you might want to check out DearMyrtle's blog.  FYI ~ she has a Facebook webinar/workshop coming up on May 18, 2011.

If you haven't checked out the GeneaWebinars Schedule posted by Geneabloggers, take a look and see if there is something you would like to learn.  I make it a point to check out the schedule, sign up for webinars and put them in my calendar.  While attending the webinar, I take notes and make screenshots in my OneNote program for further reference (and because I like to noodle around a bit with the concepts).  These webinars have been a huge help to me.  I have used them to: 

• make improvements to my blog (Blogging for Beginners, More Blogging for Beginners, and Building a Research Toolbox)
• check out online storage and cloud computing (Dropbox for Genealogists)
• decide whether to use some additional social media (Twitter and Tweet Deck with DearMyrtle)
• learn more about add-on software (Map & Explore Your Family Tree with Family Atlas)
• improve my genealogy research skills (What Is A Reasonably Exhaustive Search? and Silent Voices: Tip & Tricks for Tracing Female Ancestors) and, most recently
• decide whether to publish an online tree (AncestryTrees with DearMyrtle)

Thanks to DearMyrtle, Legacy Family Tree, and all the other individuals and organizations that are "doing" webinars.  It is a great service to engage and educate the genealogy community.  Whether these webinars also showcase paid resources (software programs or subscription websites) or provide a marketing opportunity for presenters (presentation materials for sale after the webinar), I say "more power to you."  I applaud these individuals and organizations ~ they are taking us forward in genealogy and technology.  Bottom line ~ these webinars provide a valuable and oftentimes no-fee service to the genealogy community.  Thanks!