January Organization - Photo Challenge - Desktop

Just took the picture. Brave or stupid, not sure which would best describe my taking the photo with the goal of sharing it with you. I'm not sharing it today though. It will have to wait for later in the month, when I can take the after picture.

January is the month for cleaning off your desktop according to the checklist for January produced and shared by Ol' Myrt here. With the encouragement of a new acquaintance (blogger nickname Family Attic) I met Sunday night over in Second Life, I offer this challenge to other disorganized (chronically or temporarily) genealogists (and anyone else who would like to join the fun). 

January Organization - Photo Challenge - Desktop

1. Take a before picture of your desktop area (mine is pretty scary).  
2. During the month of January, do as much as organizing of this area as you can handle. Read the checklist mentioned above if you need ideas for handling the piles. 
3. When you have done what you can (no need to be perfect), take the after picture.
4. Post both pictures in a blog post with the title January Organization - Photo Challenge - Desktop. If you feel like it, tell us what was the most challenging part of the project and how you overcame it or are working on it.
5. Email me at jshoer AT jenaly DOT com with a link to your blog post. 

Time to get busy with my mountain. 

Happy Organizing!

Scrappy Gen

Scrappy Genealogist Learns to Blog - My Visit to Second Life

Who knew? Who knew that blogging was such a social activity? It turns out that blogging by itself, simply talking about your own story, photos, whatever, isn't the whole deal. Blogging is a reciprocal thing, more like making friends than making speeches. 

Blogging is more than sharing, it is about making social connections. Finding others in the blogging world who share the genealogy passion, who appreciate the work involved and who willingly share both triumphs and failures has been a gift. This gift I try to return by commenting on other blogs and by taking part in group activities like the Carnival of Genealogy and daily blogging themes from geneabloggers.

Blogging has led me to get more involved with other online social venues, Twitter, Facebook, Technorati, GenealogyWise and last night Second Life. Second Life should have a drum roll after it. It is self described as the 'world's largest user created, 3-D virtual world community". I will have to take their word for it. After DearMYRTLE's meeting about her January Organization Checklist in front of the Family History Centre, I was exhausted and had to go to bed. Just learning to walk in a virtual world can be challenging, unless you are eleven years old and adept at video games. Now that I have had a good rest and some time to ponder my experience in Second Life, I give it two thumbs up.

• GET STARTED: It is easy and free to join Second Life.You will create a user name that will be your name in Second Life (hoping I can edit mine) and choose an initial representation of your virtual self. In my case I was a bald goth with stiletto boots. Not sure how that happened, but my advice to you is, even if you do not like your initial virtual self, DO NOT try to change your clothes the first time you visit. I didn't know what I was doing and ended up almost naked in the Family History Centre. I kid you not, when I say that it felt like a bad dream while I was scrambling to figure out how to get dressed. 
• PRACTICE:  Do not wait until 30 minutes before a meeting to join. Do it now or while you have some spare time :) and start in the Welcome Center. There you can learn how to walk and do other basic things, like change your clothes, etc, before you show up at a genealogy meeting filled with professional genealogists.
• GET INVOLVED: There are many social activities scheduled in Second Life, including Ol' Myrt's monthly organizing meeting, meetings discussing brick walls and a monthly virtual APG meeting. You can see the schedule for the UGG, the Union of Genealogy Groups here. Virtual social networking in Second Life is a great solution to the cost in both time and money of physically traveling to meetings.

There is still a tremendous amount for me to learn, but I am excited about the possibilities for meeting other genealogists, learning, collaborating and...making friends. If you would like more technical information about joining, see DearMYRTLE's page here, where she certainly isn't bald or goth or called Myrtle.

Will you join me?

Scrappy Gen

101st Carnival of Genealogy - Genealogical Goodness in 2011 - My Genealogy Research/Writing Plan for 2011

Maybe I need to grow up some more. Perhaps everyone has this problem. Plans make me want to do the opposite of what is written in them. They make me want to rebel and do anything else. Eat cookies. Read a book. Even do laundry. Is this weird?

 

If I make a genealogy research/writing plan for 2011, the subject of the 101st Carnival of Genealogy hosted by Jasia at Creative Gene (Thank you, Jasia!), will I be setting myself up to fail? I’m feeling anxious. Anything I put in my plan should be things I am strongly motivated to do like eating cookies, reading books and well, maybe not doing laundry. What else am I strongly motivated to do in 2011? My list (okay plan if you must) of genealogy goals is called Genealogical Goodness in 2011. I wrote about my genealogical goodness in 2010 here. Who doesn’t like goodness? It has a nice ring to it. Nice rings are motivating. So is good music or a good book on your iPod. Oops, off subject. Back to the list (I mean plan). 

Genealogical Goodness in 2011

WRITING: Practice, practice, practice. This is one of the main reasons you started The Scrappy Genealogist. Keep doing it, daily if possible. Use your brand new At-a-Glance outlink planner to write and post ahead.

EDUCATION: One thing I know for sure is that I have a lot to learn. I started writing about this topic here. In 2011 I am going to take classes through the National Genealogical Society, starting with the online course American Genealogy Special Topics Series: Working with Deeds and then beginning on the American Genealogy: Home Study Course. Some of the material will be a review from the Boston University Certificate course I took in 2009, but there is a lot on the syllabus that will be new for me.

RESEARCH: Hoped for goodness:

1.   Identify the siblings and parents of Sarah BRISK SHOER of Riga or    Waldenruda, Livland (Latvia).

2.   Identify the parents of Alvin BURRELL of Weymouth, MA.

3.   Determine if any of Bubba’s SMITH half siblings are still living or have descendants.

MEMBERSHIPS: Branching out.

1.   Complete and submit DAR application. This hinges on successfully identifying the parentage of Alvin BURRELL. Start attending meetings of the local DAR chapter, Ranger.

2.   Join and get involved with the New England chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists.

CONFERENCES: There are three I wish to attend.

1.   New England Regional Genealogical Conference

6-10 April 2011 Springfield, MA

2.   National Genealogical Society Family History Conference

11-14 May 2011 Charleston, SC

3.   31st IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy

14-19 Aug 2011 Washington, DC

PHOTOS: This job is as good as eating cookies.

1.   Review personal 2011 photos. Purge rejects. Label all folders. Choose favorites, print and put in storage binders.

2.   Take Jessica Sprague’s online Family History Album Class 1.  

3.   Scan photos at cousin Lisa’s in Colorado.

4.   Scan photos at cousin Suzie’s in Florida.

5.   Continue scanning Bubba’s printed photos.

6.   Make a plan for scanning and archiving Bubba’s slides.

ORGANIZATION: Thinking of going through Dear Myrtle’s monthly organizational challenges from 2009. I saved them on my computer, but never did them. Anyone else like to join me? Breaking news! Just saw that Dear Myrtle is updating them for 2011!!! Click here for January 2011. Thank you Dear Myrtle!

That’s my wish list of genealogical goodness for 2011. Hopefully I filled it with enough cookies. I have really enjoyed reading everyone’s lists. This was a great exercise.

Happy New Year!

Scrappy Gen