The latest Carnival of Genealogy has a topic of poetry! We can write a poem on our family's history.
Here is my submission (and I apologize ahead of time!!!). :-)
O Woe is me!
My poor family tree
Is full of walls
Made of brick and concrete!
One is John Akins,
That scurrilous lad!
"Says" he’s from England,
Ha! That’s a laugh!
Ole Natty Turner,
Of Lamberton fame.
Born maybe in London,
Beyond that, fair game!
Great Grandma Lisbet,
A mysterious dead end.
The Obendorfer wall
In all directions extends!
Domelle O Domelle!
What’s your ethnicity?
German or Hungarian?
Or is it Tomele with a T?
Finally that Kirby!
My great-gram’s dad.
Census-takers must have
His info been forbade.
All of these walls,
All so dear to me!
I’ll never give up,
That I guarantee!
Showing posts with label Carnival of Genealogy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Carnival of Genealogy. Show all posts
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Friday, January 1, 2010
2010 Genea-Resolutions (COG 87)
87th EDITION OF THE Carnival Of Genealogy
The topic for the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy is:
“New Year's Resolutions!”
“New Year's Resolutions!”
I've been very careful for many years to avoid making resolutions. Call me a realist! :-D But I shall be more optimistic now that it's a brand new decade and there's only two more Arthur C. Clarke books to be depressed about (in that we're not space-technologically where he thought we would be). In the grand scheme of things, I'll get over it, I promise, since I am unlikely to make it until the year 3001, no matter how much I'm counting on never dying, ever.
Meanwhile, back to 2010.
My forced retirement from genealogy for the last quarter of the year due to workload at the real-life job that pays for my genealogy made me realize just how much I would miss it if I didn't do it. And yet, my time off these 2 weeks has also made me realize what an incredible procrastinator I am, even when it's something I love! Darn those perfectionist genes, they take the fun out of everything. And that leads me to my first resolution:
1. Everything does NOT have to be perfect.
I know, I know, I almost can't type the letters that make those words. My heart is beating a little faster, or maybe that's the 8 glasses of iced tea I've had this morning. Either way, it makes me nervous to think about not being perfect. But if being perfect makes me put everything off until I have enough time to "do it right", then it's not worth it.
However, that doesn't give me permission to be sloppy, thus, the next resolution:
2. Piles of paper do not a file cabinet make.
I've got a thing, I'm one of those people that has piles of paper. The annoying thing for other people is that I can nearly always find the piece of paper I'm looking for in those piles of paper under my desk, in the basket in the closet, on the shelf in the closet. I just know where they are. But maybe I can use that brain power for something else, like moving the space program along faster, if I didn't use it to remember where that death certificate, still in its' envelope, from Indiana that came last April is. I got a beautiful new bookcase last year, with 2 big drawers in the bottom that hold hanging folders. There are some hanging folders in there, but one half of the drawer is.....a big pile of papers. I know! It's so irritating.
And it's not just the real world that has piles of paper, my virtual computer folders for genealogy have piles of virtual paper in them too....welcome to number 3:
3. Folder Organization Created in 1996 Can Be Retired With Full Honors
It's true, when I first started using my computer to research and store genealogy I came up with a file/folder structure. I'm still using it. It's time to take an hour or so and ponder what might be a better way to organize my info that's stored electronically now that it's double-digit years later!!! A sub-point to this one is investigating the best way to make use of metadata on my stored info rather than having a title for the document or jpg that is 128 characters long (which when buried deep in a folder structure makes Windows throw up a little bit in its mouth).
And voila, on to the next item (I mentioned "jpg" in that last thought):
4. Scanning Takes Time, But It Is A Good Thing
I got an awesome little scanner earlier last year and I've barely used it! I think I have been afraid of not doing it right (refer to resolution #1). So what if I only get 3 photos done in one sitting because I get distracted or need to go to bed because it was a long day at work. It's okay!!!
And finally, the last one:
5. Not Everything Is On The Internet
Yes, hard to believe, but once in a while I need to get up and go to somewhere to find information. I did do this a few times this past year (a couple local historical societies), but it's definitely something to continue in 2010. Sometimes it might be a disappointing trip, but other times, I just might find some awesome little nugget of information. Either way it's good practice for researching.
And that's it for me! I think 5 is a good number. They aren't pure resolutions, but more like promises for the year, but I think I can handle them.
Happy New Year!!!
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
COG 77 - The Shooting at Salt Lake City Family History Library
The topic for the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy is: "Disaster". As human beings, our very existence is proof of the survival skills, faith, or just plain luck our ancestors possessed in order to persevere through millenia of disasters: epidemics, wars, pestilences, famines, accidents, and acts of nature. Tell about a disaster that one or more of your ancestors lived through. Did they survive a hurricane, flood, tornado, train wreck, sinking ship, plague, genocide, explosion, mine collapse, or some other terrible event? How did they survive? Research the details of the disaster and explain how it affected your ancestor (guilt, fear, faith, gratitude, etc.), your family's history, and even yourself!
When I first thought to write a posting for this topic, I immediately thought of my parents. They've both lived through many hurricanes, having spent the greater portion of their youth and early adulthood in Miami Florida. I've spent most of my life in Pennsylvania and we don't get a lot of extreme weather here, tiny earthquakes, a tornado here and there, typically F1, and hurricanes have usually lost their oomph by the time the get up the coast to us. Mudslides and brush fires are also pretty rare. We're like the anti-California. Probably our worst natural disaster is flooding from rivers.
While I was quizzing them on their memories, another topic came up. My dad was in the Family History Library in Salt Lake City when the shootings happened in 1999. I wonder if any genea-bloggers were there as well?
He's taken a few trips out to the library in Salt Lake, I've only been there once, but do plan to go back.
So, on the morning of Thursday, April 15, 1999, he was happily ensconced at a carrel on the first floor of the library. He says he heard some pop-pop-pop noises.
To get out of the open, he quickly headed towards a room to the far side of the floor away from the popping noises which he recognized right away. Along the way, he gathered two little old ladies that were also researching and the three of them entered the room. There were already some people hiding in there, it was some sort of scanning room/office that was for library use only. The door was closed and my dad said he stood, didn't sit.
Eventually, a library employee came to the room and said, okay, c'mon, let's GO and he led them to the left out the door (to the right would have been to go back to the main room of the floor). They followed him down some back stairs and they all found themselves in the back alley between the library and the hotel next door, where the garbage trucks come through. They all went in to the hotel and sat in the restaurant where they were eventually interviewed by police. My dad said that he veered off along the way to a pay phone (remember those?) and called my mom. He told her, "Look, I'll tell you all about this later, because you're going to be hearing some really odd stories about what's going on here, but I wanted to let you know that I'm all right."
My dad says it was a long time before anyone was allowed to go back into the library to gather their belongings, naturally everyone had pretty much jumped up and left all their research and stuff behind. He said he was upset with himself later when he realized he should have grabbed his briefcase and papers. They were told that the Library would be closed for a few days. So he ended up taking long bus trips to the Brigham Young University Family History Library in Provo. At that library he discovered the series "Germans to America" which lists the transportation details of German national to the US. It also happened to list his Polish ancestors too, which was a bonus. So even without all his papers, he was able to find something while on the trip.
When he went back in finally to gather his things at the Library, my dad says he has a picture imprinted - it's strange the little things your mind picks up and refuses to let go of - he remembers seeing a roll of nickels. This was back when you actually needed the coins to make the copies, they didn't have the little cards to put money on. So there was this roll of nickels, laying there and one side had opened up, and the nickels had come out in a little perfect cascade. It's one of the those crystal clear picture memories that we sometimes get to keep, all the other normal memories get all mushed up and revised and forgotten. He remembers thinking, wow, with all the investigators and police in and out of the library, nobody moved or bothered that little roll of nickels.
The shooter was a man named Sergei Barbarin. He was an older man, 70-71 years of age, and his family said he was a diagnosed schizophrenic who had gone of off his medication.
No one knows why he chose the Library, no one who knew him had ever heard him say anything bad about the Mormons or the library. He was known to hassle people that happened to cross his path, but that was it.
That day he killed 2 people at the library and wounded 4 other patrons. Certainly the last place you would expect to be harmed or killed would be while you were doing genealogy research, it's such a gentle pastime. But you just never know what's going to happen. The police killed him shortly after the shooting started.
Some links to stories that are still out there on the internet are here:
http://www.ancestry.com/columns/eastman/eastapr20-99.htm
http://web.ksl.com/dump/news/cc/lshxap.htm
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,660195182,00.html
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/990426/archive_000849.htm
And me? My thoughts on the whole thing? I'm just glad he wasn't in the lobby that day. I'm grateful he's still here so we can repeat lines from AIRPLANE! to each other ad nauseum (you can tell me, I'm a doctor), drink gin and tonics in the heat of the midday sun (british tonic please, Bombay gin (no, not Bombay Sapphire, ptuh, yuck, gak)), and watch Family Guy on Tivo when we think my mom isn't paying attention (she doesn't hate the show, she just dislikes it with the heat of a thousand suns). Yep, he's definitely my favorite Dad and all in all, I'm lucky to have him.
When I first thought to write a posting for this topic, I immediately thought of my parents. They've both lived through many hurricanes, having spent the greater portion of their youth and early adulthood in Miami Florida. I've spent most of my life in Pennsylvania and we don't get a lot of extreme weather here, tiny earthquakes, a tornado here and there, typically F1, and hurricanes have usually lost their oomph by the time the get up the coast to us. Mudslides and brush fires are also pretty rare. We're like the anti-California. Probably our worst natural disaster is flooding from rivers.
While I was quizzing them on their memories, another topic came up. My dad was in the Family History Library in Salt Lake City when the shootings happened in 1999. I wonder if any genea-bloggers were there as well?
He's taken a few trips out to the library in Salt Lake, I've only been there once, but do plan to go back.
So, on the morning of Thursday, April 15, 1999, he was happily ensconced at a carrel on the first floor of the library. He says he heard some pop-pop-pop noises.
To get out of the open, he quickly headed towards a room to the far side of the floor away from the popping noises which he recognized right away. Along the way, he gathered two little old ladies that were also researching and the three of them entered the room. There were already some people hiding in there, it was some sort of scanning room/office that was for library use only. The door was closed and my dad said he stood, didn't sit.
Eventually, a library employee came to the room and said, okay, c'mon, let's GO and he led them to the left out the door (to the right would have been to go back to the main room of the floor). They followed him down some back stairs and they all found themselves in the back alley between the library and the hotel next door, where the garbage trucks come through. They all went in to the hotel and sat in the restaurant where they were eventually interviewed by police. My dad said that he veered off along the way to a pay phone (remember those?) and called my mom. He told her, "Look, I'll tell you all about this later, because you're going to be hearing some really odd stories about what's going on here, but I wanted to let you know that I'm all right."
My dad says it was a long time before anyone was allowed to go back into the library to gather their belongings, naturally everyone had pretty much jumped up and left all their research and stuff behind. He said he was upset with himself later when he realized he should have grabbed his briefcase and papers. They were told that the Library would be closed for a few days. So he ended up taking long bus trips to the Brigham Young University Family History Library in Provo. At that library he discovered the series "Germans to America" which lists the transportation details of German national to the US. It also happened to list his Polish ancestors too, which was a bonus. So even without all his papers, he was able to find something while on the trip.
When he went back in finally to gather his things at the Library, my dad says he has a picture imprinted - it's strange the little things your mind picks up and refuses to let go of - he remembers seeing a roll of nickels. This was back when you actually needed the coins to make the copies, they didn't have the little cards to put money on. So there was this roll of nickels, laying there and one side had opened up, and the nickels had come out in a little perfect cascade. It's one of the those crystal clear picture memories that we sometimes get to keep, all the other normal memories get all mushed up and revised and forgotten. He remembers thinking, wow, with all the investigators and police in and out of the library, nobody moved or bothered that little roll of nickels.
The shooter was a man named Sergei Barbarin. He was an older man, 70-71 years of age, and his family said he was a diagnosed schizophrenic who had gone of off his medication.
No one knows why he chose the Library, no one who knew him had ever heard him say anything bad about the Mormons or the library. He was known to hassle people that happened to cross his path, but that was it.
That day he killed 2 people at the library and wounded 4 other patrons. Certainly the last place you would expect to be harmed or killed would be while you were doing genealogy research, it's such a gentle pastime. But you just never know what's going to happen. The police killed him shortly after the shooting started.
Some links to stories that are still out there on the internet are here:
http://www.ancestry.com/columns/eastman/eastapr20-99.htm
http://web.ksl.com/dump/news/cc/lshxap.htm
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,660195182,00.html
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/990426/archive_000849.htm
And me? My thoughts on the whole thing? I'm just glad he wasn't in the lobby that day. I'm grateful he's still here so we can repeat lines from AIRPLANE! to each other ad nauseum (you can tell me, I'm a doctor), drink gin and tonics in the heat of the midday sun (british tonic please, Bombay gin (no, not Bombay Sapphire, ptuh, yuck, gak)), and watch Family Guy on Tivo when we think my mom isn't paying attention (she doesn't hate the show, she just dislikes it with the heat of a thousand suns). Yep, he's definitely my favorite Dad and all in all, I'm lucky to have him.
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