Another New Year

I just looked at my blogging over the past year...only 3 posts.  That is disgraceful!  And what is funny, is that after about 17 years of doing genealogy, I still spend about an hour a day working on genealogy!  So, it's not as if I am slacking off there!  I really am going to try to do better.

Looking over the past year, there were some good finds, good contacts made and, in general, I have felt quite good about how my research has been going.  One of the best things that I did in 2011 is to go to my first genealogy workshop.  It was held in Springfield, Illinois (in September, I believe) and was a day put on by Ancestry.com.  It was very affordable and since Springfield is only about 90 miles away, I took the opportunity and drove myself there.  Yes, I attended it all by myself!  And I had a great time!  It was interesting...I have used Ancestry.com for years and there was still much for me to learn, or at least, review. I also enjoyed visiting the different vendors set up there.  The day was well worth my effort.  I will be watching for more workshops to attend.  I just wish that I had a genealogy friend to share it all with!

I also contacted GenSmarts to see about getting it on my computer.  I had purchased it a number of years ago and when I got my new computer two years ago, I forgot to have it put on.  The people I contacted were extremely helpful and I had no problem getting it back on. 

Now I am thinking about this new year and what I would like to accomplish in genealogy terms.

Today I updated to RootsMagic 5, so I will be spending some time exploring that, seeing what is new and different.  I also installed Personal Historian and will see if I find it helpful or not.

I make it a habit to check Ancestry.com at least every other day, both to check the Recent Activity and to check on Hints.  Both have been invaluable to my researching.  I also plan to start using GenSmart to help with my research.

One of my goals for 2012 is to edit my Sources in RootsMagic.  When I began doing genealogy, I was not as good about how I listed sources as I would have liked and now I find myself constantly correcting them when I am entering information.  A couple of things that I am working on with that is editing duplicate sources and editing how I listed places.  Early on I would list a source as Peoria, Peoria Co., IL".  Now that drives me crazy.  I want it all spelled out as: "Peoria, Peoria County, Illinois".  So that is going to take some time to get it all corrected.

I also want to keep up better with checking my Problem List in RootsMagic.  I spent a lot of time working on correcting all of it last year, so I want to periodically check it and not let the list get too overwhelming again.

I know that these goals sound like kind of mindless maintenance tasks (and they are to some extent), but I try to be mindful of when someday (hopefully in the far, far distant) someone else will be taking over my database.  I want it to be in good working order!

I had lunch with a friend several weeks ago who was enthusiastically encouraging me to publish some of my family history in order to give it to the appropriate local libraries.  That is playing around in the back of my mind.

Meanwhile, I am going to try hard to keep better track of what I am doing and writing more about my genealogical activities in this blog.  I know that I often get good ideas from other when I read other blogs and hopefully, I can help someone else also!