The BLURB Project

Can I say that, “Transcription SUCKS!”?

I am currently working on a project to transcribe all my miscellaneous journals into one volume.  It turns out that this is a bigger project than I thought it would be.

The reason I call it my “BLURB” project is because my eventual goal is to get all these journals consolidated so that I can use the blurb.com website to publish them into a printed book that I can make multiple copies of and send them to family and leave for my kids and grand kids.

So I’ve been gathering all these miscellaneous pages from notebooks, past blogs, missionary journals, old letters, taped journals, stories, etc.  I was thinking about making one volume.  But with as much as I’ve done and what I have left, I might have three volumes (depending on how big I decide to make them).  In addition to the written stuff, I plan on adding pictures and scrapbook pages.  I think it’s a worthwhile endeavor, but definitely a lot larger than I thought it was going to be.

Problems I’m running into:  I found some old mini-cassettes that I recorded on during college, but can’t seem to find the recorder so I can play them back.  Also, I know I made some journals on the computer, but can’t seem to find them now.  They are probably hiding on some old back-up disk that I made.

I’ve completed most of the odds and ends that I’ve found and my past blogs.  Now I am working on my mission journals.

However, the transcribing is really getting to me.  This project, along with other family history projects I have, has got me burned out and I’ve placed it all on the back burner.  But I think I will start scheduling time to start back into it.  Maybe do a couple entries a day.  That should get me caught up…eventually!  Or maybe I should try a dictating program.  Even with the editing, that may be faster.

I guess another thing is, I am doubling my work.  The first draft for this blog post and the previous one, I am writing old-school fashion, on paper!  Which, I’ll just have to transcribe.  Not smart, but it seems to flow better when I write it, rather than type it.

The Journal/Blog Challenge

So, I’ve decided I hate reading blogs.  Not that the material isn’t interesting or that I don’t like what I read.   In fact, it is the exact opposite.  I have subscribed to maybe 20-25 blogs.  Most are related to family history or genealogy, a few to quilting, and a couple of various miscellaneous topics that I find interesting.  I actually found two new ones today that are really interesting, but more on those two later.

I think my frustration stems from not being able to write my own blog.  It’s not that I don’t have the desire, or maybe it’s because my desire isn’t strong enough.   Who knows?  I just can’t seem to come up with enough new, fresh material in order to keep it regular.  I can’t even keep a journal for more than a few days at a time, with weeks (or usually months) in between entries.  But I feel I have that desire to be heard or express my opinion to someone that might care.

So, here is my challenge to myself.  I am going to spend at least two hours a week on my blog and my journal, one hour to each.  I can spend more time if I like.  I don’t have to do it all in one day, but I have to do a combined total of two hours.

I’m sure initially it will be hard, but maybe if I get in a habit, then I will bump up the time.  Maybe I’ll even find more stuff to write about.

My blog is supposed to be more oriented to family history and my adventures therein.  But maybe I’ll have to wander from that a bit as I get into the swing of things and get a rhythm going.  Maybe I need to schedule it in, as well as family history time.  It seems I don’t get anything done unless it’s scheduled in.

Another thing that kills me is I have so much free time at work that I could probably do more with my journal/blog/family history, except for the limitations on our web access.  Okay, so this is probably just an excuse.  I can’t log on to my blog to post anything and I can’t use RootsMagic to do family history.  But I could write in an email, write long hand, use Microsoft Word or a number of different options.  So yeah---excuses!

However, I think I am going to make a more earnest effort to be productive; at home, with wife and kids, at work, in personal pursuits…generally, in all aspects of my life.  This is going to take a lot of sacrifice and personal adjustments.  But in the end, or even near future, it will be worth it.

Project 365 (ish) Weeks 1 and 2

So I read about this idea at Creative Gene. I thought it was a really great idea. I bought a new camera last summer but haven't really used it. Not that it is a really fancy camera or anything, but I did buy it so that I could somehow document things in my life. So I guess this is as great of a way as any.

I read about this idea a couple of days after New Years Day and I haven't taken a picture EVERY day since. So tonite I will show some pics from the days that I have taken pictures. I am combining Weeks 1 and 2 because I didn't start taking photos until the 8th. And then every week I will "try" to be good about updating my Project 365.

So here it goes!!

8 Jan -- This was taken on our way to take the kids sledding. This was only 3 of about 20 that were in the field we drove by. I took a few other pics but this was the best of the bunch. And yes the sky was really that pink. The sun was just coming up at close to 11:00 in the morning.

10 Jan -- I had just woke up, all the kids were at school, except for Quinn. His older brother got a new Nindendo DSi for Christmas, one that Quinn isn't really allowed to play with when his brother is home. So, the only chance he gets is when all the kids are at school. But it wasn't so much that he was playing it that fascinated me. He doesn't play the games, he plays one of the applications pre-installed on the DSi. It is a voice recorder. He was recording himself singing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town." Then he would listen to himself, playing it over and over, changing the tone, pitch, and speed, laughing the whole time!!

Organizing Blues

Okay, so I am in another funk.....I have sat down to my desk after having cleaned it off for the 3rd time in as many days. I clean it in preparation to work on my genealogy, but the fact that I am writing this post in my blog is evidence that I really don't know where to begin.

I have been working on my family history on and off for the past 12 years, but I still consider myself a beginner. I usually do pretty good about doing research (or my limited form of it anyway) for a few weeks, maybe even a couple of months. But then I get busy and then I put it aside for varying lengths of time, weeks, months and in a couple of cases years. And it seems that each time I pick it back up, I have to re-teach myself what I should already know.

I really see myself having quite a bit of time that I can "sacrifice" to my family history research. In fact, the last few weeks I have had some time to work on it too. However, my research files and all my physical documentation is in shambles and I have been trying to organized and clean it up (which included my desk). And I am not done, but I am getting really sick of it. I want to get it done, so that I can get my research started again. But I also know the importance of being organized and methodical. (Which will be really important once I start including my kids in my family research).

Any ideas on how to get myself out of these "blues"??

Family Present (as opposed to Family 'History')

I expect a number of "congratulations" and "welcome back"s, now that I have come out of my blogging coma. It's been quite a while since I last posted, but for some good reason. I have either been traveling, helping a friend build a shed, or been doing one of numerous things in getting ready to move into a new place.

However, as the title suggests, there have been a couple of recent events that have prompted me to write this recent installment of my blog detailing my family history experiences. Two of them a somewhat related. My oldest boy turned 8 a couple of weeks ago, which meant two great things happened to him. First, he was baptized and, second, he is now in the scouting program as a Cub Scout. He was extremely excited about both.

I am excited about it too. I was thumbing thru his new Cub Scout book last night and there are a lot of things that I can help him do. I was just waiting for him to get older so I could do them with him, but now he's here. A bunch of things that I didn't get to do as a kid. So, yeah, I'm excited. I also understand that there is a Genealogy merit badge, but I think that will come a little later when he's an actual Boy Scout.

Also, my 12-yo daughter suggested to me that she would like to start learning about genealogy. That's exciting because I think she's old enough to really begin understanding the in's and out's of research. And it would be really nice to have a little research buddy (since my wife isn't really interested in learning how to do it).

So, there is a brief glimpse of my little corner here in Alaska. Hopefully, the next glimpse isn't too far in the future!

Today's Journal Entry

I have again neglected to post in my blog. But it hasn't entirely been because I haven't wanted to. I have been involved in a Personal History project. And I would like to tell you about it. Let me start by sharing with you my journal entry for today:

"So I have already begun to neglect my latest attempt at keeping a journal. I started up again a few days ago on a trip to Valdez that I took with my family. My intent was to chronicle all the things we did so that we could remember them later. I decided to do this because I recently re-discovered my journal from my mission that I wrote 12 years ago and a journal that I kept while doing some training in Arkansas in 2003. I read these and realized that I had forgotten a lot of those moments or at least a lot of the details. That got me thinking of all the things that have happened to me since and how much I have forgotten. Quite a bit has happened to me in the last 10 years and I'm sure plenty more will be happening for the rest of my life. I would really like to leave something that will allow my children and grandchildren an insight to what I thought and what I did during my life.

"So as I said I re-started this journal a week ago on our camping trip to Valdez. And it was the only entry I wrote while on the trip. The rest of the entries for that trip I wrote today, trying to recall all the things we did. It wasn't easy and it's only been a week. I can't imagine how much I'll have forgotten in the next year or 10 years or 50 years. It was such a spectacular vacation, one that I don't want to forget. And one I don't want my kids to forget.

"I recently read an article by Michael DeGroot called "The Coming Genealogical Dark Ages." In this article it describes a speech given by Curt B. Witcher, manager of The Genealogy Center at the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Mr. Witcher was one of the keynote speakers at the BYU Conference on Family History in Provo, Utah last week.

He describes a crisis in which information is being lost due to advancement in technology or because of lack of interest by those that are now charged with the duties of protecting records that have been preserved for many years. He talks about the decline in handwritten letters, which have been replaced by emails. He talks about libraries and government agencies that are getting rid of their collections of vital records or newspaper archives. So to prevent memories and family stories from being lost forever, Mr. Witcher is encouraging people to write, "Write as you have never written before." He says to write about memories, describe family photos, keep a running journal to capture all those things that would otherwise be lost.

"So this is yet another attempt to do so. I am really excited for this LDSJournal.com. With it I will not only keep a running journal, but I will be transcribing all my random ill-fated journals that I have keep over the years, including my mission journal, my various military journals, my audio-journal that I keep when I was in college, letters that I wrote home to my mom, any other letters (written by me) that I can get my hands on, and even blog entries. Not only will I be including past items but I hope to include future emails, blog entries, and other such items that I feel may merit remembering.

LDSJournal.com also includes a "journal jar" that asks random questions to maybe spark some sort of response. I will also be using that from time to time when I am feeling "the block!" So hopefully this will be the re-start of a life-long endeavor to leave a legacy for my posterity."

So the last couple of weeks I have been searching for any old journals that I kept. I called my mom and asked her to send me all the letters that I wrote to her while I was on my mission in Russia and while I was in training for the Army. (She even included all the letters that might dad wrote to her while they were "courting.") So I have been busy transcribing, scanning, and filing all these memories. A larger project than I had originally thought it would be. And I haven't even scratched the surface of what I plan to include in this Personal History project.

I would really like to hear about any of your Personal History projects. Maybe they will give me ideas to include in my project!!

What I Do Meme

This is in participation with the Meme that was posted by Thomas MacEntee at Geneabloggers. A submission from a humble genealogy beginner!!

Hardware: PC desktop (Windows Vista) 1 netbook (Windows 7).

External storage: 8GB thumbdrive and I use the netbook as a sort of external storage for my desktop

Online storage: None yet

Backup: thumbdrive

Firewall: McAfee for both

Virus protection: McAfee for both

Spyware: McAfee for both

File cleaner:

Printer: Epson Artison 810 (w/ wifi)

Phone: land line. Motorola Droid thru Verizon

Mobile media: iPod nano (4GB)

Music player: Windows Media Player on the PC and netbook

Car audio: factory installed CD player

eBook Reader: None but I am considering a kindle or an iPad.

Browser: Firefox

Blog: Blogger.com

RSS: I read using iGoogle page with Google Reader

FTP: I have no clue what this is!!

Text editor: MS Word 2007

Graphics: Photoshop CS4Paint Shop Pro Photo X2

Screen capture: MS OneNote

Social media: Facebook and just recently Twitter

Social bookmarking:

Social profile:

URL shortener: don't know how this works exactly, but would appreciate someone telling me!!

Office suite: MS Office 2007 Enterprise

E-mail: Yahoo mostly, with Gmail as well

Calendar: Google for personal stuff, Outlook for work stuff

Accounting: MS Excel

PDF generator: Adobe Acrobat Pro

Genealogy database: RootsMagic 4

Genealogy tools:

Other tech stuff: Polaroid t1234 12.0 Megapixel,

Non-Tech stuff: Binders, folders and paper, of course!!

So if you too are into genealogy, I would recommend going to the links above and check out what your fellow experienced (more or less) colleagues are using these days!!