• Happy belated equinox

    The seasonal “hump” day is behind us! Long live summer! Long live summer!

    There is something you should know, other than my seemingly pagan fascination with the Earth’s tilt relative to the sun… I spent AT LEAST two minutes conceiving this entry before sitting down to write. It’s hard to believe, given the emotional depth and complexity of this entry, ain’t it?

  • And there was coffee, and it was good

    There’s something you should know about the week I’m having. I’m happy to report that all systems are functioning. The eldest of my progeny has been getting up in the morning and getting ready for school, which may seem trivial, but is actuality no small feat. Actually, it’s not unlike an 18, extra wide… something with a hard, slippery sole if you have it. The youngest of our clan has started “Table Utensils 101,” but has not yet discovered the household spoon can serve as a catapult in a pinch. He’s a quick study though.

    Most importantly, next week my work production takes a nosedive. That’s because I won’t be there. While budgetary constraints will keep us close to home, I am filled with glee at the prospect of doing… nothing.

  • Climbing the family tree

    My latest obsession is genealogy. It all started with the Mormons. Now there’s a sentence you don’t hear every day.

    A search for “genealogy” on Google will bring you to the Church of Later Day Saints with greater reliability “polygamy.” (What’s this world coming to?) So I hung out with the Mormons for a while. I found a couple interesting snippets of info… just tantalizing enough to lead me to a “pay” site (Ancestry.com) where you can search indexed census records going back to the birth of our nation – with links to scanned images of the actual, hand written forms used by the census workers. I shot through that site like an ADD kid on a double espresso high, hopping from one promising link to another with abandon. In forty-eight (non-weekend) hours I had gone through no fewer than four battery cycles on my PowerBook, and had hooked my wife sufficiently to upgrade to the “Deluxe International” plan at Ancestry.com. A chorus of “Beth, get it yourself” rang out through the house as Cheryl and I huddled in front of our glowing screens.

    It turns out I hit the mother load, while Cheryl has barely gotten beyond her mother. One of the features on several genealogy sites is that you share your research with others. If you can match up a common ancestor with someone who’s done a lot of research you’ve got it made. Which one of us do you suppose found a few matches?

    I have no idea how reliable the info is, but I’m looking forward to trying to find out. In the mean time, my new-found collection of names and dates is a tantalizing look into my past. Have you ever heard that there is power to knowing someone’s name – that in some cultures names were guarded to avoid granting others influence over themselves? Now, I think I understand.