Maybe the Jetsons really are on the way! - Personal Genealogy Week 8

What are some of the technological advances that happened during your childhood? What types of technology do you enjoy using today, and which do you avoid? These are the questions asked this week in "52 Weeks of Personal History & Genealogy" created by Amy Coffin of We Tree fame and listed each week on Geneabloggers for our enjoyment.


I recently made a list with my teenage daughter about the amount of advances that had come into the world during my lifetime as part of a discussion in which she felt our generation was the best one due to all the "cool things that happened in our era." I was told there would be no new John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., the experiences that we went through as this nation grappled with civil rights issues, or the excitement of the first man on the moon. She told me that no sport figure would compare with Michael Jordan, the 95,000 fans that were cheering on the women's soccer team when they won in overtime in the Rose Bowl, etc.

I tried to remind her that in her few years she has seen the revelations of the smartphone into its own little computer, the e-reader, the Ipod, LeBron James, Tiger Woods in his better days, the first African American President, and what the power of the people can do with their actions recently in Egypt, but I am not so sure she is convinced yet. I think time will change her mind.

The technology I have watched through my childhood include:

microwave
cell phone as big as a suitcase
Kodak cameras
cable Television (and of course color tv before that)
a dryer that doesn't involve a crank
home computers
8-track, cassette, and CDs and their players
drive-thru
remotes
and one of my favorites at the time--------- PONG!!!!!! What could possibly be more exciting than watching a white ball go across a black screen to hit  a white paddle over and over? I can still hear the music! My neighborhood was so excited that my father had brought home that game you would have thought we were royalty. Luckily, Ms. Pac-Man and Donkey Kong came along and took over my heart later. There was nothing like the arcades.

The toys of my adulthood include:

laptop computer
SLR camera
home and portable scanners
big screen television
high speed internet
meals that nearly magically cook themselves (I'm still waiting for the robot, but children do help)
and my trusty GPS that I chose to name Jill

I avoid to the best of my intentions:

the tech guys who choose to live outside the United States and I know much more than I'd like to admit
detailed instructions  (unless it involves anything needing to be assembled- then I am a woman on a mission that no person can keep up with!)

There is so much I could include you would be reading until tomorrow, but that Reader needs to move on, so until next time:

May all your genealogical pursuits be successful!!!

Thankful Thursday- Suggestions Come From Our Blogging Friends

One of the greatest aspects of blogging in this genealogy sphere is the interaction that comes in getting to know other researchers going through all the ups and downs of this crazy field we love right along with us.

One of those people is Amy Coffin of We Tree fame who has given all of us reasons to learn more about our families through the past years in the series named "Jump Start Your Genealogy Blog: 52 Ideas, 52 Weeks", "52 Weeks to Better Genealogy", and this years series "52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History" which just began and is one I would strongly encourage for everyone. There is no pressure to complete all the prompts, just join in when you can.

There are many of the prompts I have completed, but many more that I missed and I think I will some day go back and actually use some of those I missed for further learning.

But that is not why I am writing this today- SOURCES is.  I have a family program on my computer as many of us do, and when I was trying to decide about keeping Family Tree Maker or moving to another program Amy was one of those who sent a message my way. When I went back and read some of her entries she was lamenting the chore in which she was going back through her program and citing each fact and coming along quite well with the process (I say with clenched teeth).

That's when I knew what I was going to do, and that's why I am thankful for Miss Amy (no big head my dear).

I purchased my new program and I am only entering people and data as they are fully sourced, no matter how tempting it gets to jump the fence early.  So, my name went first, followed by all the data off my birth certificate, and so on. If I do not have records to source a fact, then I am not entering the information yet. Instead, I use my "working tree" which is FTM 2010.

I like it this way. I feel more in control of the data on the tree and know that I can show how it got there. Thanks, Amy.

52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy/History- Week #1 - New Years Memories

Did your family have any New Year's traditions?

Yes we do, and of course it centers around food. Don't so many traditions?  I cannot say when this special meal started, and ironically, after spending the day with part of my family on New Year's Day when I was asking a million questions about everything under the stars, I can't believe I never asked about the origins.

But this is what I do know:

My parents (actually my father) sold Wearever cookware for years before I was born and when I was very small. Actually he won an award one year for being the top salesman in the nation, but even today he just shrugs that off. He and my mother would load up the cookware and go to a person's home and cook them a meal in it, then Dad would go back the next day and cook breakfast in the Wearever for a second meal to show them how they could easily cook a meal on top of the stove with good cookware.

Now I can tell you that in my own household I have personally gone through 4 sets on non-stick cookware and too many skillets to name, but my parents are using that same set of Wearever and it still looks brand new.

Every year on new Year's Day we get together at their home for a meal of roast, cabbage, turnips, black-eyed peas (for luck), cooked raisins, steamed carrots, and my favorite- riced potatoes with gravy. Riced Potatoes are actually baked potatoes that have been put through a special collander that turns them into rice. The meal always ends with granny cake.

It's a good time to relax after all the craziness that came from Christmas, a chance to sit back and enjoy family and a still moment before the daily grind gets back in the way sending us all in so many different directions. 

Thank God for Wearever.