It's Snowing!* (Research Diary, No. 7)

My Research Diary:
Part to-do list...
Part dear diary...
Part Nosy-Nellie...

Weekly events, plans (and a question or two) from my oh-so exciting genealogy (and sometimes non-genealogy) life...

"Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right."
~ Oprah Winfrey (b. 1954)

~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~

What happened this week:

Blog housekeeping...

• I've added 44 new-to-me blogs to my reading lists - see below (though I'm sure there will be more, as always!)
• As always, thanks for following and reading! I appreciate your comments and I think I've followed everyone in turn, but if I haven't please let me know!
• I received an award! Lisa @ Genealojournal gave me an "Ancestor Approved" award...look for my list later this week...
• I'm still not completely happy with the layout of my blog...nor with the length of the blogrolls (I would like to list everyone I read, but at 200, the blog would be a mile long!)...nor with my header (it seems too small)...sigh.

Genealogy:

• I became a RootsWeb Mailing List Administrator again. I used to admin a few years ago, but got out of it. Now I've adopted two surname lists: Story-L and Rivington-L. Both lists are small (Rivington with just 8 subscribers and Story with about 150) and fairly quiet, so it'll be just like riding a bike, right? ;)
• Just like last week, not much actual research occured. However, I did quite a bit of planning and submitted my very first entry for the 101st edition of the Carnival of Genealogy: Count Your Chickens Before They Hatch* : My 2011 Genealogy Research & Writing Plan(s)".
• Regular posts included Tombstone Tuesday (Oshawa Union) and Wordless Wednesday (Valcartier picture postcard, part 4), but I completely missed my Tabloid Thursday...
• I also missed my Friday results post for "52 Weeks to Better Genealogy"'s Week 12 (Archive and Library sites), but I'm planning to get to that (and post Week 13's challenge) either later today or tomorrow (since I'm off work).
• Have you seen "The King's Speech"? A friend and I went yesterday to the theatre and it was excellent! I highly recommend it - our showing received an applause at the end.  Great cast all around, with lots of humour and especially good if you're a history fan (like me!)

New-to-me blogs:

• Canadian genealogy blogs: (3)
• Newdale, Manitoba, Canada - Genealogy
• Saskatchewan Genealogical Society
• Spirits of the Old
• History blogs: (2)
  • Boston 1775
  • Spitalfields Life
• General genealogy blogs: (39)
• The Accidental Genealogist
• The Ancestral Archaeologist
• Ancestrally Challenged
• Begin With 'Craft'
• Beiboer - A Frisian Family
• Beth's Genealogy Blog
• A Brummie Family Tree
• Climbing My Family Tree
• The Clue Wagon [thanks Kathy!]
• The Educated Genealogist
• Elyse's Genealogy Blog
• Entwined Roots
• Everything's Relative
• The Faces of My Family
• Family History Research
• Family History Thoughts and Links
• Family History Tracing
• Free Genealogy Resources
• The French Genealogy Blog
• Gene Notes
• Genealogical Gems
• GenealogyandFamilyHistory.com
• Have You Seen My Roots?
• Heritage Zen
• The Internet Genealogist
• Journey To the Past
• My Channel Island Ancestry
• My Ireland Home
• My Tangled Vine
• NARAtions
• Paula's Genealogical Eclectica
• Pursuits of a Desperate Genie
• Sassy Jane Genealogy
• They Came Before
• Tonia's Roots
• The Turning of Generations
• (West) Virginia Wykles and Kin
• What's Past is Prologue
• You Go Genealogy Girls

What's coming up:

• Back to regular schedule programming: Tombstone Tuesday (more Oshawa Union), Wordless Wednesday (my last Valcartier picture postcard), Tabloid Thursday, and "52 Weeks" (the old 2010 version - I'm passing on the new 2011 version).
• Read! Read! Read! I have lots of books that came in through ILLO, so I have to get those read and returned!

Thanks for reading!
Jenn

*At least it was when I started editing the entry this morning.  Now it appears to have stopped.  Stupid weather.

My personal research and blog diary for the week ending 2 January 2011.

52 Weeks to Better Genealogy : Week 11 Results

Amy Coffin of the We Tree blog (and hosted by Geneabloggers) presents "52 Weeks To Better Genealogy", a series of weekly genealogy prompts / suggestions / exercises that (hopefully) will help anyone to become a better researcher.

The challenge for week 11:

Read the back posts from the Transitional Genealogists Forum. This is a message board for genealogists who are taking the steps needed to become professional genealogists. Even if you aren’t interested in that goal, you will benefit from the questions and answers provided on this excellent discussion list. If you have a genealogy blog, write about a question or subject from this board that was helpful for you.

I found several things of interest, including...

The thread for [TGF] Source Citation Placement from 4 February 2008 for the placement (and discrepencies) of sources within a formal research report.  Of interest, especially if I ever get my butt in gear and write personal research reports, as I would like to (eventually) do...

The thread for Privacy Laws - Canada from 2 August 2008 is something I am sadly lacking in and need to become more aware of...

The post of Organizing and "Publishing" Personal Research (by Connie Sheets) from 8 March 2009 made me think about what I'm doing, how I'm going about it, and where I want my research to go (where my ancestors went is another issue! ;)

The thread for How Do You Track Time on Projects? 26 June 2009 : Since time (whether blogging, researching, or just being "genealogically nosy" (i.e. surfing), tends to drift away from me, I thought this conversation might be of some help...

The thread for Tips for citations in Word 13 August 2009 : Helpful, again, if I ever get to my plan of personal research reports...

The threads for personal research report or status update from 30 August 2009 and Organization of Client Reports from 6 December 2009 : I especially found the response from Elizabeth Shown Mills quite helpful in regarding a format for personal research reports (which I would eventually like to do for my own research...).

The thread for What to call a progenitor whose first name is unknown from 6 January 2010 : I found this conversation interesting since we all have "unknown's", whether progenitor's or not (even though the question itself was asked in conjection with a client research report).

The thread for Henrietta Lacks - example of an interesting research project from 1 February 2010 : This one jumped out at me solely because I have the book that came out of this research - waiting on my TBR shelf! :)

...as well as the numerous threads on various citation formats and discussions on BCG Standards and "Evidence Explained"! Even though I have no (current - I've thought about it though!) plans to "become" professional/certified (though informal "self-education" will always continue), I plan to subscribe to the list regardless.  It's quite a bundle of information! 

Please Note: This challenge was originally published the week of 13 March 2010. I'm continuing the series on my own after a lengthy (cough, cough) break from genealogy...

52 Weeks to Better Genealogy : Week 11 Challenge

Amy Coffin of the We Tree blog (and hosted by Geneabloggers) presents "52 Weeks To Better Genealogy", a series of weekly genealogy prompts / suggestions / exercises that (hopefully) will help anyone to become a better researcher.

The challenge for week 11:

Read the back posts from the Transitional Genealogists Forum. This is a message board for genealogists who are taking the steps needed to become professional genealogists. Even if you aren’t interested in that goal, you will benefit from the questions and answers provided on this excellent discussion list. If you have a genealogy blog, write about a question or subject from this board that was helpful for you.

I'll post my results later this week...

Please Note: This challenge was originally published the week of 13 March 2010. I'm continuing the series on my own after a lengthy (cough, cough) break from genealogy...