Happy New Year to all!!
I hope I still have a few readers. Even if I don't, I need to write regularly, and so this blog will probably be part journal, part genealogy discoveries, and part "cousin bait" for the future.
I'm back to blogging; I hope regularly.
I'm back to genealogy; I hope regularly.
I'm back to presenting and teaching; I hope regularly.
This is a New Year.
So, I'm putting the past behind me. I'm starting over with ALL of my family research. Yes, I had computer problems. Yes, I had been saving my files to an external hard drive. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that my genealogy program files weren't in my documents or someplace that I was actually backing up. No, I didn't have a cloud backup or anything that allowed me to sync with other devices. So when my computer "crashed", even specialists couldn't recover my lost files. That's now in the past.
What have I learned? What am I going to do differently?
Before I assume that everything is backed up, I am going to make sure that all of the different parts. Backing up isn't helpful if I can't retrieve the files.
I'm going to get cloud storage and use it regularly. Again I'm going to make sure I can retrieve the files.
I have a new tablet and I'm going to get a new laptop. (I'm using one of my husband's old ones temporarily.) I will make sure that the tablet and laptop "communicate" with each other, particularly with regards to genealogy files.
My new family files will have sources for facts as I input the information. This will take me longer, but I won't have to spend hours, days, months, going back and adding sources. Hopefully some of it will be quicker because of my experiences and improved skills.
I am going to return to making presentations at FHSA chapter meetings and giving free beginning classes (5-6 hours) at public libraries in order to share the joy, excitement and wonder of family discovery with others.
Lastly, for now, I'm going to try to put the fun back into genealogy as many have been discussing on other social media outlets.
Again, Happy New Year to all and I hope we find at least one brick wall crumbling down.
