Early 2012, Amy Coffin and Denise Levenick did as they do…inspire.  They published a set of goals for themselves, and I loved reading theirs enough that I had to write goals of my own.  As 2012 escapes into the distance, a review seemed in order.

1. Goal: Write 12 blog posts (1/month) and 4 short biographies of VIPs in my tree.
2. Goal: Further research goals in Phinney and Richmond lines.
3. Goal: Use iPad as often as laptop.

Were these goals achieved?

On the first goal, I published 6 blog posts in 2012.  I tended to have bursts of activity, especially during the summer, so the posts were in no way consistant. This is an area to improve upon. A great genealogy exercise at the society where I volunteer encouraged me to write a biography an ancestral VIP, but that’s a far cry from four.

Score: 44%

What was I doing when I wasn’t writing blog posts? I was making headway on my second goal. I made enough headway, in fact, that my Phinney research will likely comprise one of the sections of my application for the Board of Certified Genealogists. It has been an exciting and frustrating puzzle to decipher and what frustrates me most is that I really shouldn’t be writing about it here.  I’m turning off comments on any blog post relating to it.  Yet a pension file has not been obtained, so a few points are lost.

The Richmond line is less likely to be part of a BCG application but more likely to be my first book. I dug deep into the public records and still come up short on any connection to the earlier and more distinguished man of the same name. But in the process, found direction on where else to look. This year will give me more research opportunity to develop this story. If all goes well, a visit to his grave in Connecticut will be on my travel itinerary in 2013.

Score: 85%

The third goal was a mixed bag. Traveling with my iPad was exceptional in many ways but weak in a couple areas, enough to keep me bringing my laptop on trips. The addition of a bluetooth keyboard from MacWorld and a comfy bag to carry the gear really helped. As a package, I’ve used it on short distance trips, in Board meetings and classes, mostly as a small lap-print method to take notes. It fits much better on an airline tray table than my 15″ Macbook Pro, so a lot of writing happened in transit. That did not always translate to a seamless posting experience — I wrote a lot more than I posted, part of the reason for the poor grade on Goal #1. Setting up the two devices in tandem with Google Drive gave me a beautiful system to tackle the serious paperless research accomplished in Goal #2. This device will never replace my laptop without some sort of cellular service or portable wifi hotspot solution.

Score: 75%

For 2012, that places me with an average score of 68% which sounds perfectly average.  I’m okay with that though.  It just gives me plenty of room to improve.

What does 2013 hold?

My BCG application clock started at the end of 2012 with little fan-fare.  Travel is being planned to allow me adequate time for on-site research in Salt Lake City and Connecticut. There are other projects in the works, but very few goals matter to me more. This year, on the research and writing front, BCG Application is it.