Category Archives: Site News

2012-2013 Goals Review

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.

Settling In

Hopefully, you’ve been settling in at my new space.  Nothing comes quickly between preschool field trips, gen. society meetings, client work, and making dinner, but each evening I plug away at little details to make this space a little more lived in and comfortable.  Compared to WordPress.com, WordPress.org self installs are a little overwhelming in the sheer number of options available.

I’m a researcher at heart. I take that approach with consumer and technology decisions as well as genealogical research so I don’t typically just “try out” new plugins on a whim.  As a result, there are a few functions still missing from the website though they will be included sometime soon.  One is a biggie that might necessitate choosing a new theme.

The extra good news is that over the next month or so, one of my favorite folks in genealogy circles, DearMyrtle, is hosting a series of webinars on WordPress, including .com and .org issues.  I’ll be listening and hopefully I’ll be able to bring some new knowledge to the website table.  One way or another, you may come back at some point and find quite a different look.  Hopefully it will all be for the better.

Till then, happy tree walking…

–Kim

Happy Blogiversary to Me

Today marks the first anniversary of the Walking Your Tree blog and the grand opening of its new space on the internet, WalkingYourTree.com.  I had a different blog when I arrived at Jamboree 2011, but through conversations and classes, I had to admit it would never be the home of the business hatching in my heart.  So one night, sitting in the lobby, I managed to convince the saturated wi-fi to let me on to twitter and wordpress.com to start new accounts with the new login. Less than a week later, I published my first post.

As I’ve said before, it’s doubtful I’ll ever be a prolific writer, but I enjoy sharing my own thoughts on modern genealogy and technology and the places where they intersect.  I also enjoy giving readers a glimpse into the workings of a newly professional genealogist.  I’ve turned a curiosity into a passion into a community into a business.  I love what I do, and can’t wait to share it with more people.

If you’ve been reading for a while, thanks for coming along for the ride. If you’re a new reader, thanks for taking a chance on this little corner of the ‘net. I hope you find something that helps you in the search for your own family history.

–Kim

P.S. There will still be a fair number of tweeks going on here in the coming days & weeks. If you want to share any must-have plugins or advice for someone new to wordpress.org, feel free to leave them in the comments.