An exciting thing is happening soon with FamilyLink. FamilyLink is a social networking tool for genealogists, and it is owned by World Vital Records. The people who are in the World Vital Records demographic generally have no idea what "social networking tool" means, even if we try to explain it as "Facebook for genealogists." For most of the people who do genealogy, Facebook is something their kids and grandkids use. We usually end up explaining FamilyLink as "a way to connect with other genealogists. You can find people searching the same surnames or localities as you, and you can find people who live in the areas where you are researching. You can also upload GedComs and pictures and share them with your families and friends."
To help promote FamilyLink, our CEO, Paul Allen, has really been pushing for the development of Facebook applications. Some time last week we launched the MyWill app which is really just a fun application where you can bequeath your belongings to your friends.
The app we're launching this week is much more exciting. It has a couple of major features. One is that it will allow you to go through all your friends and select the ones you are related to. You indicate how you are related. If they are using the app, then it will show you images of their family members and suggest that you might be related to them as well. This is a great feature because you may have cousins on Facebook that aren't on your "Facebook friends" yet. I started using the app on Wednesday, and then Eric added it on Thursday. As soon as he added me as a family member, he could see all the people I had added as my family members. He found about three cousins that he didn't have has friends. It was really cool!
The really cool, but rather complicated feature is that it will allow you to upload your family tree (in digital format, this is called a GedCom) and compare it with your friends to see if you are related. This will be especially cool among BYU students where so many people's ancestors can be traced to the early Mormon pioneers. I'm sure there are oodles of people who are distant cousins and don't even know it.
The biggest problem we can see is that most people won't have any idea where to get a GedCom that has their name in it. The process of creating a GedCom is rather tedious, and it's doubtful that very many people will want to go through the hassle. In helping Eric do the usability testing, we realized how difficult it would be.
If the Facebook user does not have a grandmother or somebody who can email them a GedCom with his/her name in it, the user will have to go to a deal of trouble to create one.
First, he will have to download Personal Ancestral File (PAF). It is free from FamilySearch.org. (There are much better programs available, but they cost money). Then he will have to do some searches for his grandparents or great-grandparents on FamilySearch, download those GedComs, and import them into PAF. Then he'll need to add the people up to the point where he has downloaded the files. For example, if Eric downloads GedComs with each of his grandparents as the root persons, he will still need to add his parents and himself. That really isn't that difficult, but for somebody who has just barely downloaded PAF, it can be pretty tricky! Then the users would save the compiled GedCom he has just created and upload it to the Facebook app.
I'm pretty sure most people won't want to bother.
And so, my friends, I am offering this service to you. If you want to use the Facebook app, but you don't know how to download (or don't want to bother downloading) GedComs, importing them into PAF and so forth, I WILL DO IT FOR YOU!!! Shoot me an email or comment on my blog, and I will send you the appropriate questions so I can see what I can find for you that is already online.
Folks, I'm offering free research here. I really want this application to succeed.
The application will be launched some time this week, but the ability to compare GedComs may not be available for a few more weeks. Wouldn't it be sweet if you could compare your GedCom with your friends' GedComs as soon as that features is available? (The correct answer is "Yes.")
If you're my friend on Facebook, I'll invite you to the app as soon as I'm allowed to.
07 October 2007
06 October 2007
My Personal Battle with War and Peace
The summer before my senior year of high school I happened to wake up rather early one morning, like 8 o'clock. Being the teenager that I was, I went immediately to the living room to find something to watch on television. Thankfully, by this point in my life I was completely finished watching MTV day in and day out during my summers. As I flipped through the channels I happened upon the American version of War and Peace with Audrey Hepburne. It was just beginning. I had seen bits of it before when my mom was watching it. I didn't see much though, because I detest watching movies in bits and pieces. I want to see the whole movie or no movie. If I've seen the movie before, I don't mind jumping in and out, but otherwise I don't want to even miss 15 minutes of a movie.
So, I sat down to watch the long film. I remember sitting on the couch waiting for a good time when I could run to the bathroom or run to the kitchen for a bowl of cereal, but there were no commercials, and I just couldn't bear to leave. The film had completely captured me. Eventually there was an intermission, so I had time to run around and take care of things and then return to my movie. I was completely enraptured. I knew by the time the movie was over that I needed to read War and Peace.
That opportunity came very soon thereafter. My senior English teacher assigned us to choose a classic novel and write a literary analysis of it. As our class wandered through our insufficient library, I found a few books that looked good. One of them was War and Peace. I hesitated only because of its length. (I don't remember how many pages, but it's loooooooong). Eventually, I convinced myself that I could do it, and I selected the book as my topic.
I really enjoyed reading the book, but wow! it took a long time. I read voraciously, but I didn't quite finish it in time. My rough draft was due. I was not even close to finishing the book. For my first three years of high school I had the same English teacher, and she was content to let us turn in pretty much anything for a rough draft. She said an outline was sufficient, but it was really to our own detriment that we didn't write our papers sooner. I was a procrastinator then (I still am sometimes), so I rarely actually wrote a rough draft. It was almost always just a detailed outline. Besides, that's just the way I write papers. I think and think and think. Then I sit down and write. But, I digress.
I turned in my "rough draft" which was actually a sketchy outline. When I got it back, it had a big, red "F" on it. "Oh dear," I thought. "I'm going to have to get an "A" on my real paper if I want to not get a "C" this six weeks."
I continued to voraciously read the book. The paper was due the Monday after Thanksgiving break. I spent Wednesday and Thursday of the break working at the grocery store. I took my book with me so I could read it on my breaks. On Friday and Saturday I went out of town with my family. I took my book and read, read, read. I finished the book Sunday afternoon.
Then I began making the outline a paper. I worked all night. Literally. I didn't go to bed. I wrote until 5:40 when I realized I needed to wake up my brother to take me to early-morning seminary. After seminary I cleaned up the paper a bit and printed it. My friend picked me up for school at about 8:10, and we were off to school. My paper was complete, and I was completely exhausted.
I can count on one hand how many high school classes I NEVER slept in. And yet, that Monday, I couldn't sleep in any of my classes. I was so exhausted, and yet I could not get to sleep for the life of me. I went all day with no naps whatsoever.
Then I went home and went to work. I was scheduled to work until 10:30, but I got a friend to switch with me so I could leave at 10. I didn't make it to seminary on Tuesday morning.
And that is the story of my reading War and Peace. Also, it is the story of my first and only (to this point in my life) true all-nighter.
By the way, I LOVED the book, and I got an "A" on the paper, and "A" for the six weeks grading period.
So, I sat down to watch the long film. I remember sitting on the couch waiting for a good time when I could run to the bathroom or run to the kitchen for a bowl of cereal, but there were no commercials, and I just couldn't bear to leave. The film had completely captured me. Eventually there was an intermission, so I had time to run around and take care of things and then return to my movie. I was completely enraptured. I knew by the time the movie was over that I needed to read War and Peace.
That opportunity came very soon thereafter. My senior English teacher assigned us to choose a classic novel and write a literary analysis of it. As our class wandered through our insufficient library, I found a few books that looked good. One of them was War and Peace. I hesitated only because of its length. (I don't remember how many pages, but it's loooooooong). Eventually, I convinced myself that I could do it, and I selected the book as my topic.
I really enjoyed reading the book, but wow! it took a long time. I read voraciously, but I didn't quite finish it in time. My rough draft was due. I was not even close to finishing the book. For my first three years of high school I had the same English teacher, and she was content to let us turn in pretty much anything for a rough draft. She said an outline was sufficient, but it was really to our own detriment that we didn't write our papers sooner. I was a procrastinator then (I still am sometimes), so I rarely actually wrote a rough draft. It was almost always just a detailed outline. Besides, that's just the way I write papers. I think and think and think. Then I sit down and write. But, I digress.
I turned in my "rough draft" which was actually a sketchy outline. When I got it back, it had a big, red "F" on it. "Oh dear," I thought. "I'm going to have to get an "A" on my real paper if I want to not get a "C" this six weeks."
I continued to voraciously read the book. The paper was due the Monday after Thanksgiving break. I spent Wednesday and Thursday of the break working at the grocery store. I took my book with me so I could read it on my breaks. On Friday and Saturday I went out of town with my family. I took my book and read, read, read. I finished the book Sunday afternoon.
Then I began making the outline a paper. I worked all night. Literally. I didn't go to bed. I wrote until 5:40 when I realized I needed to wake up my brother to take me to early-morning seminary. After seminary I cleaned up the paper a bit and printed it. My friend picked me up for school at about 8:10, and we were off to school. My paper was complete, and I was completely exhausted.
I can count on one hand how many high school classes I NEVER slept in. And yet, that Monday, I couldn't sleep in any of my classes. I was so exhausted, and yet I could not get to sleep for the life of me. I went all day with no naps whatsoever.
Then I went home and went to work. I was scheduled to work until 10:30, but I got a friend to switch with me so I could leave at 10. I didn't make it to seminary on Tuesday morning.
And that is the story of my reading War and Peace. Also, it is the story of my first and only (to this point in my life) true all-nighter.
By the way, I LOVED the book, and I got an "A" on the paper, and "A" for the six weeks grading period.
04 October 2007
At least we have a car
Today, somebody accidentally didn't shut his/her (his) door as he/she (he) exited the car. This caused the overhead light to remain on all day. And the battery died.
The car was in my work parking lot (which is conveniently across the street from where Eric spent his entire day). When Eric came to get me from work I asked around the office to see if anybody has jumper cables. Even though I say we need to buy some every time our car battery dies because somebody (usually me) leaves the lights on, we still do not have jumper cables. One guy suggested that we just pop the clutch. Eric had never heard of that, and I had only witnessed my mother doing it once when I was about 14. My co-worker came downstairs and helped Eric push the car into position. He and another guy gave the car a good push, and we were off.
One problem: the warning bell would not stop its incessant dinging.
Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. The whole way to the mall.
Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Even after we had stopped the car and made sure there were no lights on and such.
Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. The whole way home from the mall.
Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. The whole way over to Eric's friend's house, where we watched Episode 2 of this season of "The Office." Also, as we approached our friend's house we heard a noise that sounded like a flat tire. Eric got out and checked, but surprisingly, no flat tire. "Interesting," we thought.
Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. The whole time we watched the show (which was great for the first 45 minutes and completely ridiculous the last 15 or so).
Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Weird noises. Thud. Yes, and that would be the tire officially going flat.
We put on our warning lights, pulled over and proceeded to change the tire. It took a while. When the professionals put on those bolts, they are too tight. Always. So tight that if I were by myself I would not be able to change the tire. Other than those tight bolts, I wouldn't have much of a problem. Those bolts are impossible for a tiny girl like me!
Eventually, the tire was replaced, and we got back into the car to find that the battery was dead again. The blinking of the lights and the dinging of the warning bell had exhausted the battery.
We used our new trick and popped the clutch for the second time today.
And you know what we didn't hear? Dinging. It's gone. Hooray!
Instead of taking the car in to get the dinging to stop, Eric will take it in to get new tires.
The car was in my work parking lot (which is conveniently across the street from where Eric spent his entire day). When Eric came to get me from work I asked around the office to see if anybody has jumper cables. Even though I say we need to buy some every time our car battery dies because somebody (usually me) leaves the lights on, we still do not have jumper cables. One guy suggested that we just pop the clutch. Eric had never heard of that, and I had only witnessed my mother doing it once when I was about 14. My co-worker came downstairs and helped Eric push the car into position. He and another guy gave the car a good push, and we were off.
One problem: the warning bell would not stop its incessant dinging.
Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. The whole way to the mall.
Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Even after we had stopped the car and made sure there were no lights on and such.
Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. The whole way home from the mall.
Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. The whole way over to Eric's friend's house, where we watched Episode 2 of this season of "The Office." Also, as we approached our friend's house we heard a noise that sounded like a flat tire. Eric got out and checked, but surprisingly, no flat tire. "Interesting," we thought.
Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. The whole time we watched the show (which was great for the first 45 minutes and completely ridiculous the last 15 or so).
Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Weird noises. Thud. Yes, and that would be the tire officially going flat.
We put on our warning lights, pulled over and proceeded to change the tire. It took a while. When the professionals put on those bolts, they are too tight. Always. So tight that if I were by myself I would not be able to change the tire. Other than those tight bolts, I wouldn't have much of a problem. Those bolts are impossible for a tiny girl like me!
Eventually, the tire was replaced, and we got back into the car to find that the battery was dead again. The blinking of the lights and the dinging of the warning bell had exhausted the battery.
We used our new trick and popped the clutch for the second time today.
And you know what we didn't hear? Dinging. It's gone. Hooray!
Instead of taking the car in to get the dinging to stop, Eric will take it in to get new tires.
03 October 2007
Who are you?
Apparently, today is de-lurking day in the blogosphere. At least, that's what Janssen says. And she's probably right. She used to be my roommate, and she is right about many, many things. Except mayonnaise. She's wrong about that. It is gross.
Lurking is what you are doing. Yes, you. You, the person who reads my blog and never comments. Now, I'm not expecting everybody to comment every time. But if you read my blog regularly, you should at least comment once or twice. I check my site meter, and there are people out there reading my blog, and I have no idea who they are. Somebody is in Turkey. Somebody else is in Idaho Falls. Somebody else is in Meridian, Idaho. I don't know who you are, and I want to know. A simple name will suffice. I realize that by having a blog I am opening myself up for anybody in the whole world to read my words, but please satisfy me and just tell me who you are.
If you feel dumb putting a comment that says, "I read your blog." You can answer one of these two questions:
Lurking is what you are doing. Yes, you. You, the person who reads my blog and never comments. Now, I'm not expecting everybody to comment every time. But if you read my blog regularly, you should at least comment once or twice. I check my site meter, and there are people out there reading my blog, and I have no idea who they are. Somebody is in Turkey. Somebody else is in Idaho Falls. Somebody else is in Meridian, Idaho. I don't know who you are, and I want to know. A simple name will suffice. I realize that by having a blog I am opening myself up for anybody in the whole world to read my words, but please satisfy me and just tell me who you are.
If you feel dumb putting a comment that says, "I read your blog." You can answer one of these two questions:
- Where are your ancestors from, primarily?
- Do you have any ancestors who did cool things? (Not that they had to be famous, but that they did something cool, or had something cool happen to them).
02 October 2007
Yesterday I went and got my mail from our last place of residence.
We got lots of junk, of course. Credit card offers. More credit card offers. Last chance credit card offers. The usual.
We also got our copy of the October 2007 Ensign. And one other really cool thing. . .
My diploma. The real, bona fide, true-blue diploma certifying that I have received a B.A. from Brigham Young University.
It just may be the coolest piece of paper I have ever gotten.
After I admired it for about thirty seconds, I put it back in its cardboard envelope and put it away somewhere. I wonder when I will look at it next. Maybe one day when we have an office and I feel like framing it. But for now, it's nice just to know I've got it.
We got lots of junk, of course. Credit card offers. More credit card offers. Last chance credit card offers. The usual.
We also got our copy of the October 2007 Ensign. And one other really cool thing. . .
My diploma. The real, bona fide, true-blue diploma certifying that I have received a B.A. from Brigham Young University.
It just may be the coolest piece of paper I have ever gotten.
After I admired it for about thirty seconds, I put it back in its cardboard envelope and put it away somewhere. I wonder when I will look at it next. Maybe one day when we have an office and I feel like framing it. But for now, it's nice just to know I've got it.
01 October 2007
Official Utahn
Today was a big day. I went to the Orem DMV and got a Utah Driver License. I'm officially a Utah resident. And I changed my voter registration to Utah. (Democrat, in case you were wondering).
My picture wasn't as good as my Texas DL picture, but it's good enough. Probably most importantly is that I know have the correct name on my driver license. Now when I buy a plane ticket I can purchase it with my married name instead of my maiden name.
And now I can go get a passport. I wonder how long it will take me to get around to doing that.
My picture wasn't as good as my Texas DL picture, but it's good enough. Probably most importantly is that I know have the correct name on my driver license. Now when I buy a plane ticket I can purchase it with my married name instead of my maiden name.
And now I can go get a passport. I wonder how long it will take me to get around to doing that.
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