Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

I've Been Quiet!

I haven't posted any new articles to this newsletter's web site in three days simply because I was so busy at the Genealogy Jamboree in Burbank, California. I was wrapped up in the events and loved it. I typically arose about six or seven in the morning and stayed busy until ten P.M. every day.

Last night I rode a red-eye flight across the country and then collapsed into bed once I got home this morning. I was exhausted but glad that I made the trip.

The next few articles will describe my experiences at the Genealogy Jamboree in some detail.

On the Road Again

If you read this newsletter regularly, you already know that I travel quite often. By the time you read these words, I should be on a coast-to-coast flight en route to the Southern California Genealogy Jamboree being held this weekend in Burbank. I am looking forward to this trip: I was at the same conference last year and loved it. I suspect this year's event will be at least as good, if not better.

I am flying on Thursday. The conference is being held Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Hooray! A conference that is held on both weekend days! I'm taking a red-eye flight back Sunday evening, leaving at midnight, and should arrive home early Monday morning.

The Southern California Genealogical Society goes "all out" on their annual Jamboree and usually attracts 1,000 or more attendees. The facility used at the Burbank Marriott Hotel and Convention Center is just about the right size for an event of this type.

Plus Edition Newsletter Sent

To all Plus Edition subscribers:

The weekly Plus Edition newsletter was sent to your e-mail address a few minutes ago. It should have arrived by now. If you have not yet seen it in your in-box, check your spam folder. If it is not there, please contact your e-mail provider to see why it was blocked. (That happens often, especially to AOL, Comcast, cox.net and sbcglobal.net customers.)

If you have any questions, please contact me at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy//contact-us.html.

Here are the articles in this week's Plus Edition newsletter:

Plus Edition Newsletter Sent

To all Plus Edition subscribers:

The weekly Plus Edition newsletter was sent to your e-mail address a few minutes ago. It should have arrived by now. If you have not yet seen it in your in-box, check your spam folder. If it is not there, please contact your e-mail provider to see why it was blocked. (That happens often, especially to AOL, Comcast, cox.net and sbcglobal.net customers.) If you have any questions, please contact me.

NOTE: This week's entire Plus Edition newsletter is available at: http://www.eogn.com/wp/thisweek.htm. Don't forget that you can always read the latest Plus Edition newsletter individual articles at any time at http://www.eogn.com/wp/ (your user name and password are required to read the Plus Edition online).

Update: New Plus Edition PDF Version of This Newsletter

A couple of people have asked so I thought I would post the answer here for all to see:

A few weeks ago, I changed the format of the Plus Edition newsletters sent every week by e-mail. The new format is much shorter, providing the title and the first few sentences of each article. You can read the articles online individually or, to read the entire weekly newsletter at once, you may go to http://www.eogn.com/wp/thisweek.htm. The entire weekly newsletter is available online in both HTML and PDF formats.

Saturday Evening EOGN Dinner Photos

My thanks to Harry Benson for sending along photographs taken at the Saturday evening dinner in Raleigh for readers of this newsletter. We all met at The Pit, a restaurant specializing in eastern North Carolina barbecue. 26 newsletter readers enjoyed each other's company. This dinner took place immediately after the close of the 2009 annual conference of the National Genealogical Society.

Harry even took a picture of the customized menu that we had that evening.

Click on a picture to see the full sized version.

Thanks Harry!

 

EOGN Readers' Dinner in Raleigh

I always enjoy genealogy conferences, but my personal highlight is the Saturday night dinners. For years, I have organized dinners after the close of conferences. I must say that this year the dinner was organized by newsletter editor Pam Cerutti as she did most of the work at this conference.

Planning for these dinners is always hectic and performed at the last minute as I find it difficult to plan dinners well in advance in a distant city. I typically wait until I am at the conference, then look around for a nearby restaurant that is willing to handle a large crowd on a Saturday night. That by itself is a challenge, but we have usually been successful. Most of the dinners have turned out to be great events, and this year's Raleigh, North Carolina, event was no exception.

On the Road Again

If you read this newsletter regularly, you already know that I travel quite often. Indeed, I plan to be traveling for the next week and a half.

First, I'll leave on Friday and go to Maine to be a part of my daughter's wedding. Yes, my only daughter is getting married, and Dad is proud as can be. She would claim she is not a techie, but she created a web site for the wedding at http://www.kellyanddavewed.com. I'm proud of that girl!

Read the Plus Edition Newsletter in an RSS Feed

I have been monitoring the comments posted in the online survey about the Plus Edition e-mail messages. (See http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2009/05/changes-required-in-the-plus-edition-email-newsletter.html.) One thing that caught my eye is that several Plus Edition subscribers wrote "I would read it if the Plus Edition newsletter were available via RSS" or similar words. Actually, that has been available for nearly five years now. Apparently, not everyone knows that.

The Plus Edition RSS newsfeed is available at: http://eogn.com/wp/?feed=rss2.

Changes Required in the Plus Edition E-mail Newsletter

Attention Plus Edition subscribers: I need to make some changes and would appreciate your input at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=FLpAmQgx6Ss1p7lFAL37yQ_3d_3d.

Here's the problem: the Plus Edition newsletters sent by e-mail every week have become too big.

The newsletter has grown! In fact, if printed, the latest weekly Plus Edition newsletter is 29 pages! That's a lot of pages for a weekly publication. I believe it is more than what any other genealogy publication produces PER MONTH.

Normally, I would suggest that having bigger newsletters is a good thing. However, the newsletter has grown so large that it is now creating complications.

Plus Edition Newsletter Sent

To all Plus Edition subscribers:

The weekly Plus Edition newsletter was sent to your e-mail address yesterday evening. If you have not yet seen it in your in-box, check your spam folder. If it is not there, please contact your e-mail provider to see why it was blocked. If you have any questions, please contact me. Don't forget that you can also read the latest Plus Edition newsletter online, as well as the two previous editions, at: http://www.eogn.com/wp/ (your user name and password are required to read the Plus Edition online).

To all non-subscribers:

Update: Plus Edition Web Site

I worked almost two straight days on the comments problem on the new EOGN Plus Edition web site but was unable to resolve the problem. The software producer's Tech Support department was also unable to help. I gave up and installed a different software product. I believe the problems are fixed. At least the comments work well for me in testing. I'd appreciate it if a few Plus Edition subscribers would test it also.

Listen to This Newsletter

I am experimenting with a new feature on this newsletter: you can now listen to the articles on your computer, on your iPod, or on most any other MP3 music player.

When you look at the newsletter's home page at http://blog.eogn.com, you will note that a new icon appears near the top of each article: Listen Now. Clicking on that icon allows you to listen to a computer-generated voice that reads the article to you. You can listen to it directly through your computer's speakers or have it sent to iTunes for later listening on an iPod or iPhone. Another option is to have the article sent to most any other MP3 player that is capable of accepting audio from the Internet. Finally, you can download articles as MP3 files and save them on your local hard drive and listen to them later at your convenience.

Please Post Comments in the Appropriate Places

We seem to have had a rash of off-topic comments posted here in the past day or two. Please keep in mind that EVERY article in this newsletter has a comments section at the end of the article. If you have a comment about that article, please post it at the end of that article, not at the end of some other article.

How to Share Articles in this Newsletter

Did you ever read an article here that you wanted to send to a friend? It is  easy to do so. When reading the article, click on the SHARE THIS link and icon you see at the bottom of the article. A pop-up window will appear offering many options. Click on SEND/EMAIL, fill in your friend's e-mail address and add any message that you wish, then click on SHARE.

A copy of that article will appear in your friend's in-box a few seconds later.

A New Look for the Newsletter

I have experimented a bit with style sheets and have given the newsletter's web pages a "new look." I think I like it better than the old one but would appreciate feedback. What is your opinion of the new look versus the old? Thanks!

Welcome Chris Pomery to EOGN

One of the fun things about publishing this newsletter is that I get to publish the words of several genealogy experts. Today I am delighted to announce the addition of another writer to the staff: Chris Pomery.

Chris is an experienced genealogist but is best known for his expertise in DNA. In fact, I had a chance to sit in the audience in London, England a bit more than a week ago and listen to Chris deliver "how to" presentations to an enthusiastic group of genealogists. Now Chris has agreed to deliver that same expertise in this newsletter. He will be writing articles about the use of DNA in genealogy.

Chris is a DNA expert focusing on:

• the issues arising from big & small surname DNA projects
• how one runs a project group, or surname study, to cross-fund it
• how to run a combined DNA & documentary research project

Free Advertising Space for Professional Genealogy Researchers

I would like to announce a new section of the EOGN Discussion Forum: Research Services. Posts in this section of the message board should only be for the advertising of genealogy and history research services. If you are a professional researcher, you can have FREE ad space in this section. We invite you to post a message with your name, area(s) of expertise, and contact info. We suggest that you not announce your prices for research as that is probably better handled offline in e-mail, mail, or by telephone.

Back Home

If you have been reading this newsletter recently, you know that I have been on a trip to Salt Lake City, a one-day unplanned stay in Los Angeles, and then I spent more than two weeks in New Zealand where I attended two different genealogy events and took some holiday time as well.  It has been grand.

I am now back home. However, I've been up for more than 36 hours, traveled more than 9,000 miles in the past 28 hours, and spent the last 28 hours riding three different airplanes or waiting in airport lounges. I'm going to bed. New newsletter articles will appear later today.

My Thanks to the (Auckland) Genealogical Computing Group

I'd like to offer a special "thank you" to the Auckland, New Zealand branch of the Genealogical Computing Group, a special interest group of the New Zealand Society of Genealogists. I was invited to address this group on Saturday afternoon and a rather large crowd showed up. I don't know if they enjoyed it or not but I must say that I certainly did.