Monday has been a very satisfying day as I have ignored my usual procrastination and written two short genealogy pieces. The first was for the Ballarat & District Genealogical Society's journal Ballarat Link based on a talk I gave the Society in May on Online Trends in Family History. Their website is one of my favourites as it has so many interesting links and not just to Victorian sites so it is worth a visit. Another plus is that you can see back issues of the Link online for free although not all recent ones are there.
The second piece of writing was an Ask an Expert report for Inside History, a relatively new family history magazine now available in Australia. I had done the research last month but unfortunately I was unable to break down the enquirer's brick wall. Still I had some fun looking at BDMs for Tasmania and Victoria (available on CD) and I always enjoy searching the Archives Office of Tasmania's website and online indexes. For this enquiry I also tried the Genealogical Society of Victoria's members only database Genealogical Index of Names (GIN) which has over 3 million names mostly from Victorian sources. Just personally, I think it needs another name as whenever I tell people I like GIN, they think I am going to have a drink!!
By this stage it was time for a well earned break so I checked my emails and did some tweeting. I have received more Google+ circle invitations and have reciprocated. Haven't set up any of my own yet.
One thing I do like to do at the beginning of the week is to check Randy Seaver's Best of the Genea Blogs which is a round up of the best genealogy blogs for the week. It does have an American focus but most of the blogs have a global relevance anyway. I find this a quick and easy way to make sure I do see some of the more important/relevant genealogy blogs. I also follow Randy on Twitter @rjseaver.
Another free e-newsletter I like to read is Lost Cousins and the latest issue turned up in my email today. There was news on the latest additions to subscription sites such as Ancestry and FindMyPast as well as information on the Black Sheep Index which I hadn't seen before. So by the time I read the newsletter and check any links of interest to my own research, there's more time gone (but not wasted). That's the reason why I start the day with the things I have to do as I know I will be tempted elsewhere before the day is over.
Finally I had an interesting and exciting invitation to participate in a new exhibition which I readily excepted so closer to the event I will be able to tell you all about it. I wonder what tomorrow will bring - at least genealogy is never dull and boring!
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