This Diary update was meant to go out last Friday but I lost my connection to the internet and it has taken five long days to get it back. It's been really frustrating with an upgrade of infrastructure here on BribieIsland. The Telstra tower is moving from 3G to 4G. We even put in a few, time
consuming calls to their overseas call centre and it
was only when we went to the local shop that we heard about the upgrade.This morning I checked with the shop again to be told it would be finished by tonight but as luck would have it, the call centre people gave us a follow up call and we found that coverage was back in our area and they helped us to tweak our wi fi to the new system and I'm back online. We don't realise how much we rely on the internet until we don't have it eg we needed a phone book at the weekend but we don't have paper copies as I simply look it up online!
Normally the downtime wouldn't stress me so much but as we are
in the middle of National Family History Month and I've been trying to keep momentum
going via various social media forums as well as answering enquiries and other
emails which is a bit tricky without the internet. I probably should upgrade my phone too.
My two blogs on 31 activities for NFHM (researchers) - the first fifteen
and 31 activities for (genealogy/family history) societies - the first 15 are now
on my website and I should get the remaining 16 activities for both done before
the end of August. I wonder how many other people have decided to do some of my
suggested activities as part of NFHM? Full details on both lists here.
The weather here on Bribie Island has been simply amazing
and I'm swimming most days with a pool temperature that has increased to 24
degrees and rising. Hard to believe this is winter! But I've discovered there
is an advantage to swimming and getting wet - I'm not allowed back in the house
until I'm completely dry as my little wet puddles through the house make the
floor slippery and dangerous. So I have to take reading material up to the pool
so that I can read and dry off at the same time - this is really a clever way
for me to catch up on my genealogy journals and magazines!
I've read the last two issues of the Guild of One NameStudies journal and getting back to my own one name study of Burstow is high on
my list of want to do things once National Family History Month is over. I've
got a lot of data entry to do which is a bit boring but worthwhile if I want to
start doing something with all the data I've collected over the years. I've
also been reading Inside History Magazine which I usually flick through from
cover to cover when I get it and then set aside for a more leisurely read.
Excellent pool side reading! My copies of the free Irish Lives Remembered
magazine are on my tablet and that is also very easy reading up by the pool.
My last talk for National Family History Month is at the
Bribie Island Library on 30 August and it will be a presentation based on my
research guide It's Not All Online: Where Else Can I Look? We will also be
drawing the NFHM sponsors prize draw and the Momento photobook competition that
day as well. One of the reasons I suggested making NFHM a month rather than
just a week as it was previously was so that we could do more events but I'm
finding that even the month has gone very quickly!
Which brings me to my good news - AFFHO has decided to make
the month trial a permanent thing so it will be National Family History Month
August 2014 next year and each year thereafter.
This should help everyone with their planning in future years as it will
always be the month of August. AFFHO have also asked me if I would like to be
the voluntary coordinator again and even though it has been a steep learning
curve over the last few months, I've learnt a lot and have even more ideas to
make 2014 even better.
I've got lots to catch up on now that I've got my email and
internet access back again so until next time, enjoy these last weeks of
National Family History Month 2013.
Shauna, you have amazing stamina to do all this, I'm in awe.
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