Well last Diary entry I said that things were getting back to normal now that we had moved into our new home on Bribie Island. Silly me didn't factor in ex cyclone Oswald heading down the coast and hovering over us for nearly 30 hours of relentless wind and torrential rain. I don't think I've even seen a 'weather event' that went for so long and travelled all the way down the Queensland coast and on into New South Wales creating total destruction along the way. Bribie was lucky in that we mostly had beach erosion, downed trees and palms, some roof and rain water damage and of course loss of power. Others were not so lucky especially all those within river flood plains.
We were extremely grateful for the SES coming out on the Saturday night to help secure a front section of our roof otherwise we would have suffered a lot more rain water damage than we did. So glad (in a way) that it happened last weekend and not when we are away next weekend on the genealogy cruise - we would have come home to a house completely swamped as the rain was also coming through the front door or under it I should say, as well as all the windows on the sides the wind was blowing from, not to mention the leaks from the roof in two rooms. At least the study doesn't leak and is sheltered at the back of the house.
Apart from all the mopping up over the weekend we managed to continue unpacking and it's almost finished now - the trick is to remember where we have put everything! I've tried to keep things similar to the old house and that helps. My books are everywhere but I thought it was more important to get things out of cardboard boxes and onto shelves where I can at least see them. Rearranging them can come later and this time (as this is our final move, fingers crossed) I am going to use software to catalogue and make them really easy to find! Any suggestions for a good, easy to use system?
Yesterday I realised that the Queensland Family History Society online newspapers seminar is this Saturday so it was a frantic run through of my Trove and Other National Library of Australia Treasures updating where needed. QFHS have over 130 people booked so far so that is fantastic and a great way to start their education program for the year. I also have to talk to them about when we can redo the session for the Chinchilla Family History Group (at their request) but it looks like mid year now. Stay tuned for the date if you live out that way.
Of course the other thing I have to do is check my 9 talks for the Unlock the Past genealogy cruise which is now only a week away. January was a blur with moving and everything else but I did manage to do a run through of most of them. Hopefully not too many websites have done major changes over the last month. I'm so looking forward to the cruise - I love anything genealogy so with our own conference centre on board Voyager of the Seas it will be fantastic and I also love cruising so hopefully there will be a bit of relaxation on board as well not to mention catching up with lots of genealogy friends.
No doubt there will be lots of blogs coming out of the cruise so stand by for them but with limited internet coverage that may be after the event although I do know some really keen bloggers will be doing 'live' blogging. Geniaus aka Jill Ball has asked Helen Smith and myself to be part of a social media panel to discuss why social media can really help your genealogy research. So looking forward to that as I've had so much success with people finding me via my website and my family blogs.
Don't forget that Paul Milner one of the international speakers on the cruise is doing a British Isles genealogy tour to Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Canberra so you may be able to attend one of those if you live close enough to a capital city. I always feel sorry for Hobart and Darwin as they miss these kind of tours and yet they have some of the more wonderful Australian scenery. I could probably throw in just about any major town in North Queensland there too but I guess it is a question of distance and cost recovery. Maybe in a few years, or maybe not even that long, everything will be virtual!
Well I haven't done too much else on the genealogy front except stockpile paper genealogy magazines to read and red flag e-copies I receive so that I can go back and read them. I haven't even kept up with Dick Eastman this week so that's not good! I did take time out to read the National Archives of Australia's e-magazine Memento Jan 2013 and noticed that Shake Your Family Tree Day is on 16 April 2013 (usually it's in February) so put that date in your diaries. I will be in Maryborough (QLD) that week so looks like I'll miss the Brisbane event unless I travel back down.
I may be tempting fate again but I'm going to predict that things will return to normal on my genealogy desk again over the coming week. Happy researching.
We were extremely grateful for the SES coming out on the Saturday night to help secure a front section of our roof otherwise we would have suffered a lot more rain water damage than we did. So glad (in a way) that it happened last weekend and not when we are away next weekend on the genealogy cruise - we would have come home to a house completely swamped as the rain was also coming through the front door or under it I should say, as well as all the windows on the sides the wind was blowing from, not to mention the leaks from the roof in two rooms. At least the study doesn't leak and is sheltered at the back of the house.
Apart from all the mopping up over the weekend we managed to continue unpacking and it's almost finished now - the trick is to remember where we have put everything! I've tried to keep things similar to the old house and that helps. My books are everywhere but I thought it was more important to get things out of cardboard boxes and onto shelves where I can at least see them. Rearranging them can come later and this time (as this is our final move, fingers crossed) I am going to use software to catalogue and make them really easy to find! Any suggestions for a good, easy to use system?
Yesterday I realised that the Queensland Family History Society online newspapers seminar is this Saturday so it was a frantic run through of my Trove and Other National Library of Australia Treasures updating where needed. QFHS have over 130 people booked so far so that is fantastic and a great way to start their education program for the year. I also have to talk to them about when we can redo the session for the Chinchilla Family History Group (at their request) but it looks like mid year now. Stay tuned for the date if you live out that way.
Of course the other thing I have to do is check my 9 talks for the Unlock the Past genealogy cruise which is now only a week away. January was a blur with moving and everything else but I did manage to do a run through of most of them. Hopefully not too many websites have done major changes over the last month. I'm so looking forward to the cruise - I love anything genealogy so with our own conference centre on board Voyager of the Seas it will be fantastic and I also love cruising so hopefully there will be a bit of relaxation on board as well not to mention catching up with lots of genealogy friends.
No doubt there will be lots of blogs coming out of the cruise so stand by for them but with limited internet coverage that may be after the event although I do know some really keen bloggers will be doing 'live' blogging. Geniaus aka Jill Ball has asked Helen Smith and myself to be part of a social media panel to discuss why social media can really help your genealogy research. So looking forward to that as I've had so much success with people finding me via my website and my family blogs.
Don't forget that Paul Milner one of the international speakers on the cruise is doing a British Isles genealogy tour to Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Canberra so you may be able to attend one of those if you live close enough to a capital city. I always feel sorry for Hobart and Darwin as they miss these kind of tours and yet they have some of the more wonderful Australian scenery. I could probably throw in just about any major town in North Queensland there too but I guess it is a question of distance and cost recovery. Maybe in a few years, or maybe not even that long, everything will be virtual!
Well I haven't done too much else on the genealogy front except stockpile paper genealogy magazines to read and red flag e-copies I receive so that I can go back and read them. I haven't even kept up with Dick Eastman this week so that's not good! I did take time out to read the National Archives of Australia's e-magazine Memento Jan 2013 and noticed that Shake Your Family Tree Day is on 16 April 2013 (usually it's in February) so put that date in your diaries. I will be in Maryborough (QLD) that week so looks like I'll miss the Brisbane event unless I travel back down.
I may be tempting fate again but I'm going to predict that things will return to normal on my genealogy desk again over the coming week. Happy researching.
Collectorz is a great software program to catalogue books, music, games, MP3s, comics etc. And it doesn't cost much.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.collectorz.com/
Shauna,
ReplyDeleteSo pleased to have you on the Cruise Social Media Panel. It's been a crazy week - just realised I haven't replied to your email. I am also getting a bit excited but I wonder if my presentations will ever be ready - I just keep going back and tweaking them!
As for cataloguing books - Librarything is my tool of choice (I am touching on it in my Social Media talk on the cruise (which is in addition to our panel). There are lots of genies using it to catalogue and share their libraries. I will have a look at collectorz as I need something for movies.
Stay dry, Jill