Genealogy notes 30 Jan - 4 Feb 2014 Geneacrusing!

Well the lead up to getting away for the cruise did not go to plan. It is amazing how many unexpected things crop up when you have a tight time frame. There were some things I simply had to do and others had to drop down the priority list.

Top priority was turning up for my talk at the Moreton Bay Region Library at Albany Creek on Monday. Traffic had been heavy and we were a bit later than I had planned. I like to get there early and make sure everything is working but when we arrived there was already a crowd of eager people. The library computer did not seem to like either of my two USBs and with ten minutes to spare the library staff went through a check and reboot of the computer and I was connected with a few minutes to spare! It was a good audience but I was surprised that no one seems to read or write blogs and were not into social media.

My talk was on online newspapers including Trove (as usual the slides are on my website - go to the Resources page and scroll down to Presentations) and again I was surprised that most of the audience are not members of Trove and do not do tags, lists, text corrections etc. However I think a few were going home to try it out. There were a few more signed up for the National Library of Australia's E-resources but not many and some were members of the State Library of Queensland. Again I think a few will be applying for membership. The verbal feedback after the talk was good and a few even told me they will be going to my Google Tools talk too. Always good to turn up somewhere and already know someone.

The other thing I really wanted to get done was my Week 5 Family Stories blog from my 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records in 2014 blog challenge. I really wanted to get Week 6 done too but that just didn't happen but I have brought along some notes to write it while on the cruise (she hopes)! I had planned to write this Diary yesterday but we remembered belatedly it was also our 13th anniversary so an impromptu lunch after the talk had us talking about the good times. Then it was the mad dash home to pack.

It's nice living on Bribie Island but to get to the airport for an early flight we have to leave about sun up, so that means an early start. Again traffic was heavy but we arrived in time for the flight to Sydney. From Sydney airport we then caught their excellent train service to Circular Quay and our first sight of Voyager of the Seas was looking up at it from what appeared to be a very small train station. I am writing this from our cabin which has a view of the Sydney Opera House but it is below us! It is hard to visualise how big this ship is until you see it berthed next to our national icons including the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

So far we have said hello to Chris Paton and the Phillips family in the dining room and we met a New Zealand lady on the train in. She is 81 years old and has flown all the way by herself to be part of the geneacruise so we discussed family history over lunch with her. My mum is about to turn 80 years old and we have not been able to convince her to travel to Bribie yet. Age really is a mind set.

In all the cruise excitement, I almost forgot my Canberra trip. The new National Archives of Australia Discovering ANZACS website is looking really good and on track for an April launch. It was great seeing old colleagues from NAA. I also met up with the President of AFFHO to discuss National Family History Month 2014 and that is moving along nicely. It will be all systems go when I get home. I also had dinner with the President of HAGSOC and again it was good to catch up on all the Canberra news. I really enjoyed living in Canberra but it was the cold in winter and the heat in summer that used to get to me. Autumn and spring were my favourite times and of course now living in the tropics means that I will not experience the seasons like that again (unless I travel south).

After I post this Diary entry it is off to the cruise registration desk to let them know I am here, then a look around the ship before lifeboat drill at 5pm. Dinner is booked for everyone at 5.45pm so we will get to meet the people at our table and after dinner we have a Meet and Greet. Tomorrow the sessions start as we are at sea all day. The next Diary will probably be from Melbourne and as we have also lived there, we are not in tourist mode although I do want to see the Victoria Markets again and ride on the free tram. There are lots of Geneabloggers on this cruise and I will try and mention their posts too. Although so much is happening I probably will not get time to read them until after I get home.

So happy researching while I bliss out on genealogy lectures for the next week or so. Until next time.

Genealogy notes 8-15 January 2014 New Year date changeover & other news

Silly me - I forgot that with the start of a new year, we also see the archives and BDMs changeover their systems. This means new records are released having entered the open access period and in most cases another year to search for BDMs. This can often be the break through that we have been waiting for although in my case, I am still waiting for 2018 as that is when I can apply to see a file on my great great grandfather (100 years access). So have another look, just in case something exciting has turned up for your own genealogy research!

My friend Hazel Edwards has also been busy and has been looking at writing 'non boring junior history' which is all about getting our grandchildren interested in history. In this article in this article in The Looking Glass she explains how she goes about it. I like the idea of real heroes as I have never really been into fantasy heroes, and I believe some of my ancestors fall into the category of real heroes when I think about some of the obstacles they overcame in their lives.

I am still on track with my personal blog challenge - 52 Weeks of Genealogical Records - Week 2 Internal Migration (but then it is only week 2!). It has been really good receiving comments on the blogs and having people suggest other records for the week's theme. So far I have the tips already in my upcoming list of topics but I am sure that as we progress other tips will not be, but they can form the basis of next year's blog challenge!

It has been a week of techno firsts for me. I managed to do an interview for a genealogy podcast via Skype and all will be revealed on 27 January. My new piece of technology allowed me to hear quite clearly by connecting my laptop to my hearing aids and I was actually surprised at how well it went, having had some disastrous Skype chats in the past. I have not heard the interview back yet so this is just based on my impressions.

My other techno first was a Google hangout with friend Geniaus and Unlock the Past about the 4th genealogy cruise leaving in a few weeks - hear the hangout here. I was supposed to participate but could not link into the hangout. However, after thinking it was just me doing something wrong, I found out that others could not link either. So a dreaded technology glitch which can be a nightmare if you are giving a live presentation which is why I prefer to do Powerpoint slides rather than rely on the internet. The other thing about the hangout was that I could hear and see more clearly on the IPad than I could on the laptop so I am not too sure what that means. I guess I will just have to be brave and attend another hangout!

The technology we have available to us now is really simply amazing and I am looking forward to Geniaus' presentations on the cruise as she always manages to introduce me to something new in the techno world. We also have on board another techno master Thomas MacEntee and I suspect he will simply blow my mind with ideas although I will be writing it all down with my trusty pen in my paper notebook (a Luddite to the end, sob).

My National Institute of Genealogical Studies on Connecting Families Online exam is this coming weekend so I had to quickly complete the last modules' exercises and start to get my head thinking about the exam. Just the thought of an exam sends shivers through me, and even at university I had this thing about exams. The last two NIGS courses I did I received a Fail because I did not complete them but that was because, inadvertently, they ended up coinciding with our big move north and life was just too chaotic. I really should re-enroll and finish them. Another thing on the to do list!

The January issue of Irish Lives Remembered is out and has my article on South Australia in it and I have been busy working on Western Australia for the next issue. I have not done too much online reading but I have curled up by the pool with Ancestor from the Genealogical Society of Victoria, latest issues of Australian Family Tree Connections and Inside History Magazine, the Association of Professional Genealogists Quarterly and the Journal of One Name Studies from the Guild of One Name Studies. As usual every time I read something I jot down things I want to follow up - it is never ending - and I feel a bit guilty when my partner says 'you could spend 24/7 doing genealogy'. I deny it of course, there are other interests in my life like travel and wining and dining, but he may have a point!

I have accepted another two talks for the first half of this year - on Bribie Island (where else) and also at Inverell in New South Wales. Check out the Services and Events page on my website for details.

On a final note, I have been working on National Family History Month 2014 and I am very pleased to say that the website has now been moved to the new domain. This means that you need to change your bookmarks so that they point to the new domain. I have also changed the name of the Facebook page as well so check that out too. There are no events in the web calendar yet but I am hoping that will change soon and I will be following up sponsors to see if I can get them on board again for 2014. Perhaps we might even get some new sponsors too! Make sure August 2014 is in your diaries! Happy researching everyone.

Genealogy Notes 19 Nov - 3 Dec 2013 - travelling in ancestral footsteps again

Regular readers will be wondering where I have been the last fortnight but we decided to take a holiday, and like all my holidays there is a genealogy motive behind it. As well as being a genealogy addict, I may have to confess to being a cruise addict (even beyond the genealogy cruises run by Unlock the Past).

We went on an 11 day cruise of the Queensland coast starting in Sydney with stops at Newcastle, Cairns, a cruise by Willis Island in the Coral Sea destroyed by Cyclone Yasi but being rebuilt, Airlie Beach in the Whitsundays, Brisbane and back to Sydney. Now why would a Queenslander want to do a Queensland trip and visit their home city, Brisbane?

While I do have ancestors who arrived in other colonies, quite a few of my families came direct to Queensland and they sailed down the Queensland coast and I have often wondered what they thought as they got closer to their new homes. This was a chance to follow that same route.

Visiting Sydney and Circular Quay always makes us think of our convict ancestors and Newcastle also has a genealogy interest for me. My convict ancestor Richard Walker's daughter Maria Walker married Alfred Hill Austin who in 1844 was Harbour Master and Pilot at Newcastle. Alfred left that position in 1846 and I haven't found where they went too. Their story was part of my thesis for the Diploma of Family Historical Studies with the Society of Australian Genealogists in 1992 and that was over twenty years ago! As we traveled in Newcastle's historic tram to the old lighthouse and harbour area I resolved to revisit this as perhaps now I will be able to establish what happened to the Austin family.

From Newcastle it was a two day cruise to Cairns - I knew it was a long way as I have flown and driven to Cairns many times (a father in law used to live there in the 80s). This gave us a chance to enjoy the comforts and entertainment on board Rhapsody of the Seas which is smaller than Voyager of the Seas which we travelled on for the 3rd Unlock the Past genealogy cruise. I enjoyed the smaller ship, less chance of getting lost, and while I thought I would miss genealogy lectures I still found plenty to do on the days at sea.

The two days in Cairns we spent in the city itself, an easy walk from the cruise terminal. However others took advantage of the tours to the Great Barrier Reef and the Atherton Tablelands, the Kuranda Railway and even Port Douglas. We did however tour a trip around Cairns Harbour, the Inlet and Wetlands on That's Awesome to see the mangroves and perhaps a crocodile or two (no luck that day but do you really want to see them so close to Cairns)? My family connection to Cairns (apart from the father in law) is John Finn, my great grandmother's brother who went to WW1, came home and moved north to work as a cane cutter before finally dying in Cairns. He never married and I've always wondered if his war experiences led him to move so far from his family in Brisbane. Read his story here.

The next stop was Airlie Beach in the Whitsundays, another area that I have been to numerous times over the years. This time the family connection was more personal, in fact my own history. My first ever travel trip was in 1971 and it was a school group tour to North Queensland including Cairns, the Tablelands, Townsville, Rockhampton and the Whitsundays. Back then we spent a couple of days out on Daydream Island and I have always been fascinated by islands (we've even been to places like King Island in Bass Strait, Norfolk Island and of course we now live on Bribie Island). So the cruise also reawakened a lot of my early personal travel memories.

From Airlie Beach it was another two day trip back to Brisbane and it seemed a long way to us, so it must have been even further for my various ancestors who travelled down the Queensland coast in a sailing ship way back then. Herbert White disembarked in Townsville, Anders and Aose Gunderson disembarked in Maryborough sadly without their two sons who died on the voyage, my Irish ancestors Adam Johnston, Maria Jeffers and John and Sarah Finn all went to Brisbane at various times. See Letters Home - My Irish Families.

But it was my Scottish ancestors who I was thinking about most as we approached Brisbane. John and Helen Carnegie eventually settled at Toorbul near the Glass House Mountains (and Bribie Island) and I was interested to see that area from sea as the only way into the port of Brisbane is to sail between Bribie Island and Moreton Island. As luck would have it, we woke about 3.30 am and a look out the porthole showed what looked like the lights from the Sunshine Coast. If that was the case we were arriving much sooner than the 6.00 am we had set the alarm for.

Hastily dressing we raced up to the top deck in time to see the Glass House Mountains (named by Captain James Cook when he sailed past in 1770) opposite and we could easily see Woorim, the ocean side suburb of Bribie (thank goodness for no daylight saving in Queensland, it was already light at 4 am). We then zig zagged down the shipping corridor and it was fascinating to see the wrecks on Moreton, Tangalooma, and Redcliffe on the mainland side. Due to the ship's size it had to dock at the Fisherman Island cruise terminal and not the usual cruise terminal further up river at Hamilton.  We took the opportunity to visit old friends from Darwin who have recently bought a river side apartment in the Brisbane CBD and after a great lunch, they took us back to the ship. On the way out of port we sat up on the top deck and watched the ship sail past Bribie Island while our friends on the Island flashed their car lights so we could see them fare-welling us!

From there it was another full day at sea before arriving back in Sydney and the plane trip back to Brisbane. As I said earlier I wanted to think about what it was like for my ancestors sailing down the Queensland coast (although they didn't have onboard shops, casino, swimming pools etc). Shipboard diaries and newspapers can help us build up an image of what the trip was like and this desire to know was the reason behind my first ever guide with Unlock the Past - What Was the Voyage Really Like? I think I have a much greater understanding now and I'm really glad I did the cruise.

I also took the time to have my yearly break from all e devices (no mobile phone, laptop, tablet, email etc) and yes it is possible to survive. But you do come back to a mountain of emails, enewsletters, blogs to read, Facebook and Twitter posts to catch up on. However one new piece of information I will pass on now is the extension to the Public Record Office Victoria online index to wills and probates - it's now 1841-2007 which is great news for anyone with Victorian ancestors. AFFHO have accepted and approved in principle my report and recommendations so I can start to promote National Family History Month 2014 so watch out for that.

As I get back into the swing of things I'll have more genealogy news and Diary will start to be more regular (and less lengthy) again. If you don't know what to tell people when they ask 'what do you want for Christmas' then read Geniaus' really useful blog Gifts for the Girl who has Everything. Until next time!

Genealogy notes 5 -18 Nov 2013 new talks & QLD BDM news

Well I'm now officially a year older and it's been a super busy fortnight, including a trip to Brisbane and a few days with my Mum! I returned the photo album I had been scanning and took down one of my father's mother's old albums hoping Mum could tell me who the family was. My grandmother always denied having any old photos and she fought with everybody so we don't really know much about the people on her side of the family. I can recognise my father as a child and the woman with him must be Granny but I would never have picked it. The older male in the photos Mum thinks is Granny's father, my great grandfather James Carnegie and perhaps some of his sons. It's not much info but more than I had and I still live in hope of discovering what some of my ancestors looked like!

While in Brisbane I was pleased to be invited to attend a users' forum at the Queensland Registry of BDMs. I really loved the behind the scenes tour and the whole process of providing certificates as well as their huge digitisation project.  I have to say I'm impressed with the new online search engine too - it's a while since I done any searching in Queensland and I found it easy and very user friendly. And I'm not just saying that because they put on a nice lunch too! It's really fantastic being able to order and get an historical image quickly - no more waiting for the postman! They even have a family history journal and after a simple registration process the latest journal was emailed to me.

While there I also took the opportunity to promote National Family History Month 2014 and they seemed very open to the idea of doing something in NFHM. It would be good to get the BDM Registries behind NFHM and I love it when Queensland leads the way (sorry but State pride seems to be to the fore now that I'm back home). While on NFHM I still haven't had any feedback from AFFHO on my 2013 report and recommendations even though they have held their meeting to discuss it. Hoping it is soon as I really want to get moving on promoting NFHM 2014 (actually I've organised a NFHM 2014 flyer to be printed in their December issue of Newsflash so keep an eye out for that). Everyone is welcome to put their events into the NFHM web calendar which is now open and waiting!

I gave my last two talks for the year to the Bribie Island Family History Special Interest Group (BIFHSIG) - I would use the acronym but I don't think anyone would guess it. A whole new talk on Searching & Searching (different search techniques) and Google Tools (a revamped version of an earlier talk). As usual both talks are on the Resources page of my website, scroll down to Presentations. We had a lunch at the RSL after the talk and a good genie chat!

I was feeling a bit sad after the talks as I have been turning down requests for talks in Victoria (just a bit far to travel these days) and my calendar is looking a bit empty for 2014. And then the phone rang - Moreton Bay Region Libraries wants to schedule some talks next year and we will firm up dates and places in early December plus I already have some seminars lined up with the Genealogical Society of Queensland and the Queensland Family History Society. And the BIFHSIG want me back too so maybe it will end up being another busy year!

The last week has been flat out finishing up yet another research guide for Unlock the Past - that should mean two new titles out for Christmas or at least before the 4th UTP genealogy cruise in February. The arrival of another royalties notice also cheered me up as people are still buying my previous titles which makes all the hard work of writing worthwhile. I finished some more pieces for Inside History magazine and the ongoing series for Irish Lives Remembered also kept me busy. An email from the Irish Group of Genealogy SA let me know that they are fans of the series and they have offered me some help when I get to the article on South Australia. I really do like getting feedback and knowing people read what I write.

My next trip is in early December - back to Canberra for a meeting of the National Archives of Australia's advisory committee for the centenary of WW1 which is focussing on the new Discovering Anzacs website. Due to the timing, I'm also able to attend the HAGSOC Christmas party which will be good as I really did enjoy my years in Canberra and being a member of HAGSOC. I've also got a trip to the Australian War Memorial planned as I want to do a spot of research there.

So even though the year is winding down there is still lots happening. Enjoy the coming week and try to find some time for a little genealogy research! Until next time.

Genealogy notes 15-22 October 2013 - Australian archives conference

I've been a bit quiet the last week or so as I went to the Australian Society of Archivists conference in Canberra and came home extremely tired and still trying to shake my chest cold. As it was the Bribie Festival at the weekend I spent a quiet couple of days in bed so I wouldn't miss any of the festivities and I'm happy to say I'm feeling much better.

But back to Canberra which was my home for a number of years and I always love going back. This time I stayed at the Capital Executive Apartments (free mini Kit Kats in the fridge every day) which was only a couple of blocks from the free bus stop that takes visitors around to the major tourist attractions including the National Museum of Australia, the Australian War Memorial, the National Film and Sound Archive and the Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House to mention just a few stops. It was a great way to travel around Canberra and to get to the conference venues.

I had planned to tweet during the archives conference but for some reason my Twitter app and my phone are no longer compatible (even reloading didn't help) so I missed out on tweeting and seeing tweets from other attendees. The hash tag was #ausarch2013 so you can see what others posted there, including photos. The irony was that for the first time I decided to travel light and left the IPad at home, otherwise I would have used that.

You can read my report on the archives conference here and I have to say that the catering at the conference and the social events was so good and so plentiful that I didn't bother with dinner at night, but then I was also struggling with the time difference as well. It's funny it took me years to get used to daylight saving, now I'm having trouble getting used to not having it!

The conference satchel was a useful reusable shopping bag and had all kinds of brochures including a copy of Wartime, the official magazine of the Australian War Memorial plus a copy of the ASA's Archives Matter! publication  (copy online free). I also arranged for the inclusion of a flyer on National Family History Month 2014 as I hope to encourage more archives to participate in NFHM next year.

From a genealogy perspective I found a number of the sessions interesting as the National Archives of Australia and the National Library of Australia talked about their future directions. Trove is just going to get better and better and it will be harder than ever to drag ourselves away from our laptops. Ancestry.com.au was the principal sponsor and Inside History Magazine was another sponsor together with a number of universities and the major archival institutions.

An onsite exhibitor was Gale Cengage Learning and most of us would be familiar with the digitised collections of Gale newspapers that we can access with our e-resources cards from the National Library of Australia and our local State Library. It's been a while since I looked at the Gale products and they had paper copies of information sheets including Nineteenth Century Collections Online, State Papers Online Eighteenth Century 1714-1782, Archives Unbound, Eighteenth Century Collections Online, Part II: New Editions, Daily Mail Historical Archive 1896-2004 and later this year they are releasing The Chatham House Online Archive. Gale subscriptions are not cheap and you usually can access them via your local library or State Library and perhaps via e-resources as mentioned earlier. I usually only look at the London Times Digital Archive 1785-2007 but its quite obvious they have many more resources of interest to family historians. Browse their extensive catalogue and don't just look under Biology and Genealogy, there is also lots to interest under History and other topics. Then see what's available at your local library.

The first weekend of the Bribie Festival was great and we went to a 1960s cocktail party on Saturday night at the Bribie Island Seaside Museum. Some attendees came in 60s fashion and that brought back many memories! On the Sunday we went to the expanded markets and watched the dragon boat races and other activities. There are events all week and more markets next weekend so lots of visitors to the Island this week which is good.

All the dreadful fires in NSW at the moment are bringing back the memories we have of the Canberra fires in 2003. Even now I still feel the fear that we had that day when we were hosing our house and gardens and trying to watch out for embers. Fortunately for us they were able to stop the fire from crossing the main road and into our street. While living in Melbourne we were nowhere near a natural forest but I had my escape plan and what I would save all ready to go. Here on Bribie we have also decided not to live too close to the national park but I haven't as yet set up a new back up system and escape plan with what I definitely want to try and save. House fires sadly happen too so this has gone on to my must do list. We can only hope and pray those brave volunteers get the fires under control soon and some rain would be good.

I have emails to catch up on, blogs to read, articles to write and my new research guide to index. But I have my new issue of the Journal of One Name Studies from the Guild of One Name Studies so I think perhaps a cup of tea and a nice read is in order. Happy researching this week.

Genealogy Notes 25 Sep - 4 Oct 2013 digitised newspaper success

Just as well I wrote up my two reports of the NSW & ACT conference quickly (here and here if you missed them) as I've been laid low with a dreaded virus since. On the good side I've managed to catch up with all my unread issues of the QFHS Queensland Family Historian and the GSQ Generation plus I have been reading Oceans of Consolation by David Fitzpatrick. This book is based on personal accounts of Irish migration to Australia from 14 families and no, I'm not lucky enough to have my ancestors within that collection. But what those various families experienced is probably similar to what my Irish ancestors went through so it is good background information and helps to provide more context to my research.

I also indulged myself with some genealogy searching in my more wide awake moments and I'm so glad I did. Trove is forever turning up new things in my family history as new papers are being digitised and added online all the time. I'm sure I've looked for my gg grandmother Helen Chick/Ferguson/Carnegie many times before but this is the first time that I've found a probate reference for her which was two years after her death. She died in Queensland where she spent most of her life but she did spend a few years in New South Wales with her second husband Charles Chick. I've not thought of looking for a will and probate for her in QLD or NSW (as she never appeared to have had any property or to settle anywhere for long) but the references in Trove quickly sent me to the State Records NSW website to check their online catalogue for probate references to Chick. Not only was there a probate reference for Helen but there was also one for Charles so after a quick dash for the credit card, I order both probate packets and I now sit patiently waiting for the postman.

The news that Findmypast.com.au now had Irish newspapers also aroused my interest and a quick search for Jeffers of Portadown revealed a number of entries which I believe belong to my gg grandmother Maria Jeffers' family. Being able to do a keyword search on a digitised newspaper is so fantastic as we probably wouldn't find some of these stories simply winding through microfilms. When I feel a bit better I'm going to spend more time looking for some of my other ancestors.

While on the subject of historic newspapers, there is an offer (until the end of the year) from Historic Newspapers - they are offering a UK 5  pound credit with findmypast.co.uk with every newspaper order. More information on the offer here. Readers may recall I was offered a review copy from Historic Newspapers last year and I have to say they do make an unusual and different present for someone as they even come packaged in tissue paper in a gift box. Christmas is fast approaching!

Speaking of presents for genealogy loved ones, I also received display copies of the latest releases from Unlock the Past. I always have the UTP titles for sale at my talks and seminars and of course, the first two UTP titles were my own books! Now there are dozens of titles from a whole range of authors. You can check out all the new (and existing) titles here. Some of them are even available as e-books. I was supposed to have my new book with them by the end of September but I simply haven't been able to think, let alone write, with my stuffed up head!

I did manage to put up a new blog post on my website, Researching the State Library of Victoria from Afar which was a guest blog for their Family Matters blog. It really is amazing just how much information is available on our State library websites so check them out for whatever States your ancestors were in.

For those who don't follow me on Twitter and Facebook I'm going to start recording in this Diary some of the links I share through those social media forums. Perhaps I will just simply list them:
The Community Archive: National Register of Archives and Manuscripts, New Zealand
Founders and Survivors (Tasmanian convicts project)
Twisted Twigs on Gnarled Branches Genealogy (some great genealogy sayings and often funny and true!

Finally I would like to thank my two Heraldry & Genealogy Society of Canberra friends for helping me out with a National Family History Month 2014 task. I've arranged for a special flyer to go into the conference satchel for the Australian Society of Archivists (ASA) Conference which is in Canberra in just over a week. Being sick I hadn't got around to getting the flyer printed and posted off to meet their deadline. My two friends arranged the printing and delivery for me for which I'm really grateful. As national coordinator for NFHM, I'm a one person band but that doesn't work so well, when the band needs a tune up! I still haven't heard from AFFHO about my evaluation and recommendations post NFHM 2013 but I'm hoping to set up the 2014 website soon.

After being sick for over a week, I'm off to the doctor's again - I'm rarely sick these days and I find it frustrating not having a clear head and more energy. Still catching up on my reading and lying in bed with the IPad and Trove isn't all that bad either. But I am attending the ASA conference week after next so I do have to get better for that. Happy researching!