What's it all about?

Wow. I nearly missed a milestone! Well, actually, I did. This is post number 501 here at kinexxions! So in honor of that occasion, I thought I'd write a bit about the blog. Well, that and the fact that one of the "events" for the Genea-Bloggers Group Games in the "Write! Write! Write!" category is to write a summary of what your blog is about!

It was one year and seven months ago (January 12, 2007) that I finally gathered my nerve and started this blog. My original intent was to also include posts on the people and places of Whitley County (Indiana), but then I decided that kinexxions would focus primarily on my own family history and a little over a month later Whitley County Kinexxions was born. Posting there has been light to non-existent this summer due to my scanning project, but I intend to return to it again. Sometime. Soon. Really. Both blogs are companions to my website. I've written before about the joys and pitfalls of blogging, so I won't repeat those thoughts here. Suffice to say, if I didn't think it was worth doing, I wouldn't still be doing it!

What does the word kinexxions mean? It's not in any dictionary that I know of. Basically, it is a melding of "kin" and "connections", i.e. making connections with kinfolk. To me, that is what genealogy and family research are about. Why the double "x" you ask? I just liked the way it looked. Plus when I tried to register it spelt as "kinexions" or "kinnexions" I found those names were already in use.

Genealogy posts here on kinexxions range from biographies of ancestors and other relatives to personal history, family letters, reunion ledgers, mystery photos, and more. But kinexxions isn't just about genealogy and family history. You'll find some photography, memes, wordles and other fun stuff too.

The design of the blog (color and layout) is the same as it was in the beginning. I generally stick with something I like (and am sometimes reluctant or slow to change). But I have added a few things in the right sidebar. Most recently, a section for facebook links. I'll take this opportunity to invite you to join my blog network on facebook. And if you're not already a member, join the Genea-Bloggers group! And if you're from Indiana or have Hoosier ancestors, how about joining the Indiana Genealogy group?

Scroll down the page a bit and you'll see two sections in the sidebar for the families that I'm researching. That first section lists a couple databases and several websites out on the 'net. The second section includes links for the surnames that I've posted about here at kinexxions. These are what I call "index" posts that provide a list of all the posts for that family name. For example, the Phend Family and the Wiseman Family.

You'll find the listing for the blog archive at the bottom of the sidebar. In Looking Back - Kinexxions in 2007 I listed some of "top" posts for that first year. And in February 2008, the iGene Awards for kinexxions highlighted "the best" posts in several categories. The iGene Awards were the brainchild of Jasia, as was the Carnival of Genealogy. I'm proud to say that I've contributed to almost every COG since I started blogging. I even hosted the 27th edition back in July '07!

In addition to the COG, I've also participated in the "Smile for the Camera" carnival hosted by footnoteMaven at Shades of the Departed. In April, I was honored to be the first guest blogger at Shades in the "Friday From the Collectors" series with my post A Moment In Time.

Well, I think that will do it for now. Please take a look around the blog and hopefully you'll find something of interest. And feel free to visit anytime, the door is always open ;-)

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Updated at 3:15 PM 08/09/2008 - - - I may have nearly missed a milestone but apparently I "jumped the gun" a bit by posting this prior to Noon PDT. Would it help to know that I had actually intended to "pre-publish" this post? But I forgot to change the time prior to clicking on "publish post". Sigh. I wasn't the only one who started early and Miriam has forgiven us, so all is well...