California Dreaming

As most everyone in the genealogy community is most likely aware, the SCGS Genealogy Jamboree got underway Friday at Burbank, California. And I'm wishing I was there!

In addition to the standard fare of hour-long sessions by a myriad of presenters, there will be a Genealogy Blogger Summit Saturday morning from 10 a.m. to noon. The panel will consist of Stephen Danko, Shelly Talalay Dardashti, Dick Eastman, George G. Morgan, Randy Seaver and Megan Smolenyak. It will be moderated by Leland Meitzler. I'm sure they all (except George) will be blogging about the Summit as well as the Jamboree itself. George no longer has a blog but he does guest posts on Dick Eastman's Online newsletter about once a week.

Several other genea-bloggers are also attending the Jamboree and have indicated that they will be posting periodically about their experiences. Those that I am aware of are:

• Craig Manson - GeneaBlogie
• Elizabeth - Little Bytes of Life
• Janet Hovorka - The Chart Chick

Anyone else? Since I can't be there, I am looking forward to reading about their experiences.

From a different perspective

This afternoon I noticed a hummingbird flitting through the lilies. I grabbed my camera in the hopes of capturing it enjoying the nectar but by the time I got to the window it was gone. Perhaps it will come back tomorrow and I'll be a little quicker. Since I had the camera at the window, I played around a bit with the zoom capabilities and got these shots. I like how the out-of-focus grass enhances the color of the lilies. I'm still amazed by how many blooms are on each plant and am really enjoying them. When we lived at our previous home, the flowers were in beds on the side and at the back of the house and we had to actually go outside to look at them. It's much nicer with them right outside the front window, especially with the high temperatures and high humidity we've been having lately.

So what does this have to do with family history research? Not anything, really, but seen from a different perspective, these views of the lilies are quite different from those taken two days ago. Sometimes (quite often), when I'm stuck with a research problem, it helps if I look at the problem from a different angle. Reviewing the information already found could help in rediscovering information previously overlooked. Talking with someone else and getting their input can also be helpful. Since they aren't emotionally attached to the problem they can take a step back and possibly offer new insight or recommend other areas of research. Regardless whether the problem is resolved or not, it almost always helps to take another look, from a different perspective.