Summer is winding down with just a few days left, but Mother Nature hasn’t told Tucson yet as our highs are still in the mid-90s. However, monsoon season is also winding down so it won’t be long until we have perfect weather – warm days, cool nights and low humidity. Desert perfection, for sure!
Randy Seaver is forcing us to take a look at our own progress this week on Saturday Night Genealogy Fun with a particular focus on our own shortcomings:
1) What started but unfinished projects do you have? Define one or more of them, and how far along you are in the project.
I tend to stick with projects until I’ve completed them, but I do have a shortlist that needs to be completed by the end of the year:
- Continue my software cleanup and decide whether to stick with RootsMagic and move to version 11 or to switch to another program.
I’ve made some progress with the cleanup, but still have a ways to go. I might just have to admit that I don’t care about getting all those sources into software templates and just be content with my notes and citations in the image names. I’m still on the fence with this because I don’t like walking away from unfinished items on my checklist.
I have made good progress on which software I will use as I’ve narrowed it down to just TWO finalists.
2. Finish writing Ancestor Life Sketches for my maternal great-, 2X great and 3X great grandparents.
My cousins are enjoying the stories and I’m enjoying compiling all the details I have on each of them plus adding photos of known and unknown people that have been handed down.
I decided not to do the same with my paternal line because I have few photos and documents and they were poor Rusyn workers whose lives were pretty much the same for centuries in their village.
3. Clean up my blog.
I keep on top of updates for my blogs, but I’d like to condense a couple more pages. I also need to go through my Friday Finds back to 2024 (when they were Recommended Reads) to delete time-sensitive info, like upcoming conferences or links to blogs which might be gone.
That’s my list. I’m mostly caught up on genealogy projects with a couple o new ideas in the wings.
Thanks, Randy. I enjoyed this week’s challenge.
I gave up on using the templates for sources. I use free-form in RootsMagic and have a very brief beginning and the rest is put into the field for the page number. Then after writing up the extract, if I am using this for some writing (ie. my blog), I then copy the completed citation into the notes area. That way I have it just the way I want it (EE style). I never liked the templates, mostly because they are not intuitive on what to put into them. Good luck on your decision.
Why are you considering giving up RootsMagic? And you actually go back and delete expired information from blog? Wow.
I’m still using RM7 and need to decide if I want to keep with RM11 or switch. Right now, my other favorite option is Family Historian 7. On the blog – I’m mostly looking for expired links and have a broken link checker, which I use regularly. However, if I go through the Friday lists, I can double check for links removed, but not deleted. There are also a few blogs which are gone.
Your productivity is inspiring!