Jamboree, Burbank and Genealogy Day 2

Jamboree and more adventures to be experienced and enjoyed. Alas the refrigerator never came but we did finally get a spare ice bucket for in room needs.

The day started with Breakfast with David Rencher talking about the upgrades, changes and hopes and dreams he has of making the family search experience more meaningful. Randy S. had been to SLC and brought back this news but it was great to hear it from the man himself.

Next event I attended was Blogger 1, prior to that I talked to Lisa C. briefly and we agreed to see each other Sunday. Then I spoke to Maureen T. about the picture she had me bring and the dating and potential placing of this Grandma GG+ in my Genealogy. We will be working more on her later.

Blogger 1 was very different from last year. I enjoyed the group and the presentation. Staying in the room, I then attended the more advanced Blogger 2 event. Again it was great to see the speakers and the news they imparted to the attendees.

After this concluded lunch was shared and we split into our own agenda's again and I went to see a dear old friend
George Morgan talk about:" Bits about Obit: Reading Between the Lines." As always he is articulate, easy to understand and so full of lots of information. His ideas are refreshing for the newbies and the feed back I heard was what I would say was '"right on the money". Biased maybe but I do not think so.

Shirley B. went to William Dollarhides" Primary New York Genealogical Sources: Census and Substitutes," one other went to
John Humphrey's talk on "Pennsylvania's Land Records An Indispensable Resource for Genealogist". Alas that one did not
tape so I was not able to order his talk. Virginia promised me she took good notes. I do not remember where Mary K went.

We all felt that the talks we heard were excellent and would really help in our research. I lastly attended "Neglected History by Smolenyak." What a great topic to present.

We all split for dinner since many had sandwiches from Lunch to munch. I walked over to Denny's to get a breathe of fresh air and to have some pancakes and eggs. ( Old Denny's Employee, old habits die hard :>) ) I saw other Blogger's and their friends there enjoying food also.

Went back to read a book I had retrieved and to decide how to proceed for the last day of the event. I also started to formulate what cd's I would like to purchase to help me in my research for the talks I had missed.

Remember I commented on Facebook this year I would branch out to see different speakers which I worked on doing so some of my favorites, I apologized to and tried new ground for new ideas.

Today was David Rencher and then Andy Pomeroy.

Andy Pomeroy spoke on: " Connecting Families Through Social Networking". I was really looking forward to this talk and
was hoping it was a pick up on the Blogger's and Facebook participants.

Part of his talk did address the Blogging community and Facebook Genealogists. He also addressed a bit about
"GenealogyWise.com" and what it offered. I raised my hand and offered that GenealogyWise is as close to the old
Golden Gate Forum on AOL of long ago as what I could find. I am an old AOL GFS member.

His comments on security were good but wish he would have shown slide by slide the ways you could change your settings to
be password safe. Because I had spoke up about the past history of being a old Golden Gate Forum member later I was asked
questions regarding this issue being more specific to security changes.

The one thing that amazed me is the fact that people still do not realize what you put up, is there. So only put up what you
want someone to be able to read. You can make your sites, as secure as you desire and you do not have to answer all the
questions that are asked, when you sign into many places. He discussed the youth and use of these sites and advised parents
to make sure they keep an eye on what the student is doing when he is on line, in any forum. I great piece of advise for
everyone.

What everyone seemed to miss this year was the mentioning of the Groups under these programs that are genealogical related. They were eluded to but not addressed. On Facebook if you click the link to groups it will take you to the area where you can see the 100's of genealogical groups that are there to use for free. I have had five linking cousins found by using these groups. Information is shared and exchanged with a real caring on helping each other. Did you know that NEHGS, Ohio Genealogical Society, and almost all major societies are now on the Groups area of Facebook? I even saw links to the Library's of various states and historical societies. They are free to be a part of and share with. GenealogyWise.com is also free to use and they run the learning chats like AOL did on various topics each week. They also have Surname groups with in these programs for various regions of the world.

Andy did mention that as a family group it can help you put your research up for all to share and add to and make it a more
filled informationally used area.

I personally like the regional ones most and also the surnames ones have helped. By now I have found many cousins and broke two brick walls by using these new methods for genealogy.