My Blog Has a New Home!

Courtesy of 1947Project

One of my goals for 2013 was to transfer the domain and content of my website to a new host.  That has been done, and now I can self-host my blog with WordPress.

I've been using Blogger for over 2 years and it has become like an old friend - glitches and all.  I will hate to go ... I also hate that my number of subscribers and followers will start back at zero.

But there comes a time in our lives when we have to move on, as hard as it is, because we are headed toward something better.

So, after today, my blog can be found here.

Thanks to everyone who has subscribed/followed me for the past 2 years - I certainly hope you'll come visit me at my new place!

~Jenny

P.S. I'll keep this blog active indefinitely in case cousins need to find me - but no new posts will appear after today.

Motivation Monday - 1st Month Goal Update

Wow - one month of 2013 already gone. How does that even happen??

After getting back into the post-holiday day-to-day schedule of my job, and recovering from being sick for an entire week, let's see how I'm doing with my 2013 goals so far:

Learn
1. Complete the NGS Home Study Course by June. This is by far my most important goal for this year.
Lesson 6 has been submitted and Lesson 7 is underway. I just have to find time to get to one of the local churches to do the hands-on survey so I can submit the lesson. Will need to complete through Lesson 10 by the end of February in order to stay on schedule.

2. Attend IGHR in June. I want to finish the NGS-HSC before I do this.
I got in!! I registered for Course 2 on January 22. 

3. Attend FGS in Ft. Wayne in August.
Registration doesn't open until some time in February. But I already have my hotel room reserved! (Fortunately, I'll have until July 1 to register with the earlybird discount).

4. Get into a ProGen Study Group by July.
I was informed that the waiting list is around 4 months right now, so I went ahead and put my name on the list. I received my confirmation email this past Wednesday. I'm already scared!

Research
5. Perform a census survey/census search for each direct-line individual on my tree through my 2nd great grandparents. (See this post for explanation)
I'm systematically working backwards through my pedigree chart, and so far I've done two. Good thing I gave myself a year to finish this one.

6. Obtain DNA tests for my maternal uncle, my maternal grandmother, and my father.

7. Double-check source citations in RootsMagic for accuracy. I'd like to get through my 2nd great grandparents on this one too.
I tried to work this one in with my census survey, but was quickly reminded that I really can't do more than one thing at a time.

Write
8. Blog at least twice per week. I've really fallen off on this and I want to get back on track.
Well, I only have 3 blog posts for January. I really need to stay on top of this.

9. Add 5 new ancestor biographies to my website and update WikiTree accordingly.

10. Contribute at least two articles to society quarterly.

Other
11. Transfer website and blog to new host. This will involve a complete redesign of my website, relinking of all my toolbox links, and transferring my blog to WordPress.
So far, so good. Domain transferred (as of January 1, mind you), and all pages have been transferred! Take a look here. I'm still having a very hard time letting go of my Blogger site and posting solely on my self-hosted WordPress site. For one thing, I can't easily change the color of my fonts, and that is kind of important for me. (So if anyone has any helpful hints, I'd love to hear them!)

12. Join APG - probably the Second Life chapter.
Done!  Now if I can just figure out how to resolve the scheduling conflict so I can attend the meetings in Second Life ...

13. Continue my indexing efforts for FamilySearch. I'd like to index a minimum of 100 records per month. (I know this seems low, but in light of goals #1-4, I'd like to actually be able to meet this!)
Hmm ... so far, NOT so good. I haven't indexed at all this month.

Do we share any ancestors? 

Please email me at lostancestors [at] gmail [dot] com

SNGF - The Super Bowl!

Randy Seaver is at it again with his Saturday Night Genealogy Fun.  Here is the mission I've accepted - even though I'm a little late to the party:

1) What is your favorite National Football League team? Why are you a fan of this team? How long have you been a fan of your favorite team?

2) What is the genealogy of your favorite team? When did it start playing, what leagues has it played in?

3) Have you worked for the team in any capacity, or attended games? What is your best memory of your favorite team's history?

4) Predict the score of the Ravens-49ers game on Sunday.

Ok - for starters, I'm not really a fan of professional football on any level.  However, I grew up in Atlanta so I guess the Falcons would be my first choice.

But they're boring.

So I picked the St. Louis Rams.  They have quite a history!  They began in 1936 as part of the American Football League in Cleveland, Ohio.  They were called the Rams after Fordham University - as a tribute to the football players that came out of that university.   The following year, the Rams joined the National Football League.  In 1943, the team had to sit out the entire season because of a shortage of players during World War II.  In 1945, the Cleveland Rams won their first NFL Championship over the Washington Redskins.  That was their last year in Ohio.

In 1946, the team was relocated to Los Angeles.  The Rams were the first team to sign an African-American player - Kenny Washington - and ended racial segregation in the NFL.   In 1948, halfback Fred Gehrke painted horns on their helmets, and the professional helmet emblem was born!

The team made their home at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum until 1979, when they made their first appearance in the Super Bowl against the Pittsburgh Steelers.  Unfortunately, they didn't win.  The following year, they relocated to Anaheim Stadium, just outside of Los Angeles, where they stayed from 1980 until 1994.

1982 turned out to be an especially bad year for the Rams.  The season was shortened by a strike, causing the Rams to have the worst record in the conference - and the Oakland Raiders moved into the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, effectively cutting the Rams' fan base in half.  After another players' strike in 1987, the team hired replacement players (referred to as the Los Angeles Shams).  Even when the regulars returned after the strike, the team simply couldn't get it together.

In 1995, the team relocated to St. Louis.  Unfortunately, their record remained the worst in the conference until 1999, when the team achieved their first Super Bowl victory against the Tennessee Titans, in what some call "the best Super Bowl ever."

The team made another Super Bowl appearance in 2001, but lost to the New England Patriots.  It would be their last Super Bowl appearance to date.  Due to management issues, the death of the Rams' owner, sale of the team, and a couple of injury-laden seasons,  rebuilding the team to its former glory is a task that continues to date.

As part of their "genealogical story," I wanted to show the team's migration pattern:

Ok, so now I'm supposed to predict the score of today's Super Bowl.  My scientific analysis goes like this ... the Baltimore Ravens have better team colors (purple is my favorite), so I'm going to say the final score will be: Ravens - 33, 49ers -19.

Do we share any ancestors? 

Please email me at lostancestors [at] gmail [dot] com