Genealogy Do Over ReCap: Driving It Home (with one headlight)

Here we are. Final week of the Great Genealogy Do Over of 2015. For some reason the American storyteller Jean Shepherd keeps popping into my head. How would Shep have told this tale? It would have made us laugh, that's for sure. And wince. And nod in agreement.

My tale was one wrought with much weeping. And angst. And humor. You've got to have humor. The reference to "one headlight" in the title is an apropo joke for me and a few select inner circle compadres. (and all my Facebook friends, truth be told)

Oh all right, you are really my inner circle now too. I'll share.

Mid-way through my whining and weeping trip through the Genealogy Do Over I had my highly anticipated cataract surgery. Well, let's just say things were not a "snap" for me, as so many others have reported. Nope. My eyesight actually got worse, much worse. Seeing through 'one headlight' worse. Oh, don't worry - they say it can be fixed.

With laser surgery.

In about 10 weeks.

Meanwhile they were ready to proceed as scheduled and 'fix' the other eye.

This week.

Um, no.

So here I am in my Cave with one good eye and one that is growing more and more out of focus with each passing day. It is ever more difficult to see, to type, to do all the things I love to do.

Kinda like the Do Over. (You remember the Do Over? This is a post about the Do Over.)

I thought my research was OK. I thought I had things under control and organized. A few minor tweaks was all I needed, really.

Bwaaaahaaaahaaaa .......

At week three I hit my first bump in the road and have been limping along ever since. I almost quite several times. I dug in my heels, cried and declared this whole exercise "too hard".

Who wants to do dumb old genealogy anyway?

But then something happened.

I went back to the beginning, again. (It is, after all, the very best place to start) I started from scratch. Fresh, clean, new. It felt good!

It felt DAMN good!

I opened and actually used the Research Log Spreadsheet (did you hear me? I USED the spreadsheet!!!) I started to really organize all the downloads, photos, data, links that were scattered in more places than I care to admit on my computer. I started scanning the family photos and putting them in their proper places on my computer - and my backup.

I still find myself chasing after BSO's and shaking my fist at the Genealogy gods, who often sit perched upon my shoulder, mocking my attempts at serious Cave work. But I am making progress. Small, perhaps even 'unseen by the naked eye' progress, but every day I move a bit closer, move one more file, add one more name.

Inch by inch.

....................... with one headlight.

Who's ready for more?!

Genealogy Do Over: Recap or How I Got HERE: Part Two

And now for some good news.

I've spent a lot of time dragging my heels, complaining, weeping.

But I have actually accomplished a few things.

This Do Over has been hard. Harder than I imagined. Mostly because of my own inability to stay focused. Stay on task. Allow enough time.

And, there's the wanting to do it all. NOW.

And, of course my squirrell like attention span when there is something I don't want to do because it is not F.U.N. (ahem ... spreadsheet anyone??)

So, here is what I have accomplished over these past seven weeks.

• I set all previous research aside on the portion of my tree that needed the do over. I isolated the branch and am in the process of stripping it bare of all frivolous willy-nilly 'ancestors' I have no proof of. I decided to keep the original research my grandmother had done in tact and build from there - correctly this time. (Week 1)
• I already had some good base practices set from my experience working my paternal line. I had learned a lot of what to do and what not to do and have become a much better researcher because of it. (Week 1)
• My research goal was/is to clean up and well document my maternal line. (Week 2)
• I have been tracking searches with notes and comments attached to the individual ancestor's information page - this seems easiest for me, but I did create a series of notebooks to also do some written documentation. (Week 4)
• I have a nice bookmark "tool kit" going in a subfolder under my Genealogy bookmark tab - so I felt pretty good when this topic arrived! (Week 5)
• I also have been very meticulous at citing sources more recently, learning the hard way what happens when you think you'll "remember". A practice I will carry forward! (Week 5)
• I have also been very good at evaluating evidence. So I feel good about this one too! (Week 6)
• I have begun another bookmark with online education opportunities and have attempted to watch at least one podcast a week. (Week 6)

Huh. Look at that. In reviewing my accomplishments at this 'half-way' point I realize I actually have made some progress. The "hard" stuff (for me) is still left to do, but I seem to have a good handle on some of the other topics and assignments. Alright. Ok.

Yet I still feel lost.

Behind.

Overwhelmed.

I have hours and months of work ahead of me cleaning up and removing "ancestors" that never should have been claimed in the first place. It is a daunting task - one I tip-toed around for years. I still believe it is easier (if easier is the right word for this sort of tedious task) to remove than to re build. Who knows, I may chuck it all in a fit of frustration one afternoon, but for now I plug away like an assassin killing off long dead un-relatives. 

And there's the whole spreadsheet thing (let's not go there, I was feeling so accomplished!).

To be continued .....

Genealogy Do Over: Recap or How I Got HERE: Part One

Genealogy Do Over - Restart Button

Well, well, well. Here it is Week Seven. Where am I?

Stuck somewhere back in Week Three or Four.

I lost it. Lost total control. Everything was moving way too fast and my mind was reeling. I kept a paper bag on my desk in my Cave for the increasingly frequent bouts of hyperventilation.

And I wept.

Genealogy is hard ...... When you do it right .....

But here I am. Back in the Cave. Reviewing the topics of the previous weeks. Making yet another checklist of what I did and what is still left to be done.

And, as providence would dictate, these past two weeks I have been flooded with replies to old (some very old) message board posts and new DNA matches - BSO's that distracted me, caught my eye, sucked me in. Took me off course and down the rabbit hole.

Why is it so easy to follow that darn rabbit!?!

Seems I need to recommit. Seems this is a recurring theme. Seems I need to learn some focus.

Or make another checklist.

So. Back to the beginning I go. To the beginning of the year and my grandiose plan of cleaning up my maternal lineage.  I have been avoiding this for several years, as you may know from reading some of my previous posts. The Do Over was my savior. The thing I needed to kick my butt into action. Alas, it is a self-guided course, and I am famous for guiding myself to the coffee pot, facebook, pinterest, what the neighbors are doing next door .......

The beauty of this is that with each "restart" I have made a bit of progress. Each time I "restart" I am a little farther along. I have a bit of new knowledge and a new technique or two under my belt (or should I say in my tool kit).

As I review the past seven weeks I feel terribly lost. Terribly behind. Terribly inadequate. I glance at my paper bag feeling the twinge of overwhelmedness. I pull it together and begin to make a list of all I still need to do:

• Interview the living / conduct self-interview        (Week 2)
• Stupid spreadsheet - stupid, stupid spreadsheet, er, I mean Research Log (Week 3)
• Another stupid, stupid spreadsheet - um, Project and Task Log (Week 4)
• 
  

Wait? That's it?

So what has clearly been holding me up and creating undue anxiety and pig-headedness is the SPREADSHEET!  The elephant in the room that I am trying very hard to ignore as I squeeze past to get to my comfy Cave chair.

Well, if that's all it is maybe I need to just turn my focus on creating this Spreadsheet. I already have the template on my computer...... I'll just go grab a cup of coffee .....

And take a quick peek out the window .....

The Sinking Ship - Genealogy Do Over: Week 6

The SS Genealogy Do Over is going down!

So here it is Week 6. The ship is seriously taking on water, or is it the Kraken? I can't be sure at this point. After weeks adrift I believe I am beginning to hallucinate. For a stretch of time there last week I believed I was pointed in the right direction and that my compass was working. Today however I fear I may never reach shore.

The spreadsheet Kraken takes the ship.

Alright. It's not really that bad. Really. I have made some progress. And I have digressed. I have decided to quite genealogy altogether in a momentary lapse of reason, only to have my hopes renewed by something someone said in the Do Over Group. It is very much akin to sailing a choppy sea.

This week I feel is sort of a breather. I have been reviewing my sources and evaluating my evidence already on the new trees I am building, so I feel I am on track there. I dropped the ball on citing sources last week, I was so busy playing with my tool kit. I have a long way to go, and oh so much to do!

This week I hope to make a little headway on creating (and actually using) my Research Log and Master Project Spreadsheet. I am still balking at the spreadsheet. It's a brand new animal for me (a Kraken?) and I'm having a hard time beginning.

A very hard time.

A painfully hard time.

I'm a pencil and paper kind of gal. I think I might use these PDF forms instead. I can do that. I will do that.

You can hold me accountable.

And toss me a life jacket.

I will not go down with the ship!