Tallies for 9 August 2008

I wasn't able to post this yesterday evening as planned. It was a very busy afternoon and evening. First my niece, a professional photographer from the Chicago area who is visiting Spokane for the summer, picked up my daughter and her boyfriend to do a photo shoot for their senior pictures. My husband and I went out to get some shopping done and on our way home, received a phone call from my parents, who were in town visiting my aunt and sister, and wanted to drop by before heading home. It was late before everything settled down...too late to blog. However, I'm very excited, because my dad had brought some old family documents and a family photo from 1920 that he obtained while they were visiting his mother in Michigan two weeks ago!

Here's some of what I worked on yesterday:

2. Back Up Your Data!
C. Backup all your data using a flash drive, an external drive, CDs, DVDs, or an online resource.
I'm in the middle of a big backup using Carbonite. It is taking days, partly because the first big backup does take a long time, and secondly, we don't keep the computer on at night. Once everything is backed up the first time, subsequent backups will take minutes, not days. The price at Carbonite is right, but since we don't have a lot on my laptop, I might just use a little freebie service for that. My desktop's hard drive is pretty full, and besides needing to do some clean up, I'm thinking of moving all my files with pixel drawings (another digital hobby I was really "into" for a while, before blogging) to my laptop to free up room on the main computer.

4. Write, Write, Write!
B. Participate in a genealogy or family history related blog carnival.
I submitted an entry for the 4th Edition of the "I Smile for the Camera" Carnival yesterday.

5. Reach Out & Perform Genealogical Acts of Kindness!
A. Comment on a new (to you) genea-blog.
I commented on Amir Dekel's blog, I Dream of Genea(logy). Amir is new to the Genea-Bloggers Group, and in fact, is new to genea-blogging, although he has had a personal blog for a while.
B. Join another genea-blogger’s blog network on Facebook Blog Networks.
I joined Tina Sansone's Gtownma's Genealogy Blog Network. Tina is another new-to-me genea-blogger.

Wow, it looks like I'm on my way to a Bronze Medal in Category 2 and have already earned another Bronze in Category 4 and a Silver Medal in Category 5 (sounds like a tornado!)...all on the first day! My challenge, I know, will be Category 1 (Cite Your Sources!), in which I hope to earn a Platinum!