Resolutions 2010

res o lu tion (noun)
A resolve or determination: to make a firm resolution to do something.
The act of resolving or determining upon an action or course of action, method, procedure, etc.
The mental state or quality of being resolved or resolute; firmness of purpose.
A solution, accommodation, or settling of a problem, controversy, etc. [1]

Here are my 2009 resolutions and how I did:

1. I have two specific tasks in mind that I would like to launch from this blog. One is a new column that I would like to see all genea-bloggers participate in, similar to Tombstone Tuesday or Wordless Wednesday. Another is a Challenge I came up with during the last couple of weeks which I came very close to launching today, but reconsidered when I figured that as I return to work next week after my surgery recovery, I may find I don't have the energy or time to devote to it. I will look at the spring or summer for the right opportunity to share it with you. It's on a large scale along the lines of the Genea-Blogger Games, but is not at all similar in topic. I will share both of these specific tasks in the future (stay tuned!). My new column morphed into Monday Madness. I give the goal an A+, but my participation in it a D, mainly because of my computer being down for four months. That was also to blame for my never having started the Challenge of which I spoke. I still would like to do it; we'll see what the summer brings.

2. I plan to write posts featuring the postcards of my husband's great-grandmother, similar to what Pam Warren is doing with Belle's Box. I also want to get my mother's letters written from Alaska to her parents in Michigan from 1966 - 1978 scanned, transcribed and posted to a private blog. I give myself an F here. Again, computer failure is to blame, and you'll see this as a constant challenge to nearly all my goals this year.

3. Speaking of this blog, I am looking to improve the visual look of it. It's much too cluttered for my minimalist taste. The problem has come when I've looked at other designs and realized that I will lose coding for a lot of my widgets if I change over. I just need some time to work on this. Didn't happen. Still want to do it!

4. Another blogging goal is to phase out AnceStories2 and add posts more frequently to my Atlas Project, personal, and Graveyard Rabbit blogs, while continuing to contribute to the EWGS and Bootcamp for Facebook blogs. I did phase out AnceStories2, and contributed quite a bit to the EWGS blog, but again, computer failure prevented me for accomplishing the rest of this goal.

5. I need to update all the pages on my AnceStories website, especially adding links to this blog. Computer failure (sigh).

6. I plan to hire two professional genealogists; one to hopefully knock down our MIDKIFF brick wall and another to look up my Great-grandfather YORK's military records. My husband became unemployed in May and this goal has to take a back seat until we are financially stable again.

7. I want to work on three brick walls this year: Berber (DeJONG) VALK (find birth information and parents' names); Jeremiah F. YORK (use land records to get evidence that he is the son of Stephen YORK and Amy FRANKLIN); and Levi McCLELLAN and wife Clarissa CLEVELAND (I'd like to determine their parents' names). I also want to see if I can find more vintage photographs from my mother-in-law's lines. I began work on my YORK line by obtaining some preliminary land records through my local Family History Center, but it's something I need to pursue further. This was a crazy, busy year, and probably the first year in a loooong time that I haven't regularly visited my FHC. I did make some headway on my McLALLIN and CLEVELAND lines with Levi's pension record.

8. I'd like to get all the items my uncle sent me from my maternal grandparents' estate scanned. When my uncle visited in June, he brought more records and photos. I did get those scanned to my laptop, which filled the hard drive completely. Getting my desktop repaired has allowed me the ability to scan the rest of the records, but the repairs didn't happen until after the school year began, and I've just been too busy to complete this goal.

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If you made it this far without falling asleep or leaving the blog, congratulations! Two thousand nine just wasn't a fun year, and in reading some of my colleagues' geneablogs, I find a common theme here. I learned quite a few things throughout the hard times though; some of them are: don't rely solely on a online backup system; don't put off large chunks of genealogy goals for Summer Break; don't beat yourself up when life gets in the way of making other plans (to misquote the Beatles).

Here's what I'd like to accomplish in 2010:

1. Get my hard drive cleaned up of all the duplicate files and folders which occurred when my mother board crashed.

2. Back up all my genealogy files to DVDs, making copies to give to other relatives "just in case."

3. Attend a major genealogical conference. The Washington State Genealogical Society's state conference was wonderful, but being on the conference committee had its downside as well as many benefits: I wasn't able to relax and just enjoy being there because there were a lot of responsibilities that I had to attend to. I'd like to be on the "other side" by just being an attendee.

Really, that's all I have on my "must do" list. I've decided that I can realistically accomplish the first two (as long as my computer remains working!) and that they are a priority. The last is on my wish list. In between are all kinds of minor details, such as continuing to cite my sources, scan documents, work on my brick walls, improve my blogging skills, and perhaps change the appearance of my blog. What are your goals for 2010?


Source: 1. resolution. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/resolution (accessed: January 01, 2009).