Some Meetings Sneak Up On You

As last week came to an end I finally got around to looking at the calendar for the following month. After filling in a few other plans I surveyed my schedule which is when I realized how quickly the next stated meeting was approaching… I really don’t like it when the stated meeting is on the first of the month. So, after a long summer respite, I found myself behind on preparations for the lodge. To say that I kicked things into overdrive would be an understatement as the notice was yet to be completed, the minutes were in shambles, and the bill summaries had yet to be completed.

Fortunately or unfortunately, I have been in this situation many times before and getting some of these things done quickly has become a somewhat regular occurrence. So, first thing on the list was to get the notice done. I know where to look for all of the information and the messages are pretty cut and dry so this was completed quickly.

Since there was little time to spare I had to forego my usual submission to Staples so the printer at the office was working overtime. Address labels were next which just take time even when working at a fast pace. Stuffing everything made for a long night but it was finally done. Of course, the completion of the notice also coincided with updating both online databases. Yes, we are still dealing with this issue.

The minutes and bill summaries are simply a matter of recording all of the notifications and occurrences which are then put into a specific format. While it takes a little time making sure that everything is done correctly, it is a rather painless process that can be accomplished quickly. By the time the weekend had descended upon us, all of the necessary items were either completed or updated. Last night, a few more updates were made and a call-em-all was scheduled. All caught up… for now.

Now it is simply a matter of pulling together the other materials that I need for the meeting and making sure that everything is ready and in order for when I have to speak to the brethren. All the petitions, communications, and various other pieces of paper are ready to go. All that remains is to reconnect with many of the brethren tomorrow night and beginning planning for the October stated meeting. After all, I don’t want to find myself in the same position next month!

Transitioning To The New System

Now that things seemed to have settled down at least a little bit, I have been circling back to try and figure out the new website launched by Grand Lodge late last year. While there are many quirks to the old system it is something that I had gotten used to and knew exactly where to go if I needed anything. This new site is something completely different and I am finding that it is taking much longer than I anticipated to find the information and functions that I need. It isn’t that there is anything wrong with it, it is simply new and unfamiliar which takes time to figure out.

However, there are a few things that I have noticed that are both incredibly helpful and also lacking in comparison to the legacy system. While I enjoy having access to the names and lodges of brothers from across the commonwealth, I don’t need that information all of the time. In fact, 99% of the time I just want to see the members of my own lodge, read and respond to emails, and update and input records when needed. That is the bulk of the work that I do on the website and all of these other things just seem like unnecessary bells and whistles to me right now. Of course, that could change over time but that is what I am finding at the moment.

And this speaks to the larger issue at hand… simplicity. I make my living distilling and simplifying complicated concepts into easily digestible text and quotes… it is a necessity of the industry in which I work and partly why companies pay for my services. However, this should not be something that is needed when trying to update records and input data. There is an overly complicated nature to the new process that will undoubtedly keep some brothers from serving as Secretaries in the future… especially those brothers who may be a few years older than the rest.

But the main issue that I have had with the new system is that I didn’t start using it earlier. After all, this could all simply be a matter of unfamiliarity. Because I continued to use the legacy system for so long I am finding myself having to reenter the same information again into the new system… I could have avoided this extra work. Like many things in life, sometimes the biggest obstacle lies in the person sitting at the computer. This is something that we all learn in our lives and especially during our time in the fraternity. The biggest hurdle to get something done can sometimes be in the individual(s). In the end, in order to keep moving forward and moving this fraternity forward, we can’t be afraid to point the finger at ourselves. It really is that simple.

Mortgage Monday: A Means To Reconnect

There has been an unexpected benefit to moving into our own house that we have enjoyed over the past several months. Since the day the movers unpacked our furniture and belongings at our new address, we have been able to get together with a number of people with whom we have lost contact over the last couple of years. With all that has transpired we, for lack of a better term, closed ranks for a while just trying to get through some of the tougher moments that we have encountered. Since moving we have been able to open up and reconnect with a myriad of people that have been nothing but supportive and understanding of all that has gone on.

Recently, we were able to invite our Rabbi and his wife to our new home for lunch. I personally owe this man a lot for helping me become who I am today most notably in serving as my mentor during my conversion. My wife and I owe them both a great deal for providing us with the support and guidance over the years specifically during a rather interesting Aliyah experience. We were lucky to have them close by when we were living in Israel and were able to meet with them on several occasions to help us with our difficult decision to return.

As I mentioned previously, this has also been the impetus, or at least one of the contributing factors, in motivating us to restart our family newsletter. It is reassuring to know that in future years these annual reports will always be coming from our home… there is no longer the question of from where the newsletter will be sent. And we no longer have to include a section about moving. By the way, after a few unexpected delays, they are finally in the mail!

Most importantly, over the past few months, our home has been a means to reconnect with people. As I have admitted before, I am not the best person at keeping in touch with others. This has proven to be a great way to restart long dormant conversations and a means to discuss updates with friends and find out what they have been up to. Of course, now the goal is to keep myself from reverting back into old habits and putting forth the effort, and finding the time, to have substantive conversations with friends and family that I truly enjoy talking to and with which I continue to have great conversations.  

Sunday Search: New/Old Records On Ancestry

Birth Certificate of my great grandfather Harry Gilmore Teaford

While I would like to be on the site more often, I am only occasionally able to check Ancestry.com for updates to the various databases that are available online. Recently, I have had less time than usual to browse the site but was able to do so today. There are always new data sources and updates made but, especially lately, few have caught my attention like the ones I found today.

This past week, birth, marriage, and death records from Virginia were posted. While the date range is limited and they are by no means comprehensive collections, I was still able to find some new records as well as digital copies of records that I haven’t had the chance to upload. While the latter may not be new information, given the current disarray of my office, this was a welcomed discovery.

Death certificate of my great great grandfather Roy Harrison Teaford.

Death Certificate of my great great grandmother Sallie Clapsaddle. 

With these databases now available, I was able to explore a little more and find a few of the missing documents that I had been wanting to find including my great grandfathers birth certificate (albeit a registration from 1958), my great great grandfathers death certificate (I had found this information listed but was unable until now to find the actual record), the death certificate for my three times great grandfather, and the elusive Love and Redcross death certificates which I got copies of last summer but are sitting in a box next to my desk. It is interesting to go through these documents and confirm the parents (especially the mother’s surname)… I really didn’t expect to see Nicholas’ mother listed as a Terry. However, what was particularly striking was the fact that Laura and Nicholas Love’s death certificates were only a number apart from one another with them passing away only days apart from influenza (with some other contributing factors). It was just sad to see Nicholas listed as a widower when you know that Laura died only a few days prior.

Death certificate from March 9, 1939 of my great great grandmother Laura Redcross. 

Death certificate from March 16, 1939 of my great great grandfather Nicholas Love. 

Just like when the Pennsylvania records became available, I keep searching my family tree to find those that fit into the time frame. There are a few that I have been unable to find as the rural records are a little slower when it comes to digitization and there are also the ancestors who died just before the time frame of data available. Those are usually the ones that the parents’ names need to be confirmed. Also an interesting means of confirmation with these documents is that it tells you not only where they have been buried but also who the informant was at the time of death or who witnessed the birth as in the case of my great grandfather.

Death certificate of my 3x great grandfather George W. Clapsaddle.

Such is the ebb and flow of ancestry when the new sources are added followed by an extended wait and then more databases are added that are pertinent to your family research. In between is the time for digging, organizing, and finding all the more obscure sources and documents which are usually still exclusively in the physical (not digital) world. It is this back and forth multi-source process that continue to provide the results. Of course, Ancestry DNA should provide for some interesting insights as well but that is for a future post (when I get the results).

Where Did Those Emails Go?

Not a message you want to see pop up on your screen!

Lately I have been having some issues with my computer… again. I stepped away from my computer just before noon on Monday and when I got back to my desk the automatic updates had already kicked in. Normally this is just an annoyance so I decided to take a lunch break and resume the multitude of projects immediately after. However, when I returned the icon on my laptop was still swirling… this was followed by error messages and a frozen screen. An hour and several expletives later and I was finally back on the home page backing up all the files… almost like I knew what was going to happen next.

Shortly after I finished the data dump onto my external hard drive, the screen went blank and my laptop nearly sailed across the room and through my window. After informing IT about the problem (still waiting for the laptop to be fixed by the way), I was able to resume my work on the office backup computer (i.e. the old laptop of a former coworker). Even though I had all the files I needed I still had to deal with web access for email and rely on the small Seagate to retrieve all of my documents.

However, two issues persisted. The first is the fact that when Outlook and my computer crashed, all the emails that I had written and sent over the past hour never made it to their destinations and I couldn’t find them in the outbox, drafts, or sent files. Basically I lost half a day of work and had to redo all the edits and responses that should have been communicated. There are also limitations in Outlook functionality between desktop and web access which is proving to be an ongoing issue. 

The second issue I am still dealing with which some would consider minor while others understand the frustration that this can bring about… I am now typing on a completely different keyboard. While it still does the same job, many of the keys are in a slightly different place and so the typos have increased along with a significant decrease in the speed of my typing and subsequent productivity. Furthermore, my work computer also serves as my personal computer which is proving to be a pain in the you know what.

This isn’t the first time that I have had issue with a computer. I can’t even recall how many laptops I have gone through over the years. I have had issues with email, applications, and I have burned out computers in the past. I guess it is about that time anyway so I really should have seen this coming… Well, at least I already had an external hard drive ready to go which was actually fairly up to date. I have also been dumping documents onto the server as of late so I am better off this time than I have been in the past.

It is still annoying and a complete time suck… especially when there is no progress from IT and the broken laptop is still sitting on my desk doing nothing. However, while no other information seems to have been lost beyond the confines of email, I am still taking another step to combat the inconvenience. It is time to get another personal computer. Actually, since I won a DELL Venue Pro tablet (with Windows 8.1 already on it) last month at the Philly Tech Week Signature Event, I think I will go that route and simply add a wireless keyboard. 

That’s right, somehow I keep getting new technology for free… first a Kindle and now a DELL tablet. At least my wife wasn’t there when I won the second one and now I will be better prepared moving forward. So while I transition over I am going to try not to toss (with great vigor) my old laptop into a wall… and do my best to not slam my fist into the keyboard of the one I am writing on currently. This is despite the fact that those where reasonable ways to fix a computer 20+ years ago. Darn dainty temperamental modern technology.

Sunday Search: Tree Changes

Today begins another regular series of posts that I hope to write each week, Sunday Search. For the most part, I will be writing about genealogy related subjects including recent additions to my family tree, interesting resources or programs, and discoveries that give greater depth to the lives of my ancestors. There is also the plan to write small biographies similar to those that I have done in the past most notably of my grandpop, great grandfather, and great, great, great grandfather.

While there are grand plans for this series, I start today very simply. Recently I had to make a couple of updates to my tree. One that I had been dreading for months and the other that I have been looking forward to since last summer. Two changes that clearly demonstrate the dichotomy of the basic information that we all compile as we trace our roots… birth and death.

Both of these additions of information are almost surreal after having spent so much time digging through centuries of family history and piles of ancestral records. It is a change in perception I would previously dig through pages and pages just trying to find out when someone died but now, having experienced that last moment, it was not something that brought me any enjoyment whatsoever and by doing so, I think back to all the other times that I had to record that information for other loved ones in my tree.

From one unique experience to another. There are names that I see over and over again on both sides of my family and by adding my son’s leaf, one of those names repeats itself for another generation. But the name we chose, especially the spelling, was a means to connect my tree and my wife’s tree. Our son’s name adds to that bond between our deeply rooted family histories.

While he certainly doesn’t comprehend any of this now, I look forward to the day when we can introduce our son to his entire family and the history that his name carries with it. Between the two trees, there is a complex history spanning much of the world. My family touches on many areas and different cultures and my wife’s family covers a completely different geography and part of world history.

Each leaf has a little more to add to the family history just as each piece of fall foliage adds to the autumnal landscape. All different trees offering a different variety of colors but working in unison to tell the same story. That is what our son has to look forward to and what I am looking forward to sharing with our son.

What Was the Lead Story On The News Tonight?

It’s the end of another week and I have no idea where the days have gone. There is work yet to be done, a haircut that never happened, and some excellent developments that I am not at liberty to divulge at this point. The weather was cold and the ground covered a couple of times with snow but for all that happened it is still all a blur.

The week was coming to an exhausting end when I turned the radio on before heading home for the night. Another shooting by another deranged individual. While the only life lost was that of the shooter it is still a tragedy and still impacts the lives of all involved. Unfortunately, it will serve as the catalyst for tomorrow’s solemn anniversary.

While nowhere near the magnitude of that day it is astounding how little I have seen on the television this evening about this stunning event. Even now, ten minutes into the evening news, nothing has been said. While no one wants to admit it, I’m going to say it… The main reason for the lack of coverage is that fact that the only person who died was the shooter. The other reason is because he used the wrong kind of firearm… Democrats support shotguns. IF you want to know why the story wasn’t leveraged by the President, by the Senate, by the media to beat people over the head… those are the reasons.

 

However, once again the root cause of this nauseating action was overlooked. The kid was freaking nuts! This is a people problem… he was going after a librarian. Who the heck goes after a librarian? People are the problem. That is where we need to focus our efforts. We need to get people help and curb the psychosis that seems to be finding its way out at an increasing rate as of late. Crazy will always try to find a way we have to do what we can to control it and offer those in need the support that is required to keep those homicidal intentions in check.

Breaking news… first mention on tonight’s news just happened… before heading to commercial the shooting was mentioned after the weather foreshadowing and before video of a woman putting together a bike for the holidays. Wow, that story just jumps out and grabs you when it’s buried in the broadcast. You can’t script crazy so sometimes the story is not going to have the appeal needed to lead the broadcast.

Before I sign off for the night, I want to bring your attention to Israel where the Holy Land is currently being battered by the worst winter storm in the country’s history. Tonight I pray for your safety while, at the same time, admit that I am a little jealous that I am not there to experience a Winter Wonder Holy Land. Shabbat Shalom and Peace (not piece) to all this night and every night.