GRIP recap, a month late

Hello everyone.  Time flies when you are having fun huh?  Or in my case, time flies when deadlines sneak up on you and you start a new job!

GRIP was such a great experience, and I wanted to make sure I gave you more information on my
experiences.  Even though it is a month late, I hope that you all enjoy my.... journal entries.

We had 49 students in the class from all backgrounds and all over the country.  Meeting so many people with such a variety of backgrounds and experiences made the week very interesting.  I thoroughly enjoyed the way we talked about everything.  While I am not sure how the other courses were taught we were able to share, discuss and theorize through all sessions.  It really made the class gel more and we became a great community for the week in our learning and sharing.

I stayed on campus in the dorms as well as ate in the cafeteria.  It seemed the most logical way to be a part of the large community and the price was hard to beat.  I had a single room and it was very nice.  It even had its own bathroom, meaning it was nicer than the dorm I had in college!

The food was also amazing.  A good variety and everything was even labeled so that I could eat according to my dietary restrictions.  For those of you have allergies or can't eat certain foods you will understand how happy that made me.  It meant that I didn't starve while I was there, which would have been bad since I get grumpy when my sugar dips.

Those that drove, or had friends in the area, were able to get off campus more.  La Roche is in a nice community with many places to eat, grocery shopping as well as other things to go out to do. I was OK only staying on campus, it actually helped me to focus on the course and spend time Pokemon hunting.

Yes, there was a group of us hunting Pokemon... it was rather amusing.

Next summer's courses are already up.  I encourage you to go look at the list.  There are a number of excellent instructors and courses up on the website.  If I am lucky I will get to go again.  Even better, is if I get to see you there too!

I've got a GRIP

This week I am very excited to be attending my first GRIP (Genealogical Institute of Pittsburgh). In the past there was always some sort of conflict.  Usually a kid’s summer camp.  But, this year, it looks like I get to be the one who attends summer camp!

Yes, I called this summer camp.  It really, really is summer camp for genealogists and I am not the only one who is referring to it that way here.  I never went to sleep away camp as a kid so I personally don’t have a comparison, but I am assured this is nearly as good if not much better!

During my week here I am taking the Advanced GenealogyCourse taught by Cece Moore and Blaine Bettinger (along with several other one time instructors).  Yesterday was the first full day of courses, but I had internet issues so no posting since I got here Sunday.  Besides the instruction I am meeting new people who share the same interests I have.  Which is always a plus!  There are 49 people in my course (very large for GRIP) and while I am may not make a close connection with all of them, I think coming away with a few new connections is a good thing.

Yesterday I got up God Awful early (new internal clock thanks to my new job) and I took a walk LaRoche College Gardens, or chatting on Benches.  This is really a beautiful place.  Thankfully we only had a mild rain storm which took off the humidity so the weather has been very pleasant.

La Roche College at sunrise (yes, I was up early)

around campus.  It seems I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t sleep and I saw many of my fellow GRIP attendees out walking, reading in the

Then in class yesterday we had a bit of review and the beginnings of delving deeper into analysis tools for genetic genealogy.  Today is so far building on those lessons and taking it one more step.  I am excited to get to the case study sections and learn more about practical applications of these skills. 

Oh, and Maia’s Books is here.  You know that always means trouble. Good thing I flew and have limited space for books!

Fingers crossed I will write more tonight, tomorrow, and the rest of the week.  GRIP ends Friday, so if you don’t hear from me… well my internet went down again or I am up to my eyeballs in spreadsheets.  Either way, I will catch up with all again soon! 

Saving your pennies for a rainy day....

photo credit: Jill Clardy via photopin cc

The laundry machine pays me, does it pay you too?  Really, it does.  For years I have put clothes in the drum and at the end of the cycle I have anything from a few pennies to a few dollars.  My husband says I should be ashamed for laundering money like that and my kids just wander around the house hopelessly looking for that dollar they knew they had put in their pockets.  My laundry “tips” go into a large fishbowl we have in our kitchen.  From there I dig out money for an occasional coffee, water at the gym, last minute popcorn money for school, or anything else that the family may need spare change for. 

The other day I cleaned my desk (it took 6 hours, sigh) and I found my old bank that said “Shoe Fund” on it.  This cute little ceramic bank was given to me years ago by a friend who knew I have a passion for shoes.  It was a great birth day present and for years I have put the spare change that makes its way onto my desk into the little bank.  That is when it hit me.  I should really turn in my shoe fund for a genealogy fund.

Isn’t that a great idea?  I have been walking around the house patting myself on the back while thanking my kids for their contribution to my genealogy obsession.  However, a fishbowl just wasn’t okay anymore.  It is big and anyone could take money out of it. I needed to dress up a new bank and let people know exactly what they were helping mommy pay for.  Can you just imagine the eye rolls?

Thankfully my eldest son just outgrew his shoes, again, in only four months, so I had a fresh shoe box at my disposal.  I know, a shoe-box,  kind of overkill isn't it?  But you use what you can find.  So, that along with some construction paper and I had a brand new money collection device.  It even has a prominent position on my genealogy bookshelf within reach of anyone who wants to contribute.

My youngest told me that I wasn’t allowed to have a money box (cute name huh) without knowing what my goal is and what I am going to do with it.  (Unlike him who gathers loose change like an obsessed hoarder carrying it to his piggy bank to listen to his precious clinking around in it) However, I knew he had a point.  What will I do with my laundry tips?  How will I save and how will I spend it?

My initial list consisted of books, supplies, and dues which sounded all good.  Then, it struck me.  I really, REALLY, want to go to the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP) next year and what a better thing to do than start now to save up for all the fees to pay for me to go.  Nothing like a goal to make you squirrel your (and your family’s) pennies away is there?

So....good choice?  Do you think there is something else I should save up for too.  RootsTech is up there on my list, but I can't drive to it like I could GRIP.  A flip-pal is still on my want list as well.  I would love to hear your ideas and thoughts.