Learn Something New Every Day

I actually DO try to learn something new every day. Yesterday I was at the Tennessee Genealogical Library where I will be giving a presentation tomorrow (Thursday) evening on "Getting Started in Genealogy". I was at the library to make sure I knew how to connect their projector to my laptop. It seemed to work fine, but I was trying to adjust a few things, so eventually it didn't work at all. After an hour or so, I grabbed the library computer guy and he showed me that within PowerPoint, under SLIDE SHOW/SET UP SHOW, if you have the projector connected to the second monitor output on your laptop, you can choose DISPLAY SLIDE SHOW ON.... and it will give you a list, which includes MONITOR 2. A simple checkmark in that box and my presentation appeared just fine. If your projector is not connected you won't get those choices. Now I hope it works as well tomorrow night!! I guess I have more to learn about PowerPoint.

Today I was talking with some cousins in Kentucky and discussing a DNA study we have recently joined. I was able to share with them quite a bit of information on their ancestry, and it's always such a joy to hear the interested questions they ask and the wonder in their voices when some piece of information about an ancestor is heard for the first time. The thing I learned from the conversation was that one of the people I was speaking with (a wife of a cousin) was the sister of my mother's best friend. I had either forgotten that or had not known it. I was excited. I have quite a few pictures of her sister that I'll pull out and send to her.

Yesterday I received calls from a couple of folks who had wanted to attend my presentation tomorrow night, but had other obligations (I didn't ask, but it IS Valentines Day!!), and were wondering if we'd be presenting it again soon. Neither person had a computer, but one of them had started their genealogical research a few months ago and had access to computers at their local library. The other person was a total newbie to genealogy AND computers. Those are the enthusiastic people, who love to learn, that I love to speak with.