My First Day as a Professional Genealogist!

I got up this morning wanting to attend The Northwest Suburban Council of Genealogists, my old genealogical society, for the first time in 10 or 12 years.  I wanted to meet the speaker, Jane Haldeman, a professional genealogist from Naperville Illinois.  She was to present From Land Records to Google Earth: Mapping your Family's Place.  So I got up, showered, dressed, even put on makeup for my first day as a professional genealogist.  There was snow coming down when I left my house and I should have realized the possibility that it may have been cancelled, but I was on a mission!  Long story short, the meeting was cancelled.  So here I sit an hour later, fully dressed on a Saturday morning and only slightly wondering what I'm going to do with my day.

While I was in the car I listened to Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me on NPR.  The guest was Dr. Paul Sereno, Paleontologist from the University of Chicago, being questioned on Barney the Purple Dinosaur.  He failed miserably.  As it should be.  I'm pretty sure that he has little time for children's tv shows.  So I got in the house and looked him up.  This guy is a ROCK STAR!  I then thought a little about the difference between paleontology and genealogy as professions.  

I quickly discerned that genealogy is much cleaner.  Sure, sometimes the archives haven't been kept up and we see dust and mold; OH THE HORROR! But, we don't generally get dirty from head to toe.  Both professionals dig (research), write, report, speak in front of groups, and teach. The best similarities are tenacity and passion.  I think the passion breeds the tenacity.  Anyway, I wonder if Dr. Sereno's family tree is written.  I'd be happy to help.  I wonder... What do I need to accomplish in genealogy to become a ROCK STAR?

For the next couple of hours, I'm going to download my Legacy Family Tree 8, and play with it.  I paid less than $22 for this new version.  I've used Legacy for at least 10 years and I love it.  I can't wait to use the newest features.

At 1:30 the Chicago Genealogical Society meets at Chicago's Newberry Library.  Marsha Peterson-Maass will be presenting a 60-minute crash course called Beginning Genealogy Using Accredited Methods. And yes, I'm gonna check for cancellation before I go out!