: About Me

First of all, I'd like to say thanks for not only reading my articles but being interested enough to actually check out my profile. You ROCK!

Ok...enough mushy stuff.

My life has never been boring. Career-wise, I've done a little bit of everything from waiting tables to working in a war zone as a civilian. I am eagerly anticipating my next big adventure...whatever that might be. I'll keep you posted!

I love to write and have something to say on just about anything...even if I don't know diddley-squat about it. Reading is a close second - I never met a genre I didn't like.

The best thing of all, however, is spending time with my completely awesome daughter, who is old enough now to be my mini reasearch assistant. (Any factual inacurracies in my articles can be laid squarely at her 11 year-old feet.) She keeps me young, gives me gray hair and is never boring.

FAIR WARNING! My writing is for the light-of-heart. I take some topics very seriously and strive to be informative and accurate. But I just don't do dull. I try to make sure that no matter how staid or close to my heart a subject is, whatever I write about it is at least marginally entertaining.

And finally...

Oooh! Oooh! Read me! Read ME!

My parents always told me ...

that I could do anything in life that I wanted to.

My childhood ambition ...

to be a Girl Scout, cheerleader, school bus driver, detective and astronaut. In that order. (see "My parents always told me..."

My first job ...

pulling staples and paperclips out of cartons of medical records so they could be photographed and stored on microfisch. No joke. I got paid by the box. Some dreams die hard. (see "My childhood ambition..."

Relationships & Family > Ancestry & Genealogy Genealogy: The best questions to ask your family to get the right information

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In Genealogy, the most valuable source of all is the living family member. If you have access to someone who can provide you with firsthand information, it is important to ask the right questions and to stick to the facts when starting with a new subject. Start with the subject's full name (including the correct spelling) and full date of birth. Even if it is your own mother and asking seems redundant, this basic question sets the tone for your interview...and the answer might actually surprise you. Next, ask for the full name, date of birth (and death, if applicable) of subject's parents ...

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