Thursday, June 5, 2014

Day 0 at the Genealogy Jamboree 2014

It's been a rather quiet day here at the SCGS Genealogy jamboree 2014.  Perhaps that's because it hasn't started yet.  It starts on Friday, but the Family History and DNA Conference was all day today.  I didn't attend this but saw many of the attendees between classes in the afternoon.

We left Chula Vista at 8:15 a.m. to catch the Pacific Surfliner Amtrak at 9:25 a.m. at the downtown San Diego station.  I read the paper, read some of the syllabus material, and read email, blogs and Facebook on my iPhone, and played some Solitaire too.  The ride was smooth and easy, despite the 30 minute delay for a train that had an engine fire coming the other way.  We passed it near Irvine.  We got to the Burbank station at 12:15 and were at the Marriott Hotel at 1:35 p.m.


There were a number of geneabloggers around the table n the lobby and we all greeted each other.  I won't name names because I'll forget some unforgettable people.  We got into our room and Linda went swimming in the pool while I read blogs on my laptop at the blogger table.  And talked.  Had a great conversation with Gene Pennington from Marin County about what to do with his large MyFamily website.

After 4 p.m., I adjourned to the bar area and talked with Elyse Doerflinger about her upcoming wedding, her job, her apartment, etc.  Others came in after 5 p.m. and the group grew.  I needed to find Linda and decide on dinner.  Since we don't have wheels, it's either go with somebody else, walk over to the fast food mall across the busy street, or take a cab somewhere.  I got out my cell phone and the free Scout app and suggested a few places to Linda.  We decided on In 'n' Out because it would be fast and we know she can eat there, and got a cab and set off for the 2.5 miles.   We got there, and it didn't have a seating area, only takeout and drive through.  Drat.  We came back to the Denny's across the street.  $33 cab ride to go 500 feet.  Double drat.  We ate, it was OK, but we won't do that again.

I went over and registered for the conference, and saw Vicky and Paula and Leo and Jane and all of the volunteers.  They do this so well.  Then it was up to the room to get the laptop and back down to the blogger table to read my email and read blogs and write this post.  Someone just told me that the wifi is free in the rooms now...maybe that's why not many people are here (just two of us, and I don't know the other person's name).  Several friends have come by to say hi and chat which is good.

The Jamboree starts tomorrow for real, so I need a good night's sleep tonight.  I will attend Elyse Doerflinger's and Josh Taylor's offering at 8:30 a.m. on "Engaging the Next Generation."

Then I will host a table at the "World Roundtable Discussions," in Pavilion 1 at 10:45 a.m., on "Technology and Social Media."

The Expo Hall opens after that and who knows what I will do.  I want to attend the classes I listed in Planning My Classes for the Genealogy Jamboree - Friday, 6 June 2014 but doubt that I'll make all of them.  We need to go eat soon after 5 p.m. so that we can get back for Elyse's bridal shower at 7 p.m.

I hopd to take a lot of pictures today but there were not many people all in one place.  So I have a few shots and will have to get a lot more on Friday.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/06/day-0-at-genealogy-jamboree-2014.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver







1 comment:

Sarah said...

What was your advice to Gene about his large MyFamily site? Many of us are wondering what we can do to preserve the years of photos and records we have there. Please help!