Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: The Facebook Meme

 

Uh-oh!  Apparently there's a new Facebook meme going around, and Randy Seaver fell down the rabbit hole, because he's using it for this week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun.  What they hey, I guess I can do it too:

For this week's mission (should you decide to accept it), I want you to:

(1)  Use the Facebook "Learn about Each Other" meme being passed around this week and answer the 32 questions as listed below.

(2)  Tell us in a blog post of your own, in a comment to this blog post, or in a status line on Facebook or a stream post on Google Plus.  Be sure to leave a link to your post in Comments on this post.

So here are my answers.  I copied Randy's blue, even though I hate the HTML.  I noticed that Randy's list had no 5, 27, or 28, so I looked on Facebook and discovered multiple variations of the meme (no surprise there).  I found a question 5 I liked and added that, and my cousin had the question 20 I've used.  So mine is actually a list of 31 questions, whereas Randy has only 29!

1. Who are you named after?  I was named for my two Jewish great-grandfathers, following the Ashkenazi tradition to name children after deceased relatives.  My mother used the initials:  Janice is for Joyne (Gorodetsky), and Marie is for Moishe (Meckler).
2. Last time you cried?  A few days ago watching a sob story on the news.
3. Do you like your handwriting?  Not as much as I used to.  I used to write in a beautiful cursive, but I seem to be getting sloppy in my middle age.
4. What is your favorite lunch meat?  Genoa salami.
5. Spicy or sweet?  Spicy, every time!
6. Longest relationship?  Father, uncles, and aunts:  almost 55 years.
7. Do you still have your tonsils?  Yes.
8. Would you bungee jump?  Hell no.
9. What is your favorite kind of cereal?  Hot:  Cornmeal mush with sugar and whole milk.  Cold:  Lucky Charms with whole milk.
10. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off?  Yes, almost every time.
11. Do you think you're strong?  Physically:  Not really anymore (work injuries).  Emotionally:  Yes, most of the time.
12. Favorite ice cream?  Ben & Jerry's Coffee Coffee Buzz Buzz Buzz; almost anyone's Mint Chocolate Chip.
13. What is the first thing you notice about a person?  Hair, face, eyes.
14. Football or baseball?  Both, but football a lot more.
15. What color pants are you wearing?  Gray.
16. Last thing you ate?  Ferrero Rocher hazelnut chocolate.
17. What are you listening to?  The TV in the bird room, which is currently airing Sesame Street on PBS Kids.
18. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?  Royal Blue.
19. What is your favorite smell?  Maybe frying bacon, even though I don't like to eat it very much.
20. Who was the last person you talked to on the phone?  My friend Vernester.
21. Are you married?  No.
22. Hair color?  Medium brown with shots of gray.
23. Eye color?  Brown (I'm full of it up to there).
24. Favorite foods to eat?  Rare steak, shrimp, scallops, crab, mango, sushi.
25. Scary movies or happy endings?  Scary movies.
26. Last movie you watched?  Wild Kratts:  A Creature Christmas with my birds.
27. What color shirt are you wearing?  White and brown aloha shirt.
28. What is your favorite holiday?  Passover/Pesach.
29. Beer or Wine?  Yes!  To be more specific, my favorites are Guinness and Gewürztraminer.
30. Night owl or morning person?  Now night owl, but I was an absolute morning person until a few years ago.
31. Favorite day of the week?  Friday, for Grimm and Sleepy Hollow, or Tuesday, for NCIS and NCIS:  New Orleans.

If you feel like contributing your answers, feel free to post them as a response to my list!

Free App for Making Videos

I recently learned about a free app that is designed to help you make marketing videos.  Directr for Business has built-in storyboard templates that guide you and make it easier to figure out what you want to say and how to deliver that message.  Templates exist for several kinds of marketing messages, but you could certainly use it for other types of videos also.  You can upload your new video quickly to Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.  It's made for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch and is super easy to use.  I was able to use it to create a short video to let people know about my genealogy research business.  So check out my video and then think about the ways you can use Directr to help promote your own business!  (Or even outreach for your genealogy research?)  And did I mention that it's free?!

The February 2015 Issue of ZichronNote Is Out the Door

The latest issue of ZichronNote, the quarterly journal of the San Francisco Bay Area Jewish Genealogical Society (SFBAJGS), has been printed, e-mailed, and mailed by the U.S. Postal Service.  As usual, the articles cover an interesting range of subjects.  SFBAJGS President Jeremy Frankel has wrapped up the report of his research on his cousin, including the revelation of an amazing find on the sidewalks of London.  Board member Heidi Lyss wrote about her impressions and what she learned on an excursion to the Jewish quarter of Córdoba, Spain, last year.  Jeanette Rosenberg, of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain, kindly allowed me to reprint her article on the basics of using Facebook for genealogy, which makes a nice segue into the society's June presentation on social media for genealogy (presented by the only other Sellers who is a member of our society!).  And treasurer Jeff Lewy reported on what worthy genealogical endeavors SFBAJGS was able to support in 2014, with help from the donations generously given to the society by our members, above and beyond their membership dues.

You could be a part of this too!  I could be talking about your article in ZichronNote.  Have you had a breakthrough in your family history, solved a family mystery through painstaking research, discovered a better way to use resource materials, or walked where your ancestors walked as part of a heritage trip?  Have you had success or made progress at the San Francisco Genealogy Clinic with the Mavens?  Do you have an interesting story about Jewish family history in the San Francisco area?  We would love to read about it in the journal.  Send me a message, and we can discuss!

What? A New Issue of "The Galitzianer" So Soon?

What's this, you say?  Another issue of The Galitzianer has gone to the printer already?  How could that be?  Could it be that Janice is catching up on her schedule again?

Yes!  I'm actually almost caught up!  The June 2014 issue of The G went to the printer last week and will be mailed this week.  That's pretty good when you consider that the March issue went out in June (one of these days I swear I'm going to be healthy again).

So I'm obviously excited that timeliness is re-entering my life.  This issue has some great articles, too.  Tony Kahane discusses upcoming legislation in Poland that will affect access to vital records.  The death record of a man in a specific house starts genealogist Israel Pickholtz on a search for how he might be connected to the family living there.  A woman contacted by a cousin via Facebook ended up taking a trip to Israel to meet cousins from a branch of the family that had been out of contact since World War II.  And we had permission to reprint a story by Robin Meltzer which publicly quashed, at least for a while, the age-old myth about names being changed at Ellis Island, this time in conjunction with the great Sid Caesar (may he rest in peace).

Members of Gesher Galicia receive The Galitzianer as a benefit of membership.  Gesher Galicia is a nonprofit organization focused on researching Jews and Jewish life in the former Austro-Hungarian province of Galicia.  Information on becoming a member is available here.

Articles for The Galitzianer are accepted from both members and nonmembers, and I love to read them all.  If you submit an article that is published, you will receive a copy of the issue with your article even if you are not a member.  Submissions may be articles and/or graphics, both original and previously published, and must be relevant to Galician Jewish genealogical research:  articles about recent trips to Galicia, reports on your own research, historical and recent pictures, etc.  Electronic submissions are preferred, though not required.  If you wish to submit material for consideration, please contact me at janicemsj@gmail.com.  I accept submissions year-round, but the deadline for the September 2014 issue is August 20.