Nose to the grindstone

There's nothing like a deadline to motivate me.

My deadline is a Qantas flight to San Francisco next Wednesday for Rootstech.  Usually when I go on an overseas holiday with Mr Geniaus I am laid back and don't get into planning/packing mode until the day before the trip. This time, however, I have a golden opportunity to use the facilities of The Family History Library and I am going to make the most of every minute. As I also want to be able to tweet and blog with ease at the conference I must have reliable internet access and hardware to perform my role of Official Blogger capably.

I have made a list of the paraphernalia I am taking with me:

* Laptop and new battery - ordered and received last week. (I'm leaving my well travelled netbook at home)
* Small portable hard drive (to back up as I go)
* Digital camera, SD cards, 2 batteries, charger and tiny tripod
* 2 Thumb/Flash drives  (another backup option)
* Mobile phone and charger
* Power adapters so I can use US power outlets
* Pencil case with pencils, sharpener and pens
* Spiral bound notebook (If all else fails write it down)
* Business cards
* Fridge magnet (For putting on the drawers from which I remove microfilm
* Hot pink laptop bag (It will be easy to ID)


* I will be purchasing  a Flip-Pal mobile scanner at the conference.
* I might purchase a Galaxy Tab (if the price is right) while there. They are around half the Australian price in the US but I won't have an Australian warranty - should I take a gamble?
* I will buy a prepaid SIM card for my 3G Smartphone when I arrive so that I have internet access.

The impending trip has forced me to finally organise my softcopy files (we won't talk about the mammoth task of organising the paper files). All of my genealogy photos, scanned certificates and genealogy documents have been organised into folders by surname and then by individual names in main families. All files have been given meaningful, descriptive names in a consistent format.  All of this has been backed up to the portable hard drive. I have also backed up my TMG database to this drive and have updated the family website - if I can't access my data it won't be for want of trying.

I have spent hours searching the Family History Library Catalog and have prepared a 31 page (so far) document of books and microforms I would like to access. I searched by place for most of the places from which the ancestors came, I have also searched by surname for the more unusual names in my tree. I have yet to do some keyword searches to see if I can locate some other specific resources.

My cold weather travel clothes have been reposing on top of an empty suitcase for a week, as Mr Geniaus won't be coming along to help with luggage I will be pruning this pile of clothes and taking a bare minimum. I am of course taking an empty suitcase inside my suitcase so that on my last day I can take advantage of the strong Australian dollar and Macy's sales to add to my winter wardrobe!

I wonder if I have overlooked something essential?

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