Back to sea level

Salt Lake City just takes me breath away. 

I didn't climb this set of stairs

Each year when I attend the Rootstech Conference I find myself short of breath. Salt Lake City has an average elevation of 4,327 feet(1,319 m) above sea level which is high for this old girl who lives by the sea. This year the elevation combined with the minus temperatures really hit me.

Although it is only a couple of hundred metres up the road from my hotel I only visited the Family History Library once, I only visited, Macys, my other US temple once as well. I was just too puffed to visit each of these a second time. 

Thankfully I had my asthma meds with me and was able to start a course of treatment that kept me awake and hopping.Thankfully my hotel was directly across the road from the Rootstech venue at the Salt Palace so I was able to get to the conference within a couple of minutes.  This year I didn't attend many classes as I didn't have the energy to walk the long distances or stand in long lines that these required. I spent most of my conference in the Media Hub with regular forays out into the Expo Hall.

As I was feeling poorly I only attended one keynote session in person. For these sessions the Ambassadors have to be in their reserved seats by 8am and, if one finds oneself behind a tall person (as I invariably do), it can be difficult to see the speaker on the stage. It has only taken me seven Rootstech Conferences to realise that I can set my alarm for 8:20am (thereby gaining an extra hour of valuable shuteye), watch the livestreamed keynotes while I dress and eat breakfast and actually see the whole presentation in comfort. Then when the session is over I wander over the Media Hub in time to interview the VIPs that are on the list for the day. Avoiding the crush of  people leaving the keynote sessions is a bonus.

The people that you meet

The people that I meet and the interview opportunities that I am given are the reasons that I keep coming back to Rootstech . One of  my goals is to be an Ambassador for Australia at Rootstech  and an Ambassador for Rootstech  for the people back home. It takes my breath away that I am given opportunities to share via Youtube my chats with  geneastars at Rootstech that my genimates would not otherwise meet.

Aussies at Rootstech

I can report that I am now back on sea level and breathing normally, I had no trouble walking a couple of kilometres through Sydney yesterday. 

On Rations

I have been hit by a first world problem. I have to ration my data.

As many of you know we are living between two houses at the moment. At our old house I have a ginormous data allowance and can spend my days playing in cyberspace without having to worry about how much data I consume. My problem is when I am at the old house I need to devote my time to clearing out a life's worth of stuff and getting the place tarted up for sale so geneactivities take a back seat. I have emptied my study ready for its transformation into a home theatre/media room and have moved most of my technology, files and my desk and office chair to their new home.

Up at the new Lake House where I have set up my new geneacave I use my smartphone as a hotspot for internet access. Although I have 40gig of data per month on the phone I find that I can devour several gig  a day when using it as a hotspot for the laptop (a data hungry beast). I can keep up with social media, email, blog reading via Inoreader and checking new DNA matches  on my smartphone where these activities appear to use little data.

Data Rationing here at The Lake House

I can blog on the phone using an external wireless keyboard but I don't enjoy doing it that way so I don't blog (it has to be fun not a chore - right?). I can't update my websites on the phone and I find it very difficult to research promising DNA matches as I need to have several windows open to do this efficiently. Similarly when writing my sometimes weekly GeniAus Gems posts I need to have several apps and windows open at once, I missed posting last week because doing this via smartphone would have been an exercise in frustration.

In the next month or so I will transfer our landline, internet service and Foxtel service to the new home. I could throw more money at my data provider but am loathe to do this so in the interim I will be quiet in the blogisphere. 

Now, while my asthma is forcing me to rest, I am off to do some work on my FHG website, try to place some new DNA matches in my traditional tree, respond to some messages from potential DNA matches and follow Shelley's instructions for Visualising Ancestry DNA matches (until that does my head in!).