Ask and you shall receive!…….on the internet. March 13, 2007
Posted by trmurphy in Family News, the Journey.add a comment
This is one of my favorite pictures of my dad. While I may have known then which grandchildren were taken in hand; I sure didn’t know it a year ago when I posted the picture in my gallery. Today I got my answer from my niece…Kathleen Dixon and with date too!
The picture entitled GrdPaWalks was taken in 1986 at Emery Park (a family reunion) and Grandpa is walking Jaimee Reed and Derek Dixon. I only remember it because Stephanie was just born (so it was after Aug 17, maybe Labor Day weekend?)
One Stop on the Journey January 20, 2007
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So,………… we’re cruising up the Northway just outside Albany. I’m reading the Times while Liz drives…. and talks of stopping in Saratoga. We’ve often stopped at Gallagher’s for lunch on the way to the Adirondacks. I finally figured out she was talking about playing the slots as respite.. “Oh, what will you do though..?” I’m deep in the business section (Circuits on Thursday!) as we start to pass Exit 13 out in the passing lane. Having waited for exact right moment, I threw out: “I don’t know why you don’t stop for an hour or so?”; we’re crossing the travel lane, heading for the exit! Wow, such quick reaction.. and no accident either.
We’ve stopped before, but I never realized the Casino was right next to the track. Trotters were exercising. So after Liz went inside, I pulled over to the south end of the track in the parking lot. What a great view of the action. And the clippity/clop of horse was terrific. Luke even listened for 30 seconds before going back to sleep. I tried to remember whether I’d EVER seen Trotters race; perhaps 30 years ago.
Anyway, it was a great noontime stop in the Journey. And my bride of 43 years came back with a $100 win!! You can’t beat that number 13 Exit!
More Rambling than Life September 1, 2006
Posted by trmurphy in Family News, Life and Ramblings, My Links, the Journey, Uncategorized.add a comment
Amber Nicole is doing fine. Sleeping for hours on end, Caroline says.
Heard from quite a few relatives lately…. very nice. I’ve got to get back up to Buffalo soon.
<font size=”2″ color=”#188400″ face=”Times New Roman” >Testing with green on green.. 
</font> Trying to enlarge the font here; I think it’s hard to read. Not easy in Worpress.Com. Think I have to try a fresh post and figure out how to “turn off the Visual Rich Editor.. !!
Can you believe! September already.
Next few posts will be “Try this” kind of things… So I’ll temporarily change the Colors too… 
Genealogy Blog addendum July 29, 2006
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This should be a comment to my previous entry… but I wanted to first see if Trackback works for me. Not yet it hasn’t. Maybe Lorelle has to approve the comment…. When I looked on her blog; she’s already gotten further. AND it demonstrates the difference between a designer (Lorelle) and a stylist ( yours truly). I can hardly believe you will be interested in A List Apart: Articles: The Bathing Ape Has No Clothes (and other notes on the distinction between style and design) , please let me know if you actually read the article. It is not for the faint-hearted.
Genealogy Blog July 29, 2006
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Lorelle’s blog has a few things in common with mine. We both use WordPress; and we’re both interested in Genealogy. She’s planning a new blog devoted to Genealogy and has written about it. Very interesting. Of her 10 plan points, I ignored all but 3 of the 10 (I use WordPress) 3/4 (I use Bluehost). 1/6/9/10 shouldn’t be a problem. 5 is important and something I talked about in MY first blog entry. I first wrestled with multiuser/DBaccess in the early ’70′s at IBM; it is no small problem. Which leaves 7/8. They probably explain why the Genealogy part of my blog has been relatively unsuccessful. Expecting (nonGeek) family members, more interested in the Genealogy-result than supplying data, to spontaneously contribute, IS ASKING TOO MUCH. Perhaps the key is to make it so friendly, they can’t resist. In addition to being computerShy, perhaps the typical family member has concern for supplying personal information to the Internet. So I’ll be real interested in how/if Lorelle addresses these aspects. Albeit, I have ASSumed that a generic blog such as mine, could be a Genealogy Blog.
This post to my log will be my first attempt at using Trackback. Hmm, no trackback control in WP except title in published example Guess I have to publish it first then apply Lorelles trackback info to that…??? . It was way down at the bottom; and you MUST apply link BEFORE you publish. Guess I should have looked for help first… This is a great introduction to weblog terms for web-log readers. I use Lorelle’s RSS feed on MyYahoo to monitor her writing. (comic relief: the WordPress spell checker does not recognise the word blog !!)
How I Use my Genealogy Programs April 4, 2006
Posted by trmurphy in Computing, Genealogy, the Journey.1 comment so far
I make all updates into the PC program TMG. Periodically (I'm going to shoot for 1/quarter), I export the contents to a Ged file which I can then load into phpGedView.
Advantages
- Users aren't bothered with update software
- Users don't interfere with each others updates
- Better control over content
- I have the advantage of TMG reports, analysis, and guidance, etc.
Disadvantages
- User can't see his updates right away
- Other user's view is always a little inaccurate
Of course, I'm always open to suggestions and requests. If for any reason somebody needed a quicker update, I would accomodate.
Software I’ve Used for Genealogy April 1, 2006
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I now use: ( TMG,phpGedView, GenView ). In the past I’ve used: FTM, Brothers Keeper, Apple II+ Basic
TMG The Master Genealogist I bought this in late 2005. It is supposed to be the most “professional”, flexible, full functioned program on the market. It has a lot of citation/reference features. I thought it was going to have a lot more reporting/charting capability than FTM. Well, it is better, but maybe not sensationally. The list reports let you list out just about anything. The main problem is learning difficulty. It’s a bear. The
more I use it the better I like it. Perhaps since I’m not a professional genealogist, I should have stayed with FTM. But there is much more room for my “growth”. We’ll see.
FTM Family Tree Maker I used this for about 7/8 years; version 3 thru 9 I think. Good intermediate gene. program.
BK Brother’s Keeper I still see occasional references to this old package.
The Apple Basic program must have been in the late 70′s. Main thing was to organize the data and print out basic data.
The above were all used for single PC usage. phpGedView is a server of Genealogy Info for online access via the internet. Its relatively new and free…. and therefore I think has some bugs left… But I think it’ll do the trick. An alternative would be to use a commercial package aligned closely with TMG. Update/maintenance of data could push me to it. Not sure yet.
GenView is a real nifty little package for casual view of a Ged file. A ged file is the standard export file for gene. data. I particularly like the ability to easily produce (Readonly) executable/searchible copy for use by other family members.
Some history of my Genealogy story March 28, 2006
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In the late 1960's I began to get information from Uncle Tom. He had quite a bit drawn out on some old sheets of paper. The first Murphys of Ontario was pretty well complete. He had a notation that the founder Thomas Murphy was from Aughina, Ireland. It took me a long time to figure out that this was not a town or city in Ireland; but rather a parish just outside Macroom. Macroom is an old town to the northwest of Cork city in County Cork. Of course Aghinagh has been spelled 20 differant ways over the years. I visited the area in 1994, but made no real progress on the murphy tree. It is a very scenic area. I stayed in Kinsale for 3 days and took day trips. Some referances to the old parish can be seen at http://www.rochetree.com/rochetree/website/index.html Look for links to Aghinagh graveyards.
Only the stone walls remain. While looking for a picture I thought I had.. I came across my first effort along these lines a few years ago: go here
