Lost clip

For Lost fans who have missed not having our favorite show this year, here is a link to a video shown at Comic-Con this year. It's a great clip, so please watch and comment. I was laughing pretty hard at Smokey and Jacob's commentary. And can safely say, I miss the show.

Was A Success!

We had an estimated 900 genealogists at Ancestry Day on Saturday, which deems the day a success. I can't say enough good things about the people I worked with on making this day such a wonderful experience. More than 300 people attended the reception on Friday night. Then our wonderful volunteers were up bright and early, arriving before 6:30 am, to prepare for the day of the event. Between supervising the volunteers, fielding questions about the day, playing reference librarian at the registration table, being a photographer, finalizing the librarian lunch, and at the end of the day, participating in the Ask the Experts panel (image), it was a busy day. Honestly, my brain has yet to process everything that happened, but I can say it was a wonderful success.

Now on a more personal note, I had some "me" moments. No offense to genealogists in the field, but my customer base in Florida consisted of some of the top in the field, so it takes a lot to impress me when meeting another genealogist. So when I was introduced to Lou Szucs at the reception, I was the consumate professional, yet had the fangirl feeling going on under the facade. What was even better was she commented on the wonderful things she'd been hearing about me, in which my boss responded that the comments were all true. It's always nice to hear that you're appreciated and doing a good job. Then later, Kim commented to me that George and Drew would be proud if they could see me, which of course, caused me to tear up. It's always nice to hear that your mentors would be proud of your accomplishments. And after the Experts panel, one of the Ancestry panelists thanked me for saving them on some of the questions, which reinforced the fact I held my own on a panel of experts, who I respect.

There you have it! My first co-coordinating of a large one-track conference.

Professionalism

I've always been careful on this blog to not write anything that may make me or my colleagues look bad. I try to avoid discussing work too much or my customers because I feel I shouldn't make such comments to you unless we're good friends and I feel I can trust you. But I had a situation this week that has me wanting to post and ask for your opinions.

With all the media blitz going on recently, I knew there would be those who are overcritical, who would analyze my every move and feel the need to express their opinion. Apparently, a customer saw my PBS interview and remarked that I nod my head a lot when I agree with something being said and that I looked like a bobble head. And if that wasn't enough of an affront, the worst part was that my colleague felt the need to repeat this to me and other coworkers. Now if this was the first, second, third, heck, even fifth time, this particular colleague has openly criticized me, I would be commended for my restraint, but it wasn't. Along those lines, my other coworkers question if this conversation with the customer actually took place as repeated or if our colleague is embellishing in order to criticize.

Either way, I feel it was malicious, especially given that another customer had made a derogatory comment about this particular colleague this weekend. I immediately defended my colleague and asked the customer not to make such comments in the future. Whether I agreed with the customer or not, I felt it was imperative that I defend my colleague, hence defend our department. Apparently, my colleague doesn't feel the same based on previous interactions.

I've tried to shrug the whole thing off, but find I can't. This has happened repeatedly and I feel I should have been defended and the bobble head comment shouldn't have been spread about to our coworkers. It's rude and malicious. Here is my somewhat professional response to the situation since I can't repeat the other stuff taking place in my head ... Until you've been in front of a camera, answering questions while live, I honestly, could care less for your opinion. And for those who care to repeat rude comments, recall those same statements could be made about you. I looked good, sounded professional, and appeared interested in the dialog. Could the same be said about you on any given day? I will maintain my professionalism and not openly criticize you to customers, but will continue to defend you, knowing that my personal opinion might differ because in the end, I am a competent professional who doesn't need to be malicious to get through my day.

Media Blitz

For those I haven't talked to recently, you may not be aware that I've been one of the co-coordinators of the Fort Wayne Ancestry Day event, which is a full day conference. Actually, my first big conference, where we're expecting close to a thousand people. There has been a lot of media blitz surrounding the event since a big name company is co-hosting it with us. The whole experience has been fun and interesting for me and I'm amazed at how much I've learned.

As part of the blitz, I was featured in a newspaper article, which has generated a rush in registrations. And I appeared on a local talk show, which will hopefully be available online soon.

Going in to do the talk show was nerve racking. A full thirty minutes on the air, live, with call in questions was a lot to absorb. Crazy things run through your head, like am I sitting straight, do I have lipstick on my teeth, how do I wet my mouth without spilling my drink on camera. And let's not forget the steaming lights, all the wires for the microphone and ear piece, the various monitors, and cameras. Where are you supposed to look? At the interviewer, the camera with the light on it, the monitor with a synopsis of the call in question, or one of the four cameras.

It was a fun experience. I managed to say the correct things, sound intelligent, respond correctly, and look good (always a plus). We have camera crews arriving the day of the event, so on with the media blitz.

Harry Potter Premiere

Yes, the gals and I went to see Harry Potter at the midnight showing. I won't review the movie because let's be honest, I thought it was phenomenal. Enough said!

I have never been to a midnight premiere of a movie before, so this was a new adventure for me. I have to thank Sarai who called me earlier in the evening to warn that the line had begun before 6:30 for ticketholders and that doors would open at 8:00. We had the dilemma that one member of our group worked late that night, so we couldn't arrive until later. The lines were amazingly long. They were sold out of tickets for all 18 theaters for the midnight opening, so everyone waited happily in line for their turn to enter the theater. People were dressed up. We saw every character from the movie including the singing portrait lady, who arrived frame and all. We witnessed several wand challenges and played trivia games. Darth Vader even arrived to fight the wizards. I know, people were really into dressing up.

We found three seats together, but I think if we'd arrived any later, we would have been sunk. We had two hours until the movie to chat and enjoy the festivities. When the movie began, the theater was dead silent except for moments of applause. There were several scenes that warranted the applause and the crowd reacted appropriately. Certain scenes caused some sniffling and outright crying, which was acceptable with this group as well.

It was a fun experience and worth the long wait. As we left the theater, lines for the 3:00 showing wound around the building and one of our group stated they'd be willing to see it again. It took us over 30 minutes to get out of the parking lot, but that gave me time to text with Sarai concerning the movie. Um, should I admit, that two of us returned the next day. I have the excuse that hubby wanted to see the movie. The dynamic in the theater was quite different and made me appreciate seeing it with loving fans at the midnight opening.

Peggy's Solution

In the past year, I've had to deal with my own personal feelings concerning my health crisis and the consequences of my medical decisions. I've had some issues that arose thanks to my surgery that I'm still dealing with and will write about another time. But today, I want to focus on the fact that it's been a year since my surgery. I've been suffering from symptoms the past 6 months of severe fatigue, nausea, dizziness and confused moments. I've been asked the same question each time I go in for more tests. "Are you positive you're not pregnant?" I'm serious. This is not a joke. I'm asked this by my primary care's office every time I go in. I've asked them to note it in large letters for when they open my file not to ask this question, yet I get asked. Here was Peggy's solution to this annoying question. (sorry these were taken with my phone). Vote on which button I should wear to the doc's for my next visit.

FYI... for those who don't know. I had a hysterectomy last year, hence my annoyance with this unnecessary question.