====================================================== Livermore-Amador Genealogical Society E-Bulletin for February 2005 February 1, 2005 ====================================================== Summary of Meetings for February 2005: · Family Tree Maker Group - (02/03/2005): More on new 2005 Version of FTM · Regular Meeting - (02/08/2005): "Genealogy Mixer" from 4 to 7 PM at the Radisson Hotel at 6680 Regional Street in Dublin · Study Group - (02/17/2005): Kay Speaks - Google Review for Genealogy · The Master Genealogist Group - (02/19/2005): Sue Johnston - Customizing the Data ____________________________________________________________ L-AGS membership dues for 2005: Our L-AGS calendar-year runs January to December and renewal dues of $18 (individual membership) and $25 (family membership) are being due now. Please pay as soon as possible and give your check to one of our membership chairmen, Jean Lerche or Marilyn Cutting, at one of our meetings, or mail it to L-AGS at PO Box 901 Livermore, CA 94551. ______________________________________________________ FAMILY TREE MAKER FOCUS GROUP Meeting Date and Time: Thursday, February 3, 2005 - 7:30 PM Leader: Dick Finn at XXXX@wecare.net Topic: More on new 2005 Version of FTM The L-AGS Family Tree Maker (FTM) Focus Group meets (during the school year) the first Thursday of the month at 7:30 at the Ed Rundstrom Learning Center (formerly the Sonoma Avenue School), Room 8, 543 Sonoma Ave., Livermore. URL for a map to the school: http://www.l-ags.org/sonoma.html. Most of our group are FTM users (from beginners to experts) who discuss problems and solutions, share successes, answer questions, and in general help each other with the Family Tree Maker genealogical software. At recent meetings we have talked about generating different types of charts and reports that show specific information and generations, what is new with Version 2005. All persons interested or potentially interested in Family Tree Maker are invited to attend. For information on our group please call Dick Finn at 925-XXX-XXXX or e-mail him at XXXX@wecare.net. Contact Dick for information about topics to be discussed. Visitors are welcome and there is no charge to attend. Bring your questions, comments, and handbook and if you have a laptop with FTM loaded you might bring it also. ____________________________________________________________ L-AGS February General Meeting SPECIAL MEETING TIME AND PLACE: February 8th at 4 to 7 PM at the Radisson Hotel located at 6680 Regional Street, Salon A, in Dublin Meeting Date and Time: Tuesday, February 8, 2005 at 4 to 7 PM Subject: "Genealogy Mixer" Leaders: Mary Dillon In place of our regular meeting this month, please join us for a "Genealogy Mixer", an informal get-together of people interested in genealogy. We have invited the public to join us to have a chance to talk to genealogists and learn how to get started doing their own genealogy or overcome problems they've encountered. Our goal is to help people find the resources they need and, hopefully, become members of SRVGS, L-AGS or both. There will be booths for L-AGS, San Ramon Valley Genealogy Society, and Josefa Higuera Livermore Chapter-DAR; hors d'oeuvres and a no-host bar. Anyone who would like to bring a copy of a family history or other visual to share, please do. Obviously, don't bring something irreplaceable, but items can be stored under the L-AGS booth when you're not using them. Come join the fun! For more information check: www.L-AGS.org XXXX@trivalleycvb.com or contact George Anderson: 925-XXX-XXXX ____________________________________________________________ L-AGS Study Group Date: Thursday, February 17, 2005 Time: 7:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. Location: LDS Church, 950 Mocho Street, Livermore, CA Map to the meeting site: http://www.l-ags.org/maps/Liv-FHC.html Leader: Kay Speaks, mailto:study.group@l-ags.org Google Review for Genealogy Google has recently released new features for its search engine that will help make your on-line research more concise and effective. We will review the many Google commands, called "operators" and use them in an on-line demonstration. A "cheat sheet" of these commands will be provided to attendees and members of the L-AGS Study Group list. This will be a face paced night of fine tuning your on-line search skills! Did you know: · Over 258 million people access Google every day · Google recently released its 32-word search capability, but in some instances only 10 words still apply · Google now as a beta test site for Users Groups and a number of genealogy related groups have already been created · You can now search for Google images · In order to get the most effectiveness from any search engine you need to know how it works - did you know Google only searches a certain portion of some documents, not the entire document · Do you know the difference between sponsored and non-sponsored search results? Can you identify a sponsored site? · You can search for specific words in URLs, exclude specific words, search for synonyms, limit your search to one website, exclude words and phrases, and more Even if you don't consider Google your primary search engine, other companies may have similar commands. ____________________________________________________________ Tri-Valley TMG Users Group Date: Saturday, February 19, 2005 (Third Saturday of the month) Time: 9:00 a.m. - Noon Location: 7077 Koll Center Parkway, Suite 110, Pleasanton, CA 94566 Map: http://www.l-ags.org/maps/Pls-KollCenter.html Leader: Kay Speaks, mailto:tvtmg.chair@l-ags.org Instructor: Sue Johnston from Fremont Subject: Customizing the Data We continue with Chapter 5 of Leo Hoffman's Getting the Most Out of the Master Genealogist -Customizing the Data by John Cardinal. Mr. Cardinal is a TMG beta testers and has developed several TMG companion programs - Second Site, TMG Utility 5, and On This Day. These programs can be located at http://www.johncardinal.com/tmg. Our topic differs from last month's Customizing the Program, which covered changes to the behavior of the program. In Chapter 5, we discuss customization specific to a particular project and/or data set. Why customize your data set? Mr. Cardinal believes it improves consistency, efficiency, practicality, and cultural & personal suitability. He suggests you review TMG's standard methods to make certain you aren't reinventing the wheel and take advantage of the knowledge of TMG's designers and beta testers. A summary of Chapter 5 can be located at http://www.whollygenes.com/images/GMOTMG%20Ch05.pdf. One of our new members has been instructing us and it has been a joy. Sue Johnston recently moved to Fremont from Maryland and joined our TMG user group. Sue was one of the original beta testers of TMG. Maryland's loss has certainly been our gain! Thank you, Sue. A digital projector will be available for ease of viewing our session. We use a hands-on method to learn TMG's features by actually entering samples of the lesson into TMG's sample database. Guests are always welcome at our meetings. Accommodation for laptops will be available. If you have a laptop, bring it with you to the meeting. However, a laptop is not a requirement, as the lesson will be projected. If you can't stay for the entire 3 hours, come and leave early. TMG questions not specific to all attendees will be addressed in the later part of our meeting. Please bring samples of your problem if possible. We hope to see you at this month's meeting! TMG Version 6.0 is now available as an upgrade to the software. You can find out what's new in 6.0, purchase the upgrade, and download the new users manual at http://www.whollygenes.com/tmg.htm. The manual is a large file so a lengthy download. We will have it available on CD for those attending. A free demo version of the software can be downloaded at http://www.whollygenes.com. For additional information contact tvtmg.chair@l-ags.org. Any genealogy software will help you organize your family history, but TMG stands out for its ability to record every detail, properly cite many kinds of sources, track your correspondence, maintain a research log, and produce the most professional books." - Family Tree Magazine, January, 2005 _____________________________________________________________________________