Getting prepared for Congress

Well I'm getting very excited in the lead-up to Congress next week, after many many months of waiting. I wrote about it here. I've been to Canberra a few times, but not on my own, so I'll be getting Google Maps out to figure out where I need to be & when. As well as Librarian's Day on the Thursday, I've also scored extra after-hours time at the National Archives of Australia and the National Library of Australia. Also I have a get-together with the Genealogists for Families Kiva project group, and straight on to dinner at Jamie's Italian Restaurant with the UTAS crowd. I have two cousins who live in Queanbeyan with their families, so one night will be spent dining with them, which I'm looking forward to, having only seen the youngest of their children on Facebook so far. So it looks like I only have one night to fend for myself at dinner, and I am quite familiar with the workings of a Maccas drive-thru, so I think I'll have no trouble in that department.

I've ordered business cards, thanks to Judy Webster's tip, & I used this link to Vistaprint so Kiva gets a contribution. The photo in the background is of my great great aunt's wedding in 1915, with my great great grandmother, Elizabeth Lorne CRUCKSHANK (nee BRACKENREG) being the widowed matriarch on the far right. I've got a business in mind, so I made the cards in anticipation of this, although the website is still a work in progress. On the reverse of each card are my research surname interests, which I am yet to complete on the Congress page.

The NSW elections are on Saturday 28th, & I have no intention of leaving Congress to drive out of the ACT to a polling booth, so I've registered for iVote, & I'll lodge my vote (for what it's worth!) when e-polling opens. That's one thing I won't have hanging over my head.

There are quite a few people I hope to catch up with that I have only met online, so I'm printing myself a cheat sheet of names with a photo of them (profile pic from Facebook, for eg) and which group I know them from, so I can be better prepared in a sea of faces.

At these kinds of events there are usually stalls run by magazines such as Inside History, transcription agents, & retailers such as Gould Genealogy. I love looking at all the goodies on display, but invariably forget what books I already have at home, I'm going prepared with a list of my genealogy library so I don't double-up - again.

See you there!!