¡Buenos días a todos from the Old Pueblo! It is 7am and 66F (18.9C) with an expected high of 92F (33.3C) and sunny skies. My kind of weather and perfect for hanging laundry out!
Another very successful Thon! I did not complete as many as I would have liked given that I had conference calls and writing tasks. I managed ~75 connections. There would have been more; however, my OCD kicks in and I MUST add a biography and sources, albeit brief. I am now going back and completing FULL biographies and adding spouses. Nevertheless, the England Team came in at a respectable 2nd place with nearly 10% of the over 80k connections.
One of the conference calls dealt with the chapter on Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. My colleague and I have until May 1st to revise the chapter. This is the work that we submitted last June. Neither editor provided us with feedback until February when I wrote and asked, ‘what up?’ We now have a new editor. The downside is that we must pare down the chapter to half of what it is now. This is a real challenge because they want so much information but are limiting the number of words.
The other challenge is my new Samsung TV (purchased out of the box). The Geek has been out roughly three times since the installation a month or so ago. One problem was the lips out of sync with speech. He set an analogue to digital setting (or whatever). I did a troubleshoot after the Thon. I watched several movies, including an old Pitch Perfect and Oppenheimer (for about the 10th time) on Samsung TV. The speech was out of sync AGAIN. I watched Oppenheimer on the Insignia TV (purchased at the same time as the Samsung TV). Speech on Insignia TV was in sync throughout this 3-hour movie along with several other shows; hence, the problem is the Samsung TV. I was at Best Buy Wednesday and the Geek will be coming today to remove the old Samsung and replace it with a new (not out of box) Samsung. If I have more trouble with the new TV, I will choke myself to death.
I got a steroid shot in the right SI joint on April 9th and it is already wearing off. I had a deep tissue massage yesterday and wanted to weep from the pain. I deal with it because I know endorphins are released and I get a couple of days of relief. I see the doctor on the 22nd and will need to come up with a new game plan. I think one option might be the testing and placement of an electrical stimulator in the spine. I have nearly used up the number of steroid injections I can have per year, and we are just one third of the way into the year. I have been trying two homeopathic remedies (Hypericum perforatum 200C and Kali carbonicum 30C), which seem to provide a bit of relief, but not enough to add to quality of life.
I took on the Baldwin Name Study a little less than a year ago and became a member of the Guild of One-Name Studies (ONS) in England in December. In February, I became Team Leader for Buckinghamshire (thanks to Steve Whitfield, that smooth talker). I have mentioned in the past that my Baldwin ancestors came from Bucks. One line arrived during the PGM and settled Connecticut, another line arrived during the PGM and was an early founder of Woburn, Massachusetts. I have been in touch with the Guild and will be applying to oversee the Baldwin ONS. Once that is approved, I will add the information to the WikiTree Baldwin ONS and the Buckinghamshire Team site.
I also received word that I am a life member of the Founders of Windsor, Connecticut. I listed my descent from Matthew Grant, ancestor to Ulysses S. Grant. One of the descendants of this Grant line is Tryphena Humphrey, one of four wives of Samuel Humphrey. Actor Humphrey Bogart and I share this ancestor and his first name came from his mother, Maude (Humphrey) Bogart! Lastly, it pays to play WikiTree Bingo! On the 5th, Sandy and David featured the ‘cast’ from Our American Cousin performed at Ford’s Theater when Lincoln was assassinated. The stage manager was Thomas Cameron Gourlay and two of his daughters were actors in the play. The name “Gourlay” was very familiar to me. It turns out that my daughter’s paternal line has Gourlay ancestry from Edinburgh, which is where this Gourlay family came from. In my spare time, I am trying to see if there is a connection to Jennifer’s Gourlays and this Gourlay family. Thomas Gourlay held a folded American flag under Lincoln’s head shortly after he was shot until Lincoln was moved to the boarding house across from the theater. What history!
Pip, as always, thank you for leading the Weekend Chat. I miss you and hope to see you soon (well, now likely in the fall). Say ‘hello’ to Mike for me! I also wish all my WikiTree friends and family a great THIRD weekend of April 2024!
