This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --------------6870F05710A309AA2CBCDA84 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Greetings!! Something to chuckle about! Kathy --------------6870F05710A309AA2CBCDA84 Content-Type: message/rfc822 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Return-Path: <lynn.heale@sympatico.ca> Received: from smtp11.bellglobal.com ([204.101.251.53]) by priv-edtnes09-hme0.telusplanet.net (InterMail vM.4.01.02.11 201-229-116-111) with ESMTP id <20000321034943.HSGA781.priv-edtnes09-hme0.telusplanet.net@smtp11.bellglobal.com> for <hiball@planet.eon.net>; Mon, 20 Mar 2000 20:49:43 -0700 Received: from pavilion (ppp17376.on.bellglobal.com [206.172.136.16]) by smtp11.bellglobal.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id WAA21010 for <hiball@planet.eon.net>; Mon, 20 Mar 2000 22:55:10 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <38D6F230.6F5@sympatico.ca> Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2000 22:53:20 -0500 From: Vernalyn Morrow Heale <lynn.heale@sympatico.ca> Reply-To: lynn.heale@sympatico.ca X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.01C-SYMPA (Win95; U) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: hiball@planet.eon.net Subject: Re: Murphy's Law ... as it applies to genealogy References: <01BF8ED3.2B8D7E00@glenna> <38D3B05E.1D9D@sympatico.ca> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000 Just a little humour I thought you might enjoy! * Anything that could have burned, did. * The census taker with the clear handwriting and good ink never enumerated your ancestors. * If you find a well documented, illustrious ancestor, you've probably made a mistake. * Your folks hated government and never filled out forms. * The book you need is never indexed, or, if indexed, doesn't include people. * Your families never had attics, much less Bibles or boxes of photos in them. * All real library discoveries are made five minutes before closing, when the copier is broken. * The correctly shelved books and correctly filed forms are never the ones you need. * The person sitting next to you at the research center is finding ancestors every five minutes ... and telling you. * The email address that bounces is the one from a person who listed your exact names. If you find a working address, you aren't related. * Your microfilm reader is the one that squeaks, has to be turned backwards, and doesn't quite focus. * Your cemeteries have no caretaker or records archive. * Alternate spellings and arcane names were your folks' favorite past times. * Or, your folks only knew three names, and used them over and over in every collateral line. * Your sister neglects to mention that the data she gave you, which you have researched, and sent to other researchers, was just a guess with no foundation, and she guessed because she "didn't like leaving that line blank." * Your mother neglects to mention that, "Oh, yes, we knew they changed their name." * Blank genealogy forms never have quite the categories or space you need. * All software packages look good, but immediately have a problem with *your* special case. * Discussions about how to compute cousinship are never resolved. * And finally, it's infinitely easy to get sidetracked doing genealogy (grin). --------------6870F05710A309AA2CBCDA84--