It’s easy to make mornings into an impersonal assembly line — get showered, get caffeinated, eat, get to work. One early riser suggests making a serious habit of focusing four minutes every morning on significant others. No, not those four minutes. More »
If you love the idea of using social networking to unite your far flung relatives but aren’t too excited about using a wide-open network like Facebook, Chattertree offers private and feature-rich social networks for families. More »
What do you call the son of your mum’s cousin? How about the husband of your mother’s uncle’s daughter? Type how you’re related into Wolfram Alpha’s computation engine, and it returns the relationship — first cousin once removed, in that last example. More »
FamilySearch, the online arm of the Family History Library, has a new beta search service that lets the public dig around to find documents and facts on their relatives and ancestors. It’s a pretty huge index of data, and it’s free. More »
Drop your bags, grab a drink, and grab the XP CD—it’s nearly time for the holiday ritual of fixing up your relatives’ computer. Here are some tips and downloads to keep handy while you’re cursing all the auto-starting crapware. More »
Blogger Rafe Needleman uses Gmail to record memories of his young son’s life. With the hefty storage, easy accessibility and robust filter and search tools, it’s a neat way to be able to quickly pull up that time when your little one met Santa Claus—or yanked your laptop off the table. Of course, with stuff this precious, it’s always a good idea to back it up. Geek parent tip: Use Gmail as a baby book [Webware]
Webapp ItsOurTree.com builds your family tree in a dynamic, drag and drop, zoom in and out interface. In what feels a little like Google Maps for your family, enter your name and email address, then add your parents, your kids, their parents, etc. Each person node expands to a full profile with fields for the birth date, a photo, maiden name, place of birth, current location, and an area to free-type notes and stories, too. The result is a good-looking visualisation of your ancestry—in fact, filling in the blanks becomes addictive quickly. Looks like a great place to sit down with your grandparents online and save the stories, places, and names that you don’t want to forget. Thanks, Luke!
Linux only: Dig into your genealogy with GRAMPS, a free software package that offers an array of tools to build and store your family history. GRAMPS gives you a lot of choices as to how you’ll build your tree, from standard database entries to multimedia diagrams, and offers a pretty convenient “calendar” view that lets you see birth (and death) dates for your extended clan. The real benefit of GRAMPS is that you can put as much or as little detail as you want into each entry, making it an amateur genealogist’s dream. GRAMPS is a free download for Linux only, although “experimental” installers are available for Windows and Mac OS X. For a Windows-friendly approach, try a Microsoft Word family tree template GRAMPS [via Sysad Linux Blog]
Today is as good a day as any to put your friends and family first and to make their day. Need inspiration? Socyberty offers ten ideas, from giving movie tickets to someone who has been working quite hard lately to leaving a generous tip to your waiter. Be spontaneous and write a thank you note to someone who has had an impact on you or someone you care about. Lend a shoulder to a co-worker who has had a bad day and add some humour to the events to make them smile. Give a homeless person some food to eat. Read a story to a friend’s child. How do you give of yourself to those who live around you? Let’s hear your feel-good tips in the comments. 10 Ways to Make Someone Else’s Day [Socyberty]
Reader Mike just got a “yes” from his girlfriend in reply to The Big Question, and now he’s looking ahead to The Big Event. Being a regular reader, a frugal guy, and an “addictive planner,” he writes seeking help: Do you have any suggestions for software (I use Windows, BlackBerry, and Windows Mobile platforms) that I can use to keep track of vendors, quotes, and other sundry details?
Having tied the knot less than a year ago, I found some success using Google Docs for multi-user planning, but also spent a lot of time explaining its features to everybody—and ended up losing a few invitations to accidental deletions.
So I turn to our wise readers and ask: What software or organizational tools would you/did you use to plan a wedding, covering as many aspects as possible? How would you keep on top of your tasks, decisions, and deadlines? Give Mike an early gift of advice in the comments.
