This month's newsletter contains: * Getting to know us * Tip & Tricks * A New Project * Thank You for Asking * Current Stats GETTING TO KNOW US This is the last in the series of getting to know the staff members of RAOGK. If you have just joined our organization and/or missed out on a few issues, you can go to http://www.raogk.org/newsletters and start with the January 2005 issue. Our last two staff members featured, are the last two "hired," Nancy Searle and Bobbi Dunn. Nancy and Bobbi have the unpleasant(?) job of having to go through the daily requests, pick out duplicate requests and write to the offenders (with copies to the volunteers affected). They have been with the site since April and May. Nancy Searle Duplicates for Alabama to Missouri Nancy and her family live in Eagan, Minnesota. "Family" consists of her husband of 31 years (a Postal Carrier), two children, one rottweiler and two cats. For the past 18 years she has worked as a planner for a manufacturing plant, doing mostly computer work. Her daughter, who lives in Minneapolis, is currently working for a new IKEA store near the Mall of America, while her still at home son is a computer tech. "He comes in quite handy when we need computer help." "I have been volunteering with RAOGK for about 2 years, since January 2003. I volunteer to do lookups for patient records from Minnesota State Hospitals (Insane Asylums). Both my Grandpa (never knew him) and his mother died in one so that is what got me interested." Her other interests are gardening and yard work: "In the summers I love to be outdoors, so do a lot of gardening and yard work. This spring & summer I took on an especially big project. Changing the front yard over from grass to flower beds. My daughter came up with the design - one big circle of lush grass in the center of the yard surrounded by perennials, shrubs and trees. An arbor welcomes you into the circle, and a path on the other side takes you to the patio to sit and enjoy it all (the patio may happen next summer). Most of the perennials I took from the back yard and did a lot of splitting them." When the cold weather comes to Minnesota you can find her at the Minnesota Historical Society a couple of times a week doing her RAOGK lookups. Bobbi Dunn Duplicates for Montana to Vermont Bobbi was born in California but now lives in Oklahoma in a little town that can't be found on the map (now that is pretty small). As both her and her husband have been married previously, their children are his (1 girl), hers (2 boys) and ours (2 daughters, although one has passed away). Pets are also part of this house hold with 2 dogs that are part wolf, 1 schnauzer, and 1 part rat terrier/part poodle, along with 2 cats. Her interest in genealogy was started when her sister, who had been adopted found her. She then found her aunt (who had also been adopted) and she then hunted down her eldest son's father. The search was so exciting that she was hooked and started searching for any and all family members she could. Bobbi has found much satisfaction in helping others as in finding her own family and has helped numerous people with adoptive type researches. She indicates that she is glad to be part of the RAOGK organization. On the local level she has canvased cemeteries in the Creek Co, OK area and indexed obituaries in the Bristow (Creek Co, OK) Library papers. Bobbi's enthusiasm regarding genealogy apparently is infectious as she has gotten several other people hooked on researching their roots. But, alas, one of those people is not her husband, although he does help her when he can. TIPS & TRICKS Volunteer submitted "Tips & Tricks." If you have a tip or trick you'd like to share, please send them to polls@raogk.org, otherwise they will be ignored. Jack Eaton Indianapolis/Marion Co. IN 1. Print out the request: highlight or underline requested names and dates. 2. Request additional information if the request is unclear. 3. Ask if they wish to have a copy of the newspaper info or have it transcribed or scanned and sent via email. 4. If they wish to have the actual copy, request the mailing address before doing the lookup in order to speed up the process. 5. When the lookup is completed and if the Funeral Home and/or Cemetery information is listed in the obituary, look up the information (address, phone number/s, websites, etc) in the local phone book and send with the lookup completed email. 6. After mailing lookup copy, put the date of the mailing on the lookup request. 7. Keep copies of completed lookup requests for a reasonable amount of time, just in case there is a hitch in the communication process. Linda Day-Reardon Chandler, Arizona I get quite a few requests to photograph grave markers. When I take a request, I try to think of how I would like my picture to look. Knowing that everyone is different, I then try to expound on that idea so they have a choice in the type of photo they prefer. Because the Arizona sun is so intensely bright, I take several pictures at different angles and from different distances. Example, I take a close up of just the marker, then I back up to get the marker and the surrounding area. I find, taking the closer shots at different angles, allows me to choose the picture where the shadow falls to my advantage when reading the, sometime fine or worn, lettering. As I leave the cemetery, I also take a shot of the gate or entrance and/or name of the cemetery. When I get home and download the pictures, I can easily delete the ones that are too bright or too far away. Then I forward all the good pictures to my requester and let them decide which one(s) they prefer to keep. A NEW PROJECT Our "free for all" mailing list, RAOGK-Chat (http://lists.raogk.org/mailman/listinfo/raogk-chat), has been used at times to pass on favorite recipes. So many, in fact, that the idea to produce a Recipe Book from the "Kitchens of RAOGK Volunteers" came into being. This would be a good medium to pass on favorite recipes and also bring in funds for the website. The book would be sold through our RAOGK shop (http://www.raogk.org/store). Having said that, here are the "rules" to contribute: 1. Permission to reprint anything you send to me: recipe, name, your county and state (Region, Country if out of USA). If sending a little story (please make it short and to the point) regarding this recipe, permission to reprint that as well. 2. I should be able to accept most file formats *ACCEPT* .pdf (acrobat reader files). I don't have the capability to edit those files, just create them. 3. To save me the headache of trying to figure out what type of recipe you have sent, could you please categorize it. For example (but not limited to): Meats Desserts Drinks Salads Will accept any suggestions as to how to layout this book. PLEASE NOTE -- Mail any files along with a note of permission to reprint to recipes@raogk.org (this address accepts attachments w/o a problem, all other addresses are susceptible to being caught in a spam filter). Don't forget to put your permission to reprint when you send your file. THANK YOU FOR ASKING I have received numerous private messages asking my how my husband is doing after his back surgery. His disability check came in right after the May newsletter went out (thank heavens). However, while he was out on medical leave the company reduced the amount of people in his section, and there were no job openings when he was able to return. At least there is unemployment ::sigh:: Anyone out there know a company that might want a Computer System Administrator ??? Or does anyone know a philanthropist that might want to sponsor a top notch genealogy site? CURRENT STATS Last month: 4572 This month: 4565 New: 98 Left: 46 Staff removals*: 40 July Requests (through July 30, 2005): 7,748 USA volunteers received: 6,810 NON-USA volunteers received: 938 *Staff removals are those folks whose e-mail address has been reported bouncing and confirmed or volunteers who, over the course of trying many times, did not respond back to requesters or staff. Kudos for June: 97 (http://www.raogk.org/thanks/) The STAFF thanks you for volunteering and until next month. . . . . . . THE STAFF Bridgett, Michele, Bill, Madlyn, Anja, Terri, Nancy, Bobbi and Doc, the Tech Guru