Recently I decided to take another stab at this so called “genealogy” thing. Last time I gave it a whirl, my interest was lost as other things in life kept popping up. This time though, I thought I would try to dedicate a little more time on the weekends to it, just to see if that helped in the motivation dept. With this newfound sense of purpose, I got to thinking, “Wouldn’t it be fun to try learning a little more about my family’s history by incorporating technology?” The first piece of tech that comes to mind almost immediately is the Skype telephony messenger. I figured that it might be a real kick to just do a Skype search for everyone with the last name Hartley, then begin randomly calling them to see if we are related somehow. Oh sure, it is inconsiderate and out of the bounds of common sense courtesy - but it might be kind of fun. It would be like prank calling with a purpose! So if you are a Skype user and your last name is Hartley or you are just bored with the incurable desire to bug someone, you can find my Skype contact info on my Web site.

In unrelated news, I am holding a Photoshop/Gimp contest on my Web site just for giggles. Paint users are welcome to participate too, of course - I do not discriminate. The idea is to take the provided picture of yours truly and do weird, unholy things to it. Shave my head, turn me into a leprechaun, whatever helps you get your kicks is fine by me. All of the contest rules and details are available for inspection on my Web site. So far, I have received only one entry (imagine that), but it was really well done. Stop on by to check it out - you could end up having some fun. ;o)

Let’s get digital!