Joshua: Would you like to play a game?

To honor the 2008 Olympics a certain group of Genea-bloggers are competing in several events.

I'm always up for a little competition, especially since the events are structured so we are competing against ourselves - not each other. Medals are awarded for how many tasks we complete - not to who does the most - so everyone could get Gold medals (or Diamond and Platinum medals since there are five levels of medals for each category in this competition.)

So the first thing I did was create my flag by going to the WeAreMultiColored site as suggested. It's the first thing I did, as I did this back in November of last year. Though I did make a small change to the flag I created back then.

The image of the vampire in the lower left has been added. It's a painting by Edward Munch (most famous for The Scream). I naturally added it to represent my Transylvanian ancestry. As I noted back in November, the Star of David represents all of my Jewish ancestry, but considering the flag is representing my blog as well as me, I figured I had to add something Transylvanian. And what's more Transylvanian than a vampire? So the flag combines the flags of the US, Netherlands and Israel, with a vampire for added flair.

So what are the Genealympic events, and which ones am I participating in?

1. Go Back and Cite Your Sources!

This is something I need to do, and I think I might even be able to reach the 50 citations necessary for the Platinum Medal. (Which is why I need to do this.) I am competing in this event.

2. Back Up Your Data!

While I already have my genealogy data backed up to an external hard drive, and a flash drive (which is also a USB watch, so easy to grab in case of fire) There are a few other suggestions in the instructions for this competition that I should consider - but not right now. I don't want to be too distracted from my other activities.

3. Organize Your Research!

I need to do many of these things, but not right now. However, one of the activities is "scanning 20 photos" or "scanning 20 documents." I'm confident I have enough to do this task 5-times over. I recently discovered a box full of letters. I figure if I scan 100 pages of letters I have definitely earned a platinum medal. I don't know if there are a 100 pages, but if I end up scanning all of them, and there are only 80, I'll be happy with the Diamond.

4. Write, Write, Write!

I'd probably be doing a couple of these tasks anyway, but I don't want to get distracted from the citations, and scanning, so I'm not competing. It's not like I need extra encouragement to write.

5. Reach Out & Perform Genealogical Acts of Kindness!

I was looking up obituaries for people through RAOGK during the spring. However, the local library isn't open on Sundays during the summer, giving me less time to spare on research. I might do a few of the other tasks, but not as part of the competition.

***
In addition to the citations and the letter scanning, I have a long-term transcription project of those letters. I'm going to tally for my own benefit how many letters I transcribe. It doesn't fall under any of the competitive categories, but there's no reason I can't use the "Olympic spirit" to challenge myself, even if no one else is doing it.

This post has been revised