Fort Lauderdale - Thursday, 5 May 2016.

Another early morning and exciting day to which we could look forward. Breakfast in the room and then the walk to the Convention Center. It's nice that Earle gets up, sets out breakfast, and then walks with me to the meeting. I would probably opt to stay in bed at such an early hour. 

This morning I focused on New York State repositories and records. This was a 2 part presentation by Jane Wilcox and very useful. Much of it was taken from the book New York Family History Research Guide and Gazetteer.

This is really an invaluable resource for anyone doing NYState research. 

Keeping with the map theme, I attended Are You Lost: Maps and Gazetteers for English and Welsh Records by Paul Milner. Wow, what a session this was. I have a whole cadre of "go to" places for finding those pesky English relatives of Earle's. 

Next up was the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society luncheon with speaker Elizabeth Shown Mills. This was a delightful presentation on how the present imitates the past. What we often think of as problems in our today's society,  really aren't new and can be found in history.
After the delicious lunch, I went down to the exhibit hall, walked around for a bit trying to decide on what to spend my budgeted dollars. There were some books and memberships calling out to me. At 2:15 I was scheduled to work at the APG table talking about the benefits of becoming a member and what services professional genealogists can provide. It was fun meeting new people and chatting with other members who were working. 

I skipped out a bit early to get to a 4:00 session: Dissection and Analysis of Research Problems by Elizabeth Shown Mills. I am truly in awe of the way Ms. Mills attacks a research problem and connects what seemingly appears to be unconnectable dots. This was a "simple" ten step approach to problems with some good case work.

It was a tiring, but super educational day. Back to the hotel to catch up on some email, Lexulous with Sharon, and feet up time. 

Dinner tonight was at Market 17, just about 3 blocks from the hotel. It was a very pricey, but wonderful dinner. Market 17 bills itself as a farm fresh restaurant with freshly caught fish and farmstand vegetables. We both had cobia, a fish that was unknown to us, but that was absolutely delicious. It was served with a cheddar polenta, candied nuts, asparagus, and toasted chick peas. 

After  dinner back to the hotel. Watched a bit of TV while planning Friday's sessions. No Pirates tonight since it was a travel day.