Family History, the number one hobby in the United States

I was in the US recently and was informed that family history has become the number one Hobby in the United States. After pornography, I'm also told that family history sites receive the highest number of hits on the internet. How interesting!

Why the growing interest?

Besides spiritual reasons and the interest in family values, I think the internet has provided the information exchange that makes family history more interesting and accessible.

We will begin the BYU Online Lesson 1 next week and you will need to download a program called 'Adobe Acrobat Reader' to your computer to get ready. Check if you have one by clicking the 'Start' icon(button) in Windows to see if the name 'Acrobat Reader' is in the list of programs. You don't need to download it if you already have one but there is no harm downloading again if you are not sure. Hopefully the speed of your internet connection is fast enough to make downloading a much quicker process. The price of broadband service ( RM60 to RM88 per month in Malaysia) is definitely worth it when you are using the internet often and you should get it even if it's just for the convenience of access.

Let's do an exercise to download a free program through the internet and install it on your computer. You can begin the process to download Acrobat Reader by clicking here It will open the Adobe Reader screen and you are to click the 'download' icon(button) which will open a smaller window where you have to click 'ok' to save the file to disk. Another small window opens where you have to decide and remember which folder you like to save the file to your computer. (This is tricky for inexperienced users who click save and don't know where the file was saved to nor what the name of the saved file is so call me at this point to tell you what to do. Otherwise ask someone who is experienced and is close by for help. Downloading and installing programs in Windows is actually quite easy but like everything else, it just takes a little practice.)

If you can remember where the file was saved, you are now to find that file as it will be the setup file for Acrobat reader in which you have to click it to activate the installation process which may require you to click a few more times before the program can be fully installed. Again this requires some experience or familiarity to read step by step instructions to click where required till the process is finished.

I will now stop here and wait for everyone to confirm, through the usual comment method, if you have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed in your computer. This may probably be the most technical part of using the computer that you need to get past as there are many steps involved and after that, it will be more smooth going. Perhaps now you understand why I had all of you practice and practice to use the internet and follow instructions step by step. Some were lost in just following a few words of instructions that were not technical or didn't fully read the obvious on the computer screen. It gets tougher when you have to follow a set of technical computer instructions if you don't have some basic experience. It's just getting used to it and that is why you are encouraged to increase your dialogues here. You need to learn how to describe the problem you are encountering and receive written solutions for it. It is like learning a language. The more you use it, the better you become naturally.

I have successfully coached many middle aged users in the corporate world and if you can be patient with me and most important with yourself, you can surely do it too!

It may be timely to have a practical session on Sat or Sunday(July 23 or 24) at our Family History Center in PJ for those who need some hands on help. Do let me know who would like to make it for that.