Through The Eyes of a Novice

It would appear that Queen Victoria is sharing the television line up on Sunday with another English monarch. If you cannot record tv programs for later viewing (like me) you will have to figure out how to watch Who Do You Think You Are and Victoria on Masterpiece tomorrow night. (And let's not forget Finding Jesus and Hamilton's America. I'm not even going to go there.) I might have to call Time Warner or Spectrum or who ever is controlling the media at my house.

Those of us who have been faithfully watching Victoria on Masterpiece do not want to miss the Finale of the First Season. She will be exposing her dirty laundry on your local PBS station from 9-10:30pm and later from 12-1:30am. This means she will be overlapping a former English monarch for a half hour no matter when you watch. 

Who Do You Think You Are will be slaying an English monarch on TLC who happens to be an ancestor of Couteney Cox and a predecessor of Miss Vicky from 10-11pm and again from 1:06-2:06am. Confusing? Yes. Impossible? No. Unless you fall asleep! 

Tomorrow I will be setting aside my WDYTYA Bingo Card and all of my years of genealogy knowledge. Instead of laughing at the squares on the cards and rolling my eyes at the instant information I will be watching the new episode with the eyes and mind of a complete novice. This won't be easy. I will have to completely shut down the sarcastic side of my brain.

The reason I am doing this is because I am participating in Thomas McEntee's  Genealogy Do-Over. I have completely purged my ancestor files with some necessary exceptions and I am starting over.  I know it sounds strange but so far I have made some amazing discoveries. It became apparent early in the game that my records were more of a family landfill and I brought home a lot of conference leftovers. 

So I will sit down tomorrow night with my bowl of popcorn and watch Courteney Cox discover her family. I hope to learn a few new ideas; maybe take a new look at a record; discover something I have always overlooked. Who knows? This year in genealogy is the year of renewal.