I STARTED

[NA4BH]

While the latest birthday has come and gone, I got to thinking about how my life activities and experiences would go unheard when my time comes. So I started writing an autobiography. It will be boring to most (99.999%), but entertaining to my descendants. Thinking about it, I wish I knew the whole story about relatives before me. Things like "My grandmother being the first female to drive a car in Greensboro NC". Simple stuff that means nothing to anyone else, but means the world to others. Have any of the rest of you documented your life for "your" generations to come? I have actually found this quite entertaining, bringing back a ton of memories.

Yeah right, Blacky (my dog) needed room in the country so he could play. :lol:

[X-Rated]

My ancestors wrote a book. "The wealth she Gathered".

http://www.dgatx.com/family/places/Little-House/hs.html

Ranks up there in the little house on the prairie books for Kansas stories. My dad's mom was Alice Cooper of this Cooper family. So this author was my great grandmother. It was not easy living back then. Internet sucked and cell phones did not work well. Ipods used the old MP0 format.

[NA4BH]

That's what I'm talking about. Having the TV guy come in and demagnetize the screen. SAY WHAT ????

[X-Rated]

So what are your chapters? What will you deal with? Will it get you in trouble at your place of employment?

[W5GA]

Will it be on Facebook?

[NA4BH]

I don't do Facebook or Twitter.

Right now I am profiling/discussing the different neighbors of my childhood, with my earliest recollection being in the hospital (at 3 years of age) having surgery. This will be at a leisurely pace, no rush.

[X-Rated]

My descendents will have to be satisfied with technical papers and blatherings about the use of low noise circuits.

[KA9MOT]

I have often though of doing the same thing. We can trace our relatives (somebody did a family tree) back through John Hays marrying Suzanne Boone (Daughter of Daniel Boone) in MO, on back to the old country (Scotland or Ireland) on my dad's side and back to my Grandmothers parents (Mom's side) coming here with 4 little girls from what is now Poland in 1902.

My life has been eventful. I could talk about growing up in Eastern PA, moving to the Illinois in my teens, running away at 16. Hitch hiking around the country for 2 years and learning to drive a truck while doing so. Gosh, there is so much!

[NA4BH]

My descendents will have to be satisfied with technical papers and blatherings about the use of low noise circuits.

But how did you get to where you could "blather"? Did you ever ride your bike over a homemade ramp, only to have your bike go one way and you the other? That's the stuff I'm writing about.

Like one of the stories my dad told me (and there weren't many). He told me about riding in a car, about 50 MPH, with a friend (Litzenburg or SHITZT LITZY as he was known). Litzy said, "Watch how close I can get to those parked cars. He said they side swiped about 6 cars. My dad told him that he got real close. Obscure things like that make for an interesting life.

[NA4BH]

I have often though of doing the same thing. We can trace our relatives (somebody did a family tree) back through John Hays marrying Suzanne Boone (Daughter of Daniel Boone) in MO, on back to the old country (Scotland or Ireland) on my dad's side and back to my Grandmothers parents (Mom's side) coming here with 4 little girls from what is now Poland in 1902.

My life has been eventful. I could talk about growing up in Eastern PA, moving to the Illinois in my teens, running away at 16. Hitch hiking around the country for 2 years and learning to drive a truck while doing so. Gosh, there is so much!

See, that's what I'm talking about. Write it, put in a secure place and have copies handed out to your family after you are gone. You don't need to put the story about the Billy Goat in there. You shape your legacy (the goat has been dead for years, he ain't talking).

[KA9MOT]

See, that's what I'm talking about. Write it, put in a secure place and have copies handed out to your family after you are gone. You don't need to put the story about the Billy Goat in there. You shape your legacy (the goat has been dead for years, he ain't talking).

Got it! No stories about ex girlfriends! :shhh:

[ad4mg]

See, that's what I'm talking about. Write it, put in a secure place and have copies handed out to your family after you are gone. You don't need to put the story about the Billy Goat in there. You shape your legacy (the goat has been dead for years, he ain't talking).
Let us know when you get to Chapter ?? - the HamIsland internet forum ... :lol:

[rot]

I have a nephew who is big into the family history and has collected alot the stories and such some of which I never knew. He is pretty easy to talk to so I guess the kith and kin spill their guts to him. Most come from my mothers side and my grandfather was indeed a very interesting character. I know there is some dirt in that one but so far none I know of. My father's side is just eat up with nutters...like some serious nutbags...Pop would never go into detail much. I was named for his older brother Theoron, who died before I was born. There was something very special between my dad and his brother, as dad was the youngest. I do not know exactly what is was but my mom talks of them being close. I like to chat with my nephew periodically to see if there is a new discovery or whatever but he is digging into my brother in laws side at the moment. I don't think I have the follow through to do a book...maybe my nephew will.
rot

[KC9ECI]

If it were up to me, when I'm gone there wouldn't even be a grave marker.

[X-Rated]

If it were up to me, when I'm gone there wouldn't even be a grave marker.

Hear hear. That's what I'm planning. I have a grave plot back in Kansas for me and my wife but we have no plans to use them.

There is a very distant relative near Canton Ohio to me who is the most aggressive in tracking down the Shirer/Shirar family tree. When my ancestors came over in 1730 from Germany, they spelled their name Scheurer. That was shortened to Shirer when they settled in eastern PA. Then they moved to the Canton area. That is where my distant relatives has stayed all these generations. Then one David Shirer picked up and moved to Flora, Indiana and changed the family name to Shirar. He is buried there. His son Levi Shirar moved to Salina, Kansas. He is buried there. My great grandfather James R Shirar moved to Lawrence, Kansas. He is buried there. My grandfather and father are buried there as well. I do know there was a lot of strife in the family to make David want to move and change his name. So I guess the Shirer's and the Shirar's are supposed to be mortal enemies according to my relative in Canton, but we don't know why.

[W3WN]

My dad always said that he'd found out a lot about the family... all I know is that my Grandparents escaped from the Tsar in 1903 or so, came over with other relatives. There were several Great Uncles, presumably Grandpa's brothers (now that I look back) and a bunch of cousins from them, but I was too young to know what was going on at the time... and my mother discouraged any talk about it, as her family basically disowned her and her sister, and she was bitter about that. (Again, something that I now know looking back)

Sadly, he never got around to it. Everything he knew went with him.

If my sister knew anything, well, she's not talking either. So it's a big blank. Of course, I can always run for political office, and let someone else pay to dig up the family dirt...

Little Miss Field Day is very curious. One day, following a TV spot, she went on ancestry.com. Only to find out that they want a fee to join, something not clearly disclosed in the ads. Since she doesn't have a credit card (yet), she was SOL.

[X-Rated]

My dad always said that he'd found out a lot about the family... all I know is that my Grandparents escaped from the Tsar in 1903 or so, came over with other relatives. ...

Always nice to see all of you newcomers coming to our nation.

[X-Rated]

Has anyone gone through the steps to becoming a member of the Sons of the American Revolution? I really had no desire to do that except now that I have kids in college, I thought that mebbe I could get some scholarships for them.

[W3WN]

Always nice to see all of you newcomers coming to our nation.Yeah, but you people who came over on the Mayflower got your butts kicked out of other countries too... :neener:

On the other hand, when someone is playing the race card, for example demanding repartations for slavery or for the Indians Native Indigenous Tribes being shoved into the West onto reservations, I can honestly tell them all to kiss my, er, kiss off, as my ancestors had nothing to do with it.

[X-Rated]

Yeah, but you people who came over on the Mayflower got your butts kicked out of other countries too... :neener:

On the other hand, when someone is playing the race card, for example demanding repartations for slavery or for the Indians Native Indigenous Tribes being shoved into the West onto reservations, I can honestly tell them all to kiss my, er, kiss off, as my ancestors had nothing to do with it.

My grandfather and my father had slaves. They were white German slaves in the 1940's working the potato fields. I know nothing about any black slaves in the family. All my ancestors were in the northern states. The 1940's was during the period of your ancestors being here. Later I worked as a slave in my parent's fields. They would cultivate the soy beans that would take out all of the weeds in between the rows, but in the rows weeds still grew. We could have used harmful chemicals to kill those weeds off like everyone else, or just hire a kid for free to do it by himself. I try to tell myself it builds character. Right.

Also, my wife and I fought hard and were successful in our efforts to stop the completion of the South Lawrence Trafficway in Lawrence, Kansas. It would encroach on sacred indigenous peoples' burial grounds. I have tried to atone for the sins of my fathers.

[NQ6U]

My descendents will have to be satisfied with technical papers and blatherings about the use of low noise circuits.

My descendants are already disavowing any relation to me.

[X-Rated]

My descendants are already disavowing any relation to me.

Why is that? I have pretty good relations with my kids, I think. My sister has not spoken to me in over 6 years. I don't think my aunts, uncles, cousins, or nephews or nieces care if I see them or talk to them and my in-laws are politely there.

They bad mouth me. I don't talk to anyone about anyone. I hate the culture of gossip. Perhaps they hate the fact that there is nothing to gossip about me and they have to work so hard to make crap up.

[NQ6U]

Why is that? I have pretty good relations with my kids, I think. My sister has not spoken to me in over 6 years. I don't think my aunts, uncles, cousins, or nephews or nieces care if I see them or talk to them and my in-laws are politely there.

They bad mouth me. I don't talk to anyone about anyone. I hate the culture of gossip. Perhaps they hate the fact that there is nothing to gossip about me and they have to work so hard to make crap up.

Just making a self-deprecating joke. I deliberately chose to have no descendants—too much genetically inheritable crazy in my family.

[rot]

If it were up to me, when I'm gone there wouldn't even be a grave marker.
I had an aunt with a similar sentiment. She always said her grave would just be a place for the family to pee on so why bother.
Pretty much a shoot from the hip old lady and she could have cared less who she insulted, but she now rest peacefully just outside of Charlotte. I know of noone to go there yet just to take a whiz, but she never held back an opinion.Bwaaaaaaaaa
rot

[NQ6U]

If it were up to me, when I'm gone there wouldn't even be a grave marker.

Same here. I don't want it to become shrine for my followers.

[X-Rated]

Just making a self-deprecating joke. I deliberately chose to have no descendants—too much genetically inheritable crazy in my family.

I think there is a lot of crazy in my family. I am different from most people because my parents were so danged old. My dad was about 46 when I was born and the crazy is less evident in these older people. My Dad's mom died when I was 6 and on my 21st birthday, we buried my last grandparent. So I grew up staying out of the gossip. I had my theory that since I knew gossip was mostly lies that it was not worth paying attention. But others do pay attention and they base the way they treat you on those stories. Pam and I tried to raise our children on truth. This alone makes a huge difference when there are no lies involved in the fray. My mother (may God rest her soul) had no issue with lying about anything to further her agenda. This makes people go crazy and do horrible things. I feel this has ruined my relationship with my family. One of my aunts told me that she realized now that I convey the truth about situations, but the pull she has to the gossip makes me not really care whether I stay in touch or not.

When raising kids, take your lumps, tell the truth, face the consequences for the errors you have made. It helps stop the craziness.

[NQ6U]

When raising kids, take your lumps, tell the truth, face the consequences for the errors you have made. It helps stop the craziness.

You don't understand; when I said crazy, I didn't mean the things that people typically call "crazy," I meant real mental illness of the sort that winds up with people institutionalized. My uncle spent most of his life in a mental hospital. Luckily for me it usually skipped a generation in my family but that suggested that there was a good chance than one of my own children would have drawn the short straw had I chosen to have any. My siblings and I all decided it was time to stop the madness—literally.

[X-Rated]

But how did you get to where you could "blather"? Did you ever ride your bike over a homemade ramp, only to have your bike go one way and you the other? That's the stuff I'm writing about.

Like one of the stories my dad told me (and there weren't many). He told me about riding in a car, about 50 MPH, with a friend (Litzenburg or SHITZT LITZY as he was known). Litzy said, "Watch how close I can get to those parked cars. He said they side swiped about 6 cars. My dad told him that he got real close. Obscure things like that make for an interesting life.

I know what you are talking about here. There was one time where a fellow engineer worked out an amplifier (small signal) circuit on PSPICE. He showed me the schematic and asked me to build one for him. I glanced at the schematic and told him that it would not work. He was indignant that I would question PSPICE and asked why it wouldn't work. I told him that it looked like that 2N2222 would have to source about 10 amps from the emitter and that wasn't going to happen. Well, needless to say, the circuit did not work because the 2N2222 could not source 10A.

But you are right. I do have a million stories like that. I have lived life on the edge.

[X-Rated]

You don't understand; when I said crazy, I didn't mean the things that people typically call "crazy," I meant real mental illness of the sort that winds up with people institutionalized. My uncle spent most of his life in a mental hospital. Luckily for me it usually skipped a generation in my family but that suggested that there was a good chance than one of my own children would have drawn the short straw had I chosen to have any. My siblings and I all decided it was time to stop the madness—literally.

Mentally ill people make great CEO's. Motivated ones anyway. There is no place for the non-motivated ones except for the mental hospital. How many siblings were in on this pact?

[kc7jty]

Your ashes into the tidy bowl will eliminate any threat of a shrine for your followers.