SoCal Genealogical Society Jamboree 2009

So who WASN'T there? Every blog I check regularly has something up about the Southern California Genealogical Society Jamboree held this weekend in Burbank at the Marriott Convention Center.

I think Gini at Ginisology put my feelings most accurately. (Actually, I'm tempted to say that she stole my words, but since I hadn't thought of them yet, she's definitely the one to see about what I think.)

Anyhoo, I'll say ditto to Gini's great blog and add that she and I were in the same meetings and the same get-togethers and the same dinner at the same time and we didn't recognize each other. Horrors! Of course, I don't know what she looks like and my pic here doesn't do justice to my overwhelming beauty.*

Did I mention that Gini was the very first person to leave a comment on my very first blog? I'm indebted to this lady, big time. And I didn't recognize her!

So who did I meet?

Well, Thomas MacEntee, the Pearl Mesta of the genea-blogging world, who got me into this fine mess through our friendship on facebook. Pat Richley (AKA DearMyrtle), someone I seek to emulate when I grow up. Schelly Talalay Dardashti, the maven of mavens in the Jewish genealogical world. Randy Seaver whose postings educate me in the genea-blogging world.
And I'll never forget Kiril Kundurazieff, The Mad Macedonian, who has focused firmly on that brick wall in Macedonia ever since it was part of Yugoslavia.

So did I do everything right at the Jamboree? Not a bit! I didn't sign up soon enough to get my name badge printed up with the special "FIRST JAMBOREE" tag. I left my camera home for two of the three days. I lost both of my two pens on the last day and had to, um, "borrow" one from the Society (and forgot to return it).

I had great conversations with lots of nice folk and yet didn't meet Gini. Grrr!!!

So, enough kvetching. Let's kvell a bit:

Thomas MacEntee and Denise (The Family Curator) created lovely survival bags that kept me alive on Saturday with a bottle of water, two yummy muffins and fruit galore! Thomas provided great neckwear to identify bloggers and organized a dinner on Saturday evening where bloggers could get together and get to know the faces behind the posts. I even sat next to DearMyrtle's affianced - yup, there's amour in genea-blogger-land!

After running back and forth and listening and taking notes and collecting neat stuff for three days, the last-but-not-least of the whole adventure was a session with Suzanne Russo Adams, AG who opened the door for me to study my husband's Russo line. To me, that made my weekend. Thanks, Suzanne.

Now if I can only find Gini :)

*Well, actually, thanks to Randy Seaver, I now have pics of all! Take a look on his blog Genea-Musings: Geneabloggers Dinner Photos - Post 1.