10 50 pm pst   [ another day ]

Today was another day. The middle schoolers were very we behaved and I took the time to appreciate it while I was experiencing it.

I would be a bad genealogist if I failed to mention that the 1930 federal census was released today. I remember early on in my research when I was collecting birth and death certificates. My great-grandfather Joseph died in December 1951 in New York. NY has strict privacy laws preventing you from requesting a death certificate unless a person has been deceased for 50 years. I remember thinking, Wow, I can't request this record until the end of 2001. That's so far away. How will I wait that long? My perspective has changed. Now I shrug at waiting a few years. I know that one of the national archives opened at midnight to allow people to look at the 1930 census, but I'm in no hurry. I'll get to eventually...

I tried to think of a good prank to pull for April Fool's, but didn't come up with anything. One of my co-workers wrote "Today is not April Fool's Day" on the board, which I thought was highly amusing. The kids came up with some wonderful stories to tell, shouting "April Fool's" at the end with such relish I couldn't help but laugh.