A DAY in the BAY . . .

It is truly amazing that for the last several weeks the weather has been cool, cold, rainy and some sporadic sunshine.  But today is like the best summer day ever, mid-seventies and sun, lots of it. How did the NFL do it? It's almost like they touched base with the folks at the Pasadena Rose Parade to get the weather order done right . . .

The news coverage around here this week has been almost all about the event. Oh sure, there were reports concerning the presidential debates, but  I think sports won out around here.

Even in the supermarket meat case, there were over-priced packages of steaks for sale that had heavy duty plastic Superbowl 50 Emblems placed inside . . . who wouldn't want that . . .

Interestingly enough around our neighborhood -- on this biggest football weekend of the year there were the sounds of local baseball practices going on directly in the fields behind our house -- the first practices of the year.

"Old Glory" is waving on numerous homes around here much like for a National Holiday. On a brief visit to the supermarket, it seemed like holiday madness in the aisles . . . chips and dips everywhere.

But the NFL Superbowl is not the only "game" in town this week.

February 3-6 in Salt Lake City were the dates for the "super bowl" of the genealogical world -- Rootstech 2016.

I did not attend in person (maybe some year) but I did do some streaming of a few of the speakers.

I have to revisit some of the offerings and follow up on some of the many blogs and reviews of the show.

Every year I learn about the many new and exciting changes coming to genealogy mostly through technology.

Off to the right are some of the many sponsors of this year's event. I usually wind up purchasing some of the newest and latest stuff . . . and this year will be no different.

Back to the NFL Superbowl though.  Because the weather is so great and because we live within driving distance to Levi Stadium (about 3 hours away), I checked into maybe picking up a couple of tickets to the game -- there are some still available.

Of course, we would want only the best and the best comes at a price:

So looking at the above ticket prices, the best at this site was $18,000 per, so two tickets would be roughly $36,000.  So, I got to thinking, maybe I'd rather buy that roadster I saw on eBay for a little over $36,500. What do you think?

Ultimately, we opted for the bowl of our choice -- a guacamole bowl with chips for less than $10.
And the game was included, in our family room, at no additional charge -- how could we go wrong with that.

The other really nice thing is that we know that we just saved a ton of money and if the game is a bust we still probably will have some chips and dip left.

During this week, and almost every week, I continue to do research on the tree.

I'm using the iPad Pro and the new Ancestry app for iPad and each morning after feeding Dino and getting him out on his "business trip", I have been following up on the many, many "shaking leaves" on the tree.

It is almost too hard to keep up with the ever-increasing number of hints (shaky leaves) that Ancestry presents to me as possible proof for our relatives lives.

I am able to update the resources for our folks and usually, when I'm done, a new bunch appears.

It's just like their TV ads depict. AND the good news this week is that Family Tree Maker, Ancestry's desktop program, which was recently announced as being discontinued, IS being purchased by another company and will continue to be offered for sale and for support.

I have used FTM since it first came out and have grown used to using it so I'm really glad to know that it will continue.

And lastly, "Finding Your Roots" continues to impress with their presentation of usually three folks and their stories.

I will find it very interesting to see the story behind this next week's feature -- John McCain.

Since the program is on PBS, it seems longer than the normal one hour shows on regular TV due to the way commercials are used or not used as the case may be.

Needless to say, though, the shows are still too short for my taste. I could easily watch double or triple the content each week.

And so that is a bit of our week, we did go to Napa for our third week of training for Paws for Healing. Next we will accompany "mentors" in possibly a local hospital to have demonstrated a typical visit. Then we will demonstrate Dino on a visit and hopefully we all will be certified for volunteering at will.

Enjoy the big game in a few hours! See you all "in a few"!