Friday, February 04, 2005

Phone Home

I was just nodding off as I enjoyed the bus ride to work when it hit me with a start: I don't have the phone with me.

It was a little bit of a late night, last night: to bed later than normal. I'd been updating the database with census records I'd found yesterday. All of them included children that I hadn't identified before. So I was into it. And didn't watch the time.

Last night was make-up sleep, too. The night before we'd been to a meeting that didn't let out until after 11 pm. We got home and to bed by 12:30 am.

So, this morning I was a bit groggy and over-slept a bit. Had to shower and change in a hurry. 12 minutes from bed exit to out the front door. No wonder I left my phone. I've only forgotten it three or four times since I was given it last year.

They are extremely handy. Nothing better for getting in touch with someone when they aren't at their desk. Great for emergencies. Great for coordinating meeting times and places: getting people to where you are...

In the past few days, however, I've been on my office phone when my cell phone went off. Three times. I'm not too good at that kind of multi-tasking. I tend to be a little gruff with the second caller. I always have to apologize when I call back. I guess that's good for keeping me humble.

Still, I don't like to be ruled by the phone company's desire for more profit. I try to keep the phone from establishing my priorities. I have no problem turning it off. I do feel a little sheepish about leaving it home, though. It is the "Duty Phone" for the computer problems. I'm not an enabler but sometimes folks need to get in touch with me and the campus is large. I'll try to stick around my cubby most of the day, near my office phone.

This past week I resumed an activity that has been on the shelf for six months or so: cold-calling cousins. In my free time, I contact distant cousins, interview them and fill out the information for their families in my database. It starts by identifying contacts with high probability, doing white pages searches for possible contacts. I usually try to limit them to local calls or state-wide, anyway. My rate of successfully finding a relative is in the high 80 percentile, I figure.

When I call, I introduce myself and quickly establish how I am related to the person on the other end of the line. That means I have to have the computer on, with my database in front of me, showing how we are related. I don't try for much detail. Names of children, grandchildren and their spouses are good. Birth and marriage dates and places can be filled in later.

If the person I speak to is interested in the database I'm creating, I always offer to burn them a copy, if they'll send me a blank CD. Sending copies of my database around the country is a good preservation tactic.

Time to end this post. I've got phone calls to make.

No comments: