For the two or three people out there on the internets that have been following my blog you know that I have been using a little literary freedom with the story of Moby Dick. This was an attempt to help you all come with me on a little journey or adventure as I discover genealogy. I have to say it has been a blast. In the few short weeks blogging about it I have found that at least four people out there are really reading my blog. I have also learned they are not that much of a fan of genealogy and they feel that my content would be better with out it. I have to agree. I was fun to write about but really didn’t fit what was going on. So later this week when I write about genealogy it will be the last Moby Dick post. Because you see Electronic Arts it seems has cornered the market on the name. So I am going to continue to try to be funny. I use the word try loosely here.

I love Moby Dick. It is a hard book to read but it was great to listen to. If you haven’t listened to it head out to librivox and grab a copy. I find that even though it is about killing whales and that is beyond politically correct now a days. I don’t care. It is really about a life adventure set at sea. The type of life you and me are going through. We have things that drive us and things that we fear. Face those fears and move on. Find out what drives you and don’t let anything stand in your way. Grab life by the horns and hold on. I hope that you all catch the vision of the book and what it is about.

As always in my acknowledgments, this is not my image. I have used it with out permission to Penny Arcade. If they have a problem with my usage, portral, my hair, or the way I walk, I will be happy to remove this image. I do not represent, look like, stand in for or want to be the owners of the copy write that was used in the making of this post. Feel free to contact me at jeremy at my grapesoda dot com and I will remove this. Again I make no profit off of this blog post or pretty much anything I do on the web. If you want to change that please contact me I’m happy to pimp out my services.

“So I keep pushing, and crowding, and jamming myself on all the time; recklessly making me ready to do what in my own proper, natural heart, I durst not so much as dare? Is Ahab, Ahab? Is it I, God, or who, that lifts this arm? But if the great sun move not of himself; but is as an errand-boy in heaven; nor one single star can revolve, but by some invisible power; how then can this one small heart beat; this one small brain think thoughts; unless God does that beating, does that thinking, does that living, and not I. By heaven, man, we are turned round and round in this world, like yonder windlass, and Fate is the handspike.”

“How long have you been standing there Ishmael?” Turning back toward the calm seas, Ahab continues. “You see out there. Beyond the horizon is our query. You can almost see the light plumes of water. In just a few days time we will be upon them.”

Tonight we shall continue our instruction on tools of the trade. If your reading this before last weeks post please go back and read it. We will pick up were we left off.

Go ahead and login to new.familysearch.org. As you search through your family tree you will find a little icon. This means that “Temple work might need to be done.” What this means to you is that there is genealogy work that needs to be done. This is where you can start to find your first real work. So go find one.

Select one of the names and their info will show up at the bottom. Scroll down to the bottom and select the “possible duplicates”

If you see the list of possible duplicates we are going to have to merge them. If there isn’t then you should be able to move onto what ever the next step will be for you. So lets go ahead and merge a few records. Check each box that looks like a possible duplicate and press the “compare in more detail”.

On the left you will see your original record. On the right you will see the possible duplicate. Go ahead a look at the data. What your trying to figure out is how likely these are the same two people. Follow the steps at the bottom of the page. When your done you should have resolved the possible duplicate. After I merged them that little Icon stayed there.

Press that icon. Inside the next screen you see that there is work that is ready to be done. Ya me. I have found someone to goto the temple for. Even if you are not LDS this is important in finding duplicates and fixing them so stay tuned.

Pretty exciting hu? Well almost. On the left you will notice that those two people look pretty much the same. Those two are duplicates. I went ahead and merged them.

After merging her records. The Icon has now changed into the one that shows all the work is done. You have just helped clean up your family tree. Your first real genealogy work. Congrats. Next week will try to figure out where to go from here. (This is the extent of my knowledge of genealogy. So next week will be a fun discovery that both of us can go on.)

For the two of you out there that reads my blog. I’m sorry. Yesterday didn’t play well with my life and prevented me from posting. It happens to the best of us.

So tonight I have a treat for you. I will show you how to make a quick background using a texture. I have made a few of these for my friends and they are always asking me how to make them.

The first thing you need to do is find a great texture. There are lots of great sites out there for textures. One of my favorites is Lost and Taken. There are also some groups on flickr. I get my best textures from my own library like the one using tonight, or from texture vault.

Open it in Photoshop

Find a Great Font and write out something great:

Save as a JPG and your good to go.

You can get the files I used here:
Background
Fonts

A few wall papers I have made for you:

GrapeSoda Photography Red Bolt wall paper – 1280×800

Jones Soda dark wall paper – 1280×800

Jones Soda light wall paper – 1280×800

GrapeSoda Photography wall paper – 1280×800

Next week and the weeks after I will continue a few more photoshop tutorials. I hope you enjoy them. If you want to know how to do something just let me know I will put something together.

Please note that Jones Soda there brand, name, likeness, coolness, and anything else they might decide they want or looks like it might be theirs, is theirs and not mine. I have not gotten their permission to use there name or anything else. Also these are my creations. Feel free to use them, share them and pretty much do what ever you want with them. Just don’t sell them. If your going to make money on these please send some of it back my way. Stealing is wrong and it hurts my feelings and just so you know if your wondering I am not selling these or making any money on them. Jones soda has not endorsed me or contacted me. I bet they don’t even know I exist. (If you guys want to endorse me I would love to promote you. You can always contact me if anyone has a problem with anything here at jeremy at mygrapesoda dot com)

Author Brandon Sanderson
Pages 496 pp (first edition, hardback) 656 pp (first edition, paperback)
Genre(s) Fantasy novel

Elantris was beautiful, once. It was called the city of the gods: a place of power, radiance and magic. Visitors say that the very stones glowed with an inner light, and that the city contained wondrous arcane marvels. At night Elantris shone like a great silvery fire, visible even from a great distance.
Yet, as magnificent as Elantris was, its inhabitants were more so. Their hair a brilliant white, their skin an almost metallic silver, the Elantrians seemed to shine like the city itself. Legends claim that they were immortal, or at least nearly so. Their bodies healed quickly, and they were blessed with great strength, insight and speed. They could preform magics with a bare wave of the hand; men visited Elantris from all across Opelon to receive Elantrian healing, food, or wisdom. They were divinities. Any anyone could become one.

That is how this great book opens up. It give you a feeling of amazement and grandeur that never lets up. This is the debut novel by Brandon Sanderson. But you couldn’t tell from the joy that you will get from reading this book. To stand on the walls of Elantris with Raoden and Sarene brings you into there world.

The city of Elantris used to be a wonderful place. Anyone had a chance to become an Elantrian. One day you could be a serf, a noble or a farmer. The next you could be welding the great magic of the Elantrians. It was no respecter of station. But something happens and the city become fallen. It becomes a place of the dead and those that inhabit it become feared. This is where the story starts. With a noble Raoden becoming one of the walking dead an Elantrian. His wife to be is still on a boat on her way to his country. It follows a great political ride on the outside of Elantris. While those inside the walls try to figure out how to over come there dead state. Mix in a little bit of religious zealots and you have one bumpy ride.

The story that follows is a joyful love story filled with intrigue and twists. Just when you think you have it all figured out, Sanderson keeps you on your toes. This is an amazing treat. I hope to stand at the gates of Elantris with you. May you also find the love that extends to all in this wonderful book.