Found this in the Ancestry Weekly Digest, 26 February 2005
http://www.ancestry.com/rd/prodredir.asp?sourceid=831&key=A969206The Addicted Genealogist
– George G. Morgan
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In one of my presentations I told the group that “I am a rabid genealogist.” I also told the attendees that genealogy is an addiction, except there are no needle marks or other physical problems. In "Along Those Lines . . ." this week, I want to test you to see how many of the traits of an addicted genealogist you can identify as your own. Be honest with yourself!
Test Yourself
Answer these twenty-five questions with a “yes” or a “no” and then rate yourself with the results at the end of the column.
Do you feel that you know many of your ancestors better than members of your immediate, living family members?
Do most or all of your vacation trips involve genealogical research, even at the risk of traveling hundreds of miles out of the way?
Have you ever dragged your spouse and/or children through a cemetery?
On such vacation trips, have you “dumped” your spouse and/or children at a mall, given them money, and told them to amuse themselves for four or five hours while you conduct research?
Are you on a first name basis with more than five genealogical reference librarians?
Are you more proficient with searching library and archive catalogs and the Internet for genealogical information than most of your local librarians?
Have you ever bribed (or thanked) a genealogy librarian or archivist with chocolate chip cookies, cheesecake, bon-bons, or Godiva chocolates?
Have you ever sat at a microfilm reader so long that your eyes were spinning in their sockets like the fruits on a Las Vegas slot machine?
Have you ever bypassed eating lunch or dinner just because you were making such headway, either in a library/archive or on the Internet?
Does the trunk of your car contain hiking boots, galoshes, coveralls, smocks, old shirts and trousers, insect repellent, a trowel, and other tools just in case you have to make an emergency stop at a cemetery?
Do you subscribe to more than five genealogical mailing lists or regularly post to and check more than five online genealogy message boards?
Have you spent $100 or more in the last year on genealogy books, software, and/or archival supplies?
Have you spent $100 or more in the last year on photocopies and/or for copies of vital records?
Have you called in sick to work or school because you were up until the wee hours researching your genealogy in the Ancestry.com databases and on other websites?
When you make a great discovery, do you turn around and celebrate it by telling your dog(s) or cat(s) napping in your home office all about it?
Are you the person in the family that everyone comes to in order to find out more about the family history?
Are you the “accidental archivist” to whom everyone gives or bequeaths the family papers, Bibles, and other heirlooms?
Are you a member of more than three genealogical societies?
Have you attended more than three seminars or conferences in the last year?
Are you able to immediately recall the names, the locations, and the vital dates of two or more generations of a family line and to brag to another researcher exactly how far back, to the year, you have traced your most distant line?
Is at least one room in your home unusable because your genealogical research paperwork covers every surface?
Do you attend family reunions to pick your relatives' brains and to find a younger relative who might become addicted and to whom you could bequeath your research?
Does your car, truck, van, or SUV have a bumper sticker, license plate holder, or window decal relating to genealogy?
Do you call relatives primarily for the reason of learning more about the family history rather than to find out how they are doing?
Have you personally researched in the basement or attic of a courthouse or church for family records?
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