Early Photos

Lauren was pregnant and due just before our wedding, so a few weeks before the actual day, we went up to the temple (Oquirrh Mountain) with her and did a shoot.

Wedding Day

The day of (November 14) turned out to be blizzardy, so we only took a few pictures outside the temple and were glad we’d done the earlier photo shoot. (Lauren had her baby early enough that she was fine taking our day-of photos, by the way.)

Pseudo-Reception (Family Dinner)

The reception/dinner was at a local church building and turned out to be a smashing success.

The end. Or the beginning, rather. ;)

The Wedding

The closer we got to the wedding, the more surreal I felt. And I think it was better that way, because every time I told myself that I was going to be married in a week or a few days or tomorrow, it was freaky as all get out. Marriage is a serious thing. I honestly think it’s kind of good to let the surreality of it carry you through the wedding to keep you from going crazy until things settle down back to normal again. (But married normal is so much better than single normal. ;))

Wedding day was like wandering through a dream. The weather was nice and clear down where we were, but when we got a few miles from the temple, hello blizzard. Luckily everyone was able to make it.

The ceremony itself was especially surreal. I’ve been to other sealings before, and when I was sitting there in the sealing room, I kept having to remind myself that this was my sealing and not someone else’s. Mostly I just went on autopilot, again because thinking about it too much would lead to panic. (This is where I was grateful for the temple’s calming spirit. It helped a ton.) The sealer had some beautiful things to say, and then he performed the ceremony and voila! I became a married man.

The Faux Reception

Okay, okay, our wedding dinner was a reception, just not a traditional Utah Mormon kind. We had a live jazz band there (awesome), great lighting and decorations, and delicious food. I wish I could take credit for the awesomeness of the reception, but all the credit is due to Meridith and her mom. (I just said, “Yes, dear,” whenever she asked me what I thought. Happy wife, happy life. ;))

We went around the tables for the first part of the reception, greeting people. For me, this mostly consisted of my holding up my hand and pointing dumbfoundedly at my ring. “I’m married! What the heck!” (In a good way. :))

After people had gotten a chance to eat their food, we had a short program involving a slide show of pictures of Mer and I growing up (put together by her sister Susannah), a song to Meridith from her siblings (and the song was awesomeness incarnate and so catchy that it’s taken weeks to get it out of people’s heads), my reading some emails I sent my missionary brother (summarizing the development of my relationship with Meridith), and dancing.

Then Meridith and I left for our honeymoon.

Honeymoon

It was lots of fun. ;) No, really, we spent the first night in a hotel in Salt Lake, then took a flight the next morning to Burlington, Vermont, where we stayed at the Willard Street Inn (a nice B&B a few miles from the airport) for four days. The B&B was gorgeous — built in 1881, full of all sorts of New Englandy goodness, with a solarium and several bookcases (mmm ;)) and sixteen different bedrooms (we were on the third floor).

We walked around town a bit over the course of our time there, checking out the bay (Lake Champlain) and local cafes and restaurants (not to mention the Ben & Jerry’s store). Very nice little town, and the architecture — towers and porches galore — was right up our alley. And did I mention that the weather was even nicer there than it was back here in Utah? No snow, just clear skies, and it wasn’t all that cold.

The part that wasn’t quite as fun was that the first leg of our flight back (to D.C.) ended up getting postponed by several hours because of engine troubles, so we had to take another flight out that left seven hours later than we’d hoped. C’est la vie. Better to be late than to die because of technical malfunctions. :)

And suddenly we were back home again. We were glad our honeymoon only lasted just under a week, since we were pretty ready to return home and get back to normal life.

Ruminations on Married Life

One minute you’re single, another minute you’re not. And in that split second, things that were once forbidden are suddenly encouraged. (Well, not all forbidden things. Just some. :)) But I’m not going to talk about those things, since, well, I try to keep this blog G or PG. ;)

Time leading up to our wedding was oh-so-slow, wriggling by like a dying, exhausted earthworm. Time since the wedding has blitzed by. Three weeks! I’ve been married three weeks already! Crazy.

Being marriage really is so much better than being engaged or dating. It’s more peaceful, more calm, more…normal, I guess. It’s super nice not having to say goodbye at night, and we can finally watch movies lying down in bed together. So much more comfortable. And we have our own place now, so we don’t have to go out to eat as much. (Interestingly, now that we’re hitched, going out to eat has returned to being a special occasion rather than an everyday thing. It’s better that way.)

Food! I love that my wife can cook. I’ve gained around ten pounds since I started dating Meridith, and I’m already eating way better now than I was before our marriage. Life is grand. :)

Getting used to being “the Crowders” has taken a little bit of time, especially moving from a singles ward to a married ward where I’m now Brother Crowder instead of Ben. (Speaking of which, I know several people in our new ward, which is nice.)

I’m also getting used to wearing a wedding ring. I almost wish I’d had an engagement band of some kind when I was engaged, to say “Hey, ladies, I’m sorry but I’m engaged and quite unavailable,” but then again I don’t really get girls hitting on me very often, so it was really a moot point. ;)

Responsibility is a bit more intense than it was before, but in all honesty it’s not that bad. (I’ll probably change my tune once Baby Crowder comes along. ;)) Now I’m providing for a family, thinking beyond my own needs alone.

Are things perfect? Nope. There’s adjusting, and anyone who thinks marriage is going to be a fairy tale bliss free from rocks and valleys is fooling themselves. Life is still hard. Things don’t always go according to plan. I don’t have as much free time as I used to, and I can’t just do things my way anymore. But even so, marriage is seriously so awesome. One word: companionship. And when both husband and wife focus on the Lord, you just know you can get through anything. Faith and hope and charity smooth a lot of things out. (And it’s fine that I can’t just do things my way. Yay for flexibility and forging new traditions together.)

All in all, my life feels more solid, more healthy, more stable, and more complete now that I’m wed. So yes, I’m glad I got married, and I’m excited that this is just the beginning. I’m one heck of a lucky guy. :)

1. I’m going for an uncluttered look, trying to keep things as simple as possible while still being useful. Since there isn’t a whole lot of data shown on the pedigree chart, I’m thinking about adding a Quick Look-style function where you press spacebar and it quickly shows you more information on the person you’ve selected.

2. Rather than rigidly force people into laying out their working pedigree charts in a structure, I’m hoping to allow a more fluid layout (ala the node editors in programs like Blender). What this means is you’ll be able to take a person (say Henry Smith in our example) and drag him anywhere on the canvas, and the line will stretch to follow. You’ll also be able to put unconnected people wherever you want; in this case, I’m thinking either William Smith or George Smith might be Henry’s father, but I’m not sure which one, so I’m keeping them both nearby so I remember. Likewise, I have evidence for Harold and John Smith but I’m not quite sure yet how they connect to the rest of the tree.

3. What about multiple users? The data will be the same for everyone (i.e., William Smith and George Smith will show up for my wife when she logs in), but each user will have their own view of the canvas, so each person can arrange things however they want. And there will of course be a default layout for people who don’t want to fiddle. (In the upper right of the screen there’s a “tidy” button that will take the tree and line things up nicely, kind of like the “cleanup” option on the desktop.)

4. You’ll notice that some parts of the tree are faded out. That’s Beyond’s way of encouraging using sources as the main entry model — if you add someone to your tree but don’t have any evidence attached, the person and their data will be ghosted out. Once you add at least one source (a document or whatever evidence you have), they’ll become solid.

5. Carol Smith is highlighted because she’s the current person selected on the tree. You’ll be able to navigate the tree using the keyboard. I’m also thinking about letting the user isolate their view so they only see the part of the tree they’re working on, uncluttering things as much as possible. We’ll see.

6. If you’re on this screen and want to search, hitting a global hotkey will slide a search panel onto the screen (ala Visor and the Quake console). Instant search from anywhere, but without cluttering up the screen with a search box.

Basically, I picture the pedigree chart as a messy workspace of sorts where the user can figure things out in a way that makes sense to them. By loosening things up a bit, the software will hopefully free the user to test things out in a safe environment.

Again, this is just a mockup and things won’t necessarily be this way, but you’ll at least be able to get a better idea of what I’m going for. Oh, and feedback would be great. :)

On the left we have the recent activity list, where you can see what you’ve been working on lately (an easy way to pick up where you left off). At the top is the search (and the search box will have focus as soon as you log in), so you can quickly get to anyone in your tree. And at the bottom is the Add New Source button, which will be the main way of adding information to Beyond. (It will also be able to import GEDCOM, don’t worry. :))

Keep in mind that this is just a mockup and things are liable to change. :) For example, I’ve only focused on the center panel here; I’m not sure yet what will be in the top and bottom parts.

As for what’s next, I’m going to write out a dozen or so use cases so I can nail what the real tasks are that this app needs to accomplish — and the smoothest workflow for doing that. From that I’ll figure out what the bare essentials of Beyond will be — what’s absolutely required — and then map out what it’ll take to get it up and running. I’m also planning to create an interface style guide ala Nathan Borror’s for Readernaut. More to come soon. :)

It’s a project calendar for keeping track of (a) which projects I’m working on and (b) when I’ve worked on them. That way I can easily see where my time is spent and possibly where I need to adjust things. (”Hmm, looks like I’m neglecting my writing. Whoops. Time to fix that.”)

I started out using the back of my Field Notes notebook, since it has a handy grid, but I ran into a problem: when I finish the notebook, I no longer have my project calendar with me.

Enter Google Spreadsheets:

The grey boxes mean that the project has ended. Each month is its own sheet, which keeps things tidy. (Projects that end don’t need to be on the next month’s sheet.)

And the best part? It’s super easy to maintain. I can just copy and paste the black boxes, and when I start a new month, it only takes a few seconds to clear out the boxes and change the days of the week.

Speaking of tracking things, I forgot to blog about my writing log (which I used to use back when I was writing more frequently):

I need to go in and start using that again. (Since, ahem, I’ve been a slacker.) I’m also planning to make a grid-based log for scripture reading and family history and other church-related things I want to do more diligently.

Update: You can now download a Google Docs template of the project tracker.

I’m currently about a fourth of the way through reparagraphing the text and hope to have everything done by the end of the year.

The book will be available as a free PDF, and you’ll also be able to order a hardcover or paperback edition through Lulu if you want a hard copy.

I was wrong. :)

After thinking it over a lot, starting to do family history work with my wife, and bemoaning the lack of good software to keep track of our research, I’ve bitten the bullet and decided to go ahead and write the app I want to use. It’s the only way to get it, really.

What’ll the app be like? See my earlier post, along with the Beyond blog. But I won’t be worrying about the iPhone app for a while — first things first.

Disclaimer: I don’t have any interest in running a genealogy software business, and I don’t want to run a public web app and get entangled in all of the maintenance/support issues that entails. I’m writing this for me, my wife, and my family. If somebody else wants to take the code (I’ll open source it on GitHub) and run a server hosting it for other people to use, great, but that somebody isn’t going to be me. Sorry. :)

Anyway, I’ve got some cool ideas for the project, including a source-based evidence entry mode (I got the idea from Dan Hanks’ comment) and a more flexible pedigree chart that lets you organize things the way you want them organized (kind of like desktop icons, in a way).

Timeline? No idea. I’m confident I can get the core of the app up and running pretty soon — I’ve written somewhat similar apps many times over — and then can focus on the more challenging parts, like doing this pedigree chart completely in HTML5 and Canvas. :) I’ll post screenshots and code as I go along, of course, and feedback is certainly welcome.

Update: I’ve added a project page and have decided to call the app Beyond, using the same name from my earlier attempt.

Now to get back to unpacking and organizing…

It started out with a quick sketch I did in my Field Notes one day:

I liked the idea and wanted to develop it into a full piece, so I tried doing a vector art version in Illustrator but didn’t get very far. I also tried painting it in Photoshop and got some decent preliminary results, but just about then I was starting to play around with the Blender 2.5 test builds (speaking of which, they just released 2.5 alpha 0 today — 2.5 is a huge improvement over 2.49 and is so so so awesome, and I’m now going to breathe deeply and try to get over the giddies ;)). I’ve been using Blender for a while (ten years ago I wrote a not-very-good article on it for the Linux Journal, incidentally) but haven’t done much with it, and I wanted to change that.

At first I didn’t get very good results either, and I almost gave up, but for some reason I kept going…and going…and going. And through the process of iteration after iteration, it turned into the illustration you see above. Granted, I’m still relatively new at this and have a lot to learn, but I’m seeing improvement and that’s exciting. Here are ten drafts of the illustration, from first go to final version:

Yep, iteration rocks. And so does Blender. :)

The app itself is located at http://bencrowder.net/scriptures/ and is about 90% done, but I’m not sure when I’ll have time to finish it up so I’m kicking it out of the nest and getting it out there.