Amazing Technology

I'm not all that old but I have been a genealogical researcher for over thirty years now and yesterday I just had to pause and be amazed again at how technology has revolutionized our research! I had three to five programs and databases running simultaneously on the computer as I researched individuals and families on several computer databases, verified information with digitized censuses online and updated my working computer family database, working between the programs for several hours and compiling two generations further than I was when I started. AMAZING!!!!!!

Remember when we had to wait three weeks for the federal census or state microfilm to get to the local Family History Center, hoping that the family would be in the same locale as ten years ago because AIS nor any other group had yet indexed the counties that your ancestors lived in? Then paging through a bad copy that really strained your eyesight and your patience, only to discover that the family didn't appear to reside there any longer? Pulling some hair out trying to decide what the next best guess would be as to where they had moved or if the parents had both died already? I suppose one day this will sound like "tall tales" when we reminisce about how we used to research, huh?