My Geneaspace

This week's as part of Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun over at Genea-musings, he asks the following:

1) Take a digital picture of your Genealogy Space - whether it is a table, desk, bookcase, whatever. Take more than one if you want.

2) Show off your Genealogy Space to all of us in a blog post showing your digital pictures. If you aren't blogging or don't want to show us your pictures, go to 3) below without passing Go or collecting another ancestor.

3) Tell us something about your Genealogy Space. How long does it take you to find something? Are you thinking of reorganizing your space?

Now I don't want people to think I didn't take these photos last night because my office wasn't clean.  I think it is easier and looks better to take photos with a bit of daylight.  Besides if you look real close you can see some dirt on the floor!



So above is my office which is at the rear of the condo and has a patio door which goes out to the deck. (You can read more about the 1905 3-flat building I live in here.) This part of the building was "added on" to the original and in each unit it contains the furnace, the stackable washer/dryer and space to use as an office or a dining area.

The walls are a jade green, the desk and chair are espresso brown, and there are gold drapes in front of the sliding glass door. There is my microwaveable heating pad on the desk chair (for my osteo-arthritis), and the basket under the desk houses all the drooping cordage from the equipment. I do this so I don't need to see it all dusty and lurking like an octopus under my feet.



The view behind the desk shows my folding bookcases filled with office supplies as well as a painting by my friend Lisa Hartmann. Notice the large wicker basket - it is the only truly "disorganized" area - it is where all bills and genealogy papers go. They are later scanned and/or filed.



The red cardboard box contains items to be scanned including diaries, photos etc. I need to get another plastic sealable storage bin in order to keep out water, dust and critters. Below the box are two wooden filing boxes since I don't care for metallic filing cabinets. This contains all my papers filed away after they are scanned.



Up close, I have a very neat elevated monitor stand from Kennsington. It allows me more places to store items to be scanned (like the stack of old photos) and also makes it easier to dust. The big benefit is having the monitor at a better eye height to reduce eye strain.

I also have my DSL mode, the 250GB external hard drive and my cordless phone system for the house.



Finally, I have my CPU sitting on the side - I don't like it on the floor where it can get dusty. On top of that is my scanner/printer/copier. And my ever-present copy of Evidence Explained along with a copy of The Family History Research Toolkit by Michael Hait which I will review in a post over at Geneabloggers.  There is usually an iPod nano charging, my headset so I can listen to music or speak on Skype and a coaster (where is my coffee?).

In terms of operability and function, I like the fact that I can sit in the desk chair and look out the deck and have sunlight streaming in. As you can see I also am big on organization and scanning papers is a big part of that. If I really need a hard copy of an item, it is in file boxes behind me but they are heavy and most be moved around for access.

What I don't like about my office space is that proximity of the furnace amd washer/dryer (every time the buzzer goes off and someone on the phone asks, "What was that?" I usually say "Oh, fries are up."). There is too much noise for me to be able to do a series of podcasts or webcasts with my webcam.