Helpful Advice - FAMILYOGRAPHY

DO YOUR HOMEWORK!

Tue, 28 Jul 2020 16:14:00 GMT

There are a lot of companies out there trying to lure you into shipping your tapes, film and photos to get digitized. While we are skeptical about the quality of the work performed by some companies (based on the experience of some of our customers), this article addresses the math of these mail order businesses. Are you getting a good deal, or are you getting played?

There are two schemes out there.

The only other cost involved is shipping, and we do agree that getting a pretty box is nice. However, with stores in Cleveland and Columbus, who cares? And if you have to ship, we will go out of our way to make it cheap and easy for you.

Lastly, we do something else for you. With brick and mortar stores in Cleveland and Columbus, we have regular hours and knowledgeable staff for you to talk to face to face, or by phone. We get to understand your needs, concerns and desires. Frequently, we provide information that gets you more of what you want at lesser cost! But our service is not something you can compute using math. It is priceless.

Silver Linings

Wed, 18 Mar 2020 11:44:00 GMT

I am writing this at the beginning stages of COVID-19 pandemic. The corona virus has made its debut in our country, but the real effects are yet to play out. It is really not a good time to indulge in crass commercialism, as we are still trying to sort out the new norms of behavior and are fearfully anticipating the impact of this disease on our loved ones. Yet, despite this, as a student of history, I feel compelled to say something. So here it is.

If you listen to the news, you will hear many analogies to the Spanish Flu Epidemic of 1919. It was devastating and killed millions. But times now are different than then. Back then, we still didn’t understand much about how viral infections were transmitted, let alone how to treat them. And too, the disease spread in part because we were still fighting a war when the disease broke out. Priority was given to winning the war and alarm over the growing disease threat was suppressed. People didn’t know how to stop the spread of the disease until it was too late.

So we know more and we have better means of treatment today than they ever could have had 100 years ago. That is good, and if we listen to the science-based advice on this contagion, we will fare much better than before.

That is the most important silver lining.

Another is that perhaps this gives us a time to pause, if only for a little while, and see the humanity of us all. No one is immune to this disease. We all have to do the same things to guard against its spread. And if some of us do not do what we should, we are all put at risk. No clearer message that we are all dependent on one another can be made.

There will be a significant economic consequence to this disease. Most will weather the storm. Some will not. Nothing will be easy. But it is important to remember that it wasn’t easy in the past as well. In my family, there are stories of having to abandon farms held for generations because crops could not be sold. Of making a bag of potatoes stretch out for a week of family meals. Of true celebration when a father was called back to work for a couple days a week. So, while times will be tough for many, keep a perspective. Do what you can do every day to may life better. One day, one step at a time. Have empathy for those around you, in your community and in the world.

And while you are sheltering in, and your children or grandchildren are out of school, perhaps it is a good time to share stories of your family’s past. To pull out the old family albums. They do not have to be stories of hardship, although many of your hardship stories will end with their own silver lining. But they are stories of your family’s history, and to the young ones, they send the message that this too will pass, that life and love is good, and there are better days to come.

Silver linings? there are plenty when you think about it.

Auld Lang Syne

Sat, 28 Dec 2019 21:38:00 GMT

Those closest to me will attest that I have long held an affection for the poetry of Robert Burns. My engagement with Burns began when I was only 15 years old. We had just moved to the “inner city” of Cleveland from an outlying, wealthier suburb, 30 miles away. It was not a move that I welcomed. My parents had divorced. I was losing friends, and a girl that I had a crush on. Things were obviously a lot tougher economically.

My mother had rented a somewhat run-down house near the steel mills to be closer to the hospital where she worked. Before we moved in, my two younger brothers and I were tasked with the chore of scrubbing the house down from the attic to the basement. In that attic, I discovered a forgotten box of old books, shoved into a corner and covered in decades of coal dust and soot. Inside I spied a gilded-edged tome, embossed with the name “Burns.” Printed in 1888, it was the complete works of the poet. When I examined it, the pages fell open to the poem “Red, Red Rose,” and I, interminably pining over a girl who now was destined to drift away, was hooked. 30 miles or 10,000 made no difference to a boy with only a bicycle to pedal.

I have carried that book with me ever since. Sometimes it stayed stored away for years before being rediscovered. It suffered from my carelessness, getting knocked around and spilt upon from time to time. And tragically one evening, while I was demonstrably reciting “To A Mouse,” it flew from my hand and somersaulted to the floor, splintering its 100+ year old, dried out, fragile binding and letting fly its pages across the room.

This year, my wife and I had the wonderful experience of traveling through Scotland, and my Burns passion was again renewed. Upon our return, “my better half” saw fit to have the old book rebound and restored as my Christmas gift, and thus presented it was truly a wonderful thing to behold. As I turned its pages, I remembered the teenager, the college kid, the young attorney, the new father, and older man that always found plenty in Burns to delight, inspire and give hope along the way.

Burns championed the preservation of our memories, both collective and personal. To him, life without embracing the past was impoverished and sterile. History was the true measure of honor and a caution to avoid hubris. A life well lived was a life full of love, kindness and compassion. Burns was keenly aware of the temporary nature of our existence, so thus living fully in the present meant sharing with family and friends the memories that bind us together and that allow us to see and participate in that great chain of being that connects us to the past and to the future.

You make know that Rabbie (as Burns is known by true Scots everywhere) wrote the poem “Auld Lang Syne",” and set it to tune. We sing it at the turn of the year every New Year’s Eve. But because its title is written in Scots, many don’t actually know the meaning of the verse (and in fairness, we usually sing it after we have imbibed a few pints of this or that). Yet, as we move into this new year, his words are still worthy of reflection. So go online and look up the poem, Read it in both Scots and English. Then sing it. Share a memory with a friend about times gone by. Maybe over a photograph, or while watching an old video, or film. And take a cup o’ kindness, for auld lang syne.

Imagine That!

Mon, 18 Nov 2019 17:23:00 GMT

My name is Daniel, and the very first man to immigrate to this country (from Scotland) was also named Daniel. Yesterday, I discovered a tintype photograph of Daniel and his wife Eleanor. I have never seen it, nor for that matter have I before seen any other image of these two pioneers. It was faded. It was grainy. But there they were. Looking back at me from over 165 years ago.

I know some details of their journey. Daniel was born in 1792 and Eleanor in 1795 in the Scottish Highlands. They left from Grantown-on-Spey, where he may have learned the trade of a cabinet maker. They made it to the new state of Ohio by 1810, where public records show that he was paying taxes on land. He was recorded also as a drummer in a militia unit organized during the War of 1812. Daniel and Eleanor probably had this tintype made around 1850. Photography was in its infancy, introduced to America only a few years prior. Daniel was soon to pass on, in 1855. Eleanor lived on for several decades, dying at age 88 in 1883. In the photograph, their hands demonstrate the wear and tear of a frontier life. And the comfort by which they sit next to each, she leaning slightly into him, a confidence and respect for each other is shown that only a lifetime of mutual support can create.

I know where these two ancestors are buried, on a gentle rolling hill a couple miles away from the Ohio River, overlooking a beautiful pastoral scene of farm land and small clusters of aged trees. I have sat and lunched by their grave marker, an obelisk of weathered white marble, imagining conversations with these two, and with their children buried around them. About the dangers they faced. The daunting effort needed to fell a forest and make a home. The politics and religious fevers of their new country. Whether they ever regretted leaving or missed the old.

And too, this summer we vacationed in Scotland, where I had the occasion to visit the town and area where Daniel and Eleanor were born. I knew that many Scots during this time were driven off the land and forced overseas by economic necessity. The local museum had numerous exhibits related to “the clearings” as the forced expulsion was called. I learned more about my ancestors circumstances, and why in a general sense they may have left for America, but the particulars of their existence and journey had been washed away by time.

So needless to say, the timely discovery of this photograph, providing me some evidence of them, was a very emotional experience.

The experience reinforces in me the conviction that we people today absolutely must make the effort to pass on to our progeny the memories that our family has created. To inform them. To instill a sense of pride and belonging. Of worth. Of connections beyond our own lifetimes. I frequently encourage our customers to “play the long game.” To not be the judge of what is interesting or important. Let the future generations of your family decide that for themselves.

That thought was driven home to me personally by discovering this tintype. Taken around 1850, photograph was new and exceedingly expensive, especially for a farmer. He, in other words, was “playing the long game.” Using the latest technology to leave a legacy. We should do the same.

The Big and the Small

Sun, 17 Mar 2019 13:35:00 GMT

We get big projects. We get small projects. All the time. Recently, the executor of an estate brought in three large bins full of a parent’s photos, negatives, diaries and other miscellaneous papers. There were seven siblings, and they could not come to agreement as to what to save or who could have what. So the judge ordered them to digitize everything. It was not cheap, especially because it came to us unorganized and with many items in deteriorating condition. Nevertheless, after about 6 weeks of work, each sibling received a large capacity flash drive everything scanned and organized clearly and logically. Later, I was told that everyone was very happy with the results, and that all the siblings agreed that the whole of their parents’ memories was worth more than the sum of the parts, and that doing it was money well spent. A level of comity was arrived at between the siblings.

Around the same time, a retired minister stopped in with an old negative that a cousin has mailed to him. He just wanted us to make print a print from the negative.. When he came in to pick it up, he pulled it out of the envelope, and gazed at it for a long time. Running his hand over the surface, he said, “This is my mother. I’ve never seen a picture of her as a young woman.” His age-worn face broke Into a smile as he looked up and said, “She was so beautiful.”

So you see, we understand that every project, whether big or small, is important. But we also know that sometimes— perhaps even most of the time— the results we create will mean more to you than you can possibly know.

Ruminations

Sun, 06 Jan 2019 23:19:00 GMT

Now that I have crossed over into my 60s, I think often on how short life really is. It is too short, really, to learn life’s lessons. By the time we learn them, we are already old. At least that is true for me.

So what advantage do humans have? The advantage of memory and learning that can be passed down from one generation to the other. In this day of misinformation, where opinion seems to be more prized than fact, it is perhaps more important that we make the effort to pass on to members of our families, the stories of their heritage. Where they came from. What struggles were confronted and survived. And often, the memorabilia of these stories— photos, film, videotape —serve to refresh and embellish those familial memories.

When you think about it, almost everyone in the world has no memory of anything occurring before 1940. And over half of the world’s population is less than thirty years old. In my opinion, they need more than what they get from the media and the schools to be able to form sound judgments and make decisions on matters of social and personal importance.

A knowledge and appreciate of one’s family history is one important way to encourage the youth to question more, think deeper and be curious about what we might call the human experience. To know and learn from past mistakes. To think beyond the present moment and gain the personal confidence and sense of self worth to contribute to the greater good.

Many people have little knowledge of their roots; where they came from, what their grandparents and great grandparents did for work and for fun. They do not know the shoulders that they stand on, the sacrifices that were made for them to be where they are today, which even in the worst of times in this country is still pretty darn good.

So you, if you are still reading this, have the opportunity and the obligation to do what you can, not for yourself, and not really even for your children— but for their children and their grandchildren— to give them as much information and knowledge of their past and their family, with the hope and faith that it will be of use to them in the future, and help pave a better way for all of us. And yes, Familyography can help in this most important endeavor.

Christmas morning

Tue, 25 Dec 2018 13:36:00 GMT

December is a month where I and my staff have little time for our families. We are busy around the clock working our craft to create gifts for others. Many people don’t understand how labor intensive this work really is. And how dependent it is on equipment that, regardless of how well taken care of, is as old or older than the stuff they play. It is a workplace in constant motion, punctuated with crises large and small- a computer crashes, a machine jams up, a belt wears out. And then there are the folks, nice though they may be, who come in at the last minute with orders, big and small, pleading for something to put under the tree. And sometimes thinking it is as easy as pushing a button.

We do our best to make everyone happy, but at 4pm, Christmas Eve, everything goes silent. All the computers get turned off. The buzz and hum of different pieces of equipment stop, and for better or worse, the rush is over. Time has run its course. We get to go to our families.

I am always grateful for my hard working employees ,who succeeded in finishing every order that needed to be done by Christmas. The glitches this year were few, and none major. Our customers were happy, and many a story was shared over our front counter, and many hand shakes and well wishes exchanged.

In my family, we gather and exchange gifts on Christmas Eve. I am ever and always grateful that my wife takes charge of this event and makes it full of tradition and surprises. Ages range from my 95 year old Aunt Lucille to my 9 month old granddaughter Bea. Its a time to catch up on a year’s worth of life events, future plans, and memories of ties and loved ones past.

Sometimes, its difficult for me to so quickly switch gears and move from the business to the family mode. In the back of my mind there is always a checklist running— did I get this done, did I turn that off, did I pay this bill? But after a while, the chatter of surrounding conversations and little baby happily drooling on my nose, takes my mind away from business and onto the more important things in life. Which is, of course, what Familyography is all about.

I wake up early on Christmas morning, notwithstanding the festivities of the Eve, because I am too used to rising early. But it is worth it. The winter chill is in the air. Unwrapped gifts sit in piles, homemade cookies are still in the kitchen, and over a warm cup of tea, made just like my grandmother would, I get to survey the glorious remains of our gathering in solitary quietude. I am grateful.

Thanks to all of our customers, and I hope that your celebrations were joyful and as splendid as mine.

Merry Christmas, Happy holidays. Pray for peace. Have empathy for those less fortunate, who face undeserved challenges, who struggle to survive.

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To DVD, or Not to DVD? That is the Question....

Wed, 14 Nov 2018 12:59:00 GMT

Okay, Shakespeare I am not. But these days, this is the most commonly asked question by customers. And the answer is not as complicated as it may seem.

First, when you digitize your stuff, you have several choices for the media to put it on, and you can pick more than one. Each has its advantages and disadvantages. Here they are:

DVDs: Pros- 1. Still the cheapest and most permanent form of digital storage. but be careful. Cheap discs don’t last long. The discs we buy are supposed to last 50 to 100 years. I hope they do, because we pay a premium price for them. 2. Still the most enjoyable viewing experience for a family. At least if you have a DVD player. Pop the DVD into your player, sit back on a couch with your kids, and play. We design great menus for your DVDs, so going from one scene to another is easy. 3. Easy and familiar to use, especially for us old folks. 4. They make nice looking presents. We design really special labels, using photos from the video we capture. They will be recognized as family heirlooms. Guaranteed to bring smiles, tears or both. 4. Don’t have to worry about anything that sounds too techie. Cons: 1. Hard to copy and thus hard to share. You are limited to the copies you order, unless you have good software and some techie ability to facilitate copying. For the same reasons, you cannot easily edit DVDs. So, if you want to take out a 15 second clip to post onto Instagram or Facebook, you need to convert it to a different format.

USB Drives : (Also known as Flash or Jump Drives) Pros : 1. Portable 2. Hard to break or damage. 3. Easy to transfer or copy media from one computer to another, although this depends on the USB drive’s transfer speed. We recommend that you always use one that is identified as USB 3.0 if you are using it for video; otherwise it will take forever. Cons: 1. Easy to lose. 2. Hard to apply an exterior label. How many old USB drives do you have in your junk drawer these days? 3. For these reasons, also makes a fairly unspectacular gift, especially for us old folks.

External Hard Drives: First, a preface: For external hard drives you have two choices, Optical or Solid State. The advantage of an optical drive (HDD) is that they are relatively inexpensive and you get tons of storage space. The downside is that optical drives have moving parts and if you drop one, you can break it with catastrophic results. You will lose all your stuff. Solid state drives (SSD) have less storage space but are much more difficult to damage. the downside is that they cost 2 to 3 times more than an optical drive.

This having been said, here are the pros and cons of external hard drives. Pros: 1. Media stored on external hard drives is easy to share, copy and transfer to a computer to edit. 2. You will (usually) have plenty of extra digital storage space to continue to store family memories captured on your phone or shared by other family members via email or social media. Cons: 1: You can make stupid mistakes. Like cutting and pasting a video file from your hard drive to your computer, when you meant to copy and paste, discovering only after you have edited the file that you lost the original file. 2. Someone else (child, sibling, friend) can make a stupid mistake and accidentally delete a folder containing family memories. And in one unfortunate circumstance, we know of an angry spouse intentionally deleting a bunch of stuff off a hard drive.

The Bottom Line: Choose the media types that best suit your needs, but think about the future as well as the present. Our staff at Familyography can walk you through all of your options and show you how they are used (don't count of the kid at Walgreen’s to do this). Our intent is that whatever choices you make, they are based on solid information and understanding. So to DVD or to not DVD? Let us help you choose wisely.

The Right Stuff

Mon, 12 Nov 2018 15:50:00 GMT

This is a photograph of our newly refurbished Umatic videotape player. It cost a lot of money to fix. It is one of the first videotape players ever built primarily but not exclusively for the commercial market- televisions stations and the like. It is impossible to find one of these machines in what could be called new condition. Its full of belts and rubber parts that get old, stretch and crack (like me, lol). And it has a lot of electric motors, fuses and springs that can fail.

Its even harder to find a technician that can or still wants to work on Umatic players. They are older than the machines. But we found one- Rick, who runs Obsolete Video in Arizona. A great guy, and the machine we got from him was clean, oiled and completely refurbished. Just in time to get a stack of Umatic tapes done before the holidays for a couple patient customers.

I don’t think we will every recoup our investment in this refurbished machine, so why do we do them? Because its important that we are able to rescue every precious memory that families have. The Umatic tapes we digitize are sometimes the professional work of a father or grandfather. And sometimes a wedding that was one of the first captured without a film camera.

And if we are going to be entrusted with a families keepsakes, it is important that we have the right equipment, the right stuff, to do our work for you. This is true whether it involves film, videotapes, photos, slides or negatives. That’s why we always invest in the best equipment to use and work with. And that’s another reason why you should come to Familyography.

Master Chef

Sat, 10 Nov 2018 16:41:00 GMT

We won’t be competing on the British Baking Show, but we at Familyography do have a particular skill at baking— we bake tapes! Yes, tapes. Videotapes, to be precise. Audio reels too. You see, back in the day when videotape was the new tech, various companies experimented with how to manufacture their tapes. And some types of tape became “sticky” over time, because the glue used to adhere the magnetic overlay to the vinyl film would absorb water, and the water would rejuvenate the stickiness of the glue. This caused all sorts of problems. Sometimes the tape would break. More often, the stickiness would put such a stress on the videotape player that the VCR itself would cause it to jam up.

We have found that humidity can make many different kinds of tapes play poorly, for the earliest Umatic tapes to the last of the tape technology -miniDV tapes. So when we run into problems with videotapes, we will literally bake them for a few hours in a dehydrating oven. Then voila! Out of the oven, into the tape player and your memories are safely restored.

We should win some kind of prize for that, shouldn’t we? And if you are shopping around, ask our competitors, “Do you bake tapes?”

Satisfaction... guaranteed

Fri, 02 Nov 2018 17:40:00 GMT

At Familyography, we will do our best to restore old film that has seen better days. But a while back, we had a customer come in with the most difficult challenge in my experience. Two reels of 16mm film were so degraded that they smelled the high heaven of vinegar, the result of chemical degradation that causes the film to warp and buckle. Worse still. the inner 4/5 of the film was actually finished its chemical decomposition and had dried out and was one solid block of cellophane, the film having all fused together.

There is a specific (and expensive) liquid chemical that can restore the pliability of old film that is starting to deteriorate, but we have never used it on film in such bad condition. Still, making not promises, we gave it a try. We immersed the damaged film in a vat of this chemical, and then let it sit sealed up for a couple months. Yesterday. when we opened the vat and took out the film, I wasn’t sure how good the resulted would be. But we cleaned it up, patted it dry, put the film on a film-editing reel, and slowly - very slowly - tried to unwind the film. The film resisted being pulled away from the reel, and first I thought it was going to fall apart. But then the miracle happened. It started to unwind, and as it unwound, I could tell that it was in beautiful condition.

Why is this important to you? Because what we learn in accepting the difficult orders also makes us better and digitizing the less difficult orders. This is true for any kind of media we handle— slides, negatives, film or videotape. We have a trained, critical eye. and we want to give you the best results possible. Its our core value, plain and simple. And in every case, that commitment ensures your satisfaction, guaranteed.

We are not Walgreens

Wed, 31 Oct 2018 02:33:00 GMT

A customer came in this morning. Almost in tears, carrying a large box of video tape. She had come from Walgreens, where, a month before, she had taken her videotapes to be transferred to DVD. The “kid” behind the counter, she said, told her that the tapes were “bad” and the video recording on them was “lost.”

Its a story I have heard before, because the big box companies do not like converting tapes which look like trouble, it think because it slows them down. This lady’s tapes had a lot of dust on them, but they didn’t look damaged, so I took one out, wiped down the outside to clear the dust away, and popped it in a VCR. It played just fine. I told her that if there were any tapes that gave us trouble, we were usually able to fix them.

At this point, the lady did start to tear up. “I thought my tapes were ruined.” I explained to her my theory about why they were rejected. She had no idea that Walgreens did not do the work themselves. We had a more general conversation about whether she wanted her tapes put onto DVDs, an external hard drive, or both. Because she had four grown children, I explained why an external hard drive would be the economical choice for her children to copy and share the videos. Now smiling, she said “The kid at Walgreens didn’t explain any of this to me.” I smiled back. “We are not Walgreens,” I said.

The Better Deal

Wed, 31 Oct 2018 02:13:00 GMT

Its now the time of year when I get my shorts all bunched up because I see all these online ads for 40, 50 or 60% off! So let me explain why:

I don’t claim that Familyography is always the least expensive, but we are always extremely competitive, and in the long run give you the best value for your buck. And, we do offer genuine discounts at various times and for volume or bulk orders. So make sure you you check us out. You will be glad you did.

Got your back...up?

Sun, 28 Oct 2018 12:32:00 GMT

People lose things. Its human nature. Recently, a customer called. A few years ago, she had dropped off her wedding video to be converted to DVD. We did it, she was happy, and life went on, right? Well, this customer and her husband later moved overseas for work, and left her wedding video in the care of her mother. And upon return, the wedding video was nowhere to be found. So she called us, and yep, we had it. As a matter of practice, we keep a copy of customer files on our back-up hard drives, off line and secure, just in case you need something in the future. We were able to burn her another disc and put the file on a USB flash drive for her as well.

A happy ending. But it reminds me to remind you that especially as we move away from DVDs and other “hard” forms of storing family memories, its important to “back up” your stuff. One copy is not enough.

And in the event that you lose things, as most people do, remember that if you got it done at Familyography, the odds are good that we can keep your loss from being permanent.

True Confessions

Mon, 22 Oct 2018 15:02:00 GMT

Another question folks ask is “How soon will my project be done?” Most of the time, we can give you a pretty good idea about this. But if truth be told, sometimes we miss the mark and in the final analysis, speed is not our first priority. Let me explain:

For a lot of big box outfits, speed is the first priority. To achieve this speed, they will convert things at the lowest possible resolution (less data equals faster processing). To be fastest, they will not deal with problem issues. If they have a problem with a videotape, they will send it back to you rather than try to fix it. If stuff is dirty, they will return it to you rather than clean them. Because these things slow the business down.

At Familyography, speed is important too. But not at the expense of quality. You usually have one shot at getting this stuff right, and we want to make sure you have the best value for your money. We take the time to fix difficult or broken tapes, often at no expense to you. If we see that stuff is dusty or has mold, we will do our best to clean it and get the best transfer possible.

There are other reasons for missing the mark too. Say, a piece of equipment breaks and needs repaired. Or, we see a problem that suggests that we should do a thorough quality check (like, for example, if we see that the audio drops off on a videotape). Sometimes a person comes in and just has a more urgent need for something— like needing a reel of film converted so that a person in hospice can watch and reminisce in his or her finals days. We try to accommodate everyone’s needs.

But we never compromise the quality of our work.

The Most Important Narrative

Sun, 21 Oct 2018 20:36:00 GMT

Everyone has a point of view, a context which informs one’s perspective on the world. It guides one’s thoughts and actions. It helps form our values and judgments. We get this point of view from several sources. Our schooling and education. The news and our choices about where we get our news. And most importantly, our family. Family is important because it is the only one we can control, and it is the most personal. And in this regard, “family” is not just what it is now, but the journey, the path, the chain of being that connects the past to the present, and the present to the future. And its important for families to create and nurture their narratives to give their children a sense of purpose, a sense of belonging and a sense of worthiness. Your family narrative is made up of stories, and stories are reinforced by artifacts— photos, movies, video, letters and documents- which serve to enrich memories, and also to prompt questions which help fill out and add to the stories. So it is important- hugely important- that we do what is necessary to pass on our photos and all the rest of our stuff to our children and so on. And this means putting into digital form. Regardless of the specifics of your family narrative, it will inform your progeny in ways that schools and the media cannot.

Tombstones

Sun, 21 Oct 2018 20:14:00 GMT

So we do a lot of big projects— people who have thousands of slides, a couple dozen photo albums, and/or boxes of videotape. And the question everyone asks is “how much is this going to cost? My favorite retort, usually given after I size up the customer’s sense of humor, is “not as much as your tombstone, but its worth a lot more!” Then I offer an explanation- that fifty years from now, the reality is that it is likely that no one in your family will be visiting your grave . We live in a mobile world, and families move apart and away. But your memories, once digitized, can travel with and be shared by all branches of your family. So, fifty years from now, one hundred years, or two hundred years from now, your progeny will have the ability to look at pieces of your live— maybe even learn something from it— and maybe even thank you for your contribution to their life. We all desire some little measure of immortality and remembrance. You will not find it in a tombstone. But you will in the work that we do for you. That is priceless.

No hurry

Sun, 21 Oct 2018 20:13:00 GMT

The year is not over, and we have had thousands of really good customers, but to date my nomination for the “Best Customer of the Year” goes to Jim. Jim came into the store with his charming daughter and after a few minutes of conversion I found out that he was 102 years old. Jim brought in a whole big box of 8mm film. It was a big order. One that would take some time to digitize and edit. So I asked him, like I do almost every customer, if he needed this any time soon. Without skipping a beat, he said “oh, there’s no hurry.” Even so, when I took his order back to my film transfer specialist, I instructed him to put it to the front of the line. Just because.

You're not as smart as you think you are (And neither am I)

Sun, 21 Oct 2018 19:58:00 GMT

People call the store all the time, and one of the things they say is that “they will be in as soon as they have gone through things and picked out the important ones,” referring to photos, slides, home movies or videotape. For years, I tried to gently explain to them that they should do their best to not be the judge and jury about what is or is not important. I mean, sure, if you have four photos of the same baby at the same time and in the same chair eating the same bowl of baby food, maybe, it is okay to not digitize them all. But other than that, we really do not, and cannot know what is, or will be in the future “important.” Lately, I have been more blunt with people. I just smile and tell them “Don’t do that—You are not as smart as you think you are.” Then I try to explain to them that none of us really know what will be important.

Put another way, people are selling themselves short when they do not push all of their family memories forward. They and their family history is far more important than they can imagine, and the value of their investment in the future will reap untold benefits for their children, grandchildren and their grandchildren. In other words. It is and will be important. So be smart, digitize all your stuff.

Dinosaurs

Sun, 21 Oct 2018 18:53:00 GMT

Sometimes people come into my store, or call me on the telephone, and they are trying to get advice on what stuff to keep and what not to keep. I try my best to educate them. One point I try to make, with a little bit of humor, is that they are the product of four billions years of evolution. And having made it this far, their set of chromosomes are the very first, after four BILLION years, to be able to pass their family histories forward to the next generation. So why wouldn’t they want to do that? We are better than the dinosaurs. We can pass on our legacies, or narratives, and not just leave fossils. So, do it.