S.G.G. C 4 T a and S.G.G. C 4 T b

It's time for my first competition! You'll note I start by coding the heading for the post S.G.G. C 4 T A. This all means this post is related to the Summer Group Games Category 4 (Write! Write! Write!) Task a (Write a summary of your blog and post it).

The Oracle of OMcHodoy was founded on 23 Oct 2005 after a friend had started her blog journaling her progress through the International Adoption process. My first thought when she suggested I blog was "Why?". But I did anyway. HERE is my first post.

Now OMcHodoy is a very interesting name. THIS POST explains how I came up with it. The "Oracle" part sounded great with "OMcHodoy" (I tend to love alliteration, though sometimes it gets too cute) and the word indicates a proclamation of some sort. Plus, at the time I started the blog, I lived on Oracle Road!

The purpose of the blog was to chronicle my research for the good or for the bad. I haven't hidden my mistakes, misidentifications, or faulty deductions. My hope was to teach others to learn the process of research as I learned it, and by not hiding my "goofs", perhaps others would learn to not make the same ones.

I have had several cousin connections made via either Rootsweb mailing lists or via this blog. Several of those connections remain in place today, and all have netted some information that helped me along the way.

In January of 2008 I'd become so hooked on this blogging thing that I just had to create another one. I decided to create Orations of OMcHodoy to document stories and lore from generations past and from the current generation. This blog, Oracle, remains used primarily for research oriented post while Orations for stories. Sometimes they intermingle. Sometimes one gets neglected, sometimes they both do. But this genealogy thing is like a magnet, and I always get drawn back for more.

Alas, I'm not done yet: I've also completed Category 4 Task b by submitting a post to a blog carnival. Proof of this submission will occur at a future date, when the 4th edition of the I Smile For The Camera carnival is posted.

One day, One Category, Two Tasks completed. Now I dare not peek at Thomas' blog lest my smugness be for naught.