Oh, You are not anal at all--LOL--I'm an electronics engineer by trade and software engineering manager in practice. That makes me really, really anal about data. Many fields in my db are drop-down or checkbox type. When I upgrade to the next version of base db software it will also handle attaching photos and export to HTML web page. Like Excel, it is very easy to add/subtract fields with this program and easy to sort on any field. Here are the fields my db has for each cultivar: 1. drop down for: want/really want/no thanks/have/ordered/auction bid/auction won 2. variety name 3. hybridizer 4. year registered 5. scape height 6. bloom size 7. foliage type 8. bloom season 9. bloom description bloom form nocturnal rebloom extended fragrant awards tet/diploid pollen fertile pod fertile 1st yr grown source property where grown (I've moved and not all plants I've grown came with me but still want to track my experience with them) landscape location (drop down that can be easily customized) additional notes (degree of info here varies by my interest/use of the plant. It might include: parentage, offspring, $ paid, when I expect order to arrive, etc) I'm trying to see if there is a way to link db's with this program so that I could use this initial data as the base for a hybridizer's tool that would link seedlings listed to the parents in the original list. It exports in a standard format so I was thinking about making my data available in exchange for DL trades sometime in the future as I get more of the data verified and/or importing data from other's Excel files to customize a db for them in exchange for DL trades if they were interested in purchasing the base program from Illium (I use the db tool for a lot more than DL too. I use it to keep all my shopping lists, recipes, inventories (books, reading lists, movies, collectibles, etc), to do lists, medical and perscription histories for my family, household/auto maintenance, special quotes, and much more- just about anything you want to organize in a list or small db format and carry with you on your pda. You can password protect any sensitive lists. So its a handy tool anyway. In fact I was already using it for all this other stuff before I decided to use it for DL & plants. LOL- adding plants was just another extension of my already over the top data obsessions...

In the grand scheme of things, a few days without ancestry access is not an unendowing hardship. It's a great opportunity to check other sources such as county web sites, county historical societies, a google search, and read some blogs. You never know where or when you will run across an idea or a name or a source you didn't know about or maybe be reminded about a source you thought you had exhausted. It's easy to get stuck in a rut and go to ancestry automatically, I do it, too. But the branches I have dangling are not at ancestry - yet. So follow up on the siblings and children. Trace the parent's siblings. The grandparent's siblings. In those days it wasn't uncommon to have multi generations in one house. I found the reason for a move from Wisconsin to Iowa by reading the Iowa census page by page. Ggggrandmother on page 1, her brother on page 2 with his daughter and family. Makes me think that's why she and her two grandchildren moved to Iowa. The family members from both sides had always lived near each other. The families were a true spider web. No web site is immune from a Dos attack. It's not anything they planned to do to annoy you. It's no different than Black Friday. Do you get mad at the world if you don't get the item you went after? Do you rant on facebook or blog posts? Well, yes, some people do but what's the point. The store didn't run out of the item just to get back at you for some unknown reason. Getting the site back up is no different than your boss standing beside you asking, "Are you done yet? Time is money., Are you done yet? Time is money., Are you done yet? Time is money. " Do you get done quicker under that kind of pressure? Do you want it fixed for a few minutes?

I've used the IKEA and Microspot Interiors (for the Mac). The program I like the best and now use exclusively is the Better Homes & Gardens. It's very useful, even if you have professional help. At my last home, I caught things that my architect missed. Unfortunately, we moved before I got to see that dream kitchen become a reality. Now, I'm tweaking the final plans for the new house & a more modest kitchen. We decided to not get an architect this time because of what we can do with the program. Here is a link that might be useful: Better Homes & Gardens software

Count me in as another Family Tree Maker user. I love this software! I have a World Deluxe account (the highest access available) with Ancestry.com (and have had a full account with them for more years than I care to remember). I also have a Gold account (the highest access available) with Genealogy.com (and I had the account with Genealogy.com prior to my account with Ancestry.com!). The two sites are both part of The Generations Network, but they each have some records that the other doesn't, and some records are searched more easily on one site than the other, so I keep both accounts. When you have an annual account with either site, you get a free copy of the Family Tree Maker software. I get the new version every year. I have several USB jump drives onto which I copy EVERYTHING. I also have a full backup copy on my laptop. That way, if my desktop pc fails, I can resort to my laptop. If both desktop and laptop fail, I can turn to a jump drive. If it fails, I can go through at least six more jump drives before I'd have to consider the data to be lost. But... one cool thing about my Ancestry.com membership is that I was able to export my Family Tree Maker data to a gedcom file, then upload it to Ancestry.com. I was then able to take all of the supporting electronic documentation (e.g., Census records, Draft Registration Cards, immigration and naturalization records, Social Security Death Index, marriage/birth/death records from various states, etc.) and "save them to" folks in my online tree. I can also add notes to the info for the folks. I also have my own web site with our genealogy information, photos, etc. Bottom line is that there would have to be one heck of an information technology failure for me to lose everything!