What do I do with all that genealogy stuff once it's in my computer?

Thanks for asking! One commentator took pity on my plight of unending
scanning and questioned me about where I put all the stuff and keep it
organized. Very interesting questions. Very difficult answers.

Have you ever looked at ads for computers? Have you ever noticed that
there are no cables in any of the pictures? Try it now. Go to Best Buy
or Amazon and look for some kind of computer. Any kind will do. If you
can't think of one, try a Dell 3.0 Ghz GX. Do you see any cables? Now,
what do you see when you are invited into my computer room? Beautiful
computer systems without cables? You bet! Everywhere you look you see
cables. Piles and tangled strings of cables. I have 4 surge suppressors
(power strips) full of plugs. Do you think all of those cables are
nicely organized? Neatly coiled and marked and identified? Well, not.

Computers are basically really messy. I know people who will not allow
them in the house for that reason alone. What does this have to do with
scanning? First of all, I have piles and piles of documents. The real
boon to my life of storage was digital cameras, voila! no more
negatives, slides or photos. But most of the genealogy records I have
acquired have corresponding paper copies. So where are the paper copies?
Everywhere. Under, over, in closets, in cupboards, under chairs, piled
in corners. If you are obsessively compulsive about cleaning, you would
have a nervous breakdown looking at my piles. Then I have the inherently
messy computers with cables running in every direction. So guess what
happens to all of the files I scan? Yep, they get added to the pile.

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