On June 2,  I went to LA to answer some questions on camera for 23andMe. I have no idea what the resultant footage will be used for and as long as they aren’t making me look like an idiot on the nightly news, I don’t really care.

A couple days ago, as a thanks for my participation, 23andMe gave me a code for a free Complete Kit, a $499 value. I toyed with the idea of which person in my family I was going to get to spit. I had this whole elaborate plan of finding one of my moms dad’s brothers sons and getting them to do it but then I figured, there is someone out there that needs this more.

So I’m giving it away. A Complete Kit includes (copying and pasting from the 23andMe website here):

• Ancestry

  • Relative Finder
  • Maternal Line
  • Paternal Line (for men only)
  • Ancestry Painting
  • Global Similarity

• Health (156 reports)

  • Carrier Status (24)
  • Disease Risk (81)
  • Drug Response (17)
  • Traits (34)

• Download your raw data

  Download your mitochondrial and Y chromosome DNA data, as well as data for nearly 600,000 other positions.

Enter by posting a comment on this blog post stating how a complete genotyping from 23andMe would benefit you. Entries will be accepted until June 17, 2010 11:59 PM PDT. I’ll post the winner on June 18.

The End. Have a happy summer people!

Disclaimers and other stuff:
Winner will be chosen at random (using a number generated at http://www.random.org/). This giveaway was not requested by or endorsed by 23andMe. My employer is an investor in 23andMe however, the views reflected in this post are mine alone and do not reflect the views of my employer. My employer is not a party to this giveaway nor does it endorse this giveaway, nor have I asked it to.

I’s (getting) married now!

Squeeeee worthy? I think so.

To save you all from the deluge of wedding ideas that I want to share, I’ve created a new tumblr specifically for these thoughts. Follow if you like to read about wedding-y stuff.

I recently posted this on FriendFeed and thought it would be a good idea to post on my blog as well:

For the days leading up to Black History Month, I will do a cursory Family Tree for any African-American folks that ask me. The only caveat? You have to be willing to post your tree somewhere (blog, FriendFeed, Facebook, twitter, etc) during Black History Month.* Why? I think AfAms need a better understanding of who we are and where we come from. Interested? Email familytreeme@ericabaker.com.

To expand, I define cursory as “as many generations I can go back without having to jump over many hurdles”. This normally gets me back to the 1870s for most African-Americans and if the data is good, I can go further.

To get started, I’ll need the names and if possible, birthdates and birthplaces of your grandparents. The tree I generate will work backwards from them.

Once done, I’ll give you a list of all the people in the tree, the actual tree itself, and the GEDCOM format file in the case you want to upload and continue working on the tree in Geni or another family tree tool. If applicable, I’ll also provide interesting supporting documents (Freedmen’s Bank Records, Draft Registration cards, wills, etc).

Please feel free to pass this on to others.

*Why the necessity to post during Black History Month? Reminding people that Black History is more than just remembering the efforts of civil rights activists and celebrating African-American inventions; it’s our history.