I did 23 and Me and my dad did National Geographic. Pretty much what we expected, although his soupçon of Native American was confusing until we found the footnote saying Native Siberian might show up like that. Walter's was the one that was surprising since absolutely everyone was sure he was a Border Collie mix and he turned out to be German Shorthaired Pointer with nonstandard coloring and too long hair.

61.1% British & Irish, 8.1% French & German, 7.3% Scandinavian, 19.7% broadly Northwestern European, 2% Southern European, 1% Iberian, 1% broadly Southern European, and 1.9% broadly European.

I'm interested in doing one of these. There's one that hits Groupon (or whichever non-Groupon discount site) periodically for about 30 or 40 bucks, but on closer examination, they seem to only break it down to African, Southeast Asian, European, and Native American - I could hand pretty much anybody less money than that and they could tell me with confidence that I'm neither African nor Asian (though my tiny sliver of Native American might surprise them). I just haven't pulled the trigger yet on the $100 ones.

everyone was sure he was a Border Collie mix and he turned out to be German Shorthaired Pointer with nonstandard coloring and too long hair.

OMG that's weird. But there was a graphic that went around last year with pictures of dogs, and what their DNA said they were, and the difference between what they looked like and what their background actually was, was AMAZING. So Walter is not unusual in that!

I am tempted to do the 23&Me thing, except if it doesn't come back 100% Irish background, that will mean there was some serious shenanigans in the family history, and I'm not sure I can handle that.

In other news, I had to smuggle a bottle of JD out of Dad's room today because he bought it at Target yesterday and it's not on his doctor's orders... Sigh.

WE ARE SO WHITE. LIKE WHITEY MCWHITE on white bread with mayo.

Oh, I got'cher white bread with mayo right here. I did the 23 And Me test and it came back like 98% British and 2% Scandinavian. NONE MORE WHITE

The genetic test I did came back 100% white girl and even more Irish then I was expecting. Our dog's test was fascinating, though. 1/4 beagle and 1/4 treeing walker coonhound on one side which is totally what she looks like. The other half was 1/4 Rhodesian Ridgeback and 1/4 Llasah Apso which makes no sense!

I guess part of me is a little surprised by the results. I thought it might be more of a mush since we can trace the family back in America for so long.

ION - IS MAINE GONNA DO PREFERENTIAL VOTING!!!!???

[link]

I was surprised by the results too. I've always thought that I was part Italian, and no I'm not, and also that I had a Native American great-something-grandmother, and no, apparently that was just another of my family's stories.

However I am 3.6% Neanderthal. I wonder, where did we come from before we got to the Northern Isles? Was it just, African Exodus, get it on with Neanderthals, and head straight north until we hit the sea? Have we been in the northern lands for 10,000 years? My people, we don't like the heat. We got to Scotland and said, ah yes at last, it's cold enough. Which is about what I actually did in Scotland.

Hi, Karl!

I have a little over an hour before the pickup window for the car service that will take me to the Hyderabad airport. I fly out late evening, and after about 22 hours, I should land in San Francisco on Sunday morning. If I have the ability to be upright, I plan to do laundry and get some groceries because I haven't had fresh fruit and vegetables all week. I'll probably take Monday off to recover from jet lag.

I thought about maybe sightseeing with a colleague today, but I pretty much slept in all morning and have been watching Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries this afternoon while packing up my stuff.

My dad did the Nat. Geo testing. He found out that his family came from the Finnish area, which he aready knew. That was over 10 years ago, and I understand the tests have gotten better since. I might like to try it myself.

I'd like to try one of those tests sometime, since half of my genetic makeup is a mystery beyond "probably caucasian of some sort." (Well, and probably the source of artistic talent as that sure didn't come from my bio mom or get taught to me by my parents.)