I finally broke down...

And got an Ancestry.com subscription.  In the past I have always used the library version, but being so far from home for so long, I thought getting the subscription would be a good idea.  So I now have a 3 month world subscription, which is already paying off in relation to some English parish register information.

I have also decided I should start looking into my fathers side of the family, even though I have a great aunt and great uncle who have already done a lot of it.  n particular I am going to work on the Karpinski family, my paternal grandfather's mother's family, as this one has not been searched very far back.  I have already found some promising leads on Franciszek Karpinski (my great-great grandfather) and a new cousin!