Free stuff is cool. I ended up getting the Chely Wright album The Metropolitan Hotel free today. After school today, Joey and I hung out by going to a couple of stores and getting lunch. How exciting! While out, we stopped to browse at Best Buy.

While we were looking at the DVDs, this lady says "excuse me" to me. I thought she wanted to look at the DVDs that were on the shelf between the ones I was browsing through and the ones that had Joey's eyes. I moved out of her way. Actually, she wanted to talk to me. Her job was to ask customers about the store in general. Joey and I weren't in a hurry, so I agreed. I was going to do it. I'm just that nice. She sweetened the deal by saying after completing it, I'd get a $15.00 gift card. Joey heard this and thought it was cool. The lady told him after she finished with me, he could do it, too. So, for five minutes of our time, we each got a $15.00 card.

I spent my card on the CD. I chose the Chely CD because earlier in the day, Joey and I were having a conversation about her music. He used his card towards a purchase he was wanting to make, thus saving a few bucks out of his pocket.

[♪ Listening to: "When" - Shania Twain]

I have a few minutes of me time until my next meeting about me E-Commerce group project. Most of my free time this week that has been devoted to school work has been devoted to this E-Commerce project. The non-school-work time has been busy with with lunches with Lindsey and Joey, having dinner with Joey last night, and watching TV and surfing. By the time I get home from school and wind down, the last thing I want to do is get on this blog.

I have 30 days left until I graduate college. Not much time, really. Because of such a short time, most of my time is devoted to making sure I walk that stage on the 8^th. E-Commerce is the one class I'm not certain I will pass. I probably will, but there is still no guarantee. My Senior Project is complete. I need to turn in the soft copy of all my work ASAP. I'll get it down tomorrow. My Meteorology and Digital Photography classes are easy.

And while I'm so busy with this stuff, I checked out a book from the library yesterday. The book is Gone with the Wind. I don't know why I checked it out, but I did. I haven't had a book for pleasure to read in a long time, and I miss it. This book is long enough. I started it last night and had enough time to get 16 pages into it. I'll probably read most of it over Thanksgiving break.

Off to enjoy the few more minutes of me time I have left.

Thursday Threesome:

Onesome: Motorola--, Sanyo, Samsung? Which brand of cell phone are you most pleased with? My cell phone is Sanyo MM-8300.

Twosome: Phone-- time, and more time, and more time... Okay, are you one of those who simply lives on their phone? ...or do you consider phones a necessary evil?It's a necessary evil, but I'm glad to have it when I need it. And some of my friends are glad I have it. Joey uses it when we're out to make quick calls. My Wesley Foundation relied on it to get football scores when we were at the ropes course. I use it to transmit messages to Lindsey in order to have a conversation that other can not can overhear. It comes in handy.

Threesome: Tools-- of the trade? Do you use your phones more for work use or for personal use? It's all about personal use.

And no peeking at the "Voices That Care" Wikipedia entry!

I've got quite a few vivid memories from the 1^st Gulf War, being that my dad served in the war, but I can't remember this song at all! However, a Céline Dion/Peter Cetera duet would sound cool after hearing this song.

I found this on Deadspin yesterday.

I miss you, Momma. I wish your were here with me. I could really use you at the moment.

Wesley Foundation Cookout
Uploaded by peachy92.

Last night, I went to the Coastal Empire Fair. A bunch of us from ACM went. I ended up spending the night at the fair with Joey, Joseph, and this kid Jeremy. I provided transportation for those guys; Joey just did the driving. I was a little resentful about having Jeremy and Joseph around. Well, not so much Joseph. In the 3 years I've known him, I've come to be a little protective of him when we do events for ACM and Wesley Foundation. I felt like the den mother, however, last night. I am not a mother. And it wasn't just having those 2 around that got to me. On at least 2 of the rides I rode alone, kids ran up next to me so they weren't alone. One was some 8-year-old boy on the hang gliding ride. Another was a little 7-year-old girl on the Claw. I didn't mind being the harmless looking adult a child could depend on for 2 minutes on a ride. It's just that after toting the big kids all night and these little kids on the rides, it all just added up and I got a little resentful of the den mother role. If I'm going to be a den mother, it should be to my own kids. And in a way, the den mother role carried over to today. I saw it when I helped Joey today. He saw it at lunch.

Early this afternoon, the Wesley Foundation had a cookout. This picture is one Joey took of Joseph and Erin playing Phase 10. I was busy playing the game as well. I had invited Joey to lunch today since it was a cookout. He was kind of quiet the whole time, only really having a conversation with Joseph, Lindsey, and Ashlee. He knew them, but not the others. I'll do that, too. In a strange group, I only talk to those I know.

As we were waiting for some food to be cooked, us Wesley regulars got together at a table and started playing a round of Phase 10. As usual, Jessie didn't make her phase. The rest of us playing did. And like usual, Jessie targeted me for being skipped since I was the first to make phase 1. She was going to have me skipped again, but Joey did butt into the game (he wasn't playing since we could only have 6 people and a few of the others wanted to play) and told her since I had been skipped before, I couldn't be skipped until everyone else had been skipped. After that quick game and eating, us regulars, plus a few of our non-Wesley friends, just sat and talked until classes and work pulled us away. We had a good time.

My group didn't really socialize with the other people, but then again, no one new came to socialize with us. They just wanted the food and our seats. We regulars know it's more than free food. It's a camaraderie. Joey, the outsider, even asked me how many were regulars. He could see what was going on today. He asked me how many people come for the food and not stay for the rest of stuff Wesley has to offer.

The rest of my day was spent in Digital Photography class or working on my E-Commerce project. I have a new assignment for the photography class. The new assignment is to take a picture of a person in his or her natural environment. I'm going to see about taking one of my father. I need a few more photos of him.

Remember little Precious Doe? You probably don't. Well, I do. She was this little girl in Kansas City that was found decapitated back in 2001. Well, in 2005, they identified her as 3-year-old Erica Michelle Maria Green. She was killed by her mother and step-father. The "mother" has plead guilty to the crime. The "step-father" has yet to see a trial.

Well, seems to be a new type of Precious Doe case. This one is called Baby Grace. She's about the same age as little Erica, and like little Erica before her, currently, she has no name. Baby Grace was found inside a storage box that washed ashore on Galveston Bay, TX. The police in Galveston are now seeking all the clues they can get to find out who she is.

This shit makes me sad. It makes me angry. What type of monster can these so called homo sapiens be to be this cruel and horrible to these little girls? Really. It's scary to know such evil exists out there.

Odds are Baby Grace was violated by someone that she knew and probably trusted. And at her age, she probably had a lot of trust. How could some one betray such innocence? What a monster. And if this person couldn't handle caring for her, he or she should have given her up. Someone would have cared for her.

I hope they find the monster that did this and make him pay with everything they can take away from him. Even if her death was accidental, she did not deserved to be placed in a box and thrown to the ocean. Erica Green did not deserve to have her head chopped off. I hope both girls will finally get the justice they deserve.