Greetings and Salutations.  Above is a picture of me with a cold one in my hand.  I love those pictures in the background.  They are my favorite.  Also below that is my daughter.  Isn't she cute.  She looks like her dad, atleast that's what most people tell me. And....the lady pushing the basket next to my daughter.  I don't know her name but she was leaving out of Schnuck's just in front of me as I exited the store.  She had on a see through black top, a little trendy jacket and some skin tight leggins.  And she had to be all of 70 years old.  You better not have told her she wasn't fine either, or she would have smacked you in the face.  She thought she was a dime plus nine, okay.  Well I'm infamous for sneaking pics of people when they aren't looking.  And she is another victim caught on camera.  For all of you Granny's out there.  Don't try this at home.

It’s almost time for me to leave the matrix.  Tonight I’m going to cheer on the Cardinals as they attempt to rip the Cubs a new one.  I plan on being their good luck charm.  The game starts at 7pm.  My friend Katie and her new fiancé, Matt will be there too.  Their tickets are right next to me and Myron’s (did I ever tell you all my husband’s name is Myron). We will have a good peanut cracking, beer guzzling time.  

My copyeditor, that I just hired two weeks ago, quite on the first day b/c the manuscript was too big.  Dayum, Dayum, Dayum.  So now I am four days behind schedule on my book project.  I found another lady based out of LaFayette, NY.  But I think she is going to be high maintenance.  I sent her a copy of the first chapter and she is already asking to speak to the author…hello…about what?  You don’t even have the gig yet.  And I talk to the author, not the freelancer………jeeeezuz.  I know this is going to be a long process.  Wish me luck. 

Last night I went to the Universoul Circus.  I was kind of bummed that you could not take pictures.  I had my camera in my pocket but I wanted to follow rules b/c I wasn’t sure if the “No Photos Allowed” sign was there b/c they are trying to ruin my blog success, or if it actually had something to do with distracting the lions, elephants, or the high flying acts.  I would have felt really bad if someone fell off the trapeze b/c my camera flashed.  Plus, I didn’t want to get escorted out the place either.  

The highlight of the circus, in my opinion was the Elephant show featuring the only African American female Elephant trainer in the world.  There were two elephants and right in the middle of their routine, one of them had to take a dump.  So a circus-attendant (so to speak) had to run to the stage and hold a trash can under the elephants tail to catch the poop as it came out.  That's a bum job if I ever heard of one, but somebody has to do it.  Literally, the show stopped and we had to wait until the elephant got finished doing her business.  When she was finished the assistant walked away with the trashcan full of poop, but the elephant had something else in mind.  He tinkled all over the center ring as he continued on with the rest of his routine.  Thanks goodness that was the final act.  

Other notables, where the little girls from China and their bike riding show.  They fit about 16 girls on one moving bike and continued to ride it in circles without anyone falling off.  The doggie show was cute.  Especially when the dog, dressed up as an old lady, held a leash and walked a cat around the ring.  They were really cute.  All in all, it was a good show.  My sister, daughter and I had a good time.

The Urban League Annual Conference kicked off today in Downtown St. Louis.    It will run throughout the weekend.  It will feature 80+ speakers including presidential candidates, career fairs, workshops, award gala, and concerts featuring Eryka Badu and Teena Marie.  I think it is interesting that one presidential candidate in particular, Rudy Giuliani, will not be at the annual conference.  It’s interesting because he is a friend  and an ex-coworker of the urban league’s CEO and President Marc Morial.  This morning on the news, Morial skated questions regarding Giuliani’s absence by stating, “Let’s focus on those who are here, instead of those who decided not to be here.”   Ooooh, sounds like a boy-fight to me…….rrrrrrrrruuuuuffff. 

This year’s theme is “You, Your Money, Your Future.”  For more info you can call the information line at 1-800-263-9926.

How ironic is it that I just posted about R. Kelly and the things he should never do and then I get home and hear that the jury selection process is actively underway regarding Kelly’s child pornography charges.  Now don’t say I didn’t try to warn him.  If he hadn’t been one-two-one-ing across the screne talking about how freaky he is and how he is going to do it Michael Jackson-style, his case might still be at the bottom of the stack.  

It is reported that they are having a very unique jury selection process due to Kelly being such a high profile defendant.  The original charges were filed in 2002, at that time Kelly pleaded not guilty to 14 counts of child pornography.  Everyone knows about the scandalous tape and I’m sure the prosecution will build their entire case around that.  Kelly and his defense still refuse to admit that the person on the tape is indeed R. Kelly.  Some speculate they may argue that it is a computer generated image.  We’ll see how this one will unfold.

Here's another pic of me and some of my friends and some of my friends' friends.