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2127.
 I have a long list of things I have to do before Dec. 12th, when I go home to Florida for six lovely weeks. Yesterday was the last day of classes (yesssss). VERY happy 'bout that. As for my life...I'm tired. I'm busy. I'm broke. Thus not too many optimistic thoughts come to mind when these three evils plague my existence. Nevertheless, I leave no room to complain. Thus I conclude that, hey, I'm alive. What else matters? Everything shall fall into place.
On this note, I have a very (VERY) important entry for you all today. And it all revolves around the number 2,127. This number is not set in stone. Nor is it stuck in permanence. It grows daily, slowly but surely. Okay, so to many people, this doesn't really sound like much, considering that thousands of our men are in Iraq right now. Yet click here if you want a visual representation of how many of our men have died for a useless war. That is two thousand, one hundred an twenty-seven lives stolen by the hands of a purposeless war. Try counting out that number. Or even more effective, try imagining your entire social circle--everyone from your friends to your associates to your co-workers to your family members--dead. Over two thousand, the size of an average public school.
I have nothing more to say.
...except one more thing. Fuck Bush.
The Genius of Google
 As promised yesterday, I will now begin my appraisal of Google, the internet kingdom that has taken over the world. And so it began, in September of 1998: the creation of what would become one of the most visited sites in the country (dare I say the in the world). But unbeknownst to millions of googlers across the globe, there is so (SOOOO) much more to Google than what meets the eye when you first log on to the site: an almost blank screen with little more than a logo, some links, and an empty text box waiting to be filled with your random choice of words. "Google is a play on the word googol, which was coined by Milton Sirotta... It refers to the number represented by the numeral 1 followed by 100 zeros. Google's use of the term reflects the company's mission to organize the immense, seemingly infinite amount of information available on the web." {source: Google's Corporate Site} ...and what a lovely job they have done! I can't remember the last time I used a search engine other than google. But MOST impressive is that google is not just a search engine play box. Here are some of Google's other features: Blogger. Hmmm....I'm sure many of you didn't know that Google was the mind behind Blogger's creation, now did ya? And for those who are slow or simply curious...yes, blogger is the creator of this blog; I just am hosting it from my personal website rozmichelle.com because I got it like that {which really means i'm just a nerd who knows what she's doing when it comes to sites :P) Froogle. Feel like shopping? Type in your desire and voila: the best selection matched with the best prices. (I personally prefer Ebay for shopping :) *Picasa. As previously mentioned {in yesterday's post, for those who didn't read it}, this is Google's GENIUS picture program. It searches for every single picture you have on your computer, and if you are like me and have hundreds of random pictures that need some serious organizing, then you WANT this program. Search. Edit. Put comments on pictures. Post them to your website or blog with the click of a button. Adsense. This allows people with sites to get paid for placing high-profile ads on their site. I just might set this up myself, to see how effective it is... *Gmail. A web-based mail service. I have this. It is very cool. You literally NEVER will have to delete an email again; the amount of space google gives you keeps growing as time passes. And it groups your messages by the sender and topic so that it's easy to keep track of emails that can easily get lost in the dozens (hundreds, in my case) of messages that flood your inbox. *Google Maps. Also from the corporate site, this is "a dynamic online mapping feature users in North America use to find location information, navigate through maps, and get directions quickly and easily. Google Maps is distinguished by easy navigation, detailed route directions, and business locations related to the requested query. Even more fun: by integrating Keyhole technology, Google Maps can display a map view or a satellite view." ...This is GREAT. I tested it to see how well it worked an actually saw a satellite image of my entire neighborhood and could even point out my house {that is kind of scary actually...}. Google Earth is similar, but I don't think you could locate your pen pal Sue Lee's house in China with this. Still, it is technology at its best. *Blog Search. ...self-explanatory. To see it, click here.
interesting google facts: If you type in "failure", George Bush's biography comes up as the first listing. LOL! Don't believe me? TRY IT! {note: the *'s mark my favorite google features :) } Okay, now that I've successfully proved myself a blogging billboard for Google, I shall retire. After all, it IS Friday! Have a greeeeat weekend!
Thanksgiving Recap
Many people don't appreciate Thanksgiving. I have lots to be thankful for, but my Thanksgiving this year was extra special. For one, I got to meet my Mom's side of the family, which NEVER happens. But even more than that, I learned so much about my history, both anscestral and historical. So much of my family and anscestors live in the small (smaaaaaaall) town of Cameron, South Carolina, a place smaller than Cornell's campus. It literally shuts down at 8 pm. It is segregated, with Whites living on one side of the railroad tracks and Blacks on the other. Racial tension isn't as strong as it was back then of course, but it still exists. I saw it with my own eyes. First, forgive me for posting an entry about Thanksgiving a week late. I just got the photos back so I have the opportunity to show you all what I learned...and saw.
  This was my Aunt Ruth's house. She died in '93 and the house has since been deserted. It's a block from my Aunt Elay's house. Memories...We went inside and all I could think about was playing with my brother there when we were kids. My Mom was scared that there'd be rattle snakes in the house (lol), so we didn't stay as long as I wanted to.  Gravestones of my relatives, back to my Great Great grandparents. Our family has their own little plot in the graveyard. Behind the graves is another field of cotton, and behind that is the White graveyard. Yup. They are STILL separated. Their graveyard even has the nerve to look nicer, with gates around it and shit....*sigh*. No comment. *roz will not submit to her temper today.*  I took this pic standing outside Aunt Elay's house. This is a peanut factory that runs along side the railroad tracks, the same tracks that Separate Black from White. I can't explain in words what it was like, what it felt like to be in the presence of a place filled with so much of my history. I was moved. Moved like I don't know what...and it's rare that I'm at a loss for words. But I just had to share this with everyone...because it's important to remember that we have much to be thankful for. I'm thankful for what my family and my anscestors have given up and gone through in order for me to be in the position I'm in today. And that is very real to me. *Note: See that lil' rainbow looking box next to each picture? That is PICASA, Google's picture viewer...it is AMAZING. Google is by far the coolest thing to hit the internet since...ever. I just may write an accolades post tomorrow just for them cuz i'm a true Google fan. 8) Anyway, get picasa. You WON'T be disappointed; they saved me the trouble of having to upload pics. Picasa publishes your pics to your blog automatically! {soooo cool...okay...i'm done being a nerd for the day :)
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