When rising up this afternoon (hey, I'm a writer, and when I'm in the mood, usually after-sex or anti-sex. . . . I write),  my body sauntered itself to the bathroom where I grabbed my Dudu Osun soap and proceeded to shower the residual heat wave sweat particles left in my pores from a killer July heat wave (one which my mother says was hotter than 1988, when she decided to modernize the house and get an air conditioner. . . .AFTER most of her kids had left home like a sensible midlife woman. 

And I had a thought. (The shower is where I get my thoughts, as well as "the throne")
like most of us "muse thinkers" do, if the mimimum due portion of the light bill was paid, (which it was, this time) I dried myself enough to not self-electrocute on my computer.

Sitting down at my desk surrounded by organized piles of dreams and wishes for self-publishing I decided. . . "check the yahoo."  And as usually, there was fresh "Ella mail."

You gotta understand Ella. She's a brilliant registered dietician who is a wonderful friend. (We're so close people look at us at community events and say, "Oh Ella, is this your sister?"

And in simultaneous unison, we look at one another and say, "Yes! Our ancestors were packed like tuna on the same boat as Bill Cosby's relatives." That remark usually gets us some looks from the white folks who were taught that all black folks look alike.

Well, I clicked on my "Ella" folder and, as usually, she sent me another "find." (Note: the thing about Ella is you never ever EVER throw her mail out without reading it. She sometimes puts personal notes in her forwards like, "There's ground turkey on sale at Aldi" or something like that."

This time she dispensed the civil rights political cause links. It wasn't a freebie link (Walmart must hate me for all the free samples I get in the mail using a junk mail email address I never check) or comedian "Rickey Smiley's Church Bulletin Announcements" page either. 

This time it was a link to a free database shared with me by a friend from a thingy called namesdatabase.com.

At first when I saw "FREE" I started with my "hip hip hooRAY" emotions but something stopped me.  My brain says to me, "Reed, check the fine print! You know you always tell folks, before getting involved with any business or any contract or license agreement, which free sites are full of, CHECK the fine print.

Freezing my nimble finger motion on the keyboard, I refrained from adding any of my personal information. Then I spied at the bottom of the page some tee-ee-ee-ny weeny print of the link that asked for my personal information, that "TOS" (Terms of Service) part.

"JUSTA THOT"
Why do these people who design these sites think that people like you and I  are probably among a genre of very lonely people on the planet with nothing else to do except read fine print in contracts?  I mean just because some of us like watching movie credits as much as waiting for a surprise clip at the very very VERY end of a movie. . . (like the one in X-Men's Last Stand. . . Cool movie, stay til' the very very VERY end!) . . . wait, what was I talking about again. . .oh yeah! Fine print.

Well, I clicked TOS and found that they have this service that you DON'T have to register for and it's like totally freebie y'all!

The difference is that the ugly sites with no flash dash or class just have big ol' bulky looking words, no pictures, and as long as it gives me what I want, ain't nothin' wrong with a strip-down version.

It's kinda like the difference between shopping at Dillard's and waiting for someone to go to Dillard's and pay that ridiculous price just so they can get tired of it and throw it in a box headed for the Good Will. . . where people like myself will be waiting, and buy it for the price of the tax they paid of the original outfit.

blessin's y'all, and be sure to take time and read them teeny weeny "TOS"es. Might save you a ton of big fat attorney bills later.


(Here's the link Ella sent:
https://namesdatabase.com/

Optional Test: Find the completely free data base link above: (Clue. . . look at the highlight link below . . . we ain't lookin' for Waldo anymore. . . enjoy!)


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