Update 2 yr old missing in Orlando

The news did a report a few minutes ago that a new concrete pad had been put down recently at the house where Casey was staying - they determined it was around the time the Caylee went missing.  It did not say if they were digging it up but I would assume that they are already in the process of doing so.

This whole story has continued to draw interest because there can be no closure until the little girl’s body is found.  It also continues to haunt millions of us who look at that sweet child’s face wondering how this mother could hurt such a beautiful child.  No matter what a person is going through, there are always options available and killing should never be one of them.

It brings tears to my eyes every time I hear or read an update.  I wish I could hold this little girl in my arms and protect her from the evil that befell her.  Again I find myself wishing that there was some tell tall signs of evilness so that we could identify them and keep the innocent safe.

Snakes

I am watching the History channel’s “monsterquest” episode of huge pythons that have become a nuisance in Florida by the Everglades.  They believe the snakes were pets that someone released into the wild.  Snakes can have a lot of babies each year so the population is growing too quickly.  Some of the snakes are moving into residential areas that back up to the Everglades which is a hazard to domestic pets and small children.

A 15 foot snake can open it’s mouth 2 feet wide which is about the width of an adult male.  They are concerned, therefore, that the snakes in the Everglades could easily swallow an average person whole.  Some of the snakes are growing in excess of 25 feet - they fear some may grow as large as 40 feet which means they could be more then a formidable force to mere humans.

A firefighter in Florida who found a nine foot snake tried to catch it by coming up behind it to grab it around its head.  Well, he misjudged the distance and got the snake too far back behind it’s head.  The snake came around and bit him in the wrist.  Helpers managed, eventually, to pull the snake’s head back enough to release the man but not before it punctured his wrist in several places.  Snakes have teeth that slant back so that the more their prey struggles, the more it gets stuck in the teeth - sounds gruesome to me.

Pythons, according to the show, have a very nasty disposition.  They catch a 6 footer crossing the street going into someones yard so it is obviously a possibility that even larger snakes could be coming out of the Everglades.  My question is why would they come out when the Everglades is so ripe with food sources? According to the show, and this makes me shiver, neighborhoods offer more docile prey - they don’t have to work as hard to catch our dogs, cats and kids as they do an alligator. 

It did show a snake that swallowed an alligator whole but then burst open.  They believe it burst open not because the alligator was too big but more that the gator probably clawed the snake’s insides as it went down.  Gross, huh? 

Even though I find this all very interesting, you could not pay me to be a snake expert.  Working with them would be terrifying and not a way I’d want to spend my life.  I admire people who can take on this kind of stuff to study and catch.  They just found another one - 12 ft long - in a neighborhood by the Everglades.  I don’t think I’m going to go to the Glades anytime soon.  Actually, they said that so many people are letting loose their pet snakes when they get too big for their aquariums that pythons and other poisonous snakes are being found in all the lower, hotter states.  Sounds like a good reason to move to the mountains. 

No Country for Old Men

I saw this movie for the first time tonight.  I wanted to see it in the theater but just couldn’t coordinate a time to go with my work schedule.

This movie disturbed my sister more then it did me but I suppose I’m somewhat numb as to what people are capable of doing to each other.  The killer in it has no remorse, no conscience, no wavering in attacking and getting his prey.  He kills without mercy and always carries out his promises to kill someone even if the reason for killing them no longer exists.  It is rather sad to think such a person exists but I know that they do.  Killers don’t always kill for passion or out of anger - sometimes it is just something they want to do for whatever reason.

Tommy Lee Jones is in it and I have to say, I still think he is sexy as hell.  In it he comments that America is slowly breaking down - that there is no longer the structure and respect that existed back in the “old” days.  There is much wisdom in the movie and, like my sister remarked, it shows what one bad choice can lead to.  Had the man just reported what he had come across, there would have been no need to kill all the people who ended up dying.  But he saw what he thought was an opportunity to get rich quick and that no one would know.  It was the wrong choice.

Choices…each day we make easily a dozen choices - a lot of them without thinking about the possible consequences.  I know I’ve said this before - that people make some really stupid choices such as “I bet I can beat that train across the railroad tracks” without considering the possibility that if they can’t then that train will kill them.  It reminds me of the kid who was dared to jump across from one bridge to the next (8 feet).  The bridges were over a roller dam of death - I can’t remember anyone ever going over it and living.  Of course he didn’t consider what would happen if he didn’t make it to the other bridge…leaving his parents to plan his funeral.

But even other choices that aren’t quite as dire, still have long-term effects on our lives.  What we say and do today is what shapes our years to come.  Be safe people, make good choices, and remember, its a jungle out there.

Oh PLEASE!

At work last night we saw a short interview on CNN between Larry King and a man who insists his video of an alien visiting his house is real.  The man showed small clips of the video which had all of us in dispatch rolling on the floor.  Could it have been anymore lame??? And, by the way, why the hell was CNN, a NEWS channel, playing such shit? I think we need to find a new news channel to tune into at work lest we become dumbed down by the “news authority” CNN claims to be.

What irked me is that the alien looked like pictures of aliens first drawn in the 50’s for movies…something a child might draw and a bit “ET” looking.  How stupid does this man think we are? He even had “expert” witnesses on to prove he wasn’t a nut. 

I think we should give those people who first drew pictures of an alien with a rounder head, large eyes, small mouth and small body, a medal for being psychics and actually KNOWING what an alien looked like decades ago without ever having seen one.

Beam me up Scotty, there is no intelligent life down here!

The Heart Shaped Box

Finally finished this book by Joe Hill.  He is actually Stephen King’s son and is named “Joseph Hillard King” or something like that but he didn’t reveal that until after this book was published.

I did enjoy this book in the long run.  There were many times I thought the characters, given the circumstances they had already been through, continued to make stupid mistakes…however, working 911 has taught me that people are inherently stupid.  Even given all the right options, they will make the wrong choice anyway.

The story is about a rock star who had a bad childhood.  He is in his 50’s and pretty much played the field with women his whole life.  Of course he was rich so the women were willing to deal with his peculiar ways such as calling them by the state they came from rather then their names.

He decides to buy a ghost online and pays a $1000 for it.  The ghost ends up being the stepfather of one of the girls he had dumped.  The girl had, supposedly, committed suicide so the stepfather was bent on getting revenge on the main character.  Of course, things are not what they seem (duh) and the main character ends up in a battle for not only his life but the life of his current squeeze. 

It is entertaining and I would have finished it sooner had I not had to work so much.  Would I recommend it? Ah…I’m not so sure.  I guess I would to people who like ghost stories but not to the ones who want to stay grounded in reality.  It does, in the spirit of a King book, have some gross scenes that even I ended up skimming over because I didn’t want them in my head.

 

I would like to say…

I would like to say that, for whatever reason, the gnomes and goblins that come out at night always put marks on my glasses.  I went to bed with perfectly clean glasses last night but today, when I put them on, there are marks all over the lens.  Why do they do that

I don’t understand the purpose of marks on my glasses - maybe it is just criminal mischief or juvenile pranks.  As far as I know, I have not offended the little buggers in any way, shape or form.  OK, it’s been years since I’ve read “Where the Wild Things Are” but how can they really fault me for that? I haven’t read “The Giving Tree” in years either but the little tree in my room doesn’t seem to care.

The smudges aren’t really fingerprints either - more like wet noses pressed against the glass. 

The Killing Night

Ok, I finished this book, “The Killing Night” by Jonathon King (finally) last night.  I’m sorry to say, it just didn’t meet my standards for a good murder mystery.  The theory of the case was good - a murdering cop likes to kill young female bartenders after dating them for a few weeks.  He takes their bodies out to the Everglades for the animals to chow down on.  The main character, Max Freeman, is a former cop turned private investigator.  He takes on the case as a favor to a Lt that he use to have a relationship with.

Of course it isn’t the first cop that they go after - it is only logical that it wouldn’t be, otherwise the story wouldn’t be “tense”.  Uh, it wasn’t tense by any means anyway.  Honestly…I skipped about 50 pages and didn’t miss a thing.  The book could have been cut down 87 pages easily without detracting from the storyline.  Don’t bore me with side stories that have nothing to do with the main storyline…I don’t care about the other cases Max is working…they are unnecessary fluff.

Sorry Jonathon, I hate being so down on your book but it did kind of suck.  I don’t think I’ll be reading any more of your stuff and I can’t really recommend it to my friends. 

 

Abominable Night

I have gone back through the boxes to resort stuff and ended up emptying three of them. That stuff went out to the trash. I now have three big boxes & one small one to go in my trunk so far - the rest get mailed. I’m taking the heavy ones in my car so they don’t cost so much to send. I expect to have several more that go in the car with me…it’s going to be crowded.

I know I said I was going to leave some stuff in the condo since I was locking it up but I have decided it all goes. It was an unconscious decision really - I just started pitching stuff. I’m emptying it out so that it will be closer to being ready for renting. I am cleaning the carpets on Thursday. Of course, I may need to replace the carpets before I can rent it - which I will do this fall if I have to.

Might need to go get a pizza to eat - I’m hungry. I ate a salad for lunch. Pizza sounds really good. Have a few more things to do before I call it a night - like dishes and vacuuming.

Can I just mention, Lance Hendrickson sure does act in a lot of these sci-fi original movies. I think he is a good actor and am always pleased when he ends up being in one…though he almost always dies. He is about to die now in Abominable. Bummer.

Jack the Ripper Returns

Wouldn’t it be kind of cool to walk the actual streets where Jack the Ripper ran loose 120 years ago? See what he saw? Speculate on who he was and why they never found him?

Well, now you can. The 19th century killer is the topic of an exhibit in London that revisits the era and the crimes. A person can see the squalor of the time, how these women were destitute in horrible conditions left with prostitution as their only means of survival.

They also explain who the suspects were at the time of the killings though no one was actually charged in the crimes. The exhibition includes police records and a copy (I assume it is a copy anyway) of the letter Jack the Ripper sent to the central news agency.

There will also be guided walks down the street and a series of lectures on the different crimes and theories of who the madman was.

As serial killers rarely ever stop once they get started - it is amazing that they still haven’t solved the murders. In one of the many movies, they had Jack getting killed in an accident. If that is so, then which of their suspects - or who else in the area - died around the time the killings stopped? And did he really kill five prostitutes or eleven?

Well, folks, if you have the money and time to travel to London - the exhibit will be at the London Museum in Docklands from May 15 to November 2nd. Anyone want to go with me? Wish I could afford to go!

Snake Sunday

The Sci-Fi channel has decided, through it’s programming, that today is snake Sunday. They have played four snake movies back to back - some better then others but all entertaining. I’m taping them as well as watching them as I can.

I can say, without reservations, that I’m going to be snake paranoid for the next couple of days. It is amazing the things snakes can get into. I realize, of course, that they are only movies…all way too far-fetched to ever happen…but still. I’m not a huge snake fan - I pretty much prefer the crocodile or other monsters over the snakes but will watch what Sci-Fi has on.

Tonight at 9pm, they switch from snakes to ants. I have a new disc ready for the ant movie - this one will be full at the end of this current movie. I do so enjoy these “b” sci-fi movies - they are so much more entertaining then the ones at the theaters. No, the graphics aren’t near as good - which is why I go to the movies now and then - but you have to admit, movies like “Jaws” were scary in their day. These “b” movies use the same effects as the older monster movies which is nostalgic for an old coot like me.