OK, who among us thinks the Utah police will find Susan alive? Who also believes the husband is innocent in the possible murder? Who would agree that his alibi is the strangest one we have heard in a long time?

I wish Susan would be found alive but I don’t think that wish is going to be fulfilled.  I expect she was killed the day she went missing by her husband because it seems most women who go missing are dispatched to the heavens by their “loving” spouses.  Who takes their small children out camping on a freezing night and doesn’t leave for camping until after midnight? It doesn’t happen – couldn’t the husband come up with a better alibi than that?

I know I’m a skeptic but I do believe he is guilty of her death – whether he meant to kill her or if it was accidental – he is still guilty of something.  As I said, this is my opinion based on past cases I have read.  I could be way off but history dictates that I probably am correct.  I hope they find her body, her family deserves to be able to see that she is properly buried. 

Susan looks like such a cheerful, sunny person in her photos.  I don’t understand how someone can kill the mother or father of their children – the person they married and promised to love forever.  What, were they thinking about divorce and he didn’t want to pay child support or alimony?  Was she considering leaving him? Did she have a big insurance policy? Is there another woman or man?

I know most of these questions will be answered in the coming weeks.  I do hope her body is found very soon.  I really would love to see her found alive but as well all know from the cop shows (Cops, 48 Mystery, etc) that if they aren’t found in the first 48 hours, it is likely she is dead.  My thoughts are with the families.

Today started off very busy but it seems to be winding down as the end of day shift looms near.  Evening shift will come on at 3pm – no doubt rested and rearing to go.  I hope they are because that will make the last four hours go by faster.

Tonight is going to be a good night – I can feel it.  I’m going to go home, relax, maybe clean a little, spend time with the animals, watch some tv and try to write.  I would say maybe drink a beer but I drank my last Corona Lite last night so doubtful.  I do have two Busch Lite but don’t really care for the taste…sorry all you Busch fans.

If this storm hits us that they are predicting will, driving in tomorrow is going to be a bitch.  I HATE winter driving – hate my wheels slipping on the ice, hate not having traction.  I bought new tires for the front last month – hope they work better than the old ones.   The only two major things I have against winter is the road conditions and my feet getting cold.  Boy, a beach in FL sounds really nice…

A children’s dictionary is meant to be something that encourages children to continue learning their entire lives.  If they learn how to look stuff up in it then they will be able to looks stuff up in the adult books as they get older.  It should inspire them and leave them asking for more.

However, dictionaries space is limited so what has to go to make room for the new computer slang and computer-related items that a child might want to know? According to the Oxford Junior Dictionary, there are more than 30 nature words that can be eliminated that children surely will never miss – words like “otter,” “wren,” “acorn” and “beaver” to name a few.  In these words place, one can find what an “MP3″ player does or what it means to “cut and paste” onto their very own “blog.”

Is this a wise move? Who knows.  Children rarely spend time in the outdoors anymore – they don’t go “outside” to play but rather stay indoors to watch tv or play internet games.  If this trend continues, what is the harm in removing nature from the little darlings’ dictionaries?

According to a Cambridge University study by two zoologists, the omission of words that describe nature further broadens the disconnection between children and the natural world.  I guess if they can’t experience nature through reading then they will be more apt to sign valuable parcels of protected lands to outsiders.  If kids don’t connect, then they don’t learn to care or respect the world around them which is the trend we are seeing in our teens today.

Let’s keep the words in there and add a few others – dictionaries should not have words that can be taken out.  No word has an expireation date like bread and milk.  The words don’t spoil.  Let’s not so openly contribute to the dumbing down of America.

When I tuned in at the beginning of 4th quarter, we were behind by ten points against the Indiana Hoosiers.  Within minutes we were up 35-24.  The team is amazing!  Three touchdowns one right after another!  Seriously, it was totally amazing to watch!

I don’t know where we rank in the Big Ten standings but we have to be close to #1 if not #1.  We are undefeated this season so far! I hope they keep it up and keep the lead today, we have the ball again.

It was a long night to say the least.  The Hawkeyes won by the skin of their teeth – it was nerve-wracking right up till the last second when they won with a touchdown.  What a great victory! For the first time in school history, the Hawkeyes are 8-0 this far into the season.  We won against the Cornhuskers in their stadium for the first time in 30 years – it was a fantastic high for the players.

Of course the students were downtown and we could hear the collective scream as the touchdown was made.  Everyone was thrilled and poured out into the street to jump up and down & let off a few fireworks.  Then they all proceeded to get drunk and be silly.  People wanted to know what time the team was coming home so they could meet the bus to applaud – of course, we had no idea – not like they consult us.  I assume they’ll be coming in sometime today.

Got home and took the dogs on a mile long walk hoping to wear them out.  They don’t seem to be tired though…the little shits.

Anyway, I’m heading for bed here shortly.  Really should stay up and do some cleaning but I’m just too worn out from last night.

UPDATE: Here is a picture of python recently caught in Florida.  This baby is HUGE! According to scientist, another breed of snake has also been released into the Everglades, the African Rock Snake which is a very aggressive species.  The government and scientists are afraid the two snakes, which have been known to breed in captivity, might breed in the wild producing a particularly aggressive and deadly snake capable of reaching phenominal lengths.

The rock python “is mean right out of the egg, and they don’t ever tame down,” says Kenneth Krysko, a senior biologist at the Florida Museum of Natural History.

There is now an estimated 30,000+ pythons in the Everglades.  Officials have recently captured 5 African Rock Snakes in the area around the Everglades.  Eight pythons were captured in the Florida Keys causing Marathon Key to start a Python Patrol – outdoor workers such as utility people were trained on how to detect and capture the snakes as they go about their daily business.

Two pythons that were killed by officials recently had five foot aligators in their stomachs.  The situation is becoming more grim as autopsied snakes reveal meals of endangered species who have no way to defend themselves against the hungry python.

Original post from 4/22/09:

People get baby pythons for pets without realizing that the cute little guys will become six foot or larger snakes in about a year’s time. Rather than have the snakes put to sleep, the owners are releasing them into the refuge of the Everglades and warmer states.

These well meaning but stupid people do not realize that our ecology was not set up for pythons. Our Everglades are home to several species that are on the protected list and near extinction. These species have no defense against the pythons that can grow into an awesome 26 foot eating machine in short order. They are even attacking and killing the alligators though they get a fatal case of indigestion if they swallow one.

Ecologists estimate there are approximately 30,000 pythons in the Everglades at this point – each one capable of laying 100 eggs.

A python over six feet is capable of killing a human and one over 20 feet can actually swallow a human whole. Ha, you thought “Anaconda” was just a movie, didn’t you?

So far the park service has captured 154 pythons this year. Reports are that the pythons are beginning to migrate north and, if left unchecked, will take over the Florida ecosystem.

Arizona is also having the same problem with pythons and actually are seeing alligators in the Colorado River where it runs through the canyons. People are releasing these pets into the wild and because the state is so arid and dry, the reptiles are thriving.

Seriously folks, do we have to ruin everything we touch? If you don’t want your eight foot python anymore, do the right thing for all the other animals in the world (including humans) and have it put to sleep. Nature is having a hard enough time trying to recover from our continual raping of her resources – she can’t be expected to combat species that were never meant to invade the area too. Common sense, people.

I know I harp on this a lot but it infuriates to the point of rage when people think they have a right to poach animals off refuges or anywhere.  This kind of thing needs to stop NOW before all our endangered species are no longer endangered but have moved to the “extinct” category.   This video brought tears to my eyes.  That poor tiger might lose it’s paw because of this.

Here is part of the article at the WWF website:

The Tiger was freed from the snare early Sunday morning by the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan) officers who were called to the scene. The Tiger is being treated by Perhilitan at the Malacca Zoo and vets are hopeful that they might not need to amputate the animal’s leg.

Perhilitan Perak Director Shabrina Mohd Shariff said investigations into the case were ongoing and that initial information showed the suspected poachers were from Kelantan.

The rescue should set alarm bells ringing for the remaining wild Tigers in the Belum-Temengor forests, one of the last strongholds for this species, said a WWF Malaysia and TRAFFIC joint press statement.

Research carried out in the area by both groups has indicated that the rescued Tiger is very likely just one of many that have been poached in the area.  Illegal hunting in the Belum-Temengor area is rampant and the demand for tigers continues to drive criminals into the forest to kill the remaining ones.

The Belum-Temengor forest complex is one of three priority areas identified in Malaysia’s National Tiger Action Plan. It is also part of an area of global priority for Tiger conservation. Yet it is highly vulnerable to encroachment and poaching for several reasons.

The area lies close to the porous Malaysia-Thai border and is easily accessible because of the 80 km long Gerik-Jeli highway that cuts across the landscape, providing hundreds of easy entry points for poachers.

Apart from the Perhilitan-WPU joint patrols, neither the vast and wildlife-rich area, nor the highway is systematically or thoroughly patrolled, making it an open target for poachers.

In August, a Thai national was caught by the police with pangolin scales and agarwood in the forested near the highway. He was one of 10 poachers arrested in the area over the last nine months. In that time also, Perhilitan, Police and the WPU removed 101 snares from the area.

“This incident clearly demonstrates the need for a stronger enforcement presence in the Belum-Temengor area. If this isn’t enough of a clarion call for the government to afford more resources to form an anti-poaching Task Force, I don’t know what is,” he added.

Once again I find myself outraged over the sensless death of a beautiful creature by stupid men who think gaffing a shark from the safety of their boat is somehow “sport.” Sport would be getting in the water to gaff the shark – not safely hunting it from above. I think the quote from Jamie Bunn, Blue Water Movements, Inc, exemplifies how these buffoons regard life “We might as well gaff this thing, someones going to die today.”

The mako shark they gaffed all in the name of fun – I suppose they weren’t having any luck fishing and didn’t want to go home empty-handed – was a female so they irresponsibly wiped out future generations of this beautiful shark. These kind of fishermen are, in my opinion, the worse because they simply don’t care about how their actions affect the environment. They find sport in killing things, whatever it would be. Their attitude and immature stance, like so many other “sport” fishermen, contribute to putting animals of all kinds on the endangered species list.

Maybe next time they are swimming in the water, it will suddenly occur to them that there could be a shark swimming by thinking “Ah, a human.  Might as well kill it since someone needs to die today.  It won’t go to waste, whatever I don’t eat I’ll give to my other scavenger friends.”  Karma is a bitch.

I have included a little information about the Mako.  I am disappointed that the Florida Wildlife Conservation office advised what these men did is LEGAL – albiet not ethical in my opinion.

The world’s affinity for shark fin soup and the flesh of the shortfin mako has lead to a decrease in population numbers. Worldwide, the shortfin mako is not only subject to overharvesting by direct hunting, they are also often by-catch victims of the tuna and swordfish fishing industries. As a result, the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has included the shortfin mako on their list of “managed” pelagic sharks. The NMFS has reduced the number of commercial and recreational shortfin mako catches allowed per year by 50% in an attempt to counter act its declining numbers. However, the NMFS regulations apply only to the United State’s Atlantic and Gulf waters. Also hastening their population decrease is their slow reproductive rate.

The shortfin mako is listed as Lower Risk/near threatened (LR/nt) on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species – provided by Marinebio.org

Well, they found Annie Le’s body and I was right – she never left the lab.  I told my coworker I bet they’d find her body in there somewhere – a false ceiling or sub-floor kind of thing.  It ended up being in a wall that housed conduit between floors but I just had a feeling she was there somewhere.

For one thing, with all those cameras around and throughout the building, if she had left – even forcibly – something would have shown up on one of them.  If someone snuck her out, they still would have had to put her in something big enough to carry her which would have been on the cameras and therefore suspicious.

What kind of sick individual kills someone and stuffs them in a wall? Plus, a key card was needed to get into the lab so finding a suspect shouldn’t be that hard, should it? Of course, when the fire alarm went off she might have started out of her office and someone forced her back in but again, that would show up in the key card file.

Yes, she could have let someone in – I know our security system shows every time the door is opened, even from the inside going out – so somehow this would show up as well.  We know she didn’t stuff herself in the wall so who else had access? Who else logged into that bldg? What visitors had received passes?

Plus, why was she killed? We won’t have an autopsy report right away to know if she was sexually molested – if not, then this had to be someone jealous of her in some fashion.  It also had to be someone familiar enough with the lab to know the spot was there to stuff her in.  It seems like a crime of passion to me – whether hate, jealousy, love, anger, whatever – it doesn’t seem premeditated because one; it was a very public place and two; who plans to kill someone in the middle of the day? Not many people.  Plus they wouldn’t do it in a place where disposal of a body is so limited.  Granted it took the police six days to find it but find it they did.

My heart goes out to her folks and family.  What a horrible thing to have to face when they were so ready to celebrate her wedding.

I got off at 3am but sat around visiting with my replacement until 4am.  Came home and walked the dogs – wrote a post and just glanced at the clock at it is already 5:30 am…where did the time go?  I just don’t know.  I should be asleep but here I am wide awake.  I have hiccups – why, I don’t know.

I do plan on going to bed here pretty quickly because my eyes are starting to burn from being tired.  The movie I want to see is shortly after 4pm so will consider doing that.  My son is off tomorrow but I expect he will want to spend time with his new girl, Beth.  She isn’t officially his girlfriend yet but I’m sure that is how it will go – in fact, I have a very good feeling about this one…I think she might be “the one” – they have known each other most of their lives so that is a big plus.  Of course I’m way jumping the gun because they just barely started seeing if they were compatible enough to date but I can’t help it.  They are the same age and both are at a place in their lives where they are thinking about family and children so who knows?

There seems to be a lot on my mind this morning.  I spent quite a lot of time earlier looking for a hotel around the Omaha zoo.  I was thinking I might go over there and spend the night one night – I would like to see the zoo.  I would like to go to the Minneapolis one again too but doubt I’ll get up there anytime soon.  Not sure about hotels, there seem to be a lot around the zoo area but most have low recommendations from others who have stayed there which makes me hesitant to consider it.  It also seems like a long way to drive to see a zoo…I wish we had a big one close by.  But if I made it an overnight thing than it would be a mini-vacation which would be nice.  I was looking for one that allowed dogs too though I don’t know what they would be like if  they were stuck in the hotel room all day.  I know they can’t go to the zoo.

I thought about going elsewhere – I would like to do the Wisconsin/Michigan loop but it would take at least two nights to do it and cost a lot more money.  I have wanted to do that all year – every since one of my coworker’s told me about it this past winter.  The fall would be a great time to go because the trees would be pretty awesome but I don’t know if I will get to do it this year.  I have a week long class next month and a one day class in November to go to…would have to schedule stuff around those.  I wouldn’t go past the middle of October though – wouldn’t want to risk bad weather plus the leaves would probably all be on the ground by then.

Usually it is getting light around this time…when do we turn clocks back again? Oh…we did that already didn’t we? Can never keep it in my brain – it is a good thing my sister reminds me each time or I’d totally blow it off.  Oh, I had soup at Panera earlier – it was quite good.  I wonder what soup the one in the mall will have tomorrow…or if they even serve soup there.

I will be going to the mall to go to a movie if I go – the movie is only at that theater.  The movie was number 3 at the box office this week – I’m not sure if that is good or not but I think it looks cute – I like Sandra Bullock.

Larry King Live had the interview with Denise’s husband on tonight.  It made me cry.  I was very grateful that he mentioned in there that he knew we did all we could do at the SSO.  I was afraid he blamed us for not being able to save his wife but he didn’t.  Seeing pictures of her with her children – it was so sad.  He said they are assuming that he picked her out while she was out on the back porch trimming the children’s hair – but of course they will never know for sure unless Michael King explains his actions which doesn’t seem likely.  Maybe on his deathbed but I doubt it.

Hope everyone has a great Wednesday!