Exotic Animal Tragedy

"A total of 49 wild animals were gunned down by police with pistols and high-powered rifles after escaping from a private preserve in Zanesville, Ohio Tuesday. The animals were moving into nearby neighborhoods, forcing residents of the town of 25,000 to stay indoors." - ABC news.

They didn't really escape, the man who ran the private zoo released them then took his own life. I feel sick from this story and felt the need to tell others about it. There is no blame to be put on the officers who shot the animals, they had no other options. The majority of the 56 animals released from the zoo were very dangerous --- literally lions, tigers and bears. The blame is to be put on the government that has some of the most lax laws in the country regarding exotic animals. I do not believe it should be legal for a private person or organization to own exotic animals. Sometimes I even have issues with small to medium sizezd zoos where the exhibits do not seem large, interesting or authentic enough.

Below is the ABC news clip that I watched as soon as I got to the internet this morning (I heard about this story on The Bear on my drive into work).

My Big News

As some of you already know, I have some  big news to share with you. Over the holidays, Dave proposed to me. It was perfect and amazing and I of course said yes. The story, since I have been asked so many times, goes like this:

On Thursday, December 30, 2010 Dave and I went to Upper Canada Village in Morrisburg to take night photos of the Alight at Night Festival. During our 2-3 hours there we walked around and took many photos of the night lights and even had fresh gingerbread, so yummy. We then got back to our car where Dave brought out the hot chocolate he had made for us and snuck in our thermos. We then drove back to Ottawa listening to the Glee soundtrack that he had so nicely downloaded and put on his new Google phone. When we got back to town he drove us towards downtown and I thought he was driving us to Parliament Hill as I had also wanted to take photos of the lights on the Parliament buildings. Instead he turned onto Sussex and parked overlooking the Ottawa River. He had music playing on his phone and had packed blankets and pillows for sitting in the back of the car - it was very nice. The evening was great and because it was so cold (it is Winter in Ottawa), the ring actually fit me.
It is now at the jewellery store being resized as even though Dave took his iron ring as a reference, it was still too small (only be about one size though). His iron ring fits my right hand but not my left unfortunately.
I am very happy and looking forward to all the planning and organization that is involved in getting a wedding set up. But first things first, Dave and I are still planning on getting a house this Spring.

10/10/10 10:10

Make a grand wish!

A few interesting 10/10/10 events and facts:
- 101010 is 42 in binary code;
- Slang for a person who spends too much time on the computer;
- Global Day of Doing;
- Global Work Party;
- A Family Celebration for Women & Babies Hospital;
- lots of weddings will be occurring today;
- many bloggers and photographers are encouraging people to commemorate this day with a photo;
- Hooha Fun Run; and the final fact/event is:
- Nothing significant appears to have happened during the year 1010 or 10.

To celebrate I will be having Thanksgiving lunch/dinner with Dave's extended family. You?

Three Amigos

The leaders of the North American countries met in Mexico for what is called a Little Summit. They discussed issues pertaining to our continents and the countries on a whole. On the agenda are issues such as the 'Buy American' provision set out by Obama, the immigration regulations for Mexicans instated by Harper and general concerns and plans for the economy and violence. According to CNN, the themes of the summit are: one, economic recovery and competitiveness; two, citizen safety and security; and three, clean energy and climate change. There are no major announcements expected, and CBC has claimed that, for Canada, it is really just important to get some face time with our neighbour.