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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: September 25th, 2023

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  • That was part we were confused by! I literally asked my coworkers before I called the cops if this was some sort of prank they were playing on me because no one else had access to the area and it just seemed like something out of a cheesy mystery novel. When the police opened the bag and it was just clothes I was so relieved, but the roll being inside was weird. Like someone either had another roll of tape for the outside, or they preeemtively cut a length off before putting the roll inside. Who knows. I wonder if I’ll ever get a call about it, but suppose no news is good news.


  • The circumstances it was found in were a little different than OPs, like I said the bag appeared overnight. And on private property where there was no road access. Little bit suspicious for a heavy suitcase to wind up in a place like that. The detective agreed. Police aren’t just there to make traffic stops. He said there were a few unsolved missing persons cases that police had searched the nearby area for on account of their circumstances. In one case, a wife went missing, and her husband was spotted circling the roads nearby for hours the night she went missing but her body was never found.

    I just kept my story brief because I didn’t think anyone would be interested. But there was absolutely reason to think it could amount to something. And all I’m saying is if I get murdered, I hope the local cops I initially called aren’t on the job cause those guys acted like they wanted to be sitting in their car eating donuts.


  • A similar situation happened to me! DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING Call the non emergency number! If they are annoyed that they came out and it winds up being garbage, who cares? At least you didn’t ignore something potentially very important.

    In my case, it was a suitcase that had duct tape around it. That showed up overnight. I called local cops first that sent guys out that seemed bored, honestly. And my heart was racing as I answered questions. When they opened the bag, it had ripped clothes and a half used roll of duct tape. The local PD literally said “well, we don’t have a crime we can match this to.” They started to leave without the bag and I was confused why they wouldn’t at least take it for evidence? I have watched too many episodes of CSI, cold case etc and was freaking out. They left. I guess they just want to make money on traffic stops.

    I couldn’t leave the situation there, and a friend knew someone in the State Police. After a few phone calls I got in touch with a detective. Who was very confused that the local cops had handled the situation like that. He arrived and took the bag into evidence and got my information. As far as I know, nothing ever came of it.




  • The Devil in the White City - would love to see the Chicago Worlds Fair brought to life in all it’s splendor, and to be directly contrasted with the horror that was HH Holmes murder castle. The book brought that history to life so vividly, and I feel like mini series with great casting would do incredibly well.

    The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle - mysteries and whodunnits are popular again (thank god) and this one has such an interesting premise. When I first read it I was convinced it would be a great video game. But a movie would also be a hit.

    Something Wicked this way Comes - not sure if this has ever been adapted, but I’ve never seen it. The book is so atmospheric and has such a rich cast of characters. We haven’t had a movie that really celebrates the moodiness of autumn in a while.


  • The Blue Grotto in Capri, or maybe some of the less famous grottos on the Mediterranean Coast. There is something so terrifying about being surrounded by rock formations, I’m not typically a claustrophobic person, but felt a visceral fear of being under that much rock with waves moving in and out of the cave. And yet the grotto is gorgeous because of the reflection of the light. The endless dark of the cave is lit by the most brilliant blue of the water.

    I like to imagine the person who first discovers something like that, having to overcome the fear of the unknown and be rewarded with the best mother nature has to offer.


  • Yes, that’s why I didn’t want to rip and tear everything out the first year. Unfortunately, the previous owner of my home allowed a lot of very invasive things to grow like the Japanese Honeysuckle and tree of heaven. There is also pokeweed, which is native to the Southern US but is a nightmare plant that the Spotted Lantern Flies (another invasive killing trees) absolutely love so I have to dig those out.

    My previous post made it sound like I am removing everything that isn’t hyper local, but I don’t have the time or energy for that. Would just settle for the aggressive things to finally die.




  • I’ve spent the past few summers desperately trying to claw my lawn back from invasives. When we first bought our house I didn’t want to remove anything until after a year to see what everything was, because I knew nothing about plants. I planted some natives in bare locations, but didn’t realize just how crazy some of the vines and invasive species would be in claiming space.

    I have an app on my phone for identifying plants. A few years ago, every ID said invasive from Asia or Europe. I cannot tell you how satisfying it is to see some native grasses and wildflowers finally taking hold in the areas that used to be Japanese Honeysuckle or pokeweed. But it was backbreaking, miserable work and I commend anyone who is fighting this fight.


  • Time helps. I am not a teacher, but I coach.

    I feel like I wanted to be loved by my athletes or completely ignored by them when I started coaching. I didn’t want anyone to dislike or doubt my abilities in any way. I went above and beyond to plan practices and be as legitimate as possible as a young coach close (enough) in age to the athletes. I needed firmly establish that I was an authority in the field and worth taking advice from.

    I’ll be honest, some of my interactions with athletes during covid broke me. We went remote when facilities and the world shut down. Which meant trying to run fitness classes over zoom for whoever still wanted them. When we returned to in person practice, the athletes just came back cynical and critical (the entire world was just proven to be a shit show, so I understand where they are coming from). I felt like I had to justify my strategy every few weeks, of they did not see immediate results, they just questioned the value in coming to practice.

    It took time to build up a reputation with my athletes again. All i could do was continue to do the best job possible and trust my knowledge. We just celebrated having our first Olympian alumni, so things are going well! But not everyone has that same successful result, and want to blame someone for that. Some people will always think they are the smartest person in the room, and you can’t change their way of thinking.

    For those 5% of negative reviews, the best case scenario is that you did the best possible job you could. And in a few years, they self reflect and think about how critical they were of you when it really wasn’t anything. Worst case scenario, they tell the story of their instructor, who was in some way incompetent, and everyone just smiles, nods, and gets on with their lives. The otherwise overwhelmingly positive reviews show us that you are preparing your students for whatever the next step is. Some students might not see the value of your work immediately, or 2 years down the road, or ever. Just because they can not see the value in your work does not mean the value was not their.