Just a bunch of nuthin'

I've just thought of two really bizarre and random things to write about. The first one is the explosion that almost tore our brand new house down two weeks after we moved in. You can see the video here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJVOUgCm5Jk&feature=related

Scott was at work and we only had Sara and Jeff then. It was May4,1988. I had invited the neighbor kids over to meet and play with my kids and ordered pizza. They were sitting at the little plastic picnic table outside our front door and I was video taping them. Everyone was having a jolly good time when we heard the first *pop*. I thought it was a jet breaking the sound barrier and was trying to explain that to the kids when then next big blast hit. Glass from one of our windows was raining down and kids scattered everywhere. The neighbor kids took off like they had been shot out of a canon and my kids were crying because Sara's bug jar had been knocked off the picnic table and shattered. I was trying to figure out what was going on when I noticed my almost two-year old son standing on a chair in the dining room looking out the window. I looked out the window to see what he was staring at and saw this huge, ugly, black and yellowish cloud in the distance. Even though we live close to the airport and have planes flying by constantly, I knew it wasn't a plane crash. Not sure how I knew that, I just did. There was a titanium plant a few miles away and that was the only thing I could think of that may be on fire. At that time there was nothing between the fire and our house but the wall in our backyard and the desert. I wasn't sure what was really manufactured at that plant, and the color of the cloud really scared me so I quickly decided to get my kids in the car and get as far away from that cloud as possible. I thought it may be toxic and I was afraid. As I'm picking Jeff up off the chair I look out and see the strangest thing...the earth was rolling like the ocean and it was heading towards us. I grabbed Jeff, turned around and barely got Sara up in my arms when the shock wave hit. I've never heard anything like that in my life and I hope to never hear it again. It pushed me, holding two kids out the front door. Good thing the door was open or we would have really been hurt. All I could feel was this hot wind at my back, with dirt and glass swirling all around us. I held on to my kids and somehow made it to our car. As I'm strapping in two hysterical children, I'm trying to be calm, check them for injuries and wonder if I'm a widow. Scott's office was very close to where this plant was in Henderson. I just knew he had to be dead. As I'm driving out of our sub-division I notice that every single garage door is buckled in...windows are broken, car alarms and home security alarms are going off everywhere. I'm terrified and I'm trying so hard to keep it together for my kids. I knew the phone lines would be down but Scott's pager service was in Vegas and I thought that would be the only way to get a message to him if he was still alive. I had to drive to two different places before I found a pay phone that worked. I told him I was taking the kids to his father's law office and to please call me there. My sister-in-law met me as I drove up and helped me get the kids inside. Sara had one small cut on her head and Jeff had one on his leg. I was wearing a dress and the back looked as if Freddie Kruger or Edward Scissorhands had given me a little back massage. My back was bloody and there was glass in my hair. Nothing major. Scott called and I fell apart. I couldn't believe he survived that horrible blast.
Well, I sent my kids to stay with my parents while the house was being put back together. Every window was broken, huge shards of glass were embedded in the walls, the banister was destroyed by flying glass. The dining table and chairs were ruined by the glass. Our back door was dead bolted and it was pulled off the wall. I didn't even want the house anymore. We hadn't even made our first house payment!!!!! So, for almost an entire year after the explosion we had someone here every single day fixing something. Funny thing, half the doors in this house still won't close.

Weird bizzaro thing #2.

A doctor convicted of murdering his wife performed surgery on Jeff when he was little. Can I pick em or what?
Jeff had been playing out in the back yard when a kid threw a stick over the wall. Of course it had to hit poor little Jeff in the face, right under his eye (thank God). It was hard for me to tell exactly how bad it really was because he was crying and it was bleeding quite a bit, so I jumped in the car and drove him to his dad's office. Scott took one look at it and said he didn't want to mess with it....too deep and jagged. The ER doc didn't want to do it either so that meant we had to pack up and go to another hospital where they had a plastic surgeon on call.
He was a weird guy...nice but just creepy. I personally thought he was making a huge deal out of a laceration but hey, I'm no doc so what do I know? He did a beautiful job sewing Jeff's little face up and I was supposed to take him back for 6 post op visits. WHHHAAA???? Geez dude, I'm a nurse and his daddy is a doctor, I think we know how to spot the signs of infection. But no, I was supposed to take him in. It was after the second visit that I think I figured out that this guy was just too weird for me. He not only offered me a job, but offered to give me a free surgery if I wanted one. Yeah, well, thanks but no thanks. I didn't take Jeff back after that and it wasn't long before he was accused, tried and convicted of murdering his wife in New York and throwing her body in the Atlantic ocean. read this:

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/k/katz-bierenbaum_gail.html

Yeah, I got the Mother of the Year award for that one. But seriously, he did an amazing job sewing up my baby's face. Gotta give the guy credit for that.

Umm...let's see....oh, I got to go to Caesar's Palace and take blood from Frank Sinatra. He was a complete and total ass...and he even tried to cop a feel. I kid you not. Dirty old man. I was a young, sweet thing and he pretended to want a closer look at the necklace I was wearing. Let's just say his hand scooted clear across my chest before he actually touched the necklace. Creepazoid.


So much for old stories. The past seven days have been so weird. I quit two of my jobs and started working in the Department of Genetics. I am very overwhelmed right now, but I am so happy. More about that later. I'm tired and the weenie dogs are wanting to go to bed too.