You are getting sleeeeeeeeppy.....

Last night was Carl's Home Depot Christmas party. They held it outside the store this year, at The Summit in Canton. Very nice place! They had a buffet dinner for all the guests, and prize drawings for things like a Wii, flat screen TV, xbox 360 and other cool stuff. Of course we didn't win any of it cause that is our luck, but that is alright.

So, the highlight of the evening, in everyone's opinion I am sure, other then the winners of all the cool stuff, was the entertainment. The company hired a hypnotist.

Ah the power of suggestion. It's a huge thing isn't it? Well, combine that with pure relaxation and you don't have anything more entertaining! Because really, that is all that hypnosis is I found out. In the beginning he had us all do a group exercise where we relaxed our entire bodies. I have done this before and I love doing it! So I was at a total blank, no worries, no stress, no anything. He had us memorize 25 things in sequential order. Took only a minute, but I can remember them still this morning. So, then he brings us back out of the relaxation and looks for volunteers to help him with the rest of the show. I had already told Carl that I would be volunteering, so up my hand shot.

He started with another gal first and poof, out she went, all slumped over in her chair. And I STILL wanted to do it! ha ha So, then he comes over to me. Now, remember, this is in a swanky banquet room, with almost every Canton Home Depot employee and their spouse/significant other. So here he comes up, talks to me for a second, and then places his hand on my forehead. Boom, there goes Chris! I can remember all of it now this morning and it is just hilarious. I have a feeling that it must be like getting drunk. I was doing ridiculous things, I knew I was doing them, I could hear everyone laughing at me, and at times, I laughed as well, yet I had no inclination to stop. I was totally free of all embarrassment!

So. there were 10 of us I believe in the grand finale at the front of the room. During the show I drove my car to the beach as my teenage self, put suntan lotion on my neighbors back while my other neighbor put it on my butt, fended off bees, put poo on my face danced like a ballerina and danced to an Elvis song. There were other things a well, like when I got "pulled over" by a policeman and was asked why I was speeding. My answer? "Eric was talking to loud." Yep...By the way, Eric was a fabulous friend I had in highschool. Just in case you were wondering who he was like the people at our table did. ha ha, I guess they were hoping for some secret lover to surface!!

So, I did leave having had an experience, which is why I wanted to go to the party in the first place. So, my parting words...Hypnosis is real, so make sure you go under with a reputable hypnotist! Oh, an don't go into a hypnotic stupor in a puddle of spilled drink on the floor like I did. Then it just makes you look like you were too relaxed...

Update on Dad's trip

My dad made it back to the grand old state of Idaho this week. He had a fabulous trip and says he was interviewed, filmed and had snapshots taken for 2 straight days. It's like he's a movie star! They are having a "Movie Night" on the 18th of this month to preview the film my father will be in. In fact, he will not only be in it, but narrating it it seems, so that is pretty fabulous. They are putting it out as "a never before seen preview of personal narration of the process by one of the actual men who were there at the time, working on the unknown." Very cool!

Alex's Christmas Program

'Tis the season for holiday programs. Alex's school had their show last night and it was awesome! All of the kids did very well and sang in nice loud voices. The show started at 7, but by 6:45 when all the kids were supposed to come, there was standing room only! They must have been letting people in at 6 for the amount of families that were there. All in all though, it was a success. I did think it was funny that they sang "Away in a Manger", a song about the baby Jesus, and felt compleled to change the line "the stars in the heavens" to "the stars in the sky". They can sing about Jesus, but not Heaven? ha ha, Whatever! So, here are some photos and two of the four songs he sang. I really wish Carl would have gotten his last performance. His facial expressions were just killing me!!

C-O-N-spiracy

When my parents were first married, my father worked at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory, which was a nuclear reactor located in Southern California. Over it's history, it is said to have has at least 9 "nuclear accidents". In 1959, when my father was there, it had a partial meltdown.

You've heard of 3 Mile Island right? This meltdown created an estimated 250 times the radiation. So why haven't you heard of this before? Well, that is the question.

This has been a story that I have known since I was small. My father helped with the cleanup there, wearing nothing more than his street clothes, a cotton jumper, and his boots. The Secret to absorbing all the spilled waste? Kotex pads...seriously! They actually removed the melted core by hand, looking down directly into the reactor! This whole incident became classified and there was no public notification. Here is where my Dad comes in. Being the smart and insane young man he was, took a camera into the site and took pictures! He has carried around proof of this reactor and it's secrets for the past 50 years. Here is part of the story in his own words:

"If you want to fine information on the Web on the reactor that I worked at in 1959.... look under SSFL, SRE Sodium filled Reactor, Santa Susana Field Lab.,  1959 SRE Reator Melt down,  Santa Susana Field Lab. area 4.  Just remember I worked at the SRE Reactor, in Area 4, in the Santa Susana Mountains for Atomics International / Rocketdyne.

All this was happening when mom I were engaged to get married and a short time after we were married in 1959.  It was top secret what I was doing at the time and could not talk about it to the public or even mom.  She had no idea really what I was doing at the time she knew I worked for Atomics International and had a good paying job, and worked at Atomic reactor as an assistant Operator.  She knew I was doing some clean- up with Kotex for a sponge and had a lot of safety pins from them in my glove box in my car. She did not know how bad the danger that I was in at the time I worked there.

We were young at the time and did not think to much about it....the main thing I was making good money at the time... we had a new house and we were married and on our own.

She did notice when I came home with holes in my cloths from cutting out hot spots of radiation in my cloths and soles of my shoes.  she knew the reactor had problems and we were trying to repair it.

Then we never thought about the fact that mom having 5 miscarriages in 7 years could be the cause of working at the Reactor.  Just young and did not think about it....and I could not talk about it to the Doctors anyway at that time...it was top secret during the Korean War time.  the Government was over seeing the project we were working on.  the Government was using the uranium from the Fuel Rods for Atomic Weapons.  There was a hot lab also in the building that messed with that sort of thing.  It was quite an operation.

I worked there 9 Mo. before I was layed off.  It was a month after were were married... "

Here is a film about the reactor. My Dad says "I am in a lot of these clips. It would be hard for you to recognize me, I was 20 years old at that time. There is two scenes that you maybe able to find me.....they show in a scene helping to turn a large round spoke wheel (looks like a wagon wheel) I am in the upper left corner leaning over pushing. The other is where I am down in a hole bent over painting with a paint brush. The hole I was in was highly contaminated it was right next to the reactor core. In the hole was the new pump that was replaced. This pump is what caused the reactor to heat up and caused the melt down when the old one had leaky seals."

This is a shot of him looking down into the rector to remove the melted core pieces. Note his hat. It says "Your safety is our business, Atomics International."

Aerospace Cancer Museum of Education

Tomorrow, my Father is being flown out to LA to become a part of a museum that has been created to bring awareness to this and other reactor plants and their misconduct. He will be meeting with a member of the EPA and the DTSC (the Dept. of Toxic Substance Control. Can I just tell you how proud I am of him! He has worked a long time trying to get someone to listen to his story, and he has finally been heard. I wish you all the luck in the world Dad!!