I HAVE (physically) RECOVERED

So at my gym, they introduced me to the plank exercise (click to see what I'm yammering about). It's a deal where you try to hold a certain position as long as you can. My first one was a measly 10 seconds. Yow, yikes. But I was determined to improve. I began doing them when I woke up, and before I went to bed. My time was improving, like to 4 minutes & 1 second. Then for a short while, I was doing it right around every meal. Recently I was doing planks at my gym and someone new was watching me, and the "gotta show off" piece of my brain kicked into overdrive (this is after I wised up & stopped doing this 3 times a day), and I pulled it off for 4 minutes & 31 seconds.

Now, the owner of my gym and his buddy do planks every single day. They've told me they're up in the FIVE MINUTE range. That has been my goal for such a long time. I mean, you can't claim you've physically recovered until you're on par with the owner of your gym. And I admit, the last few weeks, I've been really slacking off.

BUT... goal set. Goal achieved. I just did FIVE MINUTES AND ONE SECOND. I hear an army chant-- "What's that you say?" "UH HUH UH HUH" "Who wants to improve?" "I DO I DO" "Who won't rest until he surpasses all expectations?" "I WON'T I WON'T" "What's that you say again?" "COME GET SOME!"

I now know what motivation looks like. Motivation looks like:

0:00:10

0:04:02

0:04:31

0:05:01

Now, this in no way means that I'm gonna be able to do this every time. And it's very possible I wasn't correctly positioned, I was alone in my living room reading a book. But hear me now Darren, I'm coming for YOU.

my story in the press, round 1

So as I wrote before, a newspaper reporter came and watched me work out at my gym and did an interview with me and my folks. His story finally hit the paper. I guess that should say my story finally hit the paper.

http://www.greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009912270302

See anything missing? How about the glaring omission of the word 'DRUNK'? The real lesson of my story is that you are more than welcome to go kill your own brain cells with alcohol, JUST DON'T KILL MINE, so stay far away from any driver's seats. I mean, at last count, I only have 42 brain cells left, and no one will mess with those.

oh, the irony

WOW. Words, appropriately, fail me. Pastor shoots 21-year-old son to death during Christmas dispute. (link is to Google News) There's so much to say, but really nothing needs to be added. Saying nothing here is saying a lot. (Ooh, how ya like me now, Tao Te Ching? You wrote the tune, but I can play it)

But all sadness & the "spirit of Christmas" & grisly death aside, happy holidays to you!

honest kid

Yikes. He's gonna need to learn some "tact". 36 second humorous video.

holiday greetings

MERRY FESTIVUS, EVERYONE!

We are -not- alone

Take a gander at the Hubble Deep Field. Woah. We've got a lot to learn. Brush up on your E.T. Beeeeeee... goooooood.

Walkability Workshop 1 & 2

So I could live anywhere, nothing's really tying me to Greenville. No job, no girlfriend, just a love of what this town has to offer. I considered NYC... nah, too much Southern blood. I thought about DC, I even heard their public transit comes by every 8 minutes. But, I love this town enough to give 'em a fair shot at fixing what's broken. And with me riding buses a lot, and with my parents being so supportive (thanks), I've discovered the bus system is only kinda half-broken (public transit comes by once an hour, if you're lucky), but making steps toward improvement. Well, the only step I've seen real evidence of so far is adding a new bus stop by the Humane Society, at my request, since the bus went right by there anyway. Now they are about to get (some number I forget, 10-15) new buses, but instead of using them to increase it to one bus every half an hour, I hear they'll just replace the current buses. Huh. More work yet to be done on that cause.

Oh right, sorry, I forgot my point. This city is doing things to make it more live-able for us pedestrians. Apparently, some years ago, Jeff 1.0 signed up for emails from the city of Greenville. I got one saying that they were having a "Walkability Workshop" on Monday 3 days ago, at City Hall, with a national walkable-cities expert. So I go to City Hall, right past a crowd of folks gathering in front, and ask about the workshop. "Um, you just passed them." "OH, that was the Workability Workshop! I assumed it would be inside, where you can't really walk anywhere." (Did I mention the TBI?) I even went to the follow-up workshop at 7:30 this morning. I was one of only a few members of the general public, the rest were mostly all city council-type positions. As evidenced by the fact that when I first walked up to the group, some lady kindly asked me "And who are you? A member of the public?" My answer, since I didn't know yet that they were mostly city councilmen, "Um, yeah, I mean, really, when you think about it, aren't we all? I mean, you're not?"

So, all in all, this town is proving they're serious about becoming more of a pedestrian's city. This walkability goal is going to become an ongoing project for them. (well, since I live here, I guess that should be "for us") And I learned at the follow-up session this morning that, apparently I was involved enough on the first day, since they (city councilmen, etc.) were all calling me by name! Huh! I even met the director of public transportation, and he made some comment like "Wait a minute, you're not Jeff Knox are you?" "Um... (uh oh)... no... that's a different guy... that is 6'2" and has black-ish hair & a beard. Uh oh, whoops, I MEAN not at all, why?" (We've been bugging him on the phone to get the community bus to serve the community college)

So the bigger lesson is that the story of what happened to me, and my (and my loving folks') ongoing pursuit to have things at least be available to me is touching enough to be the catalyst to enact changes. Jeff 1.0 wasn't involved AT ALL, that was my problem, but J2.0 is involved way deep in leaving this town better than I found it. I've been invited to speak at a city council meeting in Jan.! This town may have so many features that I love, yet not be my ideal place to live right now, but between my parents & I, we're sure as heck gonna try to make it ideal. Thanks for the help, guys.

more about the Google phone

So I mention the Google phone here, go look through my email, and there's the link to it. More information will be found at http://thenexusone.com/

If you have free time: Google Blog / the year in Youtube

So I love almost everything Google does, 'cause they do it oh so right. That's why I got a G1 cell phone (my only phone). Anybody can write applications for it, so it's got TONS of incredibly useful applications and very cool games (often free or very cheap). If you're already paying for, say, a Blackberry, the G1 is $10 cheaper a month! (I'm pretty sure) And it's getting better all the time, since it runs software maintained by a global open network of volunteers, Android. Like, the Google Maps application just got updated to where it will use the G1's built-in GPS to SPEAK the turn-by-turn directions somewhere, whether you're driving, walking, or taking public transit (as long as it's on Google Maps), so your eyes stay on the ol' road. And if you miss a turn, it re-routes FAST. We've had several car GPS units in my family over the years (anybody wanna buy KITT (in action) for a seriously reduced price?), and this just became the best. (and I should say here that running out and buying a G1 right now may not be wise, as word on the street is that there will be a Google Phone, sorta made by Google or something, within the year-- should be wicked cool, but if the rumors are true, also prohibitively wicked expensive)

So back to the point, Jeff. Okay, right. So I get the Google blog daily in my email, and they just posted a year-end review of Youtube videos (Google owns Youtube). The highlights were humorous enough to share:

Most Watched YouTube videos (Global):
1. Susan Boyle - Britain's Got Talent (120+ million views)
2. David After Dentist (37+ million views)
3. JK Wedding Entrance Dance (33+ million views)
4. New Moon Movie Trailer (31+ million views)
5. Evian Roller Babies (27+ million views)

My story STARTS to hit the news

So... this is in the VERY EARLY stages, but this could become big. We all know that my story is fairly moving & touching-- I mean, here I am trying so very hard to do the right thing, maybe even save somebody's life, and I almost die for it.

So this was unexpected, but some lady who works for a hospital publication came by and watched my workout today, and then right after, my folks & I sat down for a chat about things with her. Now she knows the true story of what happened to me. She was very moved. She's going to try to push this story to publication in many actual newspapers before the New Year's Eve drunk-fest. She even mentioned that it is very probable this story will go out on the A.P. wire. MY STORY -COULD- BECOME NATIONAL!

A guy who works for the hospital, their head of I.T., was at one of my speeches, and thought "Huh, if this gym has done this much good for this brain injury patient, they might do me some good." (He's afflicted with Parkinson's disease, and if you don't know my history with that, my beloved grandfather Papa waged a war with Parkinson's for years) Well, help him it has, as he started attending A.S.I., and told my folks today that he has already stopped taking L-dopa!

THAT'S HUGE! At first, this gym was used only by professional athletes, but because of my successes, it's opening doors into total other lines of thought so that they're now serving other populations, including childhood obesity sufferers, breast cancer patients, diabetes patients, and (maybe, eventually, hopefully) the Wounded Warrior project. The Wounded Warrior project would hopefully someday provide means for soldiers who've suffered injuries, even brain injuries like mine, to travel to this facility to get stronger.

And I feel like I should throw a few words in about why this program is so good for us brain-injured folks. NO DOUBT that this program serves "normal" folks very well. But for us brain injuries, it's astounding. The trainers are very good at their jobs, but also the machines are incredibly cool. What's so cool about them is that you don't set how many pounds you wanna push around (free-weights are scary since I'd probbly hurt myself), but with these machines, the resistance you feel to the movement you supply is directly proportional to the speed at which you push. (huh?) In layman's terms, the slower you push, the easier it is, and the faster you push, the harder it is. THIS IS WHY I LOVE THIS GYM: as long as you push as hard as you can, it will be just that-- exactly as hard as you can.

So, in an incredibly weird way, this almost-deadly car-wreck/coma event was the best thing to ever happen to me! (and there's so many other reasons why that's true) Look at all these folks who are getting help now, because of me, that might not have otherwise! WOW. Didn't see this coming two years ago.

ha!

Random internet humor.

Anybody else find it odd that 'monosyllabic' is 5 syllables?

huh. fair.

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,

When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,

When the funds are low, and the doubts are high,

And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,

When care is pressing you down a bit,

Rest if you must, but don't you quit.

Life is queer with it's twists and turns,

As every one of us sometimes learns,

And many a failure turns about,

When he/she might have won had they stuck it out,

Don't give up though the pace seems slow,

You may succeed with another blow.

Success is failure turned inside out,

The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,

And you never can tell how close you are,

It may be near when it seems so far;

So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit,

It's when things seem worse, that you must not quit.

making Greenville more accessible, phase 2

So phase 1 of making the environment more suitable was about the Humane Society. I volunteer there weekly. I did for the 2 years leading up to the car incident. That played a huge role in my choice of the veterinary career path that I'm doing very well on now. (I just got a 94 on my final exam!!! YAY!)

On to phase 2: I attend Greenville Tech, which has several campuses. Their main campus is pretty much near town, or more importantly, the bus goes there. But all veterinary classes are at the Northwest Campus, which the bus does not go to. A community college that's not served by the community's public transit. Hmm. That is why my folks were driving an hour to come to Greenville weekly, just to transport me to class, and then an hour back.

So my folks and I just attended a special meeting about this. It was also attended by 3 county council members & Greenville Tech's vice-president & disabilities specialist. This wasn't some regular meeting that my folks & I just sat in on. This meeting was called to hear my story and complaint. County council members! Now we're getting somewhere.

And speaking of getting somewhere, several times during the meeting they called Knox on their cell phones, and I'm like "Hellooo, I'm sitting right in front of you!" OH OH OH, Knox White, the mayor of Greenville. Now we're talking.

And so the long and short of it is that all of the people who were there will meet with the mayor about this... next week!

This isn't just to help me, and not even necessarily just all disabled folks, but to help all kinds of folks who just don't have transportation. It was discussed that this would benefit Furman University's employees, as well as their students, since that campus is fairly near where this bus route would run.

All in all, this was a team effort to get this going. There's my heart-wrenching story which was the impetus, but there's also the fact that dad has put in a ton of effort, one part of which was setting up this meeting with county council members. (Things I Never Foresaw I'd Do, chapter 42)

Some things may be unchangeable... but you never know until you try. You might be surprised what you find out, once you put in the effort.

temperature guage & surfice dog

I just had dinner at a restaurant. I arrived there in my jacket since it's a bit cold out. In case you weren't aware, it's December. I took the coat off to eat my meal, ate well, and then got up and left. I walked out the door, and was thinking "Man, it's chilly! I can't believe it got this much colder over the course of a meal! I mean, I didn't think I-- oh right, my jacket!" I had only gone about 20 feet, so I went back & it was still where I had taken it off.

Now the reason I'm so happy about this incident is that 2 years ago, I couldn't feel coldness. I'd be shivering, not noticing my teeth chattering, and have to be told "Jeff, you're obviously cold. Put a jacket on." But now, I'm feeling temperature enough to cause me to think that I should have a jacket on, then remember that I have a jacket... back there.

So it shows that my temperature gauge, among many others, is slowly returning back to where it should be. None of us had any clue what Jeff 2.0 could or could not do, and it's just good that I can feel this! And as far as things you may have thought Jeff 2.0 could do, go ahead and cross "levitate objects with only his mind" right off that list. I'm not saying it's not possible, just not yet.

And this dog has learned, as I have, that having a bad thing happen to you can be turned into a great thing. Jeff 2.0 is way more into keeping my body fit, and nice to a fault to everyone I meet now. "Turning disappointment into a joyful new direction" is well put. Agreed. And I feel his pain-- I can't stop chasing birds either. :-)

it isn't a good day without a fart joke

This was on Youtube's "videos being watched right now". No I did not search for this. The fart spelling bee. Heh.

things are -SO- much better upstairs!

ON TOP of recognizing a Greenville homeless street dude a few days ago, I just stopped in Barley's, and I was only going in to use their bathroom to wash my hands (story later), and on the way to the bathroom in the back, a man was in a meeting at one of their tables, and as I passed, I thought "Hmmm, I think I know him." So after I washed my hands, I waited until they were leaving, and I approached, saying "This may seem off the wall, but does the name Zig mean anything to you?" He said "I hope so, that's me! How ya doing man?" This fellow is part of the crew that runs Albino Skunk bluegrass festival, the best bluegrass festival around, which means I just recognized someone I only see ONCE a year! HECK YES!

Now the reason I was washing los manos was that at my bus stop, I recognized the other bus patron, and we got to chit-chatting, the way good Southerners do. (I shook his hand, thus the hand washing) I don't remember how we got into our tales of woe, but it turns out his story is unbelievably worse than mine! He says that he was hanging with the wrong crowd, and they all did cocaine in some guy's bathroom. It being his first (and only) time doing that, he OD'd, and was left for dead on the bathroom floor. Amazingly, he came to a few hours later and went straight to the hospital. Doctors told him he actually was dead for those two hours (I don't know about that, but this is the part where you & I just nod our heads and say "Uh huh, oh really"). Anyway, it turned out that with both of us coming that close to death, we end up sharing many similar attitudes. Like making a point of always being nice to strangers, and avoiding most of the old crowd these days. And since his name's Lloyd, and I sometimes need to give you a nickname to remember your real name, I now take the same bus most days with "Lucky".

your daily dog fix

So I love dogs. Have for years. I foresee being a volunteer dog walker at the Humane Society for years to come. It's a sweet deal-- you get some dog-lovin' time, they feed 'em, bathe 'em, and do other necessities. So it'll be a long while before I want a dog all my own. But when I do, I know the desired breed. My apartment-neighbors have a great, sweet, very smart Australian Shepard that I just had to go buy a big bag of doggy treats for, and try to work in a trip next door most days to see my sweetie. That way, I can take her treats, for which she'll shake my hand and perform scavenger hunts.

So I started researching what kinds of tricks you can teach Aussies. I found everything ranging from this (duh) to this (whoa, cool).

things are so much better upstairs...

... it just took time. My memory banks have been through the ol' proverbial train wreck. (that's actually doggone close, I wonder why the saying isn't simply "been through the ol' try to talk a drunk person out of driving, and while doing so, she drives the car through you", huh, I wonder) So anyway, my memory ability (the ability to retain & recall new memories, not recall the memories I had) has been steadily improving for the last 2.5 years-- it's not at the top yet, but it's DEFINITELY better. (And since I can't figure out what "the top" is, maybe I'm there, who knows ;-) )

The other part of memory is all the stored memories I had in May of '07, which was 28 years worth. Since I couldn't retrieve them, I just assumed the were lost-- that I was starting completely over again. Things like not recognizing mom & dad on day 1 of being awake, etcetera, etcetera. Well, no, it seems they weren't lost, they were merely repressed deep down in there (well, still haven't recognized mom & dad yet ;-)), and it's just taken time to even have the ability to get to them, and it takes time to recall them (it's sometimes very helpful that being labeled 'disabled' gets you twice as long on school tests). Sometimes they come back randomly, as in waking up at 2:30am and reciting the serial number off of my old favorite rental bowling ball. What's the point, Jeff: late yesterday afternoon, I took the bus back by myself from my gym and did my usual stop-in-at-the-restaurants-on-the-way-home-to-say-hi shindig. Then I came out of the last restaurant I'm friendly with, and started walking home. An older man passed me, walking the opposite direction. I thought "You know, he looks familiar... hmmm..." and kept walking about 10 feet more since I've been wrong about that before (like yesterday). Then it hit me and I turned around and caught up.

"Sir, excuse me sir, I may be way off base here, but is your name... ... Dick?"

"Yes! Oh, Mike! Hey Mike! How are you doing? I heard all about your ordeal, Mike. Oh wait, you're not Mike, you're Jeff! Yes, how ya doing now, Jeff?"

Now the reason this makes me so happy I'm blogging about it, is that this fellow Dick is a homeless man that was a drinking buddy of Jeff 1.0's, and J2.0 certainly hasn't seen him or had reason to hear of him since my saga. So that's a memory that was seemingly lost, and it took time, but it came back-- it just went on vacation (hopefully somewhere cool). And it shows that I've always been the sailor at heart, since he thanked me last night for giving him Master & Commander back in the day. "Oh... yeah... cool. You're welcome-- I guess, since I don't remember that." (I'm learning not to sweat the minor stuff)

Spokesman gig

And more that goes into the "almost dying was the best thing to ever happen to me" bucket (which is starting to overflow), I've blogged before about this new kind of gym I go to, where their machines are great for regular folk but perfect for brain injuries, and that I'm the first brain injury to go through the program. I've been asked to give several speeches for feedback on this gym (here, on the right). And since those were received so well, the owner of my gym approached me yesterday about being a spokesperson for this gym! (details yet to come, but it would be scheduled around my free time, and I haven't said 'yes' yet since I'm not sure what all it entails)

And there's no connection to any of that, but since I traded in the old brain for a new one that has an issue with central disruption of fusion ("double vision", or, as my Veterinary Medical Terminology book just informed me, "diplopia"), that messed me up BIG TIME for more than a year, year-and-a-half-- to the point we had to put a gate across the stairs since I might just fall down them. But after 2.5 years of having double vision 24/7 (well, I guess not 24, I do occasionally sleep, or blink), it's finally gotten to 'Who cares'! Yeah, so the image from my right eye is always moving in relation to the image from my left eye, based on my head's orientation, so if I look at you while rotating my head, one of you will circle the other of you... but you know what? I'm used to that! And it means I get to quip to future girlfriends that they're exactly twice as good looking to me as they are to any other guy!

What we should really be afraid of is an ULO, an unidentified landing object.

how LUCKY am I...

... to be able to give thanks to the medical community that awoke me from the coma. Watch the speech here. (and I just put the text of the speech here in case you're having difficulty)

good grade & a new bus stop

Good news!

1. First, my school grades! Now I wouldn't have just blatantly bragged about good grades in college #1, but that was Jeff 1.0 with a normal brain. We have no idea what Jeff 2.0's gonna turn out to be like, so heck yeah I'm bragging about any & every good thing! We just got back my fourth test in this veterinary terminology class. My 1st test grade in this field was a 96-- whoa, sweet! My 2nd came back an 88. Alright, still very good. The third came back a 76. Alright, now I'm concerned about the trend I'm noticing here. So it was with trepidation that I took my test back in class today. FOR NO REASON-- I GOT A 108!!! (4 out of 5 bonus questions right) So look, I'm not bragging "Look how smart I am." It's just that we had no clue how with-it this post-TBI Jeff was gonna be. But look at that! And allow me to brag for a second-- "Look how smart I am!"
2. Other piece of great news-- so my folks and I are all about my regaining independence, just to show I can do it. I don't currently drive, and my college campus isn't on a bus route (yet). So my folks come over to take me to my weekly class. Also, since the nearest bus stop to the Humane Society makes for a slightly scary walk though a questionable apartment complex, after veterinary class we make it an animal day by driving to the Humane Society and volunteering to walk dogs. "What? The bus doesn't stop there? They won't stop there since it's not an approved bus stop? They go right down that road, even passing it!" So I talked to several bus system supervisors, and dad called & wrote a bunch of emails. And guess what? TODAY THEY PUT A NEW BUS STOP SIGN THERE! Limits that you think are set in stone may very well be movable. Persistence definitely pays off. So now I can go enjoy me some doggy-action whenever I feel like it-- well, as long as 'whenever' is within the bus schedule, and that's fine.

DAMN IT WAS A GOOD DAY!

the pedestrian life

Okay, it's been at least 2 hours since my last blog ramblings (barely) so I kept my word. I just walked to the grocery store & did this week's shopping. Kinda cool that I can walk there. It's only about 4 or 5 full city blocks. Then when I was done shopping, I learned a KEY lesson: if you walked there, you gotta walk back. Uh oh. It's 4 OR 5 FULL CITY BLOCKS. Tip, kids: don't load your shopping cart down if there's not a magic car waiting for all that stuff, 'cause guess what? I think that should get me outta going to the gym this whole week at least. Maybe the month. Or year. Or dec-- no, that's just silly. Isn't this the year Publix starts complimentary door-to-door helicopter service?

GHS

GHS-- I just realized those 3 letters play a significant role in my life. Greenville Hospital System (yup). Greenville Humane Society (yup). Good Humored & Single (definitely). Galactophagist Has Some (sometimes). Gangrenous... no wait, not that 'G'. Gamic Hunk's Sexy (I hope). Gelato Hallucination Subsiding (better get some more). Girlfriend-Harvest Seeking (yup, there's a crop of girlfriends out there somewhere, ripe for the pickin'). Gladiator Hawk Sage (modest?). Good Helpful Sailboat (oh yeah).

Okay, right, I have things to do. Productive things. This is kinda weird (kinda?), but that's what it's like upstairs. Sorry, I'll stay out of your Inbox for at least 24 hours-- well, at least 2.

can't keep a good dog down & lip-syncing

"They've invented the technology that allows you to watch videos on the internet?"

"Yup, just came out for the holidays. I've already found one that makes me say 'GO, boy, GO!' Then I found some guy singing a ballad that was almost written about his life."

god I love this town (& I went to Skunkfest)

So I was all confused about where to go live since nothing's really holding me here, and got a lease here in Gvegas that I could get out of if I decided this ain't the town for me. Now: YEAH RIGHT, I AM STAYING! Life is SO sweet in this town! Today I took a bus down to the zoo (don't know why I took the bus), did my schoolwork there, and during study breaks, went to go watch the hey, hey, they're the monkeys, and people say they monkey around. (don't get that kinda odd reference?) After taking in the zoo action, I figured I'D WALK HOME (how cool is this?). There's a paved walking trail that runs by the zoo and also the park a few blocks from my apartment. But very shortly after leaving the zoo, the trail split into two, and I was thinking "Uh oh... which way?" So I asked a stranger, and he said "Main Street this way, dog park that way." "Dog park?!? Cool, I've been wanting to figure out where that is." So I went down there, and it's slick since it's a fenced-in area to let your dog off the leash. Then I walked home on the Swamp Rabbit Trail, which follows the Reedy River & passes by or crosses by bridge over at least three waterfalls. About a 30 minute walk (31:34) from the zoo to my hallway at a brisk(ish) pace. And I got to stop on the way and take in the rock quarry garden. (yes, I paused my stopwatch, goodness you're picky)

So overall, yeah, our public transit might leave plenty to be desired, but you can have this town when you pry it from my cold dead fingers. (Well, to be on the safe side, from my slightly chilled, barely bruised & definitely not bleeding fingers)

And I haven't said anything about it here yet, but one week ago (the 17th), I attended the Albino Skunk bluegrass festival (actually now called the Grand Skunk Opry), which has been a staple of my musical diet for years (partly 'cause part of the crew that runs it is my last boss & his wife, both pals of mine). We volunteered our time (for free tickets, um, "YEAH"), and my "work" at one point was hiding Easter eggs for the kids. Gosh, that's such a rough life. (And I learned: with kids, you're never as sneaky as you think you are; 1 hour to hide 'em, 3 minutes to find 'em)

And then, in the evening, I ran into a past acquaintance that J2.0 hasn't seen yet (I don't think), and had a whale of a time catching up. (I'm gonna say 'dolphin of a time' from now on, 'cause when have you ever known a whale to have fun? And Flipper is, well, Flipper-- he had so much fun, they had to televise it) All in all, a GREAT day.

how I'm feeling

So there's no reason I'm repeating these lyrics now, it's just how I feel.

"I've paid my dues
Time after time
I've done my sentence
But committed no crime
And bad mistakes
I've made a few
I've had my share of sand kicked in my face
But I've come through

We are the champions - my friends
And we'll keep on fighting - till the end
We are the champions
We are the champions
No time for losers
cause we are the champions - OF THE WORLD"

-Queen

recovery is a sonuva-gun

So I'm not sharing this in the spirit of "look at me, aren't I great". It's more in the spirit of "look at how hard this recovery is getting!" It's a video of me running barefoot up a hill...

...covered a foot deep...

...with sand.

Watch. Oh. My. Goodness. Need I remind you that I'm ex-COMATOSE?

"Nobody gonna slow me down, oh no, I got to keep on moving!" (Men At Work)

Google Voice is rollling out (more)

So, I've often been an EA (Early Adopter) of new technologies. The day it opened, I was all over some Google Voice action. (That's how I got a number that includes 7245, or SAIL) In brief, this service gives you one new phone number that rings all your existing phones (work, house, cell) and if any of those change (new house, new job, new cell co.), you easily change one simple setting online and your Google Voice number now rings your new phone, as well as the others. So this number is yours for life! (assuming you live your whole life in one area code) Sounds pretty cool... but wait, there's more. When on a call, you press 4 and it starts recording your conversation (and announces it's doing so, so don't get any tricky ideas, mister). And that recording is always available on the Google Voice website, and downloadable, and forward-it-by-email-able. So no more fumbling for scraps of paper to write down that important note. And if you're on a call through Google Voice on your cell phone, and your cell phone starts to run out of batteries, no sweat-- just press * to have all of your other phones ring, just pick one up, and the call is transferred.

HOW COOL IS THAT?

I'm gabbing on about this now since at 1st, it was available by invite only (well, still is), and the invites were snatched up quick (EA, remember?). But Google has just put this on their blog:

"Starting today, we're beginning to give out invitations to Google Voice users. If you currently use Google Voice, over the next few weeks, you'll see an "Invite a friend" link appear on the left-hand side of your inbox."

So... let me know if you want an invite to the G-Voice par-tay.

my memory is returning from vacation

I'm just so happy about this, I wanted to share. This afternoon, I was walking up Main Street, and I passed a guy and girl. Well, big deal, Jeff, that's called "being in public". But about 15 steps later, I thought "You know, she kinda looked familiar. Nah, couldn't be, been wrong about that too many times already." Then about 5 more steps, and I became convinced she looked familiar. So I stopped, turned around, hurried to catch up, and said "Pardon me, my memory's been through a coma, but you look familiar, kinda. Do you know me?" It didn't take her 3 seconds to say "YES! Holy cow! Jeff, I'm Valerie! How ARE you?" So we got to sorting it out, and she was one of my coworkers at the computer-geek job. AND she apparently left that job well before my ordeal. And I even guessed her last name correctly!

So I just recognized somebody I haven't seen since well BEFORE the car incident! So I didn't lose my memories, they just went on vacation! And just like when you return from a good vacation, you return slow & in pieces-- how many pieces you're in depends on how good the vacation was. (I'll leave it to you to determine if returning in many pieces means it was an awesome vacation, or a horrible one; maybe that depends on your tone of voice, excited or fearful, when you say "And then the gator opened his jaws...")

And the fact that I didn't recognize mom & dad on day 1 of being conscious, well that was normal, even pre-TBI. I've just been betting since I was young that as long as I call this lady "mom", she'll keep my fridge well stocked, and as long as I call this guy "dad", he'll continue to drive me places. Seems to me like a good trade, they're good folks, and it's worked well so far. I'm just surprised I picked them so well when I went shopping at Parents-Mart when I was a toddler-- it's not like I had any clue what I was doing.

Googling for 'define: backwoods'

What follows is an email from dad about a local newspaper clipping, in the 'Weddings' section.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Only in Pickens County.....

"We love each other, but we don't have a lot in common.....

1. I like soup and salad for lunch, he prefers hay and oats....
2. I like to put on a nice dress to go out in the evening, he wants to put on that damn saddle...
3. I like to watch the news on TV at night, he always wants to watch "Mr. Ed"....
4. When we go on a trip, I always look for a 4 star hotel, he always looks for a barn...
5. I like to save money when I buy shoes, he always has to buy two pairs...."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That makes sense once you see this. I'm so glad I moved to the city.

running... up a hill of SAND?!?

So my physical rehab took a sharp upturn on Friday. At my gym, I was doing several all-new exercises. Then I tried THE new exercise. Just the day before, they finished installing a ton of sand on a hillside. The idea is that you run. Up the hillside. In the sand. Whew. That's. Hard.

The first few tries, I made it about 4 feet up the hill. The GOOD news, though, is that I actually caught my fall by putting my arms/hands forward. That's new. Early on in my recovery, when I would fall, I wouldn't even attempt to stop myself falling. It was just "TIM-BER!" But at least I'm reacting appropriately now.

Then it occurred to me that perhaps I wasn't making it far because I started running about 25 feet back from the hill. OK, so let's start at the base of the hill. MADE IT TO THE TOP 3 TIMES! This gym is so cool.

Independance Day: 10/1/09

So I'm just beaming. TODAY WAS MY 1ST TOTALLY INDEPENDENT DAY. My folks aren't even in this town. I walked over to the bus station and took a bus to my gym. I took a bus back. I was concerned about finding my way from the gym to the bus stop, since I've only walked it once before in that direction. But I found it easily (memory's doing so much better). Also found that I like taking buses, as you get to mingle with the public and meet all kinds of folks, as well as read a book.

And as far as my selection of reading choices goes, I'm near the beginning of The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas. This book turned dad from a "reads a menu when forced to" reader into "a new book every week or two" reader. Highly recommended. And I got to this part today:

"Die? Oh, no!" he cried out. "What would be the point of having lived and suffered so much if I were going to die now? No, I want to live, to fight on to the end. I want to win back the happiness that was taken away from me."

And having my independence back means I've won back that happiness.

HIP HIP, HOORAY!

GHS administration atta-boy speech #1

So on 9/24 I was invited to give feedback on the gym I attend, that the hospital just bought.

Here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2as7ecUBxls

Speedflex machines

So I may have already said this, but:

Dad found in some hospital pamphlet a blurb about a new gym that the hospital just bought. We called, and I got admitted into the program. So it's not just a gym, it's trainers who watch you exercise and generate ideas for new exercises that help you reach your goals. And the machines they have are not regular free-weights. Their Speedflex machines are simply incredible. Check out this video.

pure fun day

So, the basics are mostly covered here-- I'm living on my own, in vet. assistant school, and I'm only missing a driver's license & a job & tightrope-walking abilities & I'm also mising one 's'. So let's have some fun!

• Yes, I'm an English freak, but I find this site very humorous-- unnecessary quotation marks.
• Only play this "game" if you have LOTS of free time. It's ridiculously simple and real easy to figure out, but oh. My. Goodness. Is it addictive. Great stress buster. Just start drawing lines on the black screen, make sure you get one under the dropping ball, and be SURE your sound is on. I've already wasted hours on this, this morning. You could just put it down & walk away anytime, but you just kinda can't.
• And let's finish with some dumb-cat humor. Maybe it's not dumb, maybe it's just different. Different from 'smart'.

a day off

So on the calendar, it says that today is supposed to be a light, fun day. So we'll leave the nucleo-rocketometry lesson I had planned for today's blog posting for another day, and just share two good pictures-- this & this.

Now, the homework I gave you Monday, class, to figure out which celestial body the "big yellow one" is, that's still due this Friday.

Yes, this is what you do when you're sick with nothing better to do. But I'm going to the doc at 11:15, so look for a blog posting at 11:17 informing you if I'm gonna make it or not. (JUST KIDDING, sheesh)

sick

I was just writing an email to someonce, bowing out of our planned activity tommorow, that included this paragraph, and it cracks me up so much, I thought I'd share it. And yes, I do indeed realize that Jeff 2.0 has gone from just the odd-duck usual self that Jeff 1.0 was to being just plain... there's not a word for it yet.

"I woke up this morning sicker than a dog. My throat feels like... I bought it used on eBay and am in contact currently with their customer complaints department, after giving the seller a negative 42 rating. Apparently, the "truth in advertising" act doesn't apply to eBay sellers, or he/she didn't read the "full disclosure" part of the seller's contract. And I just cancelled my bid on a new skeletal right cranial hemisphere, sold by the same lying son-of-a-gun. I might have ended up with triple vision. And I was so happy I was winning that auction, too. Life sucks, and then you wake up tomorrow. (That's the sick-Jeff talking)"

get; your! #punctuation-- right.,. %

Someone recently asked my favorite joke, and here's my reply:

I don't know that I have a favorite joke, but this has always been a standby:
"A panda walks into a café. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and proceeds to fire it at the other patrons.
'Why?' asks the confused, surviving waiter amidst the carnage, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.
'Well, I'm a panda', he says, at the door. 'Look it up.'
The waiter turns to the relevant entry in the manual and, sure enough, finds an explanation. 'Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves.'"

And I looked that joke up to make sure I didn't miss anything, and found it on this page, which includes this sentence about a book on grammar: "There is one chapter each on apostrophes and on commas; one on semicolons and colons; one on exclamation marks, question marks, and quotation marks, italic type, dashes, brackets, ellipses, and emoticons; and one on hyphens." W... T... H. It. would kill. the author to, know, that this badly; punctuated. sentence! is used, to describe her-- book. And if it's not weird enough that someone wrote a book with each punctuation mark getting a whole chapter, THERE'S A WIKIPEDIA ARTICLE ABOUT EACH ONE. Do people seriously not have better things to do? I mean, Wikipedia is updated by anyone in the general public. So it goes like this:

"Hi hon, what'd you do today?"

"Oh, cleaned up breakfast, got things ready for our trip this weekend, and spent the majority of the day clearing up any mental confusion anyone might have about semicolons. I mean, did you hear Mr. Whither's use of the semicolon at dinner last night? Scary, isn't it? I've still got goosebumps. I'm feeling overworked and the kicker is that Wikipedia doesn't even pay. And I've got the pieces about question marks, ellipses, and italic type only in unpublished rough draft form... you're gonna have to drive tomorrow, love, since it's looking like another all-nighter. And I invented a game we can play while driving-- let's play right now sweetie, try to put one of each of the punctuation marks into the fewest sentences. Get 'em all into one sentence, you win. Yes, smarty, an English sentence."

I re-read that, and why did I say mental confusion? As opposed to what? Extremity confusion? "My foot's been kinda confused, doc. I try to put my foot down on an issue that I believe strongly in, and end up being very agreeable. And don't even get me started on the process of walking."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That took so much time, I have to share it on my blog. And yes, I have nothing better to do than sit around and mock those with nothing better to do. Shmucks. Maybe that's what haves/have-nots refers to-- those who have something better to do and those who have not something better to do.

And no, I'm not an odd duck, but I play one on TV.

whoops, forgot this

Forgot to include pics of my new backyard.

RESIDENTIAL SECTION OF HEAVEN (and something about Congress)

This is too good. I MOVED OUT TODAY (Friday, Sept. 4th)!!! Did you think it would ever happen? I have moved back into Wachovia Place. I've lived in this apartment complex for 2 years previously. But this apartment is WAY COOLER than the previous one. It looks out from the porch onto a courtyard with a fountain (instead of the street view the last one had-- fountain vs. traffic, hmmm). And then there's the whole not-driving-but-living-right-downtown thing, which gets high marks from the expert panel of judges, including Igor, that cranky old guy from the former Rostroslovenia-ich-sky-dom.

And, yeah, I've lived in my own place before, since the wreck, for a month, but that was just a test run. Seeing if I could even do it, what accomodations I'd need to make, etc.

And let no one think that just because I'm THIS excited about moving out, that I'm excited to move away from my parents. They have been so amazing and supportive through all of my trials and tribulations (of which there have been 42 raised to the 42nd power), so take the love I already had for 'em (which everyone knows was freakishly high) and multiply it by the biggest number ever dreamed of, plus one-- that's how much love I have for 'em, at the least for even just putting up with the verbal abuse I dealt out almost daily for the past two years (I'm getting better about that). And it's not like I just said "Well, bye". I'm still gonna see them at least weekly, 'cause A) I don't drive right now and attend a school which isn't on the bus-line, & B) I want them to be a large part of my life anyways 'cause C) I love 'em.

And yesterday, I found out that I -might- end up before CONGRESS!

Wha-whatt? Did you say Congress? What the...? Okay, some of these facts may be slightly wrong, but it's 2:00 in the morning, so it's too late to fact-check, and I'll correct later. The back-story is that post-therapies, I started going to a gym recently bought by the hospital, the Accelerated Sports Institute, or ASI. Basic therapies pretty much get you to the point where you can, to the best you can, do activities of daily living (ADLs), like walking, kicking your parents' butts in video games, or feeding yourself (just kidding, kinda, on one of those). ASI's deal is that they help you do those things, but help you do them so much better. And they can tailor their program to what you need. For instance, one of my goals is to drive again someday, what I consider to be the last hurdle of recovery (true, that's a hurdle that can be worked around, but at an ouch-painful cost of convenience). And yesterday, the folks at ASI invented some games that purely work on my reflexes, which right now is one of the weakest areas of my driving skills.

Now, they have a federal grant proposal that has already been accepted for review. They're just putting the final touches on it. What ASI wants to do is start a program, called Wounded Warrior, which helps wounded soldiers regain the physical abilities needed to get their lives put back together well.

I'm their 1st brain injury patient (I'm pretty sure). VERY true, not all brain injuries are the same, I've learned. But there are very often similarities. And so if they help me achieve success, that opens up all kinds of possibilities. Step one of using Jeff to achieve this goal is that they have been video-taping me in some parts of my workouts (yes, with my permission, this has my blessings). I asked yesterday, and apparently, from the video-tapes alone, you can see my progress (and I haven't been going there long, around 5 weeks).

So yesterday, I was talking with one of the owners, Darren Holmes, who mentioned that if the grant proposal clears the next few hurdles, he might be going before Congress to present it. And here's the double-edged kicker:

HE MIGHT TAKE ME WITH HIM, AS LIVING PROOF THAT THIS PROGRAM WORKS. I -MIGHT- GO BEFORE CONGRESS!

Yes, oui, si, later on, I had the requisite fourteen heart attacks. I even followed with a fifteenth, just to be on the safe side. Stay tuned to Jrox for further developments. (You can sign up to get Jeff-Knox-news by email on the right)

TEST

Sorry, delete this, just testing to see if I can get all the technological doodads to line up right for my big announcement.

APARTMENT HEAVEN

I signed a lease today! One that puts me into an apartment in the city! I move in on Friday the 4th. This is gonna be sweeter than sweet. (And even sweeter than that considering it's a block to a gelateria where everyone knows my name) And I know it's even sweeter since I've already lived in this apartment building for 2 years previously.

I haven't been in touch with the post office yet to get my stuff delivered there, and I just learned that putting your address on the Internet is not considered a good idea by all, so email me and also send a check with at least 1 one & 7 zeroes, and I'll tell ya. (no, not $000,000.01, smarty)

you are watch what you eat

Make sure it's decidedly christmas-light-free.

okay now, that's enough talk about serious things

We'll have no more of that serious nonsense 'round these here parts. Not just plain having fun with it will henceforth be punishable by an offense worse than death-- and that will probably involve cooking. Well, no more seriousness today anyway. Here's a slice of funny to make up for pretending to be serious (did I fool ya?). Public apology = sorry, public. I shan't do it again. Well, again today, at least.

getting some things settled

Alright, so let's get back to using this blog to keep you informed of major Jeff-Knox-life-changes.

1. I've finally decided what kind of career path interests me, dawg. I can't believe this didn't occur to me when I was a little puppy-- instead, I spent so much time barking up wrong trees and just chasing my tail. VETERINARY SCIENCE. I've also learned that any chance to get into a career and see if you like it is an important first step before continuing education. So the career path looks like you start out as a veterinary assistant, next rung is veterinary technician, final rung is veterinarian. So I started school to become the first rung, veterinarian assistant, today. Who can say now if I'll like it or if I'll go further later. But this is gonna be cool-- one of my 2 classes is online, but the labs for that class are in person... at the Greenville Humane Society. The same G.H.S. that I was a weekly dog-walking volunteer for the two pre-wreck years. It's taken me OH SO LONG to find a career path that fits. Of course, I can't say that I know this path will fit, but that's the point of getting my hands dirty as early as possible.
2. And where will I be taking classes? Greenville Tech. But, Jeff, why attend a school an hour away? Because I'll be moving to Greenville! ("Gvegas" to the natives) And I'll be moving back to an apartment complex that I've lived in for two years previously, on Main Street, Greenville. (Is it a good sign or bad sign if the landlord remembers you?) We just today got some oddities with the lease straightened out (they want money, imagine that weirdness), so I'll be signing a lease this week.

So I'll be living in the town I'll be going to school in, but... since the closest the city bus comes to that campus is a mile and a half away from campus, and someone isn't driving (right now), someone had to find a way to get there. So two nights a week, I'll get the 'rents as roommates. (Should I charge 3.75% of the monthly rent, since they'll be occupying part of my living space 8 out of 30 days?)

And, this is totally random, but I think it's cool. I just had my first computer chat with someone who doesn't have any special-tricky software installed, but just clicked where it says "chat with Jeff Knox" on the right side of this blog. So, it worked. Cool, my geekiness still works. Nerdiness intact? Check. Delta oscar romeo kilo!

just for chuckles

Dad often says that mom snores like a drunk horse. I seriously wonder how he knows what a drunk horse sounds like. Makes me worry. But we got proof recently that someone from a neighboring county ALSO knows about drunk horses.

And ever heard of stop-motion film? Ever heard of post-it notes? Ever thought to spend a long time combining the two?

I'm the example "head injury"

Huh, so I'm about to be used as an example. We learned today from a doc at the Accelerated Sports Institute that I'm the guinea pig being used to gather data to see if the soldiers returning with head injuries would benefit from treatment at that center. And dad saw some guys walking around in black suits, we learned they were from the department of defense.

And the few times I've been there before around 11:00 or 1:00, the Center has been sorta empty (but they've been doing classes since 6am). But I walked in today to a crowd. We asked who these folks were-- "SWAT team".

Youtube's Monty Python channel

So, yeah, I've read my fair share of British literature, and love their TV shows, but I most love their comedy. This is gonna be good.

rollerblading BABIES?!?

Recovery, therapy, getting better, blah blah blah. Now, a chuckles day in Jrox.blogspot.com-land:

Isn't it odd that palindrome spelled backwards doesn't mean the same thing? (or really, anything?)

Don't know if you saw this Evian commercial on TV, but check it out. It's so worth it, dude. Far out, my main man. Reminds me of that time I did that gnarly retro-encabulated, upside-down, underwater, wicked spin-tail-grab while my buddies literally briefly put me on on fire. Oh, wait, I said I was underwater. I guess I should admit that I was also asleep. I'm that good. (You gotta check out both videos, and know that Rockwell owned part of my last company)

Ultimate Frisbee, A.S.I. & Gvegas apt's

Oh wow. So I just played my first game of Ultimate Frisbee in probably 10 years. Woo-hah. Now, it did show me that I clearly need to work on aerobic exercises. I didn't actually play the whole game, only about half an hour. Holy junkbutter. But hey... sweet! Better than lying on your back in a hospital! Tried that, didn't fit me.

Who were they? In case you didn't know, meetup.com is a place for folks who are interested in the same things, to connect up & do those activities. As in, there is a whole group here for kickball, and I've begun playing with them. (Have you played kickball since you were 4?) There's other groups, such as one I went tubing with down a river last weekend, Foothills Outdoor Adventures, and more. It's free to register on the site & sign up for most things. I recommend it as a way to meet new folks who have the same interests. And I'm finding out that out of the folks you see in one group, you'll probably see some of the same folks in other groups-- it's a whole Meetup "crowd". And since the majority/entirety of my pre-wreck friends have disappeared off the face of the earth... sweet. Good find. (If you get involved in a local Meetup group, holla at me)

In case you don't know what ultimate frisbee is, it's sorta like football that's played with a disc (even played on the same field layout), and with some important rule changes.

1. No contact. Accidentally running into someone will probably be a foul.
   
2. Call your own fouls. This is reinforced by players' belief in a long-upheld mindset called "spirit of the game".
3. No running with the frisbee. All forward movement of the disc to the other team's endzone is only through passes. If a pass hits the ground, is intercepted, anything other than being caught, that right there is a turnover. And instead of football's notion of "get lined up and get ready to go when the ball is snapped", as soon as the disc is intercepted or touches the ground, immediately play starts in the other direction. So you only get a brief rest when somebody scores.
   

The reason I find this game so interesting is that 10 years ago (you probbly remember this), me & another guy started Furman's inter-collegiate Ultimate Frisbee team, "My House." (When you scored, you told your nearest defender "That was my house.") So, time to go get my stamina built back up. I'll call this game Ultimate Motivation.


Oh yeah, and this morning was my first day at the Accelerated Sports Institute (A.S.I.) getting worked out. (This is the place that's mostly used now by professional athletes) It seems pretty good-- the machines almost all have a built-in deal where the faster you go, the more resistance you get. So you can kinda pick how hard you wanna work as you go. I'm currently on a 2-3 days a week plan.


And, to make this the Guiness World's Longest Blog Post, I'm looking at moving to an apartment in Greenville. Since you pay a monthly membership to the A.S.I., go as much as you want, that would be sweet. I would really like A) a roommate & B) a job first... we'll see. And on the job front, I dropped off an application at Mast General Store today. It's basically an outdoors outfitter type of store-- so bearded hippies like me fit right in. And it's about 75 feet from the apartments I'm looking at. And I'm looking at apartments on Main Street, and there's such an overabundance of restaurants on Main, who cares that I don't really care to learn to cook. Healthy Choice microwave meals, a choice of restaurants, and me make a sweet threesome.

Itube. Do you?

Aha, so it's true that youtube. Then check these clips out.

A wacky cat has that same problem that we all have had.

Even folks who aren't golf fans gotta appreciate this.

NOT feeling sluggish today

Slugs. Some hermaphroditic species breed by wrapping their sex organs around each other. If one of said members gets stuck, the slug simply chews it off. What. The. Hell.

ASI

So I've got a new place of therapy. Well, really, post-therapy training. The ASI-- Acceleration Sports Institute. I'm one of the first patients-- well, definitely the first brain-injury patient, possibly even the first non-professional athlete to use it. The story is that dad saw this place mentioned in a hospital magazine article, so we went and toured on 7/16... /09... 2009. What it is: it's a brand-new facility (open only 5 months). It was even just purchased by the hospital system (so I volunteered to have the nickname 'Lab Rat'). It's not even open to the public yet, but plans to be. When we toured, it was full of professional athletes who were training there, by invite only. They have the latest technology in workout machines created specifically for professional athletes. And they monitor your progress by computer individually. There is only one center like this in the country, it's IN Greenville, and athletes travel from all over to train here, even Europe. Wanna see who? Click here & (kinda oddly) choose 'who trains here'. One of the owners is John Smoltz, and if you follow baseball, you might know of him. He was very nice.

Now what differentiates this from regular therapy is that they focus on speed, not strength. Previous therapies have focused on making me functional. (Yes, I can now make bead necklaces where I couldn't before, thank you, you may go now) So we are going to get right to work on my fast-twitch muscles. And those need work-- if you've seen me, you know that all of my movements are slow and guarded. Those are some of the reasons I don't drive right now.

I'll start next week. So let's get to work!

7/7/09 SHE'S PAYING THE PRICE

A chapter of my life has finally been closed. This morning I was in court. As per our plea bargain, she-who-ran-a-car-into-me pled guilty to all charges and ...

she is now in jail.

(Only for two days, does that sound right to you?)

While ordering my celebratory triple cone of gelato, a guy stopped me in the gelato store (an old favorite) and said he was a lawyer and was *IN* the courtroom this morning (imagine THAT coincidence) and said my story was really moving and I did a good job of presenting it. Also, dad pointed out that during the preceding 5ish seperate cases of shoplifting hearings, the courtroom was atwitter with hushed whispers, but when I was giving my statement of how this has affected my life, the courtroom was silent. So I figure I'll share what I said:

"My name is Jeff Knox. Please let me know if my speech is not clear.

Your honor,

Here is what her decision to drive drunk physically cost me.
I now have double vision where the 2nd image moves in relation to the 1st depending on where I'm looking. So if I keep my eyes on something but move my head, the 2nd image moves. It took me MONTHS to learn to walk with that as an obstacle. And there's no single spot where the two images could ever overlap correctly since the second one is slanted about 30 degrees.

My reflexes are slower now. I've only seen this demonstrated when I was going to the driving rehabilitation center and they have a machine to test that, but it's obvious to everyone else.

With the double vision and the slower reflexes, I'm not driving. And that clearly affects where I can live, or else always pay for taxis everywhere and I don't know that I can always afford that. And in addition to not CURRENTLY driving, I may never drive again-- who can say. I'll probably end up moving to a city with better public transportation, such as New York or Washington.

Balance issues-- that's the other reason it took so long to regain the ability to walk. Even though I'm walking now, my balance still isn't good. I almost always move over to use the hand rail on stairs. Since my injury was obtained from hitting the ground with my right side, my right ankle on up was affected.

Another side effect of the brain injury is that I have random shakiness in my left hand, medically known as ataxia. It's to the point where I have adapted by doing as much as I possibly can with my right hand only, such as carrying glasses of water, or typing with mostly my right hand.

Memory issues: in addition to my difficulty making new short-term memories, after seeing many doctors, I've learned that I have trouble converting the short-term memories I do make into long-term memories. So you can tell me something, and there's about a 80% chance I'll remember it 5 minutes later, and about a 10% chance I'll remember it the next day. And I have an incredibly hard time recognizing faces that I should easily know.

I spent months trying to regain the employment I had, but it's clear that I've lost MANY skills I had. I was a computer programmer at the time of the wreck, and I've lost almost everything I learned in college, so that didn't work out when I tried to go back. I've not had a job since the wreck.

Thank you for hearing this case."

more Google Voice coolness

Forget that part where I said don't call 735-SAIL after 10:00 since I share my home phone number. I just set it so that any calls after 10:00 don't ring that number and call only my cell phone.

And anybody besides my parents please see if the 'Call me' widget on the upper-right of http://jrox.blogspot.com/ works. That's pretty cool. Okay, yes, agreed, I'm dripping with geekness but I still think it's pretty cool. It'll work from your home phone-- for free.

GOOGLE VOICE IS HERE

Revolutionary. This is big.
Google Voice is here.

Google Voice will COMPLETELY change the way we use phones. Go to the link mixed in this rambling to see why it's the coolest thing. Ever. With cherries on top. Cool cherries. And whipped cream. Cool whipped cream. Dripping with coolness. And extra coolness for dessert. Followed by more rounds. Of coolness. Served by dancing coolnesses. Wearing skimpy coolnesses.

Wanna just try it? On the upper-right of http://jrox.blogspot.com/ there is now a Google Voice button. Click that and enter your phone number. Google will call you, then call me. It DOESN'T MATTER where in the U.S. you are. (I may get flooded with all y'all trying to call me at once, so in your voicemail, leave your callback number (be clear) and a good time of the week to call... I'll eventually get there) (or it may be none of you, either way)

This should be the only phone number I'll ever have for the rest of my life (or until I move to a new area code, whichever comes first (probbly moving)).
-=This is my (our) home phone number=-
-=This is my cell phone number=-
-=This is my work phone number-- well, will be=-
(EIGHT-SIX-FOUR) SEVEN-THREE-FIVE-S-A-I-L (7245)
(es más, 7-EL-SAIL, amigos; entendido? Non?)

Why is this revolutionary? Read as much of THIS as you can. (And after you've gorged on that smorgasbord, be sure to click on Get an invite) You should find in there (at least):
- FREE U.S. long distance calls from ANY of your phones
- YOU decide which of your phones ring by time of day and/or who's calling
- free conference calling; now we can all be confused AT THE SAME TIME
- switch from one phone type to another DURING A CALL (house phone to cell or vice versa, say)
- RECORD snippets of calls easily (no scrambling for paper) (use cautiously, they'll know you're recording)

Calling my G.V. number will ring my home phone-- since that's currently shared, no calls after 22:00(EST) please. Or just send me an email & I'll get that on my cell phone and call ya when I'm free... no matter where ya are, FOR FREE. (And yeah, I do realize in this cell-phone era, free long-distance is no biggie, but it's free long-distance from ANY of your phones)