A ball From Disney

santa and reindeer hanging over a side of a building

downtown lakeland has nice lakes to walk around

wolfgang puck's restaurant

a nice view of the christmas tree

bird on a tree at AKL

horned animals

christmas tree at animal kingdom lodge

animals from kiddani village animal kingdom lodge

a decent camera with decent zoom got this zebra

we next went to disney's animal kingdom lodge

a vessel sink

christmas tree at port orleans resort

cafe au lait way

nifty architectural elements

taking the water taxi was neat

perspectives at disney

On being thankful

Marty Salo -  Yesterday 9:18 PM -  Public

Be thankful. Most of us have relatively easy times. Most of us enjoy freedoms. Some people are dying in Egypt, Syria, Thailand, Burma, and various other countries. There also are people dying here in the US of A too, but for the most part, many of us are extremely fortunate.

We did some marveling at the craziness that is black friday shopping.  Last night at 10 PM (When Walmart specials started) we drove by Walmart, and opted to not go in, due to the fact that there was no parking nearby.  People were parking in adjacent parking lots and crossing streets in order to shop at Walmart.  

We returned home, and went to bed.

At four in the morning, my wife got up and we were out of the house a little bit later.  We stopped by Sears, Target, a yard sale in Brooksville (where I got an autoharp that my wife had called up on Craigslist because I have been mentioning the autoharp several times), and then Hobby Lobby in New Port Richey.

We enjoyed the Hobby Lobby store, there were several neat artsy types of things to do.

I like the sounds that the autoharp makes.  I don't think I'll be able to sell the autoharp for more money than I paid for it, but the point is to find enjoyment.  I do like the sounds.

Yesterday, we had dinner over at an Uncle's place.  There were probably 25 or so folks from a couple of families over at the house.

Family is an important part of society.  Being with family during times of significance is important.

New typing surface (keyboard)

Really, it was a coworker who had mentioned how he preferred the numeric keypad, over the wireless keyboard that came with the I-mac. And going to the Apple store to pick up a keyboard with the numeric keypad. I went and actually decided to go and buy the external keyboard (maybe because I'm just a little bit impulsive). But, the way I look at it, the keyboard is an improvement over the integrated keyboard.

Thoughts on Gabby's miraculous recovery, and mine

As I understand things, each brain is diffrent, each brain injury is different.  Recovery from TBI will also be different.  In my particular case, I had a right frontal TBI, my speech was slowed, my left side was largely ignored, and I had some troubles with social processing.  I suppose I am a pretty powerful testament to the power of perseverance.  I was eleven when I got out of the coma, possibly during March of 1981, I was struck by an automobile.  

I want to say that I was brilliant even before the accident.  I cannot really know though.  I have enjoyed using computer mediated communications, because it allows for communication on a more level playing field.

I got involved with the state department of Vocational Rehabilitation, and they were concerned with getting Marty the educational achievement that he wanted in order to get a job that would help him stay off of the state disability assistance, or whatever.  I would venture to say that there are probably other federal programs, and executive departments involved at some level, but my interaction was largely with a few vocational rehabilitation counselors.

I graduated from Florida State University with a Bachelor's degree in Religious Studies, with goals of getting a Master's in Library Scence.  I did get the Master's Degree in Library Science, and got a job working at the library at the VA Hospital in Tampa, FL as a temporary employee.  I was offered a permanent position working with computers.

I enlisted the assistance of my Mom in making me some introduction cards, and then one day I was down at the Florida Aquarium, when I handed out two cards.  One of those cards called back four days later, and we've been married for 15 years.

Now, from limited knowledge of Gabby Giffords' injury, it was a penetrating gun shot wound.  From speaking with others who might have more general knowledge about TBI and recovery patterns, gun shot injuries tend to look similar to stroke recoveries.  I'm not all too sure what that means, but I think that the need to allow Ms. Giffords  recovery to progress should be honored.

In my experience, recovery was a long process.  Things did eventually get better though.  I am pleased that I can bouce a small ball on the floor and alternate between my right and left hand in the catching and releasing of the ball.  Perhaps that is one of the more big things I've noticed lately.

http://marty.marleensalo.com

http://so-much-time.blogspot.com 

How many of us are there?

I don't think that I am the only TBI survivor out there, in fact, I've met/been made aware of more through the computer/internet.  I want to compile stories of other survivors who are doing reasonably well.  But first is to figure out how many of us TBI survivors there really are.  The CDC estimates the number of instances of TBI at 1.7 million annually.  Many of those are probably concussions.  I called the Brain Injury Association of America, and according to info@biausa.org a recent number of individuals who identify as disabled due to Traumatic Brain Injury was 3.17 million.  I guess that number makes a bit of sense to me.  I still might like to get more instances of people who have done reasonably well following a TBI.  There are probably some individuals who do quite well, but there could still, I think, be a better way of communicating these success stories.  

I like the goats on thre roof t-shirt

I like the t-shirt that we got from goats on the roof in the north georgia mountains. This was an impressive banyan tree structure at Marie Selby Gardens in Sarasota.

Sarasota Chalk Walk art show

We had a good time at the art show. This was a good photo taken by my wife when we went down to Sarasota for the Chalk Walk

sky is pretty

There was a county park, with a fishing pier, on the road to pine island

There was a county park, with a fishing pier, on the road to Pine Island. We stopped, and I took some pictures of some birds in flight. They amaze me. I am humbled.  I like the flight.  We also stopped at some art galleries along the way to Pine Island, which is connected by a bridge to Fort Myers, but we drove to one end of the island, and it just dead ended, with the next island connected to another part of Fort Myers at a different causeway bridge type of arrangement to the south. I got to wondering about how Pine Island did when Charley came through, but I suppose that it probably did not affect the area too too badly, many of the structures appeared to be older than that event.

On the way to Pine Island

A tree by the Ford winter estate

Bamboo from the Edison winter place

We went to the Edison & Ford Estates near Fort Myers

Photo from Nov 11, 2011

we ate at Fulton's Crab House

This picture was taken on the far side of the paddleboat, The second floor provided elevation.

art at Downtown Disney

Photo from Nov 11, 2011

Simple guy

I'm amazed at how simple of a guy I really am.  I like the process of bouncing a ball.  I used to have severely limited use of my left hand due to the right frontal brain injury.  Recently, I've gotten better with using both hands.  The ball bouncing exercises are helpful, I think in my rehabilitative processes.  Recently, one of my office co-workers said that it was annoying to  him, so I brought my balls back home.  

I also like the music.  I enjoy the listening to music.  I'm not as big of a fan of orchestral music, but my wife tries to expose me to more of it, and it is alright.  Last night we went to Cirque du Symphonie, where there were some acrobatic/gymnastic/dancer/jugglers.  It was pretty cool.
We had a good time at the Tampa Center for Performing Arts.