Staff Sgt Jason Ross - Marine

Linda and I are out in Bethesda, MD, visiting with some friends and stopping in at the Walter Reed Hospital just to see some of them. Dr.  Malone made herself available to us, for a good part of the day, and even took us to lunch. We got to eat at the new galley and the food was outstanding. I had a chicken and shrimp salad that was much better than anything I expected to find. We also were able to walk around and talk with a number of the other people who know Jason and/or worked with him while he was recovering there, and they all had very positive things to say about him. We ended up spending just about the entire day there, and we are soooo glad we did. After the initial visit we went to one of the local restaurants and waited for a few of the EOD friends that knew Jason very well. Dr. Malone drove us to the restaurant, so that we didn't have to pay for a cab, and it was kind of on her way home ... okay, she lives in the opposite direction, and it was just very nice that she ...

Today was an interesting day, in that we are flying out tomorrow, late morning, for Virginia, to attend a retreat that Linda and I were invited to, by the EOD Warrior Foundation. The retreat is designed to help specific caregivers deal with the day-to-day stress that can be experienced, in this situation, and when I say, "specific" it is because the target group is parents, as opposed to spouses or significant others. We're both looking forward to going and attending, as it is also providing us an opportunity to go back and visit with some of the first people we encountered after Jason made it back to the States and on to Bethesda Naval Hospital (now it is called Walter Reed). We've been in contact with some of them, and we have a day set up to visit with a bunch of people, then the following day move on to the retreat, and see what that is going to be like. We're both pretty excited about going. A couple of the first groups of people we met at Bethesda, besides...

Apologies to all you regular readers out there, as I was just a bit too tired to post last night - and below is why I was tired, as well as an update for today. Yesterday began with us getting up and getting ready for Stacy's soccer game. We had plenty of time to do this, and that was good, because I made a wrong turn on the way to the game and spent an extra 10 minutes getting there. As it was, we made it to the game just in time for Stacy to "check-in" with the coach, and then get put on the field. Of course there was a silver lining to arriving late; some of the vehicles from the previous game had left, and that provided closer parking spaces, and we didn't have to walk quite so far. The game was really quite fun and the kids (on both teams) seemed to have a great time. There was a solid improvement with their skills, and Stacy got in a couple of very good kicks, though there were no shots-on-goal. At the end of the game the score was either 3 - 2 or 4 - 3, and...

Jason got out and spent some time doing one of his favorite activities... Shooting. I've gone with him a couple of times in the past, but not today. Today I had a few other chores I needed to get done, and also I needed to pick up the girls today, after they got out of school. Anyway, Jason had fun and I can just imagine how things went. Jason is a bit of perfectionist, when it comes to a few things, and one of those is his shooting. While others can be seen, on either side of him shooting and squeezing off shots about one ever two seconds, Jason will spend 10 seconds (even more) with each shot, just so he knows his sights are tuned in correctly. Once he is comfortable with the setting of the sights then he will begin shooting more rapidly, but the first part can take up to a half an hour, and those he shoots with are always standing back just watching him. Its funny too, because none of them are bothered by him taking the extra time, as his shots are very accurate and he is amaz...

Just a quick post, as it is getting late and I am honestly kind of tired right now. Linda and I got up before 07:00 and I went down to fix Jason some breakfast. He wanted some cream of wheat, so that's what I fixed, and since I was making it, I made sure I had enough for me, too. Afterward I decided that I needed to get out on the bike and went for 30+ mile ride, up over Mission Gorge. It has a series of hills that are very challenging and I'm glad I went - my legs, on the other hand, would rather I had stayed home and did some reading or something. Anyway, it was a fun ride and I still managed to get back home before noon. A little while later - after lunch and a shower - Linda and I went to do some errands, and to look at a couple of consignment stores that she found. One in particular has all kinds of neat stuff in it, and I think we will be going back there again, probably a few times. One of the things I mentioned to Linda, while we were driving back to the house is, ...

Today, Linda and I worked in the garage for a few hours, getting things straightened out and reorganized. The stuff out there can be reduced some, and I'm sure that if we had the time to go through all of it we would find a bunch of it that could be donated or simply tossed out. As it was we were able to get rid of a few boxes, and we didn't through anything away. It was just a matter of consolidating some of the containers/boxes. It also allowed us a change to do some basic cleaning and sweeping of the floor. I did get a chance to speak with an old friend - one of the engineers who worked for me while at Sun Microsystems. I guess we talked for 15 minutes or more, and did some catching up, and then he told me he was possibly changing jobs. I was glad to hear this, as I think he would be happier as a developer more than a technical support person. He basically asked me if I'd be a reference and I said I would. A short time after that call I was speaking with a recruiter abou...

Today was an interesting day - though it did start out being a normal Tuesday (okay, it's Fat Tuesday, so it should be a little different, no matter what). The girls got up and lunches made and Linda and I walked them to school. Shortly after getting home I started making preparations for going out on a bike ride, and Jason was making arrangements to take Mr. Jingles to the vet. I needed to head over to the DMV, and I was sooooo glad I had an appointment already set. With yesterday being a holiday the number of folks wanting to get something done there doubled, and that meant the line was literally wrapped around the building. I started out by riding out to Mission Bay and then on up Washington Street. This was the first time for going up Washington, and for good reason. It is a very steep hill and goes for close to a mile. The cool part was that I was able to get all the way to the top, without stopping, and the top was the 13th mile of the ride. I got to the DMV and saw all the...