October 31 third post

I need to post this picture with my favorite Case Manager Sarah.. today all the Case Managers are dressed like Waldo.. I am the guy with the baseball hat...

Friday October 31 second post costumes

Already, here are the costumes for today:

James is Indiana Jones.

Jarron a priest (the bible and Holly water are from his costume)

Caesar was dressed as a clown.

Friday October 31

I had a wonderful Pre Halloween present from Renee my RTC.

I have received a second knife to use in the kitchen. 

I have use it to make salsa alla Norma sauce for my gnocchi.

In the sauce I cut my eggplant and mixed it with some red sauce. Finally I dressed it  with Parmesan cheese. 

Afterward I went to the 24 fitness gym  where I had a great time.

Here is me just entering the gym.

At the gym I greeted Jessica who showed me her smile.. she was dressed as Marry Poppins.

She had the time for snapping a picture with me..

I had a chance to greet Frank the current Manager as Naomi has left and she went back to teach at school.

I  danced Zumba with Mike. Mike is the guy with the Superman costume on this picture.

After Zumba I started doing cycle with Lolita.. and after a while It was time for me to go back to the apartment as my coverage was over. As I left Lolita greeted me by saying thank you Joseph - see you next time and leave the bike there..

You see Lolita knows me very well as well. This is an old picture of Lolita, she is the lady at my right hand side and I am the one with the hat.

At the gym I went with Diego Rivera .Diego is his real name while  Rivera is the name that I am using to remember him.

Yesterday while at Zumba I lost the phone call of my wife Simona.. it is OK she knows I am fine and I know she is  doing well.  I will call her at lunch time anyway. I let her know than I was fine so that she does not worry too much about me.

Simona was busy doing her Zumba at a different gym than mine... 

Simona is a wonderful creature and she is always giving 100% for the family, she is very busy with our two bambini: Chicco is 9 and Lapo is 5.5. They are both going to LCE. Chicco is in IV grade while Lapo the youngest is in Kindergarten.

They are both very good kids, full of energy and always ready to be kids. Simona is moving along very well in keeping boundaries with their items. Normally at home our eldest Chicco ends up helping out a lot in keeping the balance in the family. Lapo the youngest is always Lapo: a young bambino that needs a lot of attention.

This morning  I had a very good breakfast today as usual..I enjoyed my time getting ready to come to work.

At the clinic I had a very good chat with Don my Counselor he mentioned that he would like to talk to Sarah - my Case Manager - about a couple of items. I trust very much the both of them. 

They both have my best  interest when it comes to this matter. I am working to my Education - this implies my own blog completed with these many pictures..

I need to go.. Enjoy the reading..

As usual thank you Sarah, Simona, CNS and everybody

Sincerely

Giuseppe

Thursday October 30

Alright, as usual I am working from my office at CNS.
The most interesting fact is that there are things that work and things that does not work. In reality the latter are not essential for an modern office that relies more and more on electronic format and less and less on paper... more ecological and less expensive as well.

Yesterday it was Wednesday and as every Wednesday I went to the gym.

Over there I greeted Frank the current Manager and Jessica. She is the lady with a red shirt next to me ( I am the gentleman  with the Caltech hat)

 It was the day for my cycle class with Angie. She was really happy to see me over there and she helped me position my bike in front of her. I had a lot of fun. At the gym I met Gloria, Damian, Richard, Tigi and  Dee who is finally back. She mentioned she had too much work to come to the gym.

Angie is the lady with a pink Shirt at my left hand side.

I then started doing Body pump with Serena and it was time for me to go back.

Kristy did my coverage at the gym. Afterward we came directly back at the apartment as it was a cold  evening we agreed not to stop along the way to have a cold long neck.. you see it has been  good that way...

I came back to the apartment got a hot shower a snack and a warm milk.

Today at the clinic I had already a lot of fun. I worked on the CNS blog with a bit of poetic freedom  with Michelle. She acknowledged stoically my work.

I then moved on to my PT, my favorite part of the day..

Running.. I run smoothly and  steadily with long and firm strides.

As I am getting stronger and steadier I am able to do more by myself.. 

I was independent on my PT and I had to let Nick - my PT Therapist know - about my work so that he could record it on his logbook.

I also met Sarah my Case Manager right after running and kidded with her on where I would be able to find some beer today.. she reminded me to rather drink water.. and so I did it and the my thirst subsided.

I just check with Micheal the Educational Therapist if he had any news about Dustin -he is the other therapist in Education. He mentioned that Dustin is attending a conference somewhere else and that he will be back this Monday at work. Hopefully he is coming back with a nice hair cut as well.

I am working on my blog (it is Independent Education) ..

My family is well,., my former girlfriend confirmed that she is going well. I have been reminded that she has become my wife about 14 years ago... This is why I some time refer to her as my former girlfriend. Well Simona is clearly too busy with everything.. so I am sure she does not mind a bit of wit on this blog of mine. Simona is currently working hard at Caltech. You can find her webpage at this link.

Have a great day everybody

Sincerely,

Giuseppe

Wednesday October 19 2014

It is a wonderful Wednesday Fall morning here in Bakersfield temperature are relatively  warm. It is expected to be about between 60 and 80 F.
Let's go back to my day yesterday.
It was a Tuesday and I as I had no Personal Shopping to do I went to the 24 fitness gym instead. Yesterday it was boot-camp with Johnny. As he was not around the class was self assembled and led by Renee. Renee is the lady at my left hand side of this picture. She clearly has a talent for fitness.

Afterward I started to do Zumba with Mike. I have enjoyed the Zumba dance as my wife Simona tells me always she does Zumba at a different gym meaning that she takes care of the family and she has a formidable job at Caltech... in fact she is an Assistant Professor of Atmospheric Science over there. 

Simona is always tired as she has a lot on her plate right now.

After Zumba I had a shower then a snack and finally I went to sleep.

Before going to bed  I kissed good night to my family

Then I slept like a baby.

This morning I woke up early as usual, got ready for my day  and had a good breakfast.

I then took care of the the trash, greeted James who had an Elvis Presley dress - I asked him to sing a song appropriate to his costume and he did a quite good job. I greeted Jaron who was working hard as usual.

Finally I jumped into the van driven by Jemena, wished her a god day with a daisy..

You know me I am the one that distribute flowers to all of you..

At the clinic I did my CR first ( PT for the mind) and the following three items

1) Parrot Program, settings 6 Letter 3 second, 

                                                                 Results:  80%  Av.response time 12.7

2) Deductive Reasoning level 8, 

                                                    Results 92% response time 29.4

3) Cause and effect level 8.

Results 93%, response time 11

I have finally did Yoga with Amy. She is really a good teacher. She has two daughters Madison 10 and Olivia 4. 

Madison wrote to me this letter and drove this picture for me. 

Amy mentioned that her daughters changed their plan for Halloween.

Olivia would like to be Queen Elsa from Frozen  while Madison would like to be a Sea Queen.

It is alright, it is going to give more work for me to do on their behalf.

  It is time to go now, I am sure our two kids are working on their costumes as well.

Lapo (5.5) is focusing on being a Ninja. Chicco (9) our eldest is going to be Death Dark More from Star Wars.

Well enjoy the reading it is time to go.

Sincerely

Giuseppe

Tuesday October 28 posting

Today I would like to mark that it is my wife Simona name -birthday (Onomastico) as in Italy today  is St. Simona.
So I called her this morning as she was going to work to make sure I wished her a happy "Onomastico".


She mentioned that she had just left our two sons (i Bambini) at school (LCE)

Already yesterday it was a Monday and after therapy at CNS I went to the 24 fitness gym on Gosford to do Yoga.
Here is me at the entrance of the gym.
It was a nice clear day of late Autumn,

Here is Melissa one of the receptionist that works at the gym.

She was in the Yoga class as well and she stopped by the snap a picture with me.

This is Erica the Yoga teacher she is doing many movements similar to the one we do at CNS with Amy. The class over there is more advanced but the key in Yoga is to do anything according to your own capability.

After ward I came back to the apartment.

After cleaning up I had a late snack based on Piadina

Then it was time to go to bed.

Today I had  a good breakfast and took the bus at 8:15 on time for my daily work at CNS.

At CNS I did CR with Zeina (it is PT for the mind)

my CR  work  has been as following:

1) setting 6 letter and 3 second: Results: 70% with 14.1 second 

2) Deductive Reasoning level 8. Results: 93% response time 16.27 second

3) Cause and Effect level 8 93% response time 5.6 second.

While I was there, Michael paid me the biweekly allowance that I receive.

This week it was all good as I did not spend much last Saturday.  I stayed within my budget of $150 every two week. The budget for outing is $48 every two weeks. This program is called Money Management program.--- Thank you CNS 

Afterward I did Yoga with Amy. It is a good smooth exercise at any  level of capability.

Today I brought her some nice letters for her two daughters. Their names are Olivia and Madison  (4 and 10).

I had prepared for  Olivia a butterfly drawing as she is going to be dressed for Halloween like a butterfly. For Madison the eldest I have prepared a nice letter for her.

It is as I normally do with my two sons. Chicco is 11 and Lapo is almost 6. So I normally prepare letters for Chicco - in English and block letter. For Lapo I make simple drawing with some basic words so that Simona my wife is helping him to read it.

Going back to about our two bambini their costumes for this year are as following:

Lapo: Ninja

Chicco: Death Dark More.

Well Simona my wife is working hard to keep everybody afloat. She is the head of our household, she has been it for the past four years, since the time of my accidents.

She is doing everything with grace and she does not spare any every of her in doing things that she believe are worth doing it.

In the mist of this activities she ends up sleeping very little but always managing to come up on top.

Enjoy the reading.

Buon Onomastico Simona

Sincerely

Giuseppe

Monday October 27

Today is a nice day, fall is starting to make inroads in California and it is time for long pans and long sleeve.

Well let's go back to my Sunday activities.. I wake up early as usual and had this picture with Simona my wife and our kids.

I had lunch .. we eat to live or we live to eat? Some time we do what we have to do and we eat what is available in the house. It happens to me when I decide to clean up the house from things that need to go.

Anyway my lunch was really good with Macaroni and Ragu.. and beer.. actually the beer tasted really like tea..

Both Chicco and Lapo got my letters and my drawing. Additionally I had a  video and his little balloon.

Lapo was able to contain himself to a minimum activity.

Afterward We  went with Simona to do recycle.. I had enough to do a good action for the environment and for making a few bucks. It is not for the money.. it is really for the  being green and for the earth.

We then went to the movie the Edward movie theater..

We went to see the Book of life as our kids wanted to see it.

Simona had the chance to have a good siesta during the show while I have enjoyed the company of my family.

Afterward since we were outside we had the chance of going to Target. The boys showed Simona their wish list. As usual we snapped pictures and it was added to Father Xmas list.

Finally we went to Crazy 8  to make some shopping for the kids. The kids needed long pans and new  long sleeves shirt. Simona got them a lot of new dressing items.. clearly the boys are growing strong and tall.

Both Chicco and Lapo needs a lot...

Lapo is getting his clothes from Chicco our eldest.. but he still needs some new staff for him.

Simona brought me Tostadas and she forgot to bring with her the little present I had for her.. it will be for another time.

Finally it was time for me to get back to the apartment and to go to church..

Mark drove us to S.Francis church and it was an uplifting experience.

As usual I sat next to Coral and her family. She was expecting me over there and before leaving she greeted me by saying see you next week Joseph.

Today I am working at the clinic and I have brought to Sarah my case manager a thank you note and some stickers for Ian her youngest son.

I need to go right now..

Enjoy 

Sincerely

Giuseppe.

Thank you Simona.

Saturday October 25 2014

Already, it is a very nice day here in Bakersfield, the morning hours are fresh, the the temperature rises at lunch time and then lowers again for the evening.
Yesterday I went to the 24 fitness gym to dance Zumba with Honey.
Celina provided the coverage for me while at the gym.
This is me before starting my work out.

At the gym I greeted Naomi, she is the smiling lady with the pink shirt next to me ( I am the guy with the hat). Naomi is the current Manager at the gym. When she is available she gladly stop by for a picture with me.

At the end of this month of October it is her last day as Manager at the 24 fitness gym on gosford.

She is going to be a teacher at the local school. 

At the gym I was introduced to Frank the new Manager as Naomi is leaving at the end of the month.

Frank is the guy with the red shirt standing at my left hand side.

On my right is Melissa the smiling blonde girl that works at the reception. 

We all stood together for a group picture.

Afterward it was time to come back home as it was late. 

Today it is a Saturday and as every weekend I took care of cleaning the house, changing the bedding and washing all the clothing. I like to leave in a clean and ordered apartment.

Simona my wife called me to tell me that the kids today had their soccer match. Our eldest one Chicco played in a tough game and his team won the game.

Our youngest one is Lapo and he is playing for fun with another team. they only have a small team composed by five players per side.

This morning I as usual I did my grocery shopping at Trader Joe's 

As usual I had a blast going there.

I  brought flowers to everybody, greeted all the staff and exchanged funny greeting with Jamie.

Jamie is the lady at my left hand side.. as usual I brought her a flower. At the store I also met Lucy. Lucy is the lady at my right hand side. 

Jamie told me that her daughter had prepared a drawing for me but she forgot it at home... she mentioned that next time she is going to bring it to me...

Lucy told me that her family is fine. Her daughters are Briana and Amanda. Her eldest son is Daniel who works here at CNS. Briana is always on the move and now she is taking on line classes at the Kaplan Institute.

Today Shopping went very smoothly.  As usual I  brought  my reusable brown bags- this time I had a bunch ready  for them.. recycle, reuse and save the planet.. as Erica-same is always telling us... Erica is a CR therapist that works at CNS as well. The other CR Therapist is Zeina.

In exchange for the bags I had a ticket for the raffle so that  Simona's phone was entered on the raffle.  As usual I also  got stickers for Ian. Ian is the youngest son of Sarah, my wonderful Case Manager at CNS.

 

Today my wife Simona is busy as the kids are having their soccer game. As far as I know our eldest son Chicco won his game, while the little one is still playing.

Due to the lack of our familiarity with the  more advanced technologies provided by   cell phone and  electronic images I am completely  unable to show you images about my family. It is a tough situation to be in, but I have accepted their inability to show me their daily life. After all... well let's say it is  acceptance...it is what it is as per my  self I am completely unaware of what the digital technology are capable of. It goes beyond my level of understanding and comprehension.  Particularly I start to loose it when you talk to me about the different imaging technologies: CCD, CMOS and the like. Front side or back side illumination goes well above my head. The different type of Colour Filter Array (CFA) you can use or the different time f demosaiching algorithms you can adopt for the co processor .. let's say it would be good to know somebody expert in the field of imaging.

It would be good to know somebody that understands all the different subtleties of an imagers and it would be good if he/she could brake it down in simple and clear terms for us.

I guess this would be fitting the job of an expert on the technologies of imaging. 

I guess this person would be able to fit in the position that I left open four years ago. 

Apparently as the position is till open, it is not an easy job to do, not at the level and success that I was able to do before my vacation here in Bakersfield.

My lunch.. speaks by itself.. Today is cleaning your own fridge day.. 

It is time to clean and scrap the fridge for the remaining part of the food..

Today it is Movie day.. at the Maya I am planning to go and see John Wick

and action packed movie with Keanu Reeeves.  Jessica recommended it to me this morning. She said that she like it very much at yesterday outing. So I am set to see this movie.

Well enjoy as I am going to write a letter to my son Chicco as tomorrow he is going to be here.

Sincerely

Giuseppe

Friday October 24 2014

It is a beautiful day here in Bakersfield.. fall is coming upon us and it is getting into the season where nature is resting a bit.
The flowers on my balcony are still resisting the cold weather, but soon it will be too cold for them as well.

Yesterday I went to the gym to do Zumba with Mike. I have enjoyed the activity a lot.Afterward I started doing cycle with Lolita and it was time them for me to return to the apartment.

Before leaving as usual I kidded with everybody over there. Tucker who was busy with a customer  nevertheless she managed to find time for me to tell me Splendid with a wonderful Oxford accent.

Before leaving I snapped a picture with Jessica here pictured in red next to me (I am the one with the hat)

My coverage was provided by Celina. She is  very nice person and she told me that she has two twin daughters one year old. They are very active and do their best to go to different places every time.

She mentioned that she recognizes by their smile as one of them an a chick feature that appears only when she smiles.

Afterward it was time to go back to the apartment and to take a soothing shower a snack and to rest.

Today at the clinic has been a busy day: I worked on my CR (PT for the mind) with Zeina one of CNS's Cognitive Rehabilitation therapist (CR).

 I worked the Parrot program with setting of 6 letter and 3 second. I have achieved 60% accuracy with Av response time 16.5.

Afterward I started doing the Deductive Reasoning CR Parrot program with level 8.

My score was 49 out of 50. With response time 30.2

I reported my work in CR to Zeina by email.. so let's save the planet!

Finally it was time for my Recreational Therapy. Whenever I can I run on Friday particularly it is called my RT.. I love running and it makes me feel strong. I have always like running and right now I am into running again. My balance is far better and my abstention to the safety rules is such that CNS trust me to run at the clinic' gym.

Anyway today I run a 2.2 miles in 30 minute. At the end I sprinted up to 6 miles in a minute.

This is the way I like to run, It is like a good piece of music: it starts slow and it ends  with a big "screscendo" of sound. 

Afterward I took a soothing shower  and as I had a snack, as running makes me hungry.

I had a banana which is full of potassium - good fuel for the muscles.

I met Sarah my wonderful Case Manager and cheat chatted about the activities of the weekend. She is very busy with her kids like Simona. She mentioned that she has soccer games with her kids. It is like Chicco and Lapo -our two kids. Soccer games are during the weekend.

Have a great day.

Thanks

Giuseppe

Thursday October 23

Already the salient facts of Yesterday are represented by these pictures

My RTC Renee as promised had maintenance to fix my dishwasher.
So thank you Renee. I checked with James yesterday and he mentioned that the appliance was covered by the warranty. So now it works and it is SPLENDID!

Yesterday there was the Halloween Party at the apartment so I took the chance of going there and to have fun. I met many people working here at CNS together with their family. 

Daniel mentioned to me that his family was here attending the party. So I reached for them and then we had the chance of snapping a picture together. I am the guy with the blue hat. Daniels' family his as following : his  sister Briana is at my left side while his  mom Lucy with a violet dress and older sister  Amanda with long blonde hair are at my left.

They all were happy to see me and I was very happy to meet the whole family.

Briana mentioned that she always busy working and right now she has enrolled in an on-line college ( Kaplan college). Briana is always on the move and trying to do better and that is a quality that I like on her personality. I have no doubt that she is going to do well on whatever en devour the decide to take upon.

I have purchased dinner over there and then tickets for the raffle on Simona's behalf. And I was one of lucky one to be selected.  As I was  leaving the party I said thank you to Sara - the activity coordinator at CNS- and she mentioned to me that my number got extracted so I won a price for my kids and Simona. Before leaving I have also asked if I could pick up a pumpkin balloon for Lapo our youngest kids.

I have gladly participated to the CNS carnival. I met every body from the center.

Chris- the Director of CNS- Laurent his daughter sang a nice folk song and played guitar.

I met Nick ( the son of Mark the founder) and Lindsey his wife. I also met Nick's daughter. She is a 2 years old pumpkin -  and she is a very energetic little kids. Nick was running  around to make sure she was well taken care of.

Yesterday Leila had soccer practice- like Lapo our youngest son- so Dustin could not make it.

This morning I had a very good  CR session with Tali, then a very nice PT session. Nick is my therapist today, II snapped a picture of my work and sent it to him by email. I run smoothly and happy to run.. It is good for my balance and stamina..

I saw Sarah - my wonderful Case Manager and greeted her very grateful for her to be always on my side.

My family is also standing by me, as I am getting better and more independent they all have a job to do, Simona is busy at school while our two kids are busy at school.

Lapo now 6 and Chicco now 9 are both going to LCE ( La Canada Elementary School)

Well my job is get better and to move ahead in my recovery.m Just a few months.

Don't worry.

Sincerely

Giuseppe

Wednesday October 22 2014

Yesterday at the apartment I have prepared a nice letter and a drawing for Madison and Olivia.

They are Amy's  daughters, the Yoga teacher here at CNS.

We got into the habit of  exchanging little presents out of our heart.

It is something I do with a lot of personal satisfaction,.. beside Amy likes it very much. 

I would be doing the same with my two sons.

Yesterday afternoon I went to the gym as I had no personal shopping to do..

Here is me at the entrance taking a picture with Melissa.. she knows me well, so she gladly snapped a picture with me..

Yesterday it was bootcamp day with Johnny. Bootcamp is a good  set of oversize like  jumping and equilibrium that  is good for me to do.  Beside I met all the people that I am accustomed to, we are mutually helping each other.

Before coming to the clinic James snapped this little picture of me. It is a funny pumpkin face! At the apartment they are getting ready for pumpkin time ..everybody is working hard.

At  the apartment the maintenance crew composed by James, Caesar, Jarron  and  Brad are always make me laugh and they do their best to make the beginning  of my day starts with a smile.

I appreciate their good humor, buddyness  and effort.

This morning I  worked on my therapy and found out that I can use emails and electronic document in order to be green.. This morning I email my work to Michelle from CR (it took me a while to get her email right, but finally it now stored in my electronic contact list).

I had Yoga with Amy- as mentioned to you I brought for her two daughters a thank you note.

She told me that her daughters' costume is as following:

Madison ( her 11 years  old) is going to be a sea queen and Olivia (her 4 years old) is going to be a butterfly.

Amy mentioned that she has to prepare the costumes for her daughters.

At lunch I called home and found Lapo - our youngest- he comes home to have lunch everyday.

He was happy to hear from me and Marina our very trusted nanny was with him.

Lapo is 5.5 years old and going strong.

Chicco our eldest is 9 years old.

They are both going to LCE.

It is time for me to leave
Please enjoy your day.
Sincerely
Giuseppe