Montana!

Sorry everyone, forgot that I said I was going to post about my trip to Montana with my girlfriend Lisa and her family. Been pretty busy lately.
Lisa and her family were gracious enough to invite me to their family reunion that they have every year at their place in Montana. It was fantastic! I had soooooo much fun. It is the first time that I have ever been to Montana and I hope to go back because the place it truly amazing! We went for a week, Thursday to Thursday. We got in a day earlier than everyone else so we had some time to tour around ourselves. The house the have is a bit away from everything, which is truly perfect. We got in at midnight on Thursday and got to see the night sky without the light pollution of a big city. I have see a night sky with, literally, zero light pollution. When I was deployed and the ship I was on was running dark at night, the sky is truly amazing. You can actually make-out the milky way with your naked eye. That was the same way at the house in Montana. It is so amazing and I absolutely loved it.
The next day we slept in a bit because, hey, its vacation! When we got up we went about 5 miles up the road to a spot on the Bitterroot River (it actually runs right by their house) and brought some inner tubes. We parked the car and got out and floated down the river. It was so nice and relaxing, just the two of us hanging out, talking and smiling. As we got close to the house we saw some of her family getting there. We stopped on the shoreline for about 5 minutes and said hello, then floated the rest of the way and hopped out of the water. The river was so nice and cool on a hot day. We walked up to the house and prepared to go get the car back. It was great!
The next day more of the family came in and we had a great relaxing day hanging out and welcoming more family members in. There wasn't too much that went on that day except for everyone getting settled in. On Saturday, everyone that was there went to the artists farmers market to hang out and shop. I didn't shop but most of the other people did. It was nice to walk around and see the crafts that people had created. More of the family came in mid day and we were able to meet up with them for lunch before heading back to the house to relax and help the "newcomers" settle in. That night we had a great family dinner with awesome conversation!
The next day we didn't have too much planned so it was a lot of conversation and joking around at the house. I was able to make it to the gym that they have about ten minutes from the house. It was a beautiful gym and I had a great workout. Then went back to the house and got some lunch and did a little reading while relaxing on the porch outside. Later that day more of the family showed up! there was only one more day where people were going to get in. The total of family that was there was 23 people, I believe.
On Monday we drove into Missoula to a white water rafting company. They drove us about an hour away and dropped us of in the river to get going. It was so much fun! The full trip was 11-5 and the distance on the river was about 12 miles. The rapids were awesome but the wind was crazy that day. Normally the river would propel you down but the wind was stopping us in place. If we weren't paddling we weren't moving. It was such a great time though. After we got out of the river we went back to the house where the last of the family had gotten in. Another family dinner that night. I love the family dinners, sitting around talking about everyone and everything. It made me so happy to hang with them.
Tuesday ended up being a golf day for most of the guys. That was the first time I had ever played actual golf. I had hit the driving range a few times before but never played actual golf. I, of course, wasn't good at all, but it was great to spend time with the guys making jokes and learning to play correctly. we all got finished and went back to the house to recover from the day and another fantastic dinner!
Wednesday was another first for me. We went fly fishing!! I had practiced with Lisa's dad a few days prior but was still terrible. The guide on our trip really helped me out with the things I wasn't really understanding with the casting.  I was able to catch a few fish on the trip down the river. We stopped for lunch half way through and talked about everything with our guide. Oh, forgot to tell you, it was Lisa, the guide, and me in the boat. Lisa is a phenomenal fly fisher. I was watching her, trying to get tips on how I should be fishing. Side note, Lisa is incredible at all the things that she tries. Its amazing to watch her do her thing. Back to it. the biggest fish I caught through the day was about a 7-8 inch fish. It was so much fun. Right as we got to the boat pull out i cast one last time to try my luck. Guess what?? I caught a 16 incher at the last second. It was so cool!! I had so much fun that day and I appreciate it so much that they invited me to go!
On the last day, we just spent our time hanging with the family and reminiscing on the week that had just passed. It was such a blast and I had the best time with everyone there. I can thank them enough for letting me join in the festivities. My girlfriend and our family are absolutely amazing! They are all so loving and giving. I felt so welcomed by all of them and I appreciate it more than I can say. Off to my day now! Keep on keeping on!

Trust because you are willing to accept the risk, not because it’s safe or certain. ~Anonymous

Been a long time

Well, its been over a year since I have posted a blog. I have had some personal things that have been going on that have prevented me from writing. Those are over and in the past and its time to get back to this.
An update on me in the past year... I have been going to school for a while now. I was able to finish my associates degree and I am now working on my prereqs to get in to San Diego State to get a degree in nutritional science and fitness specialist. Just one more step on the road to become a personal trainer/nutritionist. I am starting to get into the classes that I am actually interested in learning. As I have said before, those general education classes are really boring. I was not interested in any of the information so I was just trying to get through them the best I could. But now I am getting into the good stuff. I just finished a summer school class that was an intro to exercise science. It was pretty cool and some good information to learn.
Besides school, I have been working on my rehabilitation still. It is definitely not an easy road but I am continuing on it with the help of my wonderful girlfriend. She pushes herself just as hard as I do and it is an inspiration to me that keeps me going. For a while I was training to compete in crew at the Paralympic Games in Rio this year. They were in desperate need of a rower in the trunk and arms classification. Let me explain, there are three classifications of adaptive rowing. There is arms and shoulders, trunk and arms, and legs, trunk and arms. Arms an shoulders are for the people that are unable to support themselves with there trunk muscles. They get strapped into the seat and row with just their arms. Trunk and arms in for those that have a substantial weakness in at least one leg. That is the classification that I was going for. Leg, trunk and arms is just like regular rowing except not as much power as the other professional rowers. Well, I was training for about two months thinking that I was going to qualify for the trunk and arms because of the deficit I have in my left leg from my spinal cord injury. As it turns out, I have too much strength in my legs so I was unable to compete in that classification, which was the only one they needed a team for. I am not upset at all that I did all that training. It was fun, and a great workout after all. I was a bit bummed that I wasn't going to compete, but thats okay. It was a great experience.
I am reading a book called "Original Strength- Pressing Reset". It is all about taking your body back to its infant stage of fitness and working from there. I highly recommend it to everyone. One of my therapists, John, recommended it to me. I was a bit skeptical at first but after reading the book I cannot wait to get started resetting my body. I hope that it will help me overcome a lot of the issues that I am having from my spinal cord injury. I don't think it will, but that won't stop me from trying! I am going to make my girlfriend Lisa work through it with me. I think it will help both of us out tremendously.
Thats a bit of an update from me. I will post another tomorrow or Sunday to tell everyone about the fabulous week I just had with Lisa and her family in Montana. Until then, keep pushing!

Things work out best for those who make the best of how things work out. ~John Wooden

Back to the Grind

Well, today is the start of my second week of school. So far so good. As I said before I was never good at the academic side of school so I have to get acclimated to it. I was able to do all my homework on time but thats about it. I even finished it earlier than the deadline. I hope thats not just the start of the class, and I will change once I get into it more. I want to continue to get my homework completed early so that I have time to go over it and make any corrections that are necessary.
As it turns out, I am not as good at grammar as I thought. I am not terrible, but not great. Thats okay though. That is why I am in english classes. I don't really like that though because I am not really someone that ignores bad grammar. I am sure that a lot of my posts have bad grammar. Like I said, I am not as good as I thought I was. Oh well, I'll be okay. If my grammar annoys people as I am writing, sorry about that. I will work on it.
I have a big day of looking at houses tomorrow. I believe that I have about 8 or 9 properties to look at. I think I have narrowed down the location that I want to live. Or at least the area. I am looking at northern San Diego. The areas are better up there than they are down south, or even out east. It is way too hot out east to want to live there. Ill have to let you know how the house hunting goes after tomorrow.

• When it starts to hurt, thats when the set starts.

More work than I realized

So, I've been in the market for a house to buy for about a month now. I still haven't figured out exactly where I want to look. I have tried to look at a few places and I think I have narrowed it down to a few places north of San Diego. I think I am looking at the Escondido, San Marcos area. It will be a drive to school but, it will be worth it. I will be able to get a nice house that I can work on to make into an amazing house.
School starts this week. It is going to be a big change for me but I am ready to start a new chapter. I just went to one of my best friends graduation today. I have to say, I am looking forward to doing that some day. I know that I would be able to do great in school, I just have to make sure that I don't slack off. In high school it was more for the sports and friends than the academics. I am hoping that because sports is not on the table that I can make sure I focus on the school work. Wish me luck!

• Good is not enough if better is possible.

No luck

Well,  the first day of house hunting was a bust. I saw 5 houses and so far, only one that I liked. I wasn't expecting to fall in love with the first house I saw but was hoping for something a bit better. Thats okay though. No worries. I am not in a super rush. Id love to find a house soon, but if not, its not the end of the world. I would love to find a house that I can work on. Something with a bit of square footage that gives me a bunch of options. Plus, Id love to be able to have room to keep my jeep down here and work on it when I can! Basically, I am truly excited to have my own home!
I am also looking into Stem Cell injections for my back. Just to see if it would help out at all. I would absolutely love to get my legs back to where they were before, or even better. I have emailed a person about a trial, I don't think I qualify because I am not a complete SCI. I hope that I will get some more information We will see how it goes!

I like to use the hard times in the past to motivate me today.

Dwayne Johnson

Starting the search

Well, my older sisters wedding was two weeks ago and it was amazing! It was so much fun an the place looked truly incredible. Now that all of that is over, its time to start looking for my own house to buy.
Not because they need their own place, but its just that time in my life. They are actually still going to live with me for a while until they find their own place to live. I am pretty damn excited to own my own place. Its almost like I am a big boy, all grown up! Well, those of you who know me know that isn't actually true, but thats okay!
I am looking for a single family house. Looking for a 3+ bedroom with 2+ bath. The important things are a back yard and a garage. A two car garage is what I am looking for. Well, dream garage would be about a 5 car garage, but that is for my next house. I don't really want to have to deal with a home owners association though. Those are such a pain in the ass and I don't want to pay any stupid fees that don't do anything for me.
Also, school starts in a few weeks. Im not really looking forward to it but I am hoping that once I get started and get into it that I can transition smoothly. We will see. All in time.

I like to use the hard times in the past to motivate me today.

Dwayne Johnson

Snowboarding

This vacation has been awesome! I have been snowboarding twice and also went and rode a snowmobile.
The snowmobile wasn't too bad. It would have been way more fun if there was more snow on the ground. Up here in Aspen it is almost the end of the season. Every day has been in the low 60's. Thats way to warm to keep the snow where it is. That being said, they actually truck in snow for us to ride on. They put it all over the road and let us play on it. It was a great morning actually.
As for snowboarding, its been awesome! I am really not very good at it but I am learning and actually getting better. I ride goofy because my right foot works much better in the front. Ridding goofy means that you have your right foot in front instead of your left. It also works because, well, so am I. Like I said, its been warm out here. My first day snowboarding I had to take my jacket off because I got so hot that I was dripping sweat. Not just because it was warm in the sun but because I was working so hard. The second half of the day I was in just a t-shirt and my snow pants. It was much better that way. Made me fee much better. Today, it was a bit cooler out but I still only wore a long sleeve shirt. I brought a jacket at first but I didn't need it. Same reason as before, the sun and I was working really hard. Snowboarding wasn't much work, it was all the time that I had to get up off the ground after I fell. I got a lot better today. I was actually able to make a few turns before I fell. But it was so much better than the first day. I have one more day to get even better. I am hoping that I will be able to make an actual run without falling. I don't see that happening but I will for sure try my hardest.
Tomorrow I am going to the natural hot strings that are around here so have a nice soak. Maybe let my muscles relax themselves. Ill try to do some stretching while I'm in there. I have been stretching every morning but with the cold temperatures out here my muscles are always stiff. It makes it harder to keep limber. I think its going to be a great and relaxing time tomorrow. What a great week this has been. Im definitely coming back next year!


Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone. ~Pablo Picasso