Look Out World, He's Connected! 4/6/06

It's five months ago today that the black basalt sand and the blue crushing wave wrecked havoc on Joseph's neck. For him there is no looking back! This week has been one of agressively pushing forward. First and foremost HE IS CONNECTED AGAIN. Through his friends at SLCommunity College Bookstore he purshased Dragon Naturally Speaking 8 http://www.nuance.com/naturallyspeaking/preferred/. Life will never be the same again. Through this amazing voice recognition software, he can dictate acurately, faster than regular typing speed. He can dictate in word processors, but also in many other programs, and has learned a great deal already about controlling the computer and various programs all with his own voice.
If you have been wanting to email him in the past, it hasn't been possible for him to really read them on this own until last week or to respond at all. NOW HE'S FAIR GAME. His email address is josephstaggart@yahoo.com. He can't respond in Portuguese or Spanish yet (he'll figure that out eventually) but in English he is racing forward. We are so impressed with how quickly he is learning to do things on his own. He's always been independant, he's still showing what he's made of. Life may think it's closing doors on him, but he's kicking them back open and racing through! We'd be impressed even if we weren't his parents.
This week the crew from AV Engineering came by to install the amplifier, speakers, and DVD player etc. for Joseph's room. Jeff, John and the gang were speedy and professional and Joseph is blown away with his new system. Walter the painter came back for the last coat on the outside door and a bit of touch up; Steve, the electrician came back and intalled the heat lamps and vent in the bathroom; Ed Ayers worked on the door handles and locks again for a few hours; and the gang in Logan keeps working on the Van. We're told NEXT FRIDAY it will be ready. We are giddy in anticipation.
This week the extra room left the premises: the PODS storage unit, emptied of all it's contents returned to that company from whence it came. We are delighted to have a driveway back and may at some future time even use the garage for vehicular storage (Dad works on it each and every day).