Jason and Cher

Hey everyone! Well, I'm still in Germany recovering from my shoulder surgery, I should be good to go in about 10 days, and will be sent back down range.

I am recovering nicely, I go to the hospital everyday for Physical Therapy. I never realized how heavy 4 pounds can be! I warm up with a hand-bike, probably just what you are thinking and then move on to a mixture of strength and range-of-motion exercises and then get iced down for about 15 minutes. I try my hardest, because I really want it to be like it was pre-injury. But, this isn't all I do...

Germany is a really nice place and I have gotten the opportunity to site see and visit some really cool places. The week I got here was the week of Germany's World Cup game with France. The town was about as out of control as an Ohio State home game, but you don't understand what the people are chanting or yelling - you just know they are probably all intoxicated. I made it down to Kaiserslaughern (K-Town) where some previous games have been played, to take part in some of the excitement at a big pavillion with a huge bigscreen and lots of sponsor stands. It was really a good time.

Yesterday, I was sitting there watching a movie and someone said, "Cher is here!" So, we all jumped up and walked into the hallway and sure enough, there was Cher. She came here to visit with everyone and surprisingly stayed quite a while for pictures and autographs. It was really cool, probably because there wasn't a mob of people trying get to her, but just a group of about 50 of us. She is so nice, I couldn't believe it, really down to earth and wanted to be here, not for publicity.

Well, that's been the most excitement I've had in quite a while. I hope everything is going well back home and over in Baghdad with the rest of you! I'll be back soon. Take care.