Aide: 'This is still Gabrielle Giffords'

HOUSTON, April 7 (UPI) -- An aide says that U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords displays the same personality she had before she suffered a devastating head wound.

"One of the things that has always been a hallmark of the congresswoman's personality is her curiosity. She asks 'Why?' a lot," C.J. Karamargin told The Arizona Republic. "That curiosity is as apparent as it ever has been."

Karamargin, who began working for Giffords in 2007 after she was elected to Congress, added "This is still Gabrielle Giffords."

Giffords, D-Ariz., was shot in January as she conducted a constituent event in Tucson.

The accused shooter, Jared Loughner, allegedly targeted the congresswoman while spraying the area with bullets, killing six people.

A few days after the shooting, Giffords was transferred to a rehab center in Houston. Giffords' husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, is training for the next Space Shuttle mission in the city.

At a NASA news conference, Kelly said his wife was "just starting to process" what happened to her. She reportedly has no memory of being shot.

Kelly starts his days by stopping at a local Starbucks for coffee for his wife and bringing it to her with a copy of The New York Times.