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JaysPolitics

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Location: Takoma Park, Maryland, United States

I'm now a 52-year-old American male raised as an Episcopalian, veteran of submarines, Peace Corps, and State Department. I like teaching people about what they can do with computers and have gotten by as an independent Microsoft trainer teaching networking, but I really hope to someday find a way to make a living traveling on my motorcycle, camping, and writing about places and people I meet along the way.

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Update on Susan

My apologies for not posting more in recent months.

Susan had an evaluation. She says that the doctor declined to comment on her case. I suspect that he filed his medical findings, in any case, but Susan had the impression that he had washed his hands of her. Nevertheless, there is a hearing next month with the new judge. Susan's lawyer says that she has been excused from attending the hearing.

You know as much as I do about the facts, at this point.

My thoughts about what this has been all about and what will happen next are speculative. I tend to look for the simplest answers, but suspect that could be a mistake in Susan's case. Her father's connections cause me to speculate as to how much pressure he exerted upon prosecutors, perhaps in a well meant (at least in his mind) effort to get her help that he felt she needed.

A lesson that I can take away from this is an understanding that no human being is entirely rational. The air we breath is 80% Nitrogen. As a one-time scuba diver, I know that nitrogen becomes a narcotic somewhere past 100 ft. of depth, if a diver is breathing an 80% mix. The stories of nitrogen narcosis make clear that the incidence of it's affect upon the mind is subtle enough that victims do not realize they are being "narced." I think there are many subjects that have similar affect.

If we talk about sex, for example, no person has a neutral or unbiased position. Anything that brings the topic to mind causes ones mental chemistry to change, and no two people are the same. And so, I feel, that we must presume that we will all be less capable of reason in dealing with such topics or their influence. Like nitrogen narcosis, some function better at one ambient pressure than others, but all begin to dysfunction at some pressure point.

We have seen examples of great intelligence coexisting with great idiosyncrasies in humans or the even the relatives of humans we perceive as most gifted. We regard stories like Don Quixote as classics because they express themes that seem to us timeless and universal. We do not always appreciate, however, when modern day figures joust with our windmills. Nevertheless, I think society is better for accepting the consequences of diversity in order to grow through its blessings.

Susan's father dropped his foreclosure. The loan from the family trust does not need to be repaid until such a time as this house is sold, and there is no longer interest accruing.

Susan refinanced with a reputable mortgage company. Legal fees cost her $8,000 but she did not have to pay $138,000 immediately. With the refinancing, she eagerly paid of debts, arranged for new Pella windows to be installed, which will greatly reduce heating and air conditioning bills, and has initiated a contract to update the kitchen on her main floor.

The next bit of news is that her brother and father arranged to have a fair amount of her mother's furniture sent to her. The furniture is being unloaded from a United Van Lines truck by a very remarkable driver. He's doing the unloading himself, helping with reassembly, and educated me about some of the tricks of backing such a vehicle that I had not realized despite having towed a fairly large trailer over much of the country for many months. I always enjoy learning something new from an expert.

The furniture is pretty impressive. Chairs with designs carved by Susan's mother depicting the Crusades. Other chairs with her mother's needle pointed cushions... I'm hiding with my broken wrist and bad back until the dust settles.

More when I know more.