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Updated: 06/16/05



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Thursday, 15 June, 2005

And with all of the other relatives having problems, Mom started feeling faint yesterday while she and Dad were touring in Nara, Japan. He had to go get her a Coke to drink because she was unresponsive. Not good. She told me not to worry - uh huh. Doctor Gary said that she needs to go see a doctor there, not wait until she gets home (in a month and a half). He said sternly, "Do I need to e-mail her?"

[Well, Mom, does he?]

You know, I was thinking about my assets and how much of them are tied up in real estate these days. So I decided to diversify - by putting a bid in on a condo at the beach in New Jersey! Now, granted, it is contingent on the sale of the Pier 3 unit going through as scheduled next Thursday, so at least I will be getting rid of one property before buying another.

The place we found is a very large one bedroom, two bath condo on the 11th floor of a building in Ventnor, NJ. It's south of Atlantic City, and north of Longport, where we are renting now. It faces south and has a great ocean and sunset view from the balcony. While the beach is not as isolated as Longport (one of the things we loved about the current place), the unit itself is really stunning.

For the same price, we could have gotten a similar unit in the complex we are in now. But the place we found is probably twice the size. The layout is exactly like Gary's mother's apartment in Philly, minus her extra bedroom. The kitchen needs updating at some point, but not immediately. They did a lot of built-in work, with additional storage in the bedroom.

It comes furnished and it looks like the owners had lots of family that stayed there, because in addition to the bedroom, there are two sleeper sofas, and they built in a bunkbed in a large walk-in closet. Gary said, "We have enough room for the Uber Moms!" He suggested getting rid of the bunkbeds and I reminded him that his son is turning twenty next month - we need to start planning for the grandkids. I don't think he appreciated that.

So, if the bid is accepted and everything goes as planned, we will close at the end of August.

[Let the mortgage payments begin!]

Speaking of kids, I have to go pick up a rental car this afternoon, drive out to Delaware County and pick up Gary's daughter Katie. Then we drive back into town, drop off the rental car and catch the Atlantic City train, where Gary will pick us up this evening. We plan to drive to a local dive in May's Landing where they have all-you-can-eat blue crabs, snow crabs, king crab legs. Yum.

I am hoping to take tomorrow off and we'll hit the beach and ride bikes or whatever. On Saturday, Josh is coming down and we'll go out to dinner before taking him back to the train station Saturday night (He has to work on Sunday). We have reservations at Savaradio's restaurant on Sunday night, and Gary will drive Katie back home on Monday.

[And I'll go back to work.]

Okay, I have a message for Terry Schiavo's parents: please, give it up. I'm sorry that the autopsy report did not prove that your son-in-law is the evil, abusive monster that you wanted it to show, but enough is enough:

Schiavo's Parents Dispute Autopsy Report

LARGO, Fla. — An autopsy that found Terri Schiavo suffered from severe and irreversible brain-damage has done nothing to sway her parents' position that she deserved to live and may have gotten better with therapy.

The long-awaited report Wednesday found Schiavo's brain had shrunk to about half the normal size for a woman her age when she died March 31 after her feeding tube was disconnected. The autopsy also determined she was blind.

Bob and Mary Schindler disputed the results, insisting their daughter interacted with them and tried to speak. Their attorney said the family plans to discuss the autopsy with other medical experts and may take some unspecified legal action.

It is very sad that this happened to your daughter so many, many years ago, but she is gone now. There is nothing that continuing to drag this through the courts will accomplish. From another report:

"She wouldn't recognize anybody's face, wouldn't recognize anyone's voice. wouldn't respond to stimuli in anything but a reflexive way," Dr. Douglas Miller, a neuropathologist, told CBS News. "They were seeing what they wanted to see, which is common and unfortunate in situations like this. It was just not possible."

The findings vindicated Schiavo's husband in his long and vitriolic battle with his in-laws that engulfed the courts, Congress and the White House and divided the country. Michael Schiavo and court-appointed doctors have said she had no hope of recovery. She died at age 41.

[Let her go.]


Quote du jour:

"Some debts are fun when you are acquiring them, but none are fun when you set about retiring them."

-- Ogden Nash (1902 - 1971) US poet

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