(Spike and Vic at the breakfast table in the Little Village by the Bay last week.)

I liked that Mercedes GLK350 well enough that I actually looked for one in the Certified Pre-owned section of the local dealer- the one I walk by when I hoof it to the office.

I was lucky- there is only one on the lot, and it is a weird sort of magenta, which saved me from another impulse purchase. Still, I liked pretending to be whomever it was that was doing all that stuff up in Michigan with the three-pointed star right in the middle of the grill.

I was reminded of the Caddie SRX that I drove Up North what seems like a century ago. I forgot to rate that one along with the Dodge and the Merc and the Jeep. If a Cadillac dealer was on the way to work, I probably would have considered that as well.

Much more fun thinking about new cars than about the things we have been forced to think about lately. One important and valuable tip I got was to not do anything rash, predicated on the rush of events. Take a deep breath. Relax.

The crisis is over.

Having had to make a bunch of decisions on the fly was exhausting. What happens with the earthly remains? What is left at the nursing home and Potemkin Village? What goes to consignment? What to the dump? What to Goodwill? Snap judgment is no good.

Of course, the long process of choosing a candidate is destroying all of the Republicans, so there is something to be said for a little less deliberation.
1. Selective Search for Evidence: Gathering facts that support pre-determined conclusions, but disregard other facts that support different conclusions. We are all guilty of that.

2. Premature Termination of Search for Evidence: Accepting the first alternative that looks like it might work. Finding a course of action you like and ignoring the branches and sequels.
3. Inertia: Being unwilling to change old thought patterns. Like assuming things will work out the way they always have. Sometimes they just end.
4. Selective Perception: Prematurely screening out information not assumed to be useful.
5. Wishful Thinking: Wanting to see things in a positive light, even when you know it cannot possibly turn out well.
6. Recency Effect: Putting undue attention on recent information and experience while minimizing the value of information collected in the past. Whatever is on top must be the most important, right?
7. Repetition Bias: Believing what’s been stated the most often and the loudest must be true, just based on the decibel level.
8. Anchoring and Adjustment: Being unduly influenced by initial information that shapes your view of subsequent information.
9. Group Think: Conforming to peer pressure or the opinions of the majority. I remember thinking that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction.

10. Source Credibility: Rejecting input from sources prematurely judged to not be credible (or not “cool” or “in sync with the way you do business.”) Do not forward that email, just because it is too good to be true.

11. Attribution Asymmetry: Attributing success to your abilities and talents, but attributing failures to bad luck and external factors. Look in the mirror.
12. Role Fulfillment: Conforming to the decisionmaking expectations others have of someone in your position, which I have been informed on occasion is with my head up my butt.

So, deep cleansing breaths. There is nothing to be done in regard to wrapping up the estate, not until I have the certificates from the Medical Examiner in hand. I will make a list of institutions to contact, but nothing needs to be done immediately, and probably no decisions are good ones until the rawness of the grief wears off a bit.

For the first time in years, literally, I am not flinching at the sound of the telephone going off.

I cleared a shelf in the library for the square boxes from Michigan, and there is peace at last.

For now, no decisions are the best ones. Of course, they say that about Congress, too.

Copyright 2012 Vic Socotra