i'm irritated with myself. i want to put the fan back and fight it in court. i just know that the right decision is to temporarily pull back.

i think i've made my protest at the situation loud and clear and it will need to work it's way through the board, now. and, see, while the cops were wrong on the face of it, their ignorance has a sort of warped logic to it, in the same way that any intuitive but ultimately wrong analysis always does. it's not that it make me look better, so much as it makes her look that much worse.

the principle of it isn't worth the risk, or at least isn't without exploring other options like the wall fan or my own mounting process. no matter how right you are, and no matter how much you know you're right, there's always that aspect of risk when you put a question like this in front of a judge. it's just inherent to the process. the risk might be low, but the outcome of eviction is dramatic.

i mean, there might only be a 0.314% chance that the judge is a three-pack a day smoker with $100,000 invested in cigarettes and a daughter on the board of a tobacco company. but, if that's the card i draw...

i'm not a capitalist, so i don't adhere to philosophies about the value of risk, or the drawbacks of risk aversion. i don't gain a whole lot by being overly aggressive to start. but, in the unlikely chance that i get the worst judge ever, i'm going to look stupid pushing myself to the street.

the right thing to do is to fight the court battle on the front i've opened up (which is essentially on the basis of their negligence to address the problem), and let them hang themselves with their own rope by refusing to mitigate, while making my displeasure as clear as possible.

so, i know i've taken this as far as i should, and i know i'm doing the right thing in pulling back.

i'm just unhappy with myself, about it. i feel like i'm abandoning a set of principles for pragmatic gain. and, despite knowing it's smart, it's leaving me with a bad taste in my own mouth.