October 24, 1999 Dear Margrit, Thank you for your letter. I am sorry that my blocking the garage door offended you. However, I believe that if you continue to try to use it in its present condition it will almost certainly disintegrate, at best becoming stuck in a semi-open position, at worst causing serious bodily injury from a snapping spring. I plan to replace both garage doors as soon as I am able. If you care not to wait, you may ask a local carpenter to replace both doors for you at your expense. You should be aware that there is on the market a large variety of garage doors in different styles and qualities, with different operating mechanisms; and unless you are discriminating, you are likely to get a cheap, poorly functioning product at considerable expense. Your letter raises many other issues, both theoretical and practical, which, if they are to be addressed at all, might be discussed more efficiently in a telephone conversation. To try to elucidate them in a letter would be too time consuming and would create too many junctures of potential misunderstanding. I hope that you are and remain well; that the weather is good, and that the house does not present you with too many practical problems. Dein Jochen