A Few Helpful Tips I’ve Learned for Estate Planning (Or, What You Need to Do to Make it Easier For Your Heirs When You Die)

As an executor of my father’s estate, I’ve learned some lessons the past week. Here are some quick tips for you to help make it easier for your children, spouse, or other heirs when you die:

• If you have a safety deposit box in a bank, you need to make someone else signatory to the box. Be it a spouse, a child, or even a lawyer, anything’s better than you being the only one who can get into your safety deposit box. Why? Because when you die, no one can get in it until AFTER your will has cleared probate and, in some jurisdictions, a judge has issued a specific waiver for your estate to get into the box. You have a safety deposit box, in part, to store important papers.  Guess what? These papers are even more important when you die. So your heirs need access to them.

• Speaking of safety deposit boxes, guess what happens when you die and someone needs access to the box? They need the key. File the key with an estate lawyer, a local family lawyer, or in an obvious place in your house. Then, tell someone where it is. It’s not important, in my opinion, to safeguard a safety deposit box key, as it is to safeguard other keys. Because no one can use it unless they can prove they have the legal right to use it.

• Keeping an envelope in your desk drawer for your heirs to read in case of your death is important. List your insurance policies (the account number and the underwriter), the companies you pay bills to regularly (gas, electric, water, auto, mortgage, etc.), the banks at which you have checking and savings accounts (and their account numbers), and anything else that someone who has to take over your life in case you die or are incapacitated needs to know. Such a list is extremely helpful. My dad died suddenly and didn’t leave us any of this information. It took 4 full days of looking through every single piece of paper in his house for us to figure out what was what. It was an enormous amount of work, and the timing is, frankly, terrible when you’re grieving.

• Make sure you have a will, and ensure your heirs know where it is. You can file it with an attorney, or you can just give a copy of it to friends or family. Whatever you do, do not store it in the safety deposit box or in a safe. Your heirs can’t get to it there!

PioneerOf The Nile is Retired

The DRF is reporting that super 3-year-old colt PioneerOf The Nile was retired this week after suffering a soft tissue injury to a front leg. Readers of this blog know that POTN was my pick to win the Kentucky Derby, and he nearly did so, finishing a strong 2nd to Mine That Bird.

Early in his career, I was not a POTN fan. I always found myself rooting for his competitors, and was disappointed when he won. By the middle of the Derby prep season, however, I had become a convert. He had, for my money, the toughest road of any Derby horse, competing in 4 Grade I and 2 Grade II races before shipping to Churchill Downs. He came to the Derby with a 4-win streak, including of course the Santa Anita Derby.

We never got to see him race against “the other” California horse, The Pampelmousse (who was injured days prior to the Santa Anita Derby). While he performed very well in the Derby, by the time he got to the Preakness Stakes, he was tired from the prep season and a grueling Derby race. He was eased, I believe, before the tape, finishing 11th. He was then shipped back home for a few months’ rest, and was supposed to run in this month’s Swaps.

If you look back on this blog, you’ll see I had put together a bet for the Derby using POTN and “all horses” in an exact box, costing 36 units. It was the correct bet, and paid just over $2,000 per $2 bet.

Ah well — another good horse down. I hope I find another POTN for next season!

In Memoriam: My Father

My father was born on July 29, 1943 and passed away today, Sunday July 5, 2009.

He grew up in Brookline, Massachusetts and attended the New England Conservatory of Music and Emerson College. He was an auxiliary percussionist for the Boston Symphony Orchestra in the early or mid 1960s. While there, he met the daughter of one of the orchestra’s bass violinists, wooed her, married her, and with, had me and my sister.

Following his musical career, he went to work at WGBH, the Boston-area PBS station. He worked his way up to producer, and then moved to New York to work for the networks and, eventually, HBO. He and some colleagues went on to form The Entertainment Channel. He moved from there to Interactive Television, then switched gears and moved into the executive recruiting world in NY’s public relations world where he worked for the rest of his life.

My father was a smart man. His mind was sharp, and this acute intelligence manifested itself many ways. He was good with a limerick or a really bad pun. He was able to divine common-sense solutions to life’s conundrums at-will.  Like all of us, he had his successes and failures in business, but he was able to build and sustain his own business for the last 15 years.

My father had a very big heart. He was always there when I needed him, and wouldn’t hesitate a moment to drop everything and come to my aid when I needed it. And he did so numerous times over the past 35 years, mostly during times where I was unexpectedly hospitalized. While he took pride in his own accomplishments, he was clearly proudest of the successes of both me and my sister. He would rave to me about how wonderful it was when my sister did such-and-such.

My father loved a lot of people. He never stopped loving my mother. He loved his second wife. He loved very much the woman he spent most of the last 10 years with. His second wife preceded him in death, but his heart would be warmed to know his other two great loves will be with him, and together with his family, this week as we memorialize him.

My father loved classical music. It resided deeply in his soul. There are so many pieces he loved, but right now, Mahler’s 2nd, The Resurrection, plays in my mind for him. Its climax was, possibly, the most moving musical passage my father ever experienced. He would play it at deafening volumes in the car,  (sometimes with me in it).

My father loved movies, especially action films and suspenseful dramas, and he loved reading books — thousands of them, but mostly contemporary fiction and espionage/thriller novels.

My father loved his pets, Brandy, Molly, Tory, and Cody. He even loved my cats, and asked about them often.

My father loved life, and he was lucky, for many and much in life loved him back.

I will miss him every day.

I Found a New Bet

Hollywood Park offers a bet I had never paid any attention to. I saw a friend at the track playing it a few weeks ago, and he was having a good time with it. I followed along, and then it dawned on me that this was my kind of bet!

It’s called the “place pick all”.

You pick one horse in each of the races run that day, and in each race, the horse you have picked must finish first (win) or second (place). The bet cannot carryover, so it’s paid out to the highest number of successful races. So, on a racing card with 8 races, if people pick 8 of 8 correct, it only pays out to the people who picked 8 of 8. If no one picks 8 of 8, then it pays out to the people who picked 7 of 8. If no one picks 7 of 8, it pays those who picked 6 of 8. Etc.

Recent payouts for the last 5 racing days at HOL:

• $1   Place Pick All  [9 OF 9]  Paid $733.10
• $1   Place Pick All  [10 OF 10]  Paid $6,677.10
• $1   Place Pick All  [8 OF 8]  Paid $387.10
• $1   Place Pick All  [8 OF 8] Paid $1,284.10
• $1   Place Pick All  [8 OF 10]  Paid $1,628.50

For me, this bet is really fun because it requires hard work; you have to handicap all 8, 9, or 10 races ahead of time (before race 1). If I limit myself to, say, a $12 budget, then it’s a pretty cheap bet to play over and over. I played it last Sunday for the first time, and got 7 of 9 correct, and was hooked. I’m trying again today (I’m on vacation, so I had the time to handicap all 8 races today), and hope I do better and get paid.
[Update: I hit 6 out of 8 today. It paid 8 of 8 for over $5k. Looking at these payoffs, this is clearly a good bet to be playing, I think.]

Go Away, Pathogenic Microorganisms!

I was supposed to be on vacation.

Today, tomorrow, and Monday were supposed to be my first non-sick vacation days since January. But instead of enjoying the sun, the beach, or more likely, the grandstands at Charles Town, for the second time in ~35 days, I am down with a nasty bout of bronchitis. It hit me like a train in late May, making me feel all disoriented and unfocused until I finally got drugs to treat it. It took around 15 days to finally feel better, and since then, the last three weeks have been fine. On Monday, however, I started to feel a sore throat coming on, and before I knew it, I was up at 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning Tuesday with a badly swollen throat. That evening I had a low-grade fever, and early this morning, I awoke at 4:00 am with the same bronchitis cough I had experienced in May.

I slept for about 45 minutes between 7:15 and 8:00, at which point I called the doctor’s office for an appointment. As I began to talk the receptionist, I was shocked to learn I had no voice. It was a struggle just to get my name and date of birth out.

The doctor indicated the most likely explanation for getting stricken with this again so quickly was that the bacteria from May never fully left my system. So in addition to a broad spectrum antibiotic (levafloxacin, which my body has reacted very well to twice in the past) and a really good cough medicine (tussionex, with yummy hydrocodone in it to make me sleepy), he put me on a corticosteroid regimen to eradicate the bacteria once and for all (opening up such comedic opportunities as Ed remarking, “Does that mean you’re going to hit 50 home runs this season?”)

6 hours later, I’m feeling less phlegm-y and the coughing isn’t as violent (which is expected, since the tussionex is really quite effective). I am sweating profusely, and have been all afternoon, but I’m guessing that just means my temperature is yo-yo’ing (just like it did last a few weeks ago when my body temperature fluctuated between 97 and 102 or 103).

So, a few more days of rest, and hopefully I can beat this thing in time for the weekend.

SCOTUS Finally Releases Opinion on Safford United School District #1 v Redding

A few minutes ago, the Supreme Court of the United States handed down its big “social issue” ruling of OT08. I almost nailed it, predicting both the outcome and predicting exactly what Justice Thomas would write. I equivocated a bit, so I’m not going to give myself credit for fully nailing it.

The short of it is a school administration suspected a female student of having on her person perscription ibuprofen, which they had heard she was giving or selling to other kids. When called into the office, they found 4 pills in her belongings. They took her to the nurse’s office and had a female nurse remove and search her outer clothing, but then made her shake out her bra (briefly exposing her breasts) and open her underwear for inspection (exposing her pelvis area).

The parents sued, claiming unreasonable search under the 4th Amendment.

Today’s ruling is complex (because the specific petition has 3 major elements), but the one we care most about is the Court’s 8-1 ruling that the part of the search involving her bra and panties was unconstitutional. The majority opined that due to “societal expectations of personal privacy”, such a search can only be conducted when there is clear and compelling evidence that both contraband can be found in the private areas and that the pills posed a serious danger to other students due to their potency.

Indeed, I think it’s somewhat common sensical to ask bewilderedly, “they suspected her of carrying ibuprofen so they strip searched her???”  And the Court clearly asked themselves that question and decided, like many of us, “no way”.

What complicates the issue — and thus, to me, makes it interesting – is Justice Thomas’s dissent. He makes one point that underwear is a pretty reasonable place to expect to find hidden drugs:

The majority finds that “subjective and reasonable societal expectations of personal privacy support . . . treat[ing]” this type of search, which it labels a “stripsearch,” as “categorically distinct, requiring distinct ele-ments of justification on the part of school authorities for going beyond a search of clothing and belongings.” Ante, at 8.2 Thus, in the majority’s view, although the school officials had reasonable suspicion to believe that Redding had the pills on her person, see ante, at 7, they needed some greater level of particularized suspicion to conduct this “strip search.” There is no support for this contortion of the Fourth Amendment.

It’s hard to argue with him on that point. In speaking to the requirement that the drugs pose a significant danger to the other students, Thomas argues:

Each of these additional requirements is an unjustifiable departure from bedrock Fourth Amendment law in theschool setting, where this Court has heretofore read theFourth Amendment to grant considerable leeway to school officials. Because the school officials searched in a loca-tion where the pills could have been hidden, the search was reasonable in scope

Finally, his main point is something he’s been consistent on over the years. Thomas believes school administrators must enjoy significant qualified immunity under the law in order to maintain order, discipline, and lawfulness.

For nearly 25 years this Court has understood that “[m]aintaining order in the classroom has never been easy, but in more recent years, school disorder has often taken particularly ugly forms: drug use and violent crime in the schools have become major social problems.” Ibid. In schools, “[e]vents calling for discipline are frequent occurrences and some-times require immediate, effective action.” Goss v. Lopez, 419 U. S. 565, 580 (1975); see also T. L. O., 469 U. S., at 340 (explaining that schools have a “legitimate need tomaintain an environment in which learning can take place”). For this reason, school officials retain broad authority to protect students and preserve “order and a proper educational environment” under the Fourth Amendment.

Thomas had this same argument (and indeed, quotes the text many times) in last year’s “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” case, Morse v Frederick, in which the Court re-asserted that students have limited 1st Amendment rights.

In the end, I agree with the majority that the strip search was unreasonable, and I agree with Justice Thomas that school administrators should continue to enjoy broad qualified immunity.  It’s finding the balance that makes life difficult for administrators and jurists in an age of increased non-conformity and bad behavior in our nation’s schools.

I Want to See “Moon”

The film, “Moon” is only in limited release in the U.S., playing in New York City, Boston, Chicago, and out in California — nowhere near where I live. It’s a science fiction film directed by David Bowie’s son and starring Sam Rockwell. It was very well-received at Sundance.

I just read the following review at IMDB:

“I attended a screening of “Moon” at the 2009 SXSW Film Festival in the legendary Paramount Theatre. There wasn’t an empty seat in the 1300-capacity palace. Directed by Duncan Jones, “Moon” stars Sam Rockwell, one of our generation’s most powerful actors.

The notion of a film being unique seems unlikely in 2009. Not here. While “Moon” is a modern-day science fiction film set in the future, it pays homage to recent classics like “Blade Runner” and “Alien.” Viewers will be dazzled — fans of the genre will nod in approval.

Science has developed a way to mine the rocks of the moon for clean energy here on earth. Private enterprise, in the form of a corporation from Japan, sends astronauts on a three-year work stint to carry out this ongoing mission. Sam Bell (Rockwell) is the latest to undertake this task, with the trusted robot GERTY by his side watching over the base’s operations — think HAL with a heart. Of course, things are not what they seem, and the viewer is mesmerized as puzzling and surprising events unfold.

Cinematographer Gary Shaw contributes to the impression of the eerie stillness of life on the moon with the copious use of still camera and slow tracking shots, only using hand-held when necessary. Nicolas Gaster’s editing is sure and steady, emphasizing the slow pace of Sam Bell’s multi-year work assignment. Remember those pre-CGI days when special effects meant miniature land rovers on a bumpy table? It can still be done — and be believable. “Moon” is evocative of the sci-fi greats whose visuals were done in-camera, i.e., on set as opposed to being created by computers in post-production. Sam Bell’s unearthly home is comfortable yet aging like the patina of an old cottage.

Nathan Parker’s screenplay (Jones wrote the story but handed over screen writing duties to Parker) makes the most of Sam Rockwell’s considerable talents. This was quite a physically demanding role, as well, and rarely has the actor been better (watch “Snow Angels,” though). He doesn’t just carry the film — “Moon” is almost a one-man show and Rockwell conducts a master class.

“Moon” is a classic, down and dirty (literally) science fiction film with a baffling mystery that challenges the viewer to live in the shoes of the protagonist. It’s hard to imagine a better one than Sam Rockwell or a more effective, entertaining, and satisfying cinematic experience.”

A Meme

I can’t …

Carry a tune.  Know the plot of a movie or television show ahead of time and still enjoy the viewing experience. Sleep soundly when something’s on my mind. Drive a manual transmission. Abide by clutter.

I can …

Crack my knuckles, over and over and over, with no pause. Bake. Be very outgoing when I’m in a foreign environment (away from work and my everyday routine). Type 128 words per minute.

I won’t …

Read newspaper editorial pages anymore because I can’t take the tunnel vision on both sides of the issues. Willingly kiss a girl wearing ’stuff’ on her lips. Go anywhere near a fresh strawberry; the pungency triggers a strong gag reflex. Be embarassed when I fart.

I will …

Always wear my emotions on my sleeve. Always want a new car every few years, even though I know it’s a terrible waste of money and isn’t important to anything else in my life or values system.  Always love Catherine.

I shouldn’t …

Use pain killers to help me go to sleep once in a while.  Care so much about what other people think about me.  Speak my mind so often. Crack my neck every 10 minutes. Spend so much time on the computer at home and at work.

I should …

Get over my fear of trying food. Stop by and see friends more often. Strive to be even snarkier towards Megan on Facebook. Smile more at the office. Spend more time trying to write creatively.

Review: NCIS (Season 1)

I am not a big fan of episodic television or procedurals, so 6 years of NCIS went by before I noticed this show. A few weeks ago I caught a few episodes on USA Network, liked what I saw, told my father about it, and he sent me the season 1 DVD set to watch. After viewing the first 23 episodes, I am hooked.

Spun-off from NBC’s “JAG”, NCIS is a procedural centered around Mark Harmon’s character, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, a former Marine gunnery sergeant cum Naval investigative officer. Like any new show, the writers struggle to find “their home” during the first season, slowly fleshing out characters and figured out what kind of plotlines work. Also typical for a new show, the actors seem to settle into their characters a bit later in the season.

NCIS’s creator and season 1 showrunner, Donald Bellisario, began his career as a writer on the original, “Battlestar Galactica”, then created his first successful television series, “Magnum P.I.”. He went on to create “Airwolf”, “Quantum Leap”, and “JAG”. Bellisario was a Marine sergeant in the 1950s, serving along side Lee Harvey Oswald (a story, according to IMDB, told in an episode of “Quantum Leap”).

The show features a comfortable mix of action, drama, and light-hearted moments. The Mark Harmon character is the show’s glue, I think, but the supporting cast each contribute significantly. It’s been promised to me that the show becomes a bit less episode-oriented later on, with more and more focus on multi-episode story arcs and an emphasis on the characters rather than the mystery-of-the-week. I look forward to watching that happen as I begin season 2.

Tuesday Afternoon Tidbits

• The small handful of you who visit my site with some regularity will notice it looks different. I’m finding WordPress to be a very intuitive and easy-to-use blogging platform. One of its selling points is its nice “theme” collection. I changed my site’s theme today, as I really like the “classy” look this theme exudes.

• I share an office with someone, and today’s her birthday. Someone sent her a nice bouquet of daisies, but forgot to sign the card, so my officemate has no idea who they’re from. Oops!

• I received my copy of a 2007 Alison Krauss album, “A Hundred Miles or More”, which is a collection of some unreleased tracks and a re-packaging of some of her more obscure releases (often duets with performers like James Taylor and Brad Paisley).  In short, the album is not very good, in my opinion, but there’s one track I really, really like. “Jacob’s Dream” is a sad, moving ballad about the events of 1856 in a small Pennsylvania town. I found this write-up on a blog:

“In April of 1856 seven year old Joseph Cox and five year old George Cox wandered away from their parents home in Spruce Hollow, Pennsylvania and perished due to exposure. A few nights later Jacob Dybert, a farmer living on the other side of Blue Knob Mountain, had the the first of three identical dreams. For three nights in a row he dreamt that he was walking through an unfamiliar section of forest and found the bodies of the boys at the foot of a tree. Compelled by his dream Jacob and his brother in law retraced the steps that Jacob had taken in his dream. Remarkably they found the boy’s bodies where they lay huddled beneath a tree.

In 1901 local residents erected a memorial in the forest where the children were found. Some people say they can sometimes hear the sound of children playing in the woods near the Cox Monument in Pavia.”

Thoughts on Conan O’Brien

For the last few years, I was unhappy to have to choose between Conan O’Brien and Craig Ferguson for the 12:35 hour. They were my two favorite talk show hosts. I chose to watch Craig most nights because his comedy is fresher and different and he doesn’t quite fit in the box. So when Conan started hosting The Tonight Show at 11:35, I was happy to be able to watch both.

After a few weeks, I’ve figured out that I’m pretty tired of the whole late night genre. In more innocent times, I think Carson made us laugh with his monologue and his skits, and delighted us with his bonhomie during interviews. Since that time (17 years now), we’ve seen the same routine (topical monologue including witty banter from/to band, silly skits making fun of people or animals, then interviews with celebrities peddling something) from all the late night gab festers. For me, it’s gotten quite old and stale.

I DVR Conan and watch it in the mornings before heading to the office, and what I’ve figured out I’m doing is fast forwarding past all the opening stuff, and going right to the interviews with guests I’m interested in seeing.  This morning, for example, I fast forwarded right to Eva Mendes, realized I had no interest in her, fast forwarded to the next guest who I had never even heard of, and promptly hit delete on the DVR. I “watched” the show in 5 minutes or less. More typical I think is Thursday morning, where I sat through — and enjoyed — two interviews over four segments with Kobe Bryant and a whacked-out Bill Shatner. But even that only took about 20 minutes to watch.

So, I think that leaves me back enjoying only Craig on any “live” basis. He’s hit and miss with some of his zaniness, but it’s unlike most of the other late night fare out there.

Looking Through the Glass Door

There’s a website started by a local, successful dot.com entrepreneur called Glassdoor.com. It is a site where employees anonymously post reviews of the companies they work for, and/or post their salaries so that everyone can compare which companies pay better/worse.

I’ve been having fun looking up companies in my industry and reading the anonymous employee and ex-employee reviews, then identifying common themes.  The overwhelming theme I get out of perusing reviews is that management sucks. Everywhere. They’re out of touch, they’re short-sighted, they’re too short-term oriented, they’re too reactive, they don’t listen, and in some cases, they’re racists/homophobes/etc. and the Old Boys Club still very much reigns supreme. It’s amazing seeing this theme carried over to almost every company I read about.   Another common theme, which goes hand in hand with the last theme, is that the worker bees work very hard and have strong cameraderie, despite the lack of management cluefulness.  I’m writing this almost chuckling at how common these two themes are.

So, if you’re looking to do a little corporate voyeurism, head on over to bugmenot to get a login, go to the site, lookup your company or the companies you work with/around, and see what the employees and ex-employees have to say.

I work for a small company, so I could never post about it (they’d see right through it and say, “clearly David wrote it, that jerk!”), but it’s fun to think about what I would write if I could write a review.

Random Tidbits

• I found a new horse racing blog site today. Sid Fernando is a horseflesh expert and journalist who has an excellent breeding-heavy blog here on WordPress. He is part of a website called eMatings, which offers professional advice to horsemen on breeding/mating possibilities. When I get around to the breeding part of being a horseman, I think I’ll try their service.

• I watched the Liam Neeson thriller “Taken”. I’m not putting up a full review, because I was really bothered by the subject matter (human slave trade). But I will say that Liam Neeson is an extraordinary actor who I enjoy watching immensely. I had mixed feelings when I saw him for the first time in Spielberg’s once-in-a-lifetime film, “Schindler’s List”, as I felt his Oskar Schindler was a bit stilted, but in films since then, he’s grown on me a lot.

• I visited Nancy and Dean Vanhuss’s new winery last week, Dry Mill Winery. It’s set on a beautiful piece of property in Loudoun County and the restored farmhouse looks great. Congrats to Dean and Nancy on their new venture.

• This weekend is Charles Town’s Spring Festival, which includes visits by Big Drama (straight out of the Preakness Stakes), Azul Leon, Bunker Hill, and Forty Thieves. We’ll have numerous famous jockeys on site, including Eibar Coa, Anna Napravnik (who I’d love to meet), Michael Baze, and Jermaine Bridgmohan.

Belmont Stakes Prediction

This year’s Belmont Stakes is a terrible race, one I’ve described elsewhere as a “regression to the mean, rather than a standout event”. It’s filled with underwhelming horses who haven’t accomplished anything of note, and features only two horses who I think can reasonably be expected to win.  Charitable Man is a large, beautiful stallion-to-be who would have factored in this year’s Triple Crown if not for a wintertime shin injury. He will be the race’s pacesetter, and will try and become the second horse in a row to lead this race wire-to-wire. Mine That Bird, however, is my pick to win the 2009 Belmont Stakes.  His jockey, Calvin Borel, will be smart enough to keep him near enough to the pace to allow him to open up and go full speed for the last 3 or 4 furlongs.  I think Mine That Bird is possibly the best 3 year-old colt in the nation, and no horse in this race should prevent Mine That Bird from winning tomorrow’s race.

The undercard races are much better than the featured race, and I look forward to watching them.  You can catch the undercard action on ESPN from noon until 5, then the coverage switches over to ABC.

What a Great Story

I don’t make many links in my blog to other sites, but I wanted to share this excellent story from today’s New York Times:

A Town Fights to Save an Oasis of Baguettes