In article <Nf2dnVaBAbxFVDrZnZ2dnUVZ_oadnZ2d@megapath.net>,
"Mark K. Bilbo" <alt-atheism@org.webmaster> wrote:

Previously, on alt.atheism, johac in episode
<jhachmann-57BE7D.23071501072006@news.giganews.com>...

In article <SI2dnWjxGe6t9jvZnZ2dnUVZ_uqdnZ2d@megapath.net>,
"Mark K. Bilbo" <alt-atheism@org.webmaster> wrote:

Previously, on alt.atheism, johac in episode
<jhachmann-EE9D6D.23312830062006@news.giganews.com>...

In article <JtadnRLIxKaZezjZnZ2dnUVZ_tCdnZ2d@megapath.net>,
"Mark K. Bilbo" <alt-atheism@org.webmaster> wrote:

The little gnomes of probate are having a big laugh at my expense.
I'm stuck here for another month. I shoulda known better. Back to
the holding pattern.

Sigh. I don't *WANNA* be here in August. The big bad storm'll eat
me!

Damn! On the other hand you must have seen pictures of the East
Coast this week, Pennsylvania looked like New Orleans last year.

It has been a little eerie. Houston flooded, now areas up the East
Coast, but it's been really, really quiet down here. Barely even any
noisy thunderstorms.

Right. I saw pictures of the flooding in Texas too. By contrast, in
San Diego, we've only had half of our normal rainfall for the year.
The big worry here is big wildfires again.

We seem to be trying to turn tropical. Haven't had any serious
thunderstorms but it's starting to look like you can tell it's afternoon
because it's raining.

I saw today that they postponed the shuttle launch again due to the
storms. Florida must be having similar weather.

Hope you get the probate stuff settled soon.

Myself.

I would never have imagined it would drag on this long. I mean it's
not like we're talking about the estate of Donald Trump here.
Yeesh...

Are the courts still screwed up from Katrina last year?

Well, not out here. The city's a shambles and I have no idea what's
going on with their courts but this parish just got blown around pretty
hard. About the only Katrina effect has been coming from that the state
had its Vital Records department in New Orleans instead of the capitol
(don't ask me why). Getting certified documents out of them is a
nightmare.

I can imagine.

So far, though, I'm getting away with just copies. And when somebody
gets snarky about wanting a certified death certificate, they get a
letter that starts "Since Katrina and the devastation of New
Orleans..." They usually cave and accept the copy.

I would hope so. Life shouldn't come to screeching halt just because of
the hurricane.

Anyway. I don't have to deal with the courts much. I have something
called an "independent letter" that means I can execute the will
without having to ask the court for permission every step of the way.
It's more the boneheadedness of some of the companies I'm dealing with
that's causing the trouble.

Like this one account that Bob had been about to close anyway before he
died that had all of 82 cents left in it. They demanded certified this
and notarized that and all kinds of crap to close the account and send
the all of 82 CENTS to the estate. Well, instead, they got a snotty
letter. Which I rather enjoyed writing. <eg>

For 82 cents? I hope that the letter was extremely snotty.

Told them that for 82 CENTS they weren't getting certified anything.
And if they felt that strongly about the 82 *CENTS*, they could keep it
with my compliments and I would reimburse the estate out of my own
pocket. Said that, in fact, I'd give the estate an entire dollar bill!

They closed the account and sent a check.

Wow.

I swear, it's been the *little accounts and such that have been the
most annoying problems. He had a checking account he'd forgotten about
that had a small amount of money left in it. It had gone "dormant" but
hadn't been turned over to the state just yet.

I sent off a "what documentation do I need to send you to withdraw this
money for the estate" letter.

I get back a "we can't tell you what's in that account without proper
documentation."

I sent back "if you'd actually read my last letter, you'll notice I was
asking what documentation you need but here's a copy of my letter from
the court, now what do I do to withdraw that money?"

I get back "the account has X dollars in it."

I resisted the urge to write back "Dear Illiterate Fuckwit..." But just
*barely...

Idiot bureaucrats. Having recently retired I had to go through the
process of getting a Medicare supplement health plan including the
infamous Medicare part D for prescription drugs. You wouldn't believe
some of the incredibly stupid people that I had to deal with.

Mark K. Bilbo wrote:

Previously, on alt.atheism, Kevin Anthoney in episode
<kqKdnSRwKp2UFzvZRVnysg@pipex.net>...

Mark K. Bilbo wrote:

Previously, on alt.atheism, Kevin Anthoney in episode
<1ZmdnciCBrZz5jvZRVnyvg@pipex.net>...

Mark K. Bilbo wrote:

The little gnomes of probate are having a big laugh at my expense.
I'm stuck here for another month. I shoulda known better. Back to
the holding pattern.

Sigh. I don't *WANNA* be here in August. The big bad storm'll eat
me!

You've got the asteroid to worry about first:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/5135974.stm

Don't worry, the Army Corp of Engineers is on it!

What are they doing on an asteroid? Don't they fly on their own?

The Corp on an asteroid...

Trying to cheer me up are you?

It was the red nose and comedy bowtie that gave it away, wasn't it?

On Sat, 01 Jul 2006 07:58:16 -0500, "Mark K. Bilbo"
<alt-atheism@org.webmaster> wrote in alt.atheism

Previously, on alt.atheism, panamfloyd in episode
<1151744521.366408.22600@m79g2000cwm.googlegroups.com>...

Mark K. Bilbo wrote:

Previously, on alt.atheism, panamfloyd in episode
<1151725225.285176.155270@h44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>...

Mark K. Bilbo wrote:

The little gnomes of probate are having a big laugh at my expense.
I'm stuck here for another month. I shoulda known better. Back to
the holding pattern.

Sigh. I don't *WANNA* be here in August. The big bad storm'll eat
me!

Damn, hate to hear that, Mark. I'll bet you're more than ready to
have all this crap over with, hurricanes or not!

That's the truth. It's the Goldilocks of probate. It officially opened
right after Thanksgiving but it's *still *here...

What the hell? I didn' t realize it'd been that long. If you'd like to
vent about what's holding it up, I'm sure your friends here would
listen..

Oh I'm long past venting now. I'm into stark raving terror that it's now
a month into hurricane season...

They want to share nature's bounty with you.....

On Sat, 01 Jul 2006 07:58:16 -0500, "Mark K. Bilbo"
<alt-atheism@org.webmaster> wrote:

Previously, on alt.atheism, panamfloyd in episode
<1151744521.366408.22600@m79g2000cwm.googlegroups.com>...

Mark K. Bilbo wrote:

Previously, on alt.atheism, panamfloyd in episode
<1151725225.285176.155270@h44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>...

Mark K. Bilbo wrote:

The little gnomes of probate are having a big laugh at my expense.
I'm stuck here for another month. I shoulda known better. Back to
the holding pattern.

Sigh. I don't *WANNA* be here in August. The big bad storm'll eat
me!

Damn, hate to hear that, Mark. I'll bet you're more than ready to
have all this crap over with, hurricanes or not!

That's the truth. It's the Goldilocks of probate. It officially opened
right after Thanksgiving but it's *still *here...

What the hell? I didn' t realize it'd been that long. If you'd like to
vent about what's holding it up, I'm sure your friends here would
listen..

Oh I'm long past venting now. I'm into stark raving terror that it's now
a month into hurricane season...

When I had my tenant problem in 2004, every day the minutes turned into
hours. The procedure is easy but they don't tell you that it takes three
months just to get started with what must be a day's worth of actual work.

Anyway time swept slowly but it didn't stall, finally after all the other
high priced people on the case deigned to complete their part, I was free
and it's behind me. Just keep looking forward, it'll pass and you'll be al
right. That's what people told me and it helped just enough to keep me
rather sane, but not quite fully. :)

Good luck and happy 4'th.