Misc notes from Chicago

Spent the day yesterday dealing with bank accounts. I had to wait until I received the Letters of OFfice which authorize me as executor to deal with teh affairs of my mom's estate. So...having these in hand, I headed to the two banks she used.

The first bank was friendly, but refused to work with me mostly because my brother (and father!) is listed as a beneficiary on all of the accounts. So I had to ask Pat to fedex a latter authorizing me to act on his behalf. I also have to find a copy of my father's death certificate. Nothing major, but I wish I'd known before showing up (and yes, I did call a couple weeks back to find out what would be needed and all that was mentioned were the Letters of Office.

Every time I think of Letters of Office Casablanca comes into my head with its Letters of Transit.

Anyway, the second bank was more amenable to working with me, even though my brother was listed as beneficiary as well. So that account is closed.

Today I'm returning to the first bank to close the accounts and open a new estate account. Also going to try to get the car transferred to my relatives.

It's been clear but very, very windy here since we arrived on Saturday. Kind of miserable for taking Frisket on any sort of decent walk around River North. I did take her to the Oak Brook dog run yesterday so she got some running in.

IBM to Acquire Schlumberger Unit [WSJ]

WSJ.com - IBM to Acquire Schlumberger Unit International Business Machines Corp. agreed to acquire the business continuity services unit of Schlumberger Ltd. as it continues to strengthen its information technology services offerings.

I wonder if this puts IBM in the weird position of providing services to the Olympic Games again (since Schlumberger owns SEMA which replaced IBM as one of the I/T partners).