Does Happy Hour Come Early at Your House?

No question about it. It’s been a pretty miserable year with few bright spots. Zoom happy hours with wine o’clock memes and themes helped break the monotony of the Covid crisis—especially in the early days when we were in complete lockdown.

Working from home (WFH) removed a lot of boundaries

This year we learned that we don’t need an office—just a laptop and an internet connection. We learned that we can spend the entire day in our jammies or sweats. With activities limited, boredom, stress and anxiety surged. It became a little too easy to take the edge off with an afternoon glass of wine.

But this becomes a slippery slope. An afternoon glass of wine dovetails into happy hour. Then it’s dinner time, which means another few glasses of wine. If you’re drinking more, you’re clearly not alone.

A 30% increase in alcohol consumption since May

Not surprising, for the week ending May 2, total alcohol sales in the U.S. were up by more than 32% compared to the same week one year ago. The lockdown began mid-March, so according to a Nielson survey, it took just six weeks for alcohol sales to increase by a whopping 30%!

Here’s what’s scary: Excessive drinking increases susceptibility to Covid-19

Medical experts are worried by the escalation of these numbers. The World Health Organization and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism have issued communications to avoid excessive drinking. Yale Medicine experts warn that it may increase Covid-19 susceptibility and severity.

Alcohol breaks down your immune system

We know that alcohol has a negative impact on the lungs and the immune system,” says David Fiellin, MD, director of the Yale Program in Addiction Medicine. “Alcohol can damage the intestinal lining, which then allows bacteria to enter the body more easily. That can ‘rev up’ the inflammatory response, which is also a big part of Covid-19 disease.”

Rajita Sinha, PhD, director of the Yale Stress Center, agrees. “Excess alcohol use affects our immune system so it is not functioning in the best way. This is important when we want it to be ready to fight Covid-19.”

Forget that alcohol relieves stress or is good for your heart

1. Alcohol as a stress reliever. Alcohol actually stimulates the body’s stress response. While alcohol may help you fall asleep more easily, it actually provides interrupted sleep, increasing moodiness and irritability.
2. Wine is good for the heart. Alcohol is a toxin, and it can make heart cells function poorly, resulting incardiomyopathy and other conditions.

Finding other ways to relieve stress. Find other ways to relieve stress—yoga, meditation, mindfulness, exercise, being with friends. Try cutting down or abstaining. If you are not able to do that, you may need to seek help.

Creating some peace of mind this holiday season

We’re looking forward to a vaccine, but most of us won’t see this until spring. Until then, many of our clients are dealing with the pandemic’s uncertainty by creating Living Trusts. Knowing that their families are cared for is providing some peace of mind. The next month is going to be especially critical. Mask up and practice social distancing. Stay home and stay safe. Be there to celebrate next year’s holiday.

Our Living Trust package includes a Power of Attorney, an Advance Healthcare Directive and a Will. If you have children under 18, it means that you can select their Guardian rather than having the court appoint one for you.

We service the entire East Bay and North Bay areas

Berkeley, El Cerrito, Richmond, Pinole, Alameda, San Leandro, Castro Valley Newark, San Lorenzo, Concord, Alamo, Danville, Lafayette, Orinda, Moraga, Pleasant Hill, Martinez, Pittsburg, Antioch, Brentwood, Oakley, Discovery Bay, Pleasanton, San Ramon, Livermore, Tracy and Fremont. Our clients also live in the Napa Valley, Benicia, Vallejo, Martinez, Fairfield.

 

We’re Rebranding! Looking Forward to a New Year and a New Name

This is one year we’d all like to put behind us. We want our lives back. With vaccines now in distribution, we can start to fantasize about a life beyond the coronavirus. We can look forward to ballgames and concerts, parades and family gatherings. To weddings and graduations that we don’t have to watch from a computer screen. To traveling freely again, welcomed back by our European allies.

In the meantime, we’re still masking and social distancing, dreaming of the day when we can do simple things again like hug our friends and celebrate birthdays.

A look back: A quick response to the Covid outbreak

We realized right away that Covid would have a potentially devastating effect on both our clients and our team. We masked-up, wiped down and limited the number of people in our offices. We began doing our initial intake process virtually via Zoom or phone. This was the way to keep our clients and team safe. We found that our clients liked this new virtual model, and it was much more efficient.

A look forward: We decided to change our name. We rebranded!

As long as we were making changes, we decided to rebrand. We’ve never really loved the name “California Document Preparers”. It’s a mouthful, and it only went part way toward describing what we do. We did some research, and we learned that what our clients value most about us is that we guide them through the legal processes—whether Living Trust, Divorce, Mediation, Deed Transfer, Probate or Business Formation–we do the heavy lifting. We answer your questions, provide oversight, prepare the legal documents and file them with the courts.

We’re now Guideway

While most of these legal processes are methodical, they can still be overwhelming—especially if you’re facing Probate while trying to process the sudden death of a parent. Or trying to divorce while worrying about its impact on your kids. We believe that “Guideway” better describes the way we serve our clients.

Look for us in 2021 as Guideway. A different name, the same high level of customer service.

We’re guiding our clients during the pandemic

The coronavirus has created an urgency. While news on the vaccine front is encouraging, it’s a long way from distribution. Many of our clients are gaining some peace of mind by creating or updating their Living Trusts. Naming your heirs and identifying how you want your estate to be distributed will ensure that your family will avoid the Probate process.

Our Trust package includes a Power of Attorney and an Advance Healthcare Directive. It also includes a Pour Over Will, and for those families with children under 18, this means that they can name a Guardianrather than having the court appoint one for them.

Best of all, we guide you through it and we prepare the legal documents. At California Document Preparers—now Guideway–for most of our services, we charge one flat fee.

We service the entire East Bay and North Bay areas

Berkeley, El Cerrito, Richmond, Pinole, Alameda, San Leandro, Castro Valley Newark, San Lorenzo, Concord, Alamo, Danville, Lafayette, Orinda, Moraga, Pleasant Hill, Martinez, Pittsburg, Antioch, Brentwood, Oakley, Discovery Bay, Pleasanton, San Ramon, Livermore, Tracy and Fremont. Our clients also live in the Napa Valley, Benicia, Vallejo, Martinez, Fairfield.

A New Year Deadline for the Real ID

With a vaccine on the horizon and the possibility of life returning to normal, are you starting to formulate travel plans for the new year? If those plans involve getting on an airplane, you’ll need a Real ID. Starting Oct. 1, 2021, the Real ID will become one of the accepted forms of identification travelers will need to get through airport security under the Real ID law. You can alternately use a passport or permanent resident card.

 

Who must get one?

Anyone with a driver’s license or state ID who is an American citizen or legal alien needs a Real ID. If you have permanent resident status, a nonimmigrant visa, protected status, asylum or pending application for asylum, you will also need one.

 

What does this mean for you?

Your driver’s license as your photo ID will no longer get you through security at Transportation Security Authority (TSA) gates. There’s a perception that this only applies to those who will be flying internationally, but the new policy applies to anyone who wants to board an airplane. Travelers who do not present REAL ID-compliant identification will not be permitted through the security checkpoint to board their flights.

 

Originally scheduled to take effect in October 2020, the chaos of the Covid pandemic has bumped the deadline back to Oct 1, 2021. California and most other states are now compliant with the REAL ID Act, and more than 110M REAL ID-compliant driver’s licenses have been granted.

 

The origins of the Real ID

The REAL ID was conceived in 2005, in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It was initially designed to keep U.S. citizens from holding multiple licenses and social security numbers, allowing government officials to check immigration status.

 

REAL ID is a national set of standards, not a national identification card

The REAL ID does not create a federal database of driver’s license information. Each jurisdiction continues to issue its own unique licenses, maintains its own records, and controls who gets access to those records, under what circumstances. The purpose of the REAL ID is to make our identity documents more consistent and secure. Be assured that the program is controlled at the state level. There’s no national database.

 

Getting a Real ID requires a trip to the DMV

DMV stories are legendary. But I had to go to the DMV a few years ago when I realized my driver’s license had expired. I got there early, and there was a small line. Everyone was helpful and courteous, and I was in and out in a little over an hour. Schedule an appointment online to do this now—you have until next fall, but you don’t want to wait that long.

 

You’ll need documents proving your age, Social Security number and address. Bring a birth certificate or passport, a Social Security card or tax form such as a W-2, and two proofs of address. If you’ve changed your name through marriage, you’ll need a marriage certificate.

 

Include a Real ID and a Living Trust on your 2021 to-do list

Besides your Real ID, many of our clients are including a Living Trust on their New Year to-do lists. Our Living Trust package includes a Power of Attorney, an Advance Healthcare Directive and a Will. If you have children under 18, it means that you can select their Guardian rather than having the court appoint one for you.

 

The next few months are going to be especially critical. Mask up and practice social distancing. Stay home and stay safe.

We service the entire East Bay and North Bay areas

Berkeley, El Cerrito, Richmond, Pinole, Alameda, San Leandro, Castro Valley Newark, San Lorenzo, Concord, Alamo, Danville, Lafayette, Orinda, Moraga, Pleasant Hill, Martinez, Pittsburg, Antioch, Brentwood, Oakley, Discovery Bay, Pleasanton, San Ramon, Livermore, Tracy and Fremont. Our clients also live in the Napa Valley, Benicia, Vallejo, Martinez, Fairfield.

Sundance Film Festival Changes Format: It’s Coming Down the Mountain!

For 36 years, movie lovers have flocked to Park City, Utah, for the Sundance Film Festival. For those who’ve never been to Park City, it’s a precious little ski town some 7,000 feet up in the Wasatch mountains. During the ten-day festival, attendees fill theaters to capacity and huddle together in crowded tents. They pack into shuttle buses and pour into overcrowded bars and restaurants to be part of the festival scene. There’s no place to social distance.

Covid has forced organizers to rethink the festival format

Festival fans are in for a big surprise this year. According to Tabitha Jackson, Sundance director, the 2021 festival is coming down the mountain! Sundance needed to find other distribution channels or cancel the festival altogether, and they decided to get creative.

The difference-maker at this year’s festival: 20 new locales

Besides the original Park City venue, organizers are working with independent cinemas in California, Colorado, Georgia, Kentucky, New York, Michigan, Minnesota, Tennessee and Texas. Mexico City is also on the list. Participating theaters may augment Sundance selections with complementary programming of their own. Sundance’s “full curated program” would also be made available online. “It will be the nucleus of the festival,” Jackson said of an online platform that Sundance is developing, “a one-stop point of access.”

Ms. Jackson’s plan is about more than accommodating attendees who may not feel comfortable flying to Utah or supporting their corporate sponsorships. The Park City base has been the festival’s strength as well as its weakness. Those who can make the pilgrimage feel like members of an exclusive club, seeing films before anyone else and rubbing shoulders with celebrities. The festival is known for championing women and minority filmmakers, even while diversity among attendees is often lacking.

The festival opens itself up to new audiences and new filmmakers

“We want to reach people whom we have not been able to reach before — where access to the work is not predicated on being able to afford to travel to an expensive place,” Ms. Jackson said by phone. “The world has typically come to Sundance. While Utah will always be our home, we are now trying to take Sundance to the world.”

We must break it to meet the moment

Jackson took over as the festival’s director in February 2020, and she inherited a proud legacy. The Sundance Institute was founded by Robert Redford in 1981. Sundance remains the preeminent showcase for American cinema made outside Hollywood. Bidding wars still break out for online and theatrical distribution rights to festival selections. According to Jackson, “I thought to myself when I got this job, ‘I must not break this. I must not break this.’ But we must break it to meet the moment. We must break it open.”

Meeting the moment . . .

Meeting the moment is a challenge that the coronavirus has presented to all of us. For CDP, “meeting the moment” has meant prioritizing the safety of our team and our clients. We’re working virtually, but we’re still providing a high level of customer service.

Covid has prompted many of our clients to create Living Trusts

While news about the vaccine is encouraging, we’re a long way from distribution. Healthcare professionals are all concerned about infection rates over the next months. Many of our clients are gaining some peace of mind by creating or updating their Living Trusts. Naming your heirs and identifying how you want your estate to be distributed ensure that your family will avoid the painful Probate process if something happens to you.

Our Trust package includes a Power of Attorney and an Advance Healthcare Directive. It also includes a Pour Over Will. For those families with children under 18, this means that they can name a Guardian rather than having the court appoint one for them.

Best of all, we guide you through the entire process, and we prepare the legal documents. At California Document Preparers, for most of our services, we charge one flat fee. Schedule an appointment today.

We service the entire East Bay and North Bay areas

Berkeley, El Cerrito, Richmond, Pinole, Alameda, San Leandro, Castro Valley Newark, San Lorenzo, Concord, Alamo, Danville, Lafayette, Orinda, Moraga, Pleasant Hill, Martinez, Pittsburg, Antioch, Brentwood, Oakley, Discovery Bay, Pleasanton, San Ramon, Livermore, Tracy and Fremont. Our clients also live in the Napa Valley, Benicia, Vallejo, Martinez, Fairfield.

As we read about the aggressive spread of Covid outbreaks this fall, some of the biggest contributors are on university campuses. At least Covid 214,000 cases have been linked to campuses, and it’s student journalists who are helping tell the story. As administrators and other staff try to diminish outbreak severity and manage damage control, it’s students who are holding them accountable, trying to keep people safe.

A lot of this is about economics

Colleges and universities need student tuition and other fees, and the surrounding communities count on student spending for food, entertainment and other necessities. There’s a lot of pressure to sweep Covid scandals under the rug and pretend that everything’s normal. It’s not just staff and administrators who are trying to ignore Covid outbreaks and rule violations. Students are some of the biggest offenders. Think back to your own college days—did you really think rules applied to you?

Student newspapers are now playing a major role in information delivery

Ironically, reporting on campus Covid outbreaks can be difficult because small town newspapers keep going out of business. But here’s where it gets interesting: Campus newspapers are picking up the slack, stepping up and covering the pandemic. They’re outing the administrators who are trying to squelch the truth about the coronavirus spread on campus. They’re reporting on students who are breaking quarantine because it puts everyone’s health in danger. These students are becoming an important voice for information-sharing.

• In Arizona, The State Press broke the news that Arizona State students who were supposed to be in isolation hadsnuck out of their dorms.
• At Indiana University, The Indiana Daily Student spoke toUber drivers who had picked up students under quarantine at sororities and fraternities.
• “We all saw this coming,” wrote the editorial board of The Daily Tar Heel at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. They’re blaming administrators for poor planning as the school was forced to abandon in-person instruction.

“Student journalists are playing an incredibly important role in this moment, and they’re doing it in an environment where local news media is drying up or disappearing,” said Hadar Harris, the executive director of the Student Press Law Center.

Campus paper, The Alligator, has a staff of 60 student journalists

Kyle Wood, a journalism student at the University of Florida, works in one of the college communities where the campus publication, The Alligator, is now arguably better staffed than the local newspaper. “We’re filling holes where we see them,” said Mr. Wood, 22, who oversees a staff of about 60 journalists as The Alligator’s editor-in-chief.

• He has added new beats, including coverage of K-12 education and small businesses, to report on the pandemic’s effect on the city.
• The first story from the reporter on the paper’s new health beat followed a tip about lax safety procedures in the university hospital’s emergency room.
• Wood is also working with reporters to updatea map that tracks the city’s Covid outbreaks.

College athletics programs in the spotlight

One coverage area where campus newspapers have traditionally excelled is sports, especially at large schools where college athletics generates big money. During the pandemic, campus sports were a big story because of the economics. When highly paid coaches and high-profile athletes test positive, it becomes a political and economic matter.

• At the University of Virginia, The Cavalier Daily shed light on atesting disparity between athletes. It appears that high-profile players received tests three times a week; other athletes had to exaggerate symptoms just to get tested.
• At Villanova, the big story is their basketball team, which currently fields several strong seniors with a shot at making it to the NBA. Disruptions to the schedule can affect whether professional scouts can watch them play. “If they lose this forum, their professional career is in jeopardy,” said Emily Cox, 21, a co-editor in chief atThe Villanovan. “We’re tracking that because no one else is covering it.”

Arielle Gordon, 21, a senior at Colorado College, helped start a newsletter to report on the pandemic on campus and in the surrounding community. After a spike of cases in late August, the school’s test positivity rate has stayed below 1%.“Our audience is definitely expanding as coronavirus cases pop up,” Ms. Gordon said. “People want to know what went wrong,” she said. “We’ve been trying to find out as much we can.”

Uncertainty has driven many of our clients to create or update their Living Trusts

As the COVID crisis drags on, more clients are scheduling appointments to create or update their Trusts. Creating a Trust helps provide some peace of mind during these uncertain times.

Our Trust package includes a Power of Attorney and an Advance Healthcare Directive. It also includes a Pour Over Will, and for those families with children under 18, this means that they can name a Guardian rather than having the court appoint one for them. Best of all, we guide you through it and we prepare the legal documents. At California Document Preparers, for most of our services, we charge one flat fee. We’re helpful, compassionate and affordable.

We service the entire East Bay and North Bay areas

Berkeley, El Cerrito, Richmond, Pinole, Alameda, San Leandro, Castro Valley Newark, San Lorenzo, Concord, Alamo, Danville, Lafayette, Orinda, Moraga, Pleasant Hill, Martinez, Pittsburg, Antioch, Brentwood, Oakley, Discovery Bay, Pleasanton, San Ramon, Livermore, Tracy and Fremont. Our clients also live in the Napa Valley, Benicia, Vallejo, Martinez, Fairfield.