When Mark Hofer realized a year ago he was going to die, he told one of his best friends to start making phone calls. "I want a party," the 46-year-old public relations specialist -- known for his vast collection of 1950s memorabilia and his sense of humor -- told Sally Cimini. "I want everyone to toast my memories." So, after her friend's death from prostate cancer in May, Cimini, a Downtown lawyer, did what many baby boomers -- and their parents -- are opting to do as they confront their mortality: She eschewed the traditional funeral in favor of a...