Saturday, December 8th, "Top coat, Top Hat, Top Flight, Top Night"...

TOP COAT...

Sometimes the most random of events can make you take notice and appreciate the fullness of this "wonderful life", (Jimmy Stewart plug...), that we live in for a short time. A few weeks ago I was walking in Downtown Frederick. The leves were still on the trees, and a leaf proceeded to fall on my shoulder as if to say, "I have found you my friend, and may you have a fabulous day"; as it was a brief meeting on the leafs journey from the tree to the ground. I did not leave the leaf unnoticed to spend eternity blowing around at ground zero. I instead pick him up, placed him in my pocket; and now he permanently resides in peace with me in my apartment.

The other random event, (to bring meaning to the aformentioned title of this section) was a simple trip to the local carwash. I filled my Acura TL with gas, as I do way too many times each week; and proceeded to the wash after the fill up. I waited patiently for the wash to complete, but I was suprised by the little detail of "clearcoat protection". All at once this fabulous liquid of colors (Blue, Green, Purple, and Red) painted my car in a beautiful kaleidascopic hue in perfect harmony. I was not prepared for this beautiful and unexopected event, but since my car has (32) coats of paint, I have now come to appreciate this part of the wash; and it has become a standard that my car expects; as it should be shown some love.

TOP HAT...

Recently, I was in Bethesda, MD. I had taken my lovely bride on a date to a fabulous grocery store. The first time she visited a Wegman's, (picked by Fortune as the top place in America to work for in 2005) she and a friend in pharma sales for Pfizer spent a full five hours in the store. Bertucci's is however, the grocery mart that I am speaking of, and it is a monumental place to shop for fine foods. After shopping, we walked down the strip and I went into a fine arts store. To my suprise, the invitation for this nine day event was in fact a postcard with the picture of my favorite painting. It is an surrealist painting my Rene' Magritte (1898-1967), and is a featured painting in my favorite film, "The Thomas Crown Affair". To my dismay, the painting was sold before ever hitting the gallery floor for $8000.

SF MOMA’S Great Magritte

The painting of a man in a gray overcoat and derby hat whose face is almost entirely hidden by a big green apple is one of the best-known works of Belgian surrealist Rene Magritte, 1898-1967. It is also the closest he was willing to come to answer a request for a self portrait. That tells us how little this marvelous artist cared for publicity and self-promotion, even though he was delighted to sell his work widely.

If this painting looks familiar to us, it is because Magritte’s work has so strongly influenced not only other artists but also a great many people who did want to do publicity and promotion, advertising, design and films, during much of the last century.

Every Magritte painting leaves the viewer with a sense of mystery, of not quite nderstanding its complexity, even though most of the objects in the paintings are easily recognized and depicted with such exquisite realism that we are reminded of still lifes by the Dutch and Flemish old masters.

San Francisco¹s wonderful Museum of Modern Art is giving us the chance this spring and summer to delight in a carefully chosen, beautifully displayed and manageably-sized sampling of Magritte, which will be seen nowhere else in the country. The exhibition of 63 works has been assembled by means of loans from the Louisiana Museum near Copenhagen and from private collectors, many of whom have said they will miss their Magrittes more than any other paintings they have.

The fourth-floor gallery walls have been repainted to match Magritte’s skies. Often those skies are filled with puffy white clouds as in "The Spring Tide," one of his paintings in a frame within a painting, or in both paintings called "The Dominion of Light," where the sky is in bright daylight but the dusk is eerily deep in the trees and the streetlights and windows are lit though no one is there. Magritte painted many versions of this scene: these are two of the most suggestive.

A centerpiece of this show is "Personal Values," painted in 1952 and purchased by SF MOMA as its first Magritte in 1998 for $7.1 million. Here his white clouds in a brilliant blue sky become the back wall of a bedroom where a huge tortoise-shell comb stands upright on the bed, a gigantic shaving brush lies on top of the mirrored wardrobe, and an outsized green wineglass rests on the carpet.

It is possible to stand in front of a Magritte painting and keep asking yourself questions -- why is that huge boulder not rolling down from its precarious mountain perch on the sharp cliff edge? How did an even larger boulder get inside that small room or was the room built around the massive stone? Are those baguettes or what floating in the "The Golden Legend" sky?--- and the maddeningly unanswerable question raised by his early painting of a smoker¹s pipe bearing the carefully scripted legend "Cecin’est pas une pipe," this is not a pipe.

Magritte is much more fun than De Chirico, who had considerable influence on him, or Picasso, Braque, or even Dali. Just because Magritte’s objects are so real and recognizeable it always takes one off guard to find them in the most unlikely settings and combinations, as in "Golconda" where a man in a gray overcoat and derby hat is seen over and over in small, medium and large sizes high in a gray sky and raining down over roofs and gray facades.

Magritte will be with us all summer until September 5. This is sure to be one of SFMOMA’s most popular shows and one to be enjoyed by the whole family, so it’s good that there is time for more then one visit. And there are always other fascinating works on display there.

The handsomely illustrated and informative Magritte catalogue makes a great souvenir or gift. It’s on sale at the SFMOMA shop on the ground floor, one of this country’s best museum shops, along with many other books, gifts, cards and useful things.

SFMOMA and its nice cafe are at 151 Third Street, just below Mission, near several bus lines and the Muni metro. It is open Mondays, when other museums are not, closed Weds. Hours are 11-6, Thursdays until 9 pm. First Tuesday of every month is free to all. Information 425/357-4000 or www.sfmoma.org.

Source: Nina Beckwith

TOP FLIGHT...

I am considering reenlisting in the National Guard, if I can get a waiver for Flight School to fly Blackhawk helicopters. I am told that you must get a slot for flight school prior to age 30, so I have a short window of opportunity; but I know our military forces are hungry for officers with leadership experience. I know that I qualify, and my ASVAB scores support my qualification for any branch and any Military Occupational Specialty (MOS).

Neither my grandfather, WWII, 25th Infantry Division (3 years and 16 days in the South Pacific) or my father, Vietnam, Signal Unit (1969-1971) flew, but it has always been a passion and hopefully an accomplishment I hope to achieve.

I recently found out at dinner, that a lady that I am fond of has a brother who flies for Advance Auto Parts (AAP : NYSE), and has been flying for several years. We had much to talk about, but he is not qualified or licensed to fly rotary wing aircrafts.

Mission
Provide air assault, general support, aeromedical evacuation, command and control and special operations support to combat and stability and support operations.

Entered Army Service
1979

Description and Specifications
The UH 60 Black Hawk is a utility tactical transport helicopter that replaces the UH-1 "Huey". The versatile Black Hawk has enhanced the overall mobility of The Army, due to dramatic improvements in troop capacity and cargo lift capability, and will serve as The Army's utility helicopter in the Objective Force. On the asymmetric battlefield, it provides the commander the agility to get to the fight quicker and to mass effects throughout the battlespace across the full spectrum of conflict. An entire 11-person, fully-equipped infantry squad can be lifted in a single Black Hawk, transported faster than in predecessor systems, in most weather conditions. The Black Hawk can reposition a 105 mm Howitzer, its crew of six, and lift up to 30 rounds of ammunition in a single lift. The aircraft's critical components and systems are armored or redundant, and its airframe is designed to progressively crush on impact to protect the crew and passengers.

	UH-60A	UH-60L
Mass gross weight:	20,250 lbs	22,000 lbs, 23,500 (external cargo)
Cruise speed:	139 kt	150 kt
Endurance:	2.3 hrs	2.1 hrs
Max range:	320 nm	306 nm
External load:	8000 lbs	9000 lbs
Internal load:	2640 lbs (or 11 combat-equipped troops)
Crew:	4 (2 pilots; 2 crew chiefs)
Armament:	Two 7.62mm machine guns

Manufacturer
United Technologies (Stratford, CT); General Electric (Lynn, MA)

Point of Contact
Office of the Chief of Public Affairs
Media Relations Division
1500 Army Pentagon
Washington, DC 20310-1500
703.697.7592 / 7591

TOP NIGHT...

Recently I had a fabulous evening. I had contacted a friend of mine in Roanoke, VA ( "The Star City"), that i have not seen in sometime. To my amazement, as I called and left a voicemail that I was coming into town, she invited me to join her and some other friends for drinks at Frankie Rowland's. This restaurant is "the" place to go in Roanoke if you are after a perfect steak with a big Alexander Valley Cabernet. I oredered my new favorite drink, a Maker's Manhattan; and if I do say so myself, I was looking a svelt in my suit as Mr. Big always does on "Sex in the City"...and for an evening I was he. After a few drinks and a cigar laced with Maker's as well, Stephanie agreed to acompany me to Metro! for some dinner. We shared a bottle of Orogeny (which I have written about previously), and some great fare. She had beef touranadoes, and I had lamb. We enjoyed each others company and caught up on the local scene in Ronaoke, and my recent tragic life events. She had to work the following day, but in top night fashion, I went across the street to Al's Club, Corned Beef & Company. An acquaintance that i have come to enjoy the company of deals cards six nights a week on a donation basis, and I feel wonderful about the idea that I am helping to support his son's college fund. It was not my night at the poker table, but that is beside the point. I saw a few friendly faces, played cards for an hour or so, and then retreated upstairs to the dancefloor. It was Friday night, and the club was jumpin'. I had somehow attracted a host of ladies interested in dancing the night away, and we did just that. Finally, I booked a night at the Hotel Roanoke (HR), a fine establishment/hotel that is partly owned by Virginia Tech (VPU), watched a short film and slept until only 5:30AM. My breakfast was perfect and my valet had parked me right out front. I was Mr. Big/Thomas Crown for a day. May I always be able to harness the power, welath, options, and ofcourse; beautiful women that these perfect gentleman enjoy.

Additionally, I received a bonus. I sent Stephanie some lovely orchids, that she later gave to a Vietnamese lady to permenantely preserve...a nice gesture. She allowed me to take her to brunch on Sunday after church to Trio, another fine restaurant. I had a brie and asparagus omelet and bloody mary and she eggs benedict and a mimosa. A fine weekend, indeed.