Next Week- Corrections, Patents, Correspondence & Champers

It's Friday. Time for a beer and a peek at next week

and a laugh. From John Kenney's spoof , "Bloomberg Diaries" in the 1/17/2011 New Yorker.

"Who knew there were four other boroughs? Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and the other one."

"The only thing I found harder than moving all that snow is making 'Business Week' an interesting magazine."

"More stories. More criticism. Tension. Stress. Can't sleep more than eight hours at a stretch."

We visit Dempsey & Carroll where the passion for ephemera comes alive in an employee's bespoke designs and where envelope linings become...pants?

What's all that legal stuff on your bow tie?

Free champagne - Who gets undressed?

Looking for the new trend - Correctional Chic. See you next week.

New Years - 1977

20 years ago, I asked a woman at an office Christmas party what 'type' of man she liked. I was new and she was in her mid 40s, single and manager of a division I worked with. She said, "I like any man who likes me."

33 years ago I threw a kit bag of clothes in a white '68 Dodge Charger and headed north on I-95 from Ft Bragg for a rendezvous in Reading, PA with a girl who 'liked' me. She was a singer with dreams of opera. Her brother, a voice and piano teacher, performed with the NY Met.

We shared New Year's Eve together in a tub drinking Cook's champagne out of plastic coupes. The next night her brother drove us around Manhattan as we lay in the back of his hatch back and looked up into apartment windows. We held hands and talked of living in the city. She would sing at the Met and I would...I would do whatever the world wanted me to do.

I liked any job that liked me.

I was asked how I celebrate the 31st. I don't like crowds. FPE's (Free Public Events) and rows of porta-toilets are the stuff of my nightmares. My plan with the Golf Foxtrot this year is take out Chinese, the last bottle of Billecart and a fire while we watch Casablanca. I don't expect either of us to make it past 11. But I'm in that apartment I dreamed of 33 years ago. I'll leave a window open so I can hear you drive by.

The Friday Belt: 'Billy & Avery'

Me: What'll you have to drink?

She: I don't know. I do know whenever I drink champagne I want to take off my clothes.

Bartender: I'm sorry madam. We're out of everything but champagne.

Years ago 'Billy' was my go to rose champagne. At $45 in a wine store and $90 in a bar, it was tremendous value for the money. Today, you'll pay between $75 and $85 retail. Still, I think it's a great value...with the understanding: You do not drink it by yourself.

NV Billecart Salmon Rose is as close to vintage Louise Rose as you can get without paying upwards of $250. It is clean and bright and it tastes like sex. Roll it in your mouth and feel the cold escape while the bubbles break warm over your tongue. A fat plop of triple cream cheese on crusty French bread is perfect before dinner. Do this right and there shouldn't be any dinner.

I need a cold shower. I usually run a non-alcoholic beverage with a beltless trouser but Avery Lucas designed this canvas pant for me. It's rustic in that it's canvas fabric but the cut is dressy. The leg tapers from the knee to a 8" wide opening and while I'm not crazy about the pockets -- they're growing on me.

Avery included a button fly which, many will tell you, helps with the line of the pant. I can't tell the difference. I do know that if things are going well with the champagne -- a button fly will slow you down. Not that that's a bad thing.