1978

While perusing the December 1998 Smithsonian at my doctor's office, I enjoyed the article "Let It Snow," which featured an extensive interview with Scott Barthold, whose company Snomatic Controls and Engineering is at the forefront of its industry. The article gave me an increased appreciation for the intricacies of snowmaking. As a former caterer, my favorite quote of Scott's was: "Making snow is like baking a huge cake when the recipe is always changing. There's timing, strategy, judgment, and meteorology, and then when you get it down you've still got to spread it out." When the author asked Scott where he lived, he answered, "Seat 15A United Airlines." I imagine he shares that address with many of us!

After all his news about Jim Newman last month, I asked Daryl Bornstein for an update on his non-space launch related activities. An abbreviated version follows: "This past year has been a particularly exciting one for me. After 20 years of debauchery on the wild streets of New York City I finally found someone tolerant of my crazy schedule, my odd sense of humor, my passion for Italian (i.e., broken more often than not) sports cars, my two noisy and messy parrots, and an aversion to planning further ahead than the previous meal. On Halloween of 1998 I asked Canadian-born-and-bred Cheryl Wilbur (McGill '75, director of marketing and strategic planning at Bon Appetit magazine, who solves the Sunday NY Times puzzle in ink) if we could invite our families to celebrate our mothers' 70th birthdays (both born the same day, the same year how scary is that) and, if she were willing, surprise the families with a small wedding (ours) the same weekend.

"On February 1, to the amazement of family, friends, and under the gentle guidance of Phil "The Mohel" Sherman (a dear high-school friend), we celebrated an atypical (for us) orthodox wedding ceremony at the singularly splendid, though "trefe" (unkosher) Lobster Club, conveniently located three blocks from our apartment. Representing the greener pastures of the distant past were Brian Litscher and wife Marie, Bob Rennicks '77, Peter Monahan '79 and wife Carol. Representing a promising future was/is my new stepdaughter, 13-year-old Jenna.

"The remainder of the year was no less exciting. I participated in the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics as audio producer for the performance of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus from the General Assembly at the United Nations. Stephen Ledbetter, former Dartmouth music professor, performed with the chorus. Linked by satellite to three other groups around the world, and an orchestra and chorus conducted by Seiji Ozawa in Nagano, Japan, the chorus performed the "Ode to Joy" from Beethoven's NinthSymphony.

"I had the pleasure of working with Wynton Marsalis and The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra five times this year, including a live broadcast from the White House, a live broadcast from Lincoln Center, the broadcast gala opening of the New Jersey Center for the Performing Arts, a documentary on Duke Ellington, and a concert celebrating New York City's centennial in Central Park. Dusting off memories of my rock 'n' roll days, I was lucky enough to participate in the live recording of the Rolling Stones' CD No Security at Madison Square Garden." Sounds like great fun (and work) to me!

That's all for this month. Please note my new e-mail address and use it to send me news!

14960 Altata Drive, Pacific Palisades, CA, 90272; (310) 459-8871;

Making snow is like baking a cake when therecipe is alwayschanging...and thenwhen you've got it down,you've still got to spreadit out. SCOTT BARTHOLD '78