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We happen to be mildly terrified of people in German-inspired costumes. (We imagine our tolerance for such things was snipped off, along with some other bits, eight days after we were born.) At the Times business section, however, one hopes this particularly neurosis is in short supply. The Bizday administrator sent this reminder (or, warning) this afternoon:

From: Ken Meyn
Subject: musical/historical note

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Tomorrow, January 27, is an important date: it is the 250th anniversary of the birth of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

I was planning an afternoon of schnapps and sachertorte mit schlag to celebrate, but, given our financial situation, News Administration will only allow us a large bag of doritos and one gallon bottle of Snapple with 60 straws. We are, however, still planning an afternoon sing-a-long of favorite choruses from "Die Entf hrung aus dem Serail".

So, feel free to come to work tomorrow dressed as your favorite character from a Mozart opera. Appropriately enough, I'm planning to come as Papageno, the bird catcher from "Die Zauberfl te".

Alles Gute zum Geburtstag auf Wolfgang!

Vielen Dank.

Ken

It's so sad when cutbacks make your Mozart party BYO schlag.