2004

This is as good a time as any for me to thank all the friends I've made doing my two little websites and all the help you've been to me and each other. I'd also like to thank those of you who've sent bucks. When I started this, I was getting a certain amount of bandwidth for free and didn't figure it would ever cost me anything more than my time. I've been getting so many hits here that it's started to run into money, so I appreciate the occasional PayPal donation…and, yes, I made that an active link for a reason, hint hint.

I don't go out on New Year's Eve. One year, a lady friend insisted we "party hop" to three shindigs and it was one of the worst evenings of my life. Noisy gatherings where you couldn't hear what anyone else said. People who had had too much to drink trying to be funny. People who had had too much to drink trying to drive. People who weren't having fun trying to pretend they were. Then one year, I was in Vegas when the year ended and though that was fun, it was not something I'm eager to repeat.

It's nice that I can stay home tonight with a loved one and also, through the miracle of the Internet, communicate a little with others. Hello, out there! Whoever you are, if you routinely find your way to this site, even via Google search, we probably have something in common. I hope '03 was good for you and I hope '04 is better for all of us in every way. Let's do what we can to make that happen.