Last updated 6-28-2022
I know what I've got, I know that it's hot,
And you're what I want, 'cos you're so beautiful!
One thing on my mind: I'm so in love,
And so alive, 'cos you're so beautiful!
Welcome back, kiddies! February 2004 was a busy month. At least I had an extra Leap Day to work with... I started learning the details of my new job, and got my hands dirty with installations of beta software for a doctor or two. Went on a road trip with a few co-workers to Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore, MD, and I even assisted a bit with training some of the orthopaedic staff there to use the electronic medical records package we installed for them. Microwize even sent me out on two simple jobs alone, one in Bayonne, NJ, the other in Manhattan. I'm getting to know the people I work with better, yet I still like them anyway. Fred, one of the co-owners of the business, threw a dinner party with his wife Abir at their new home Saturday night, which Gina and I attended. The house, the food, the guests, and the hosts were all terrific. Jon and I finally acquired a dining room set and a refrigerator last month, too; he doesn't seem to be too interested in the former, though we've both been slowly stocking the latter. I even managed to record a new song, "Look at the Stars with Me," in February.
While I did go away to Maryland for a few days last month, Gina managed to stay put in Lyndhurst for all of January and February, which was definitely a nice thing as far as I'm concerned. We dined on Mexican food in East Rutherford and Middle Eastern food at Fred's party; we even had kaiten sushi (where it comes around to you on a conveyor belt and you pick what you want) in Teaneck for St. Valentine's Day. Our six-month anniversary was celebrated at my place and at hers, and we finally got to open the bottle of champagne we'd planned on having for New Year's. :)
My honey gave me David Bowie's latest CD, Reality, for Christmas, and the previous album, Heathen, for Valentine's. I like them both, but Heathen is definitely the superior of the two. I've played it about five times already. Wow, I haven't bought myself any new music in quite a while now...
I've started playing with Virtual PC again. The software we sell at work (which I will eventually be training people to use) is Windows-only, of course, so I've created a new Windows 2000 disk image for VPC and have installed all the packages on it, as well as the software I need for work. Since I have neither a permanent desk nor a computer at the office yet, I can do most of what I need right on my iBook. It makes several of the techs a little uncomfortable seeing my Mac there... Heh-heh.
I haven't decided yet what tracks are going to end up on the CD I'm still working on, nor do I know for sure what I'm going to call it, but it's not going to be the same CD I started planning some four years ago. My life has changed. My outlook on life has changed. The statement I'd planned on making with "Joey Ramone's Dead" is not the statement I want to make now, so I've got to give this some more thought.
Which brings me to this column, Vitriol. Some of you may have noticed that it hasn't been especially vitriolic of late. Sorry. I just can't work myself up to that fevered pitch anymore. Yes, I still think about and am bothered by what's still going on in Chechnya, and Afghanistan, and Iraq, and Haiti, and right here in the good ol' U.S. of A. Yes, I'm still a pacifist and a critic of Resident Dubya. But I've found something that, for me, is much bigger than all that. I've found love, and that's where my emotion and my fervor goes these days.
So I'm going to retire Vitriol, just like I recently retired Ozzy's journal excerpts, and the NJT Blecch!, and Caption That Photo...! I'm still going to write a monthly column, but like the last few, it's not going to be a series of rants, but more of an update and observation post. It just seems like the right thing to do, and the right time to do it. I hope that the few of you who bothered to read this column will continue to read that one... We'll see how it goes next month. 'Til then, tchau, baby...
Last updated 6-28-2022
