It Is 1999 Once More

Say it one more time

Two thousand zero zero

Party over, oops out of time

Yeah, yeah

So tonight we gonna, we gonna (tonight I'm gonna party like it's 1999) - Prince and the Revolution

Where has the time gone? Wasn't it just yesterday we were celebrating a new decade, a new Century, a new MILLENIUM?

Apparently, AOL just found out that its service, which was State-Of-The-Art twenty-five years ago, suddenly became antiquated. Ah, hackneyed memories.

Remember When: We all got Windows 95 or Windows 98 on our Dell, Macintosh II or Gateway desktop, with the mini-towers? And it was pre-loaded with AOL? And we all had to ultimately get another landline installed in our homes; just to be able to check to hear "You Got Mail"? It was so exhilarating!

Remember When: That was after we had to listen to the creaky door to the internet, which was characterized by a once-ubiquitous series of beeps and buzzes heard over the phone used to connect your computer online, along with frustrations of being kicked off the web if anyone else at home needed the landline for another call, or an endless bombardment of CDs mailed out by AOL to advertise free trials. Hence, a second landline. 

Remember When: Ma Bell, no matter whether iyou called it NYNEX, Bell Atlantic, Bell South, Pacific Bell or whatever, was ecstatic as it racked up install fees like a drunken sailor on a Saturday night!?!

Ah, yes! Those were the days, My Friend. We thought they'd never end. We were soooo technically advanced. Or so we thought.

We would spend HOURS on our computers, chatting away with friends, about God-knows-what, not caring that it was late at night and had to go to work or school the next day. 

Hell, they even made a movie with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan called You Got Mail to cash in on the craze. It was fluff piece where a ɓook superstore magnate, Joe Fox, and independent book shop owner, Kathleen Kelly, fall in love in the anonymity of the Internet, both blissfully unaware that he's trying to put her out of business. 

And now, dial-up is finally going away on September 30. But for those of us who lived through its earliest days, it will be a fond memory of our past, our younger days, of days less stressed (though we didn't think so at the time). Of days more innocent than today.

So, party like it's 1999 once more, just for the hell of it. And think of the sounds long past.

Beep beep beep, buzz, buzz, swish, swish, click, click.

Sharing What Is Going On

Just a short update to my followers and friends. As you know, I have been dealing with bladder cancer since September, 2021.

In that time, I have had multiple surgeries, biopsies, chemo, Keytruda and BCG. Up to now, while these have all worked short-term, obviously all have come up short. Bladder cancer is one of the more difficult cancers to conquer.

Now, since my last biopsy showed the tumor is still there, while not yet invading the muscle, direct chemotherapy is the next option. I have already had three treatments with three more scheduled over the next three weeks. Once this series is done, we will "rest and test" to see whether additional chemo will be necessary.

The keys to survival is many-fold: a strong support system, great doctors, a sense of good humor and a positive attitude. Fortunately, I have all of this around me. Plus, while I cut my hair, I still have it all, only shorter.

I have been unable to focus on the latest current events to be able to think and then, write about it all. But I know what is going on; I haven't lost my appetite to write.

Once this latest battle passes, you can be sure I will be at it again, at least once daily. Meanwhile, I will be sharing snippets of what I read and find interesting.

So, hold on, Friends, as the best will be yet to come. After all, I am a man of many opinions and I am not afraid to share them. 

Until then, Let's Go Mets!