Candlestick - You need to look for perigee(closest to earth) and apogee (furthest from earth).

The closest approach this year is Dec 22, 1999 -January is the closest approach next year - but not March thru May. May 6th is apogee for May: May 6 9:30 363171 km

Here is a site listing the apogee and perigee's:
http://www.fourmilab.ch/earthview/pacalc.html

I did an astrology chart on 5/5/2000 and didn't see anything particularly interesting myself...There are 5 planets in Taurus at that time, but they are not exactly conjunct. 3 of them are always pretty much together - Sun, mercury and Venus, the others are Jupiter and Saturn - its just past a new moon (5/4/2000).

Canie