[2005] Office Garbage Disposal

[agmorgan]

I don't quite understand the literature I have read on garbage disposal.
Is it OK to do what I have done here or do I have to call the Dispose() method?
Whats the difference?

I added a reference to the COM Object Microsoft Word 9 Object Library (and the Excel equivalent).

Dim wdApp As New Word.Application
        Dim xlApp As New Excel.Application
 
        'Show Word
        wdApp.Visible = True
 
        'Open new document based on template
        wdApp.Documents.Add("X:\temp.dot")
 
        'Fill out address
        wdApp.ActiveDocument.Bookmarks.Item("Address").Select()
        wdApp.Selection.TypeText(Text:=strName)
        wdApp.Selection.TypeParagraph()
 
        wdApp.Selection.TypeText(Text:=strCompany)
        wdApp.Selection.TypeParagraph()
 
        'Release reference to MS Word
        wdApp = Nothing
 
        'Show Excel
        xlApp.Visible = True
 
        'Open billing log
        xlApp.Workbooks.Open(Filename:=sheet.xls")
 
        xlApp.ActiveCell.Offset(0, 1).Select()
        xlApp.ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = DateTime.Today
 
        'Release reference to MS Excel
        xlApp = Nothing

Is there a better way to interface with Office applications?