Happy New Year, everyone. Hope you all enjoyed the long weekends and celebrations. Best of luck in 2004.

I’m starting a new job today at TRL, and very awkwardly, too… the girl I’m replacing apparently hasn’t been told she has been let go… she is still sitting at my desk, plugging away in her sea of ignorance. Can’t wait to see how this turns out.

New Year’s Eve… I’m talking to this girl, and after a quick exchange of backgrounds, she starts on the name game, which is successful approximately 1.3% of the time. Except that she nails it, 2 for 2: first name is a guy with whom I went to summer camp, second name is possibly my best girl friend (as opposed to girlfriend) from college. That never happens. Insane.

Watching the Packers beat the Seahawks yesterday, I was probably the only person not living in (or born in) Seattle who became even less of a Favre fan. I’ve never been crazy about him. Yes, he can put some zip on the ball and fire off some beauties once in a while. But he is also way too reliant on simply tossing the ball into the air and having his receivers reach for a jump ball. His stats are insanely bloated by this, thanks to his constantly being surrounded by incredible receivers. Kurt Warner also benefited from this, to the extent that he was ridiculously named MVP of Super Bowl XXXIV when his 80-yard TD pass that put the Rams up could just have easily been picked off and run back for a Titans touchdown. The announcers on Sunday did a decent job of pointing out Favre's habit of chucking, but I still think he gets way too much credit.

I called my grandmother to wish her a happy New Year, and she referred to Queer Eye for the Straight Guy as “Five Queers and a Man.” Gotta love her.

Finally, does it bother anybody else that, statistically speaking, all of the following musicians will be dead by the year 2025:
Brian Wilson
Paul McCartney
Mick Jagger
Keith Richards
Paul Simon
Aretha Franklin
Roger Waters
Pete Townsend
Roger Daltrey
Robert Plant
Jimmy Page
Neil Young
James Brown
Bob Dylan
(* David Bowie could technically also be on this list, but for some reason I have a feeling that he will pull a Katherine Hepburn and be the coolest 98-year-old to ever exist)
I don’t want people coming back at me arguing “they could all be dead tomorrow.” Of course they could. So could I. I’m going strictly by age. Anyway, 2025 will be a sad year if none of those people are around.