To round out our NYC holiday experience, Audrey and I went to watch the ball drop at Times Square on what turned out to be the coldest New Year’s Eve in New York history. This was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.  I decided that is the best way to describe it because while not overly positive or negative, it does tell you that I will never ever do it again!

Standing body-to-body with a million of strangers for nearly 10 hours while not being able to sit, pee or do much of anything might look like a good time on TV and I’m sure I’ll enjoy it from that side for years to come.

Aside from the massive back pains and the 1 degree windchill, the other highlight would probably be watching Lionel Richie perform Brickhouse and All Night Long not once or twice, but three times each!  See, the whole Times Square thing is basically done for a television audience.  So that means soundchecks and rehearsals… Lionel must have been lacking in confidence… it only took the Jonas Brothers two rehearsals to get dialed in.  However, after our their first try, our area of the crowd realized they are a pretty sad excuse for a band and we would rather have listened to the top 40 music they were piping in between performances.  This sentiment led us to booing the poor brothers when they took the stage for their live act. Classy!

Interestingly, we got a chance to watch Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rocking Eve with Ryan Seacrest (whew) the next night and I’d have to say that it is way more entertaining than actually being there.  Specificially watching Dick Clark is more entertaining than ever in his post-stroke years (I hope I don’t go to hell for that).

Anyway! Happy New Year everyone! 2009 is going to be fantastic!!!