2010: A Decade in Review

I don't know if anyone else has really thought about it, but we're getting ready to close out a decade.

Sure, a lot has happened publicly, that has either been devestating or amazing, but what has happened in your life over the last 10 years?

For me, 10 years ago, I was 18 and graduating High School. It wasn't for another two years that I ended up joining the Navy. Before that, however, I was working at a video store and an elementary school.

2002 - I left for the Navy in July. After a couple months of training, I went to a two-week course that would send me half-way across the world to Japan. Within my first 24 hours there, I learned that we were leaving for a month and a half cruise that would take us to Hong Kong.

2003 - My ship left Japan for a 6-month deployment that would have us right in the thick of a war. We were one of the first ships in the area, and I witnessed the first missiles being launched into Iraq. Are main objective, however, was escorting cargo ships safely through a channel.

2004 - Another year overseas saw me doing the same ole thing, but no long deployments, we spent a few months out of the water (for repairs), but not a very memorable year (other than getting married).

2005 - More of the usual, but this also marked my final year in Japan. We hit a lot of places, the most memorable being Sydney. I left in October, bound for Oklahoma.

2006 - My first full year in Oklahoma was, for lack of a better word, interesting. I went to a couple schools (one in San Diego, the other in Norfolk), and got my learn on. I also got promoted.

2007 - Another year in Oklahoma. We bought a house, and regretted it.

2008 - This marked my final year in Oklahoma. It was a long time coming, and I was more than ready to leave. Sadly, however, our house had not sold before we left.

2009 - The first year in Omaha. Not much different than Oklahoma, just colder. After a year of back and fourth and a couple buyers backing out, our house finally sold, a year after going on the market. My son was also born (2 months early). We were worried for him, at first, but he soon proved that he was a fighter.

2010 - What a year, so far. The year started out with a record-length of time for snow being on the ground (didn't melt until mid-March). My job is still the same, and I'm still in Omaha, for one more year. What's next? Who knows, but it'll either be Japan or England. I'll be happy with either.

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"I was walking down the street with my friend and he said, "I hear music", as if there is any other way you can take it in. You're not special, that's how I receive it too. I tried to taste it but it did not work." - Mitch Hedberg

2001 was the first year of a new century. 2010 is the first year of a new decade. Now, just go ahead and ignore this post.

Signed,

Alex Trebek

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It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page

I knew someone would throw that fact in. Sure, 2001 was the true start of the new century.

does that mean that the first decade of the 00's was only nine years long, or did the decade start a year before the century?

*serious question*

True, the decade started before the century. It happens at the beginning of each century (at least since after the first century AD.) If you believe this is wrong, we need to come up with a new way to name our decades because the '30s would include 1940 but not include 1930.

As I said previously, let's get back to talking about what's been up with our last 10 years.

I started out that time frame as an underachieving bum and I'm now Underachieving Bum Emeritus.

Wow, in 2000 we had already been married for over 6 years (7th anniversary was in October 2000) with a 6 year old boy. But there was only one of him. I was working in a factory in Iowa making parts for grain bins and doing the traditional National Guard thing.

2001 - Our daughter was born 6 weeks early on September 11. She almost didn't make it, and it was awful difficult to get even a life-flight helicopter in the air that day. She pulled through just fine and was home about a month later.

2002 - We bought a house (officially putting to rest my dream of ever being a professional wrestler) and found out we were pregnant again. Our unit was activated in August for a year long homeland security mission in Michigan and I ended up missing my daughter's first birthday.

2003 - I was still on duty in Michigan but was allowed to work at our home detachment for a month in March so I could be home for the birth of our third child, another boy. Our unit came home in the summer and I found out our plant had been downsized to the point where I was unemployed. I was able to find a job at another factory making washers and dryers.

2004 - In the springtime there were rumors circulating that our factory was going to be laying off a lot of people, which would, not immediately, but eventually have included me. Out of the blue I received a call from Washington DC offering me a full-time National Guard job. In Alaska. So in late summer we packed up everything and went to the middle-of-nowhere, 100 miles from anything. Then we found out we were pregnant again.

2005 - The doctors told us we were having a girl. In July - SURPRISE! - she's a boy. Oops. Still in the middle-of-nowhere.

2006 - Still in the middle-of-nowhere.

2007 - Promoted, finally. I was in a pretty dead-end MOS and finally got a slot allowing me to get promoted.

2008 - In the summer I was transferred to the state headquarters in Anchorage, so we quickly packed everything up and moved to civilization.

2009 - Still in civilization.

2010 - Finally got to school to reclass to my MOS I'd been working in since '08.

I hadn't fully realized so much had happened over just the last 10 years. Again, WOW.

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Family DVD Collection | My Top 100 | My Movie Thoughts | Frank Capra

Isn't it crazy to think back about everything?

Indeed. I still have a hard time believing my wife and I have been married for 17 years and it wasn't just a couple weeks ago I saw The Empire Strikes Back for the first time. Fortunately, my kids are always more than happy to remind that I'm old.

"Was there TV when you were little?"

"Do you remember the dinosaurs, daddy?"

"What was it like in the olden days?"

Thanks, guys.

Hehe. Technically there's no right way to do it. It was only relevant during the whole year 2000 thing, because there was no year zero, but for naming decades and the like it doesn't matter what we do as long as each duration is 10 years. I prefer the '00-'09 delineation, because using it consistently is how we can say "the 80s" or "the 90s," which is nice for shorthand. Not that I'll exclude anything from this list because it falls just outside this, of course.

Anyway, great thread idea. I can't possibly remember all the years in which things happened, but here's a rough rundown; note that I was pretty young through a lot of this, so it's mostly just about websites at first:

2000: Started Movie Forums. I was 15, interested in forum software, and decided I liked movies, so why not?

2001: Taught myself more about programming in general, got involved with the innards of forum software, and was hired by a web host to help create and manage a development site. Worked for them for awhile.

2002: Unveiled a totally revamped Movie Forums (more or less what you see today) after months and months of work. New layout, new programming, new content areas, etc. Biggest single transformation in the site's history.

2003: Real life. Started growing up a bit more, dating, etc. Built and launched other sites, such as MNight.com and QuoteDB.com (which was launched in 2002 but didn't have much on it until 2003).

2004: My family moves to a new house, farther away from the city. I do some election coverage for the local Christian station (4+ hours). The promotion for The Village lands me an invite to attend a nationwide simulcast of an interview with M. Night Shyamalan, where I get to ask him a question. MNight.com receives something like 100,000 pageviews in 24 hours. I also buy the domain GoQuiz.com and start working on a site.

2005: I sell QuoteDB.com. I meet Courtney, who's going to school here. Later in the year, I move into my first apartment with my friend Adam.

2006: Adam buys a house after our lease is up, so I move back home for about 9 months before getting another apartment.

2007: I commit more time to Movie Forums. We launch Lists, re-launch the Reviews area (semi-regular updates have followed in the 3 years since), re-launch the Shoutbox and Box Office areas, etc. In September, we send out our first newsletter. Easily the most changes and improvements to the site since 2002. I also go back to North Carolina for Christmas with Courtney and her family.

2008: Courtney takes me to New York to see "Starry Night" in person as a surprise Christmas present. We hold the first MoFo Oscar Chat and the Movie Club gets its own area. Election coverage for the local Christian station again, though a lot shorter and easier this time. I finally launch GoQuiz.com after 3-4 years of sporadic work.

2009: Given the market and straining against the confines of the apartment, my brother and I start looking around for a house. I also propose to Courtney. Amazingly, she says yes. MoFo sets a new record for posts in a year, breaking the old record from way back in 2003.

2010: We close on the new house in February. My old car dies in July. MoFo Turns 10 and shatters all previous posting records, and more than a few traffic records. We buy a new (well, to us) car in August. We get married in September.


So, basically I went from a teenage kid teaching myself web development to MoFo becoming established and turning 10, finishing several other sites and selling a few, having a house and a car, and getting married. It's been eventful, to say the least.

Yoda = Busy man. Here I thought being in the military would make me a busy man.

Well seeing as in 2000 I was 7, this decade has pretty much been my entire life so far...

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Recently Watched: AKIRA, Little Miss Sunshine, Take Shelter

You have to remeber that I'm olde, so I'm not even sure how to spell. When you get to be my age, even almost 11 years ago, it's difficult to remember the specifics of each individual year.

I do recall that my daughter Sarah was eight years old, going on nine in 2000. We had moved out of our family home and were renting a house in Westminster. Brenda was already working as a teacher in Long Beach as a primary school teacher and I was already working in Santa Ana as a high school teacher. Our lives have revolved around Sarah during the last decade, making sure she could go to her schools of choice no matter how often we moved in and out of districts, even if all we did was move across the street!

I remember going to the Seattle area to visit Brenda's uncle and then we went into British Columbia in 2003. We went to New Zealand for 17 days in 2005, and we also went to Alaska in 2008, where I actually got in a grocery store line behind governor Sarah Palin (and all her "female bodyguards".)

Sarah started going to USC as a film major last year, and she's currently attending Fall semester at Charles University in Prague, the Czech Republic. She's also gone to Vienna and Switzerland for a music festival. She will return home on Dec. 18.

Aside from some boring discussions of some health issues, that covers most of the decade. I'm looking forward to the next one if I'm still around.

2000 - 2010: trolololololololololo

(more detail later)

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"Loves them? They need them, like they need the air."

Hmm, I want to try this one:

2000 - I was in the army, but I was called home because my mother's health was declining. Stayed in National Guard, though. Worked as a pharmacist's assistant.

2001 - Got an office job, filing paperwork and sending out memos. Spent September guarding a federal building for the National Guard, waiting to get the call to ship overseas.

2002 - I go to a community college for one semester, my health starts to decline, sent to physical rehab by my unit, leave my office job, start working at a video shop.

2003 - Move to a new apartment, get promoted at work, things look up...then my mother passes away, my uncle passes away, and I throw myself blindly into a relationship to forget the pain. It fails miserably. My father and brother move in with me.

2004 - I have an emotional breakdown, lose my health clearance from the National Guard. No longer allowed to go to the field with my unit. Go into therapy, bond with my adopted little sister over our shared mental issues. My father and brother move out of my apartment. I lose a few friends.

2005 - I take a trip to England for my sister's 16th birthday. Much fun is had. Later we have a falling out because I am overwhelmingly needy. I quit my job at the video shop, and take a higher paying one at a convenience store. I like it a lot. I get removed from the Army National Guard because of my mental illness.

2006 - I attempt to move to Alabama. I have a really bad one night stand. My father remarries a very nice woman who I like very much. I reconcile with my little sis, and start to talk to my brother (who moved to Arizona) again as well.

2007 - I start dating a friend who lives in New Jersey. I start working on a web comic. Spend an entire week in NYC. Relationship goes to crap. I constantly butt heads with my new boss until she leaves and I'm promoted to management.

2008 - I meet the woman I very nearly married, make some new friends, and make a good impression on her parents. It doesn't last.

2009 - I lose my job when my store is sold. I have constant fights with my fiancee, she cheats on me, I very nearly cheat on her. We make up and break up several times.

2010 - I end the horrific excuse for a relationship, find a new job, and decide to go back to college and learn business. Things are looking up.

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"You, me, everyone...we are all made of star stuff." - Neil Degrasse Tyson

https://shawnsmovienight.blogspot.com/

Stumbled on this thread after browing due to boredom:

2000: First year of high school. I studied Latin back then and I liked it quite a bit. Don't remember too much from that year, except that my entire school mocked a girl from my class who was - according to some guys - rubbing her private parts during a class.

2001: Second year of high school and I was still studying Latin, but the math was getting too hard for me. I had a difficult time with it but managed to scrape through somehow. First time I kissed a girl in my life. Yep, I was a bit late in that department, especially considering today's standards.

2002: Switched from Latin to economics & modern languages, which I liked a lot. The math wasn't that hard anymore so I was able to keep up really well. I discovered my passion for boxing from seeing videos of Roy Jones Jr, Bernard Hopkins and Tommy Hearns at a friend's place.

2003: 4th year of high school, I came out top of my class without putting too much effort into school. I started practicing boxing myself. It was just a bit of a hobby then, but it would soon enough become more than that. First time I ever really fell in love with a girl, but she had a boyfriend and I was too shy and scared to confess my love for her. She's still dating that guy to this day, and funnily enough, he is now the 2nd goalkeeper of Sunderland FC, an English Premier League Team. I'm still friends with her and though.

2004: Really got into boxing. It was more than a hobby now, as I noticed from last year that I didn't have to put too much effort in studying to still end up top of my class. I joined a boxing gym about 15 miles from my hometown. I can't thank my dad and granddad enough, as they drove me there 4 times a week. My coach was an old, grumpy man who didn't take an immediate liking to me, but I got very close with him as soon as he noticed that I listened to what he said and followed his instructions closely. I also paid crazy attention to nutrition and my conditioning in general.

2005: Pretty much the same thing as last year. I still came out top of my class, while spending most of my time on boxing. I was in the best shape of my life. My progression was slow, but gradual. I did my best to master the fundamentals of boxing instead of relying on my athleticism. I didn't spend much time on anything else. I went to a few parties, but all I drank was (no joke) vodka and club soda because it's the safest drink in terms of not packing on weight. I had my first few amateur fights at Middleweight, which I both won. My world was so narrowed down to boxing that I neglected something most other boys of my age were focusing on: girls.

2006: First year of university. I studied to get a bachelor's degree in Applied Linguistics. I noticed quickly that this was a big step up in terms of workload compared to high school. I had to choose between boxing and school. After going back and forth, I picked school and cut back on my boxing training. This is also when I got really interested in girls and with success, I got into my first real relationship, which was short-lived, but fun.

2007: 2nd year to get my bachelor's degree. School was fun, but heavy workload. I don't remember much from this year, except there was this crazy girl in the first year I got acquainted with who was a model in her spare-time. Long story short, we ended up having sex regularly just for the heck of it.

Funny story here though, one day I was at her dorm, laying in her bed, naked. I'd fallen asleep and the next thing I know is getting sucker-punched to the side of my head. Apparently, the guy who sucker-punched me was her boyfriend. So he goes like: come on man, let's settle this. I was so dazed the first 20-30 seconds, I had no clue what was happening. I sit on the bed and he kicks me in the face, I jolt to life and we're rolling around on the floor. I was totally naked, so that would probably be a scene Sexy Celebrity would've liked to see . Anyway, I finally manage to punch him in the temple, scrambled my clothes together and got the hell out of there while the crazy wannabe model girl was pitty-patting me on my back, screaming I had to get the **** out. That was the craziest thing that ever happened to me.

2008: I went on a student exchange program and studied in Sheffield, England for half a year. Best time of my life. Cheapest gym facilities ever, hot girls everywhere who were slutty as hell, partying like 4 times a week. I'm meaning to get back to Sheffield this summer, just to bring back some memories. Oh yeah, I also got my bachelor's degree in Linguistics. I also got my driving licence

2009: Got my Master's degree in Multilingual Corporate Communication. Met my current girlfriend during my holiday job. We got on like a house on fire, but it still took us 9 months to start dating.

2010: Still studying to get a 2nd Master's degree, this time in International Business Economics and Management. Happily together with my girlfriend, 9 months and counting. Oh, and I discovered a forum called the MoFo. That's a pretty cool place...

What subjects do you teach?

I would have liked seeing that. Very Fight Club, the way Fight Club should have been.

2000--turned 57.
2006--ended what will likely be my last two affairs. Committed now to my wife.
2007--my son died
2010--I'm now 67; in generally good health; love my work but starting to think about retiring. Maybe in another 3 years or so; nothing definite. Got a sweet wife, great kids and grandkids. Looking forward to Christmas, my favorite holiday. Happy holidays to all of you.