2010 started out with a negative point early in the year as the earthquake in Haiti devastated a significant portion of the island, with deaths, destruction, and violence. This started a world-wide effort to donate money to the Haitian citizens for food, and help to rebuild the demolished areas which felt the wrath from the 7.0 magnitude earthquake.
Just a few months later an oil rig station in the Gulf of Mexico exploded and ruptured a pipeline in the ocean. This pipeline spilled tons of oil into the ocean for months. As BP, the U.S. Government, and even NASA scrambled to find a solution, oil continued to flood the Gulf and the Gulf coast states. Finally, there was a solution found to close up the oil spill.
As the world was getting over the oil spill being fixed, a group of miners in Chile got trapped underground. These men were trapped and initially told they would be there until November or December possibly. Though, they were stuck for two months, they would end up seeing daylight before the original timeline they were given.
The year seemed to be one in which every movie that came out in theatres had to be 3D for some reason. Not sure why, but this makes no sense to us. Previously, 3D movies were those that had a lot of action, numerous scenes with great special effects, or very nice plots that called for many action scenes that would be cool with 3D. It seems now that 3D is just a fad because "everyone else" is doing it. Hollywood has obviously become filled with followers, less leaders and not many people with exceptional talent and original creativity. For example, does Yogi Bear really need to be in 3D?
Late in the summer Apple came out with the Ipad. Another creation to get people to spend their money on something that is pointless and will be obsolete in a couple of years. After Apple introduced the Ipad it only made sense for a 1000 copycats to surface. Does anyone remember palm pilots from the early 2000's? Basically this is what the Ipad or Tablet is; now they just have increased the screen size, made them completely touch screen, and added built-in wifi. And people think they are buying a new invention. Seems people fall for anything these days.
The sports world got a lot of attention, positive and negative. New Orleans rejoiced as the Saints won the Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history. When the new NFL season started players felt the power of Sheriff Goodell with fines for helmet to helmet hits. Brett Favre's season was a complete bust, and not only that but he also was fined for "not cooperating." That's not a bad way to get off the hook for sexually harassing an employee. Tiger Woods went the entire year without winning a single tournament. The L.A. Lakers won their second straight title giving Kobe as he stated "one more than Shaq." The Cleveland Cavaliers and most of Ohio boiled-over as LeBron James hit the road and went to Miami. College football stood by and watched as Heisman trophy winner Cam Newton played with huge controversy over his head about being marketed (he states he didn't know about) to schools by his father for amounts upward of $180,000.
Odd things happened in 2010 also, like the cruise ship that went powerless and hot waterless for a few days off the coast of California and had to be towed backed to shore. North & South Korea's relationship got worse, oh wait - that's normal. People started taking Sarah Palin serious. And Larry King went off the air.
All in all 2010 was a good year for many people as unemployment decreased just a bit,and holiday spending saw an increase from the past two years. With the type of year 2010 was, there will be people who have high hopes for 2011 with good reason. The economy does seem to be getting better slowly, but surely. So with that said - we want to wish everyone a happy, safe, and prosperous New Year!
Stay Tuned.....
