I remember January 1, 2000 very, very well. I was 12, living with my parents, a freshman in high school. I celebrated the new millennium with my family and amidst all of the hype and paranoia of Y2K all my computer did was reset its date to 1980.
In the year 2000, Vermont became the first American state to allow civil unions for same-sex couples, Bill Gates stepped down as CEO, the St. Louis Rams won the Super Bowl, Israel withdrew its troops from Lebanon, and Vicente Fox became president of Mexico. 2000 was also the year that both Vladimir Putin (on March 26) and George W. Bush (November 7) were elected president of Russia and the U.S. respectively. Despite election controversy, (Al Gore won the popular vote), the Supreme Court ruled that Bush would be president and Colin Powell was chosen to become the first ethnic minority American secretary of state.
2001, another action-packed year, during which the Baltimore Ravens won the Super Bowl, Bush was sworn in, rejected the Kyoto protocol, approved federal funding for limited stem cell research, Milosevic was arrested on war crime charges, and then came the announcement of the discovery of the first new solar system outside our own. September 11th terror attacks marked the deadliest of its kind in U.S. history then came the anthrax scare and the war in Afghanistan. The iPod made its debut in 2001 and the Patriot Act was signed in late October of that year. Both the first "Harry Potter" and "Lord of the Rings" movies were released in late 2001 and terror suspects were to be held at Gitmo.
Switzerland voted to join the UN in 2002 and Bush first labeled his "axis of evil". The New England Patriots won the Super Bowl and the "color-coded" terror alert system made its grand debut, which, by the way, has been perpetually elevated to orange if anyone else has been noticing. They never change the color; it's always orange, every single time I'm at an American airport. On May 20, 2002, Timor-Leste (East Timor) became an independent country and the Supreme Court made a landmark ruling to ban execution of the mentally retarded. Baseball finally decided to test its players for steroids on a regular basis in 2002 and the first "American Idol" winner, Kelly Clarkson, was elected. In the American football world, Emmitt Smith set a new NFL rushing record in 2002. NATO invited former communist countries to join its alliance while United Airlines filed for bankruptcy.
Early in 2003, North Korea withdrew from the anti-nuclear proliferation treaty and Hispanics surpassed blacks as the biggest American minority group. The space shuttle Columbia disaster took place in 2003 and the Iraq war began, shortly thereafter, resulting in the fall of Baghdad. Sign ups for the national "do not call" list to evade telemarketers started in June, Massachusetts ruled in favor of gay marriages, and Saddam Hussein was captured before the end of the year.
Following the Mad Cow disease scare, the avian flu scare was launched in 2004. Facebook came online, the New England Patriots won the Super Bowl, Martha Stewart went to jail, and Lance Armstrong won his 6th Tour de France. New Jersey governor resigned saying he was homosexual, Google joined the stock market, and Chechen militants took hostages in a Russian school. The second greatest sports moment of the decade happened with the Boston Red Sox winning the World Series, finally breaking the "curse". Bush was re-elected for a second term and Ukraine experienced its "Orange revolution" with the election of Yushchenko, who survived the poisoning. There were also a handful of natural disasters, including the massive earthquake in Nagaoka, Hurricane Jeanne and the four earthquakes of Florida, and the tsunami attack in South Asia. Yassar Arafat died and Hamid Karzai became Afghanistan's new president.
The NHL canceled its season in 2005 and baseball called for stricter drug testing. The Supreme Court ruled against death penalty for juveniles, Prince Charles finally married Camilla, Pope John Paul II died and Benedict was chosen as a replacement. YouTube launched this year, Ahmadinejad was elected as Iranian president, the London terror attacks took place, and Lance Armstrong won his 7th Tour de France. Israel completed its withdrawal from the Gaza strip and parts of the West Bank, Hurricane Katrina devastated Louisiana, Angela Merkel became Germany's first female chancellor, and "The Colbert Report" premiered on cable. Chicago's White Sox won the World Series and the New England Patriots won its 3rd Super Bowl, becoming a dynasty and marking the best sports moment of the decade (for me). Bush acknowledged the wired tapping going on in U.S. homes at the end of the year and 2005 was the warmest year on record.
In 2006, Morales came to power in Bolivia, "Phantom of the Opera" became the longest running Broadway show, Milosevic was found dead, Libya was removed from the terror list, and North Korea test fired missiles and conducted its first "nuclear" test, though whether it was really a nuclear weapon or the seriousness of this is rather dubious. The Pittsburgh Steelers won the Super Bowl, liquids were banned in carry-on luggage in late summer of 2006, and Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya was shot dead. Serbia and Montenegro peacefully split into two, separate, independent countries, Google bought YouTube in 2006, Wii made its debut in the gaming world, and Pluto was demoted from its previous status as a planet. New York City banned trans fats in restaurants and Saddam Hussein was executed.
2007 started off with Nancy Pelosi becoming the first female speaker of the House, Beckham signing a contract to play soccer (football) in the U.S., and climate scientists warning about the real consequences of global warming. NFL made instant replay permanent and the Super Bowl was won by the Indianapolis Colts (unfortunately, since I hate Peyton Manning!). 32 were killed in the Virginia Tech massacre, Sarkozy was elected French president, and Gordon Brown became the new British Prime Minister. The last Harry Potter book was released in the summer of 2007, Barry Bonds broke the record for career home runs, and Bret Favre broke the NFL record for touchdown passes. Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize, Hollywood writers went on strike, and Argentina's first female president, Cristina Fernandez, was sworn in.
Last year, oil hit record-high prices at $100/barrel, Sarkozy married Carla Bruni, Fidel Castro resigned, Bush vetoed water boarding ban, and New York's governor was caught up in a prostitution scandal. Bear Stearns was rescued earlier last year, though the worse was yet to come in terms of financial crises and Kosovo declared independence. Medvedev, Putin's protégé, was sworn is as Russian president and polar bears were declared a threatened species. California banned trans-fats in restaurants and frozen water was found on Mars. The Russia-Georgia war started along with the Olympics in Beijing during which swimmer Michael Phelps set an Olympic record with 8 gold medals won at a single Olympic tournament. McCain picked Palin as a running mate and California banned gay marriages while Connecticut approved. Barack Obama became the first ethnic minority president in the U.S.
This year, Obama was sworn in and ordered the closing of Gitmo, signed a $757 billion stimulus packaged, announced a new Afghan-Pakistan strategy, and won the Nobel Peace Prize. Gay marriage was legalized in Iowa, Sonia Sotomayor became the first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice, the swine flu scare started, and the "King of Pop", Michael Jackson, died. Vermont passed a law allowing gay marriages while Maine voters repealed its law that allowed gay marriages and Michael Jordan was inducted in the basketball hall of fame. Unemployment in the U.S. hit 10% and thus came the end of the decade.
On a personal level, a lot has changed for me since 2000. I not only graduated from high school, but I also graduated from university and now I'm in France doing a graduate program. I managed to visit 36 countries within the decade past and learned to speak 2 additional languages fluently while adding on another 4 to the list of languages I'm studying. I moved 5 times and lived in 3 different countries on 3 different continents ("lived" in this case meaning over 3 months), learned how to hitchhike and completed 108 of the 263 things on my list of things to do before I die. At this rate, I hope to complete the list within the next decade or two! (Oh and I haven't forgotten, merry 7th day of Christmas!)
Today's Random Quiz:
| You Should Celebrate Friendship |
 And you can't imagine celebrating New Year's Eve without your closest friends around. You are always happy to catch up with old friends on this night, and you're hoping to make some new ones too. So this year, raise a toast to old and new friends. They make every day of the year a little brighter. |
