Year End Review and New Beginnings

Don't know what came over me yesterday. I'd intended to do a year end review, something upbeat as we headed into the new year. But that WSJ story about the end of the U.S. as we know it just washed over me and swept me up in its current.

Yes, undertows are powerful and can be dangerous. No, it didn't wash me out to sea. Aside: Did you know that Jack Nicholson, while a teen growing up in New Jersey, once saved five peoples' lives who had been carried out into the ocean by an undertow? There were eleven swept out into the deep. Young Jack grabbed a lifeboat and headed out to save them. He says he puked his guts out after, but the newspaper only showed the shining face of the hero, which caught someone's eye, carrying him off in another current to the turbulent seas of fame in Hollywood.

Anyways, that WSJ story, popularized via the Drudge Report, certainly diverted me from my intentions. I don't really buy into the idea of our country breaking up into fragments by 2010. There are some who might enjoy seeing such things, like the Soviet analyst who saw his own nation crumble into pieces. Yugoslavia was similarly broken into fragments in recent history, which I can't help but think would weaken it and create inefficiencies. The most difficult problem is for geography students who simply can't keep up with all these changes. Yugoslavia was first broken into six parts in 1990's, into 8 a couple years ago and now, as of 2008, Kosovo has become a ninth entity.

A friend in Pakistan fears that the U.S., in an effort to strengthen its global stranglehold on that region of the world in the name of stability, has the same designs on his own nation. Some over there have expressed concern that the Mumbai tragedy will be used as a pretext for increased intervention.

We're not making much progress here in our year end review, though the last two snippets at least relate to the theme. Maybe I'm in avoidance mode since the collapse of housing, and the tsunami of bankruptcies and other financial disasters, culminating in the Madoff scandal as exclamation point, hardly bears repeating.

So, while all this tragedy was happening, what were the top searches for 2008 according to Yahoo Buzz? Number One, Brittney Spears whose police visit, hospital stay and psych evaluation were exceedingly important to Americans this year. Oh, she also appeared in a sitcom.

Number Two, the WWE heated up the cybersearchers in June with some kind of stir created when the effervescent Vince McMahon was purportedly injured in an explosion on a stage... or was it a staged explosion? Sorry, I missed it.

Number Three, Barack Obama. OK, this is a worthy number three. The guy overcame the odds, has charisma, defeated Hillary, steam-rolled the GOP and its veteran candidate John McCain... and has a lot of people rooting for him as he heads toward 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. My prayer is that we'll see miracles, because with the economic mess we're in and the international turmoil in every direction, it might take miracles to get us back to a place of stability and confidence toward the future.

Two additional quick observations. To my knowledge Obama has never walked on water. And despite his success in the primaries and election, president-elect Obama did not attract more buzz than Brittney Spears.

Rounding out the top ten stories as measured by Yahoo Searches, we have Miley Cyrus (the Hannah Montana siren), RuneScape, Jessica Alba, Naruta, Lindsay Lohan, Angelina Jolie, and American Idol.

No list of year end summaries is complete without those farewells to significant people who departed this year. I had a personal stake in at least two of the personalities on Yahoo's Top 10 list: Paul Newman and Boyd Coddington. Having the same name as a mega-star actor invariably puts him on your personal life radar from time to time. As a freshman at Ohio University in 1970 I had a room in Scot Quad, where I learned that Paul Newman had lived during part of his abbreviated attendance at O.U. I enjoyed many of his films over the years, especially his early classics The Hustler, Hud, and Cool Hand Luke. He lived a charmed life, married to his one true love throughout and generously giving tens of millions to charity.

My intersection with Boyd Coddington's life commenced in 2007 when AMSOIL began a sponsorship relationship with Boyd who, at the time, had a reality TV show building hot cars. Or cool cars, however you like to look at it. Coddington's influence on the Southern California hot rod scene was legendary. He lived his dream. At the end of 2007 I flew to Orlando where I interviewed Boyd and Jo, his good hearted wife, for a feature story in the AMSOIL Action News. It might have been the last published feature on Boyd as within weeks the effects of his diabetes put him in the hospital, from which he never recovered. Perhaps you'll enjoy reading my tribute to Boyd & Jo, Innovation and a Passion for Cars.

Other passings in 2008 included Heath Ledger, George Carlin, Tim Russert, William F. Buckley, Sydney Pollack, Charlton Heston and the European Bakery in Downtown Duluth.

On the positive side of the ledger, The Centerville All Stars produced and released a great new CD, Party with the Band. You can read my review and purchase your copy here.

In the meantime, have a great 2009, starting today. Hot Tip: Enjoy your friends, make some memories with your families, and avoid the land mines. Happy New Year!