Back in October 2002…

What’s special about this week?  Well, this Friday is actually the day.

Friday is the 5th of October.  And 10 years earlier – this blog was started!

The website itself was launched back in 1999, but the blog began as The Cottrill Family Journal in October 2002.

So we’re going to celebrate 10 years!  First, I thought I’d look back at how different the world was back in October 2002.  It’s funny . . . in some ways it doesn’t seem like that long ago.  But in a way, it was a whole different world.  For example…

• Michael Jackson was still alive, and was inducted into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame
• On TV, people were still watching The Sopranos, Friends, Frasier, Enterprise, The Red Green Show, and Everybody Loves Raymond
• Queen Elizabeth II was touring Canada as a part of her Golden Jubilee
• The always entertaining and controversial Jean Chrétien was Prime Minister in Canada.  In the USA, George W. Bush was President.  And in Mexico, former Coca-Cola Mexico President Vincente Fox was President.  In 2000 his election ended the 71 year reign of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI)
• In 2002, hitting the charts 25 years after his death, Elvis Presley had another hit – a remix of A Little Less Conversation with Junkie XL.  Also hitting the charts in 2002 was A Moment Like This from Kelly Clarkson, and A New Day Has Come from Celine Dion.
• The world was still in the middle of the Harry Potter series

Things that hadn’t happened yet…

• The Iraq War
• The iPhone and iPod Touch.  The first iPod came out in 2001.
• Facebook (launched 2004)
• YouTube (launched 2005)
• The Amazon Kindle (first one – 2007)
• Some of the biggest movie hits of all time, such as The Departed (2006), The Dark Knight (2008), the last two Lord of the Rings movies (2002, 2003), and Inception (2010)
• Books that hadn’t been written:  The Secret, The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo, The Hunger Games

…Actually, as you know, a LOT of things hadn’t happened yet!  So tomorrow I’m going to do a whirlwind tour of a few of the things that have happened right here and around the world in the last 10 years.  Reminding us all once again – 10 years is longer than it used to be!

And look out for another surprise or two as we look back and look forward . . .