It was the approach of Y2K and people were getting a little crazy. Remember that? Planes were going to fall out of the sky, and the computers that manage our money, oil, food, and government were going to stop working at the stroke of midnight.
The sky was falling!
Some people were making shelters with razor-wire fences, stockpiling food, and buying guns and ammunition to fend off the desperate people who would try to steal from them in the coming apocalypse.
It’s almost funny to think about it now, but for many people it was a real fear. I like to think of it as an example of how things are hardly ever as bad as you think they will be.
What were you doing 10 years ago? Were you scared of Y2K, indifferent, or fully prepared?
I guess I was mostly indifferent. At the time I was telecommuting (with a dial-up modem!) and did back up my computer before finishing work that day and transferred important files to one of those 3.5″ disks – remember those? But I didn’t really do anything else. My husband at the time was a police officer and worked that night, and I went to bed around 10 p.m.
At 11 I got a slightly drunken call from one of my friends in Texas reassuring me that the world had not come to an end, at least in her timezone, and I was able to drift back to sleep. It makes me smile to think of that memory, and even though we are still far apart I sent her an email today reminding her of that night.
So, what were you doing on the eve of Y2K? Were you worried?
About Betsy
I was at the Rose Bowl (working!) 10 years ago tonight, and we all went out to a bar to party – and they gave us those “glow sticks” as we entered in case all the power blew out at midnight! There was a lot of y2k panic!
During New Year’s Eve day, we watched round the clock on CNN to see New Year’s arrive in different countries – to be assured the world wasn’t going to explode at each stroke of midnight!
Pretty funny stuff – and good memories!
lol! Betsy, Oh yes the rumors and uncertainty surrounding what the eve between ’99 & 2000 would bring – Our pantry cupboards were well stocked that year though no plans to build a shelter (grin)
All that build-up and anticipation kinda went ‘thud’ at midnight but it did have all the makings of a terrific year for food bank donations? just say’in. Wow! that was ten years?! zoom zoom!
Happy Happy 2010!
Karen, I love it that glow sticks were being used as potential emergency lighting devices!
Teresa, I didn’t even think about food bank donations from all that food! I hope that’s what most people did. If not, they’re probably still eating cans of beans and tuna fish from 1999.