CHEERS TO MY THIRD DECADE OF TEACHING!

I wanted to finish out the fads from the decades I taught.

I couldn't find anything like my first 2 posts, so I

copied this list, and placed an image with it.
Then, I will do my last 3 years.

2000-2010

Atkins / Low Carb Diets

• The popular low carb diet that everyone tried. The diet became so popular that even fast food restaurants were adding Atkins approved items to their menus. Usually this meant meat wrapped in lettuce or put in a bowl with no buns.

Beyblade

• A type of spinning tops kids play with where the tops fight with each other, sometimes in a plastic arena. The last top still spinning wins. There was also a Beyblade anime television series that was launched in conjunction with the tops.

Bratz

• A group of teenage fashion dolls with large heads and skinny bodies. Spin-offs such as Bratz Kidz and Bratz Babyz soon followed. Bratz characters were commercialized in movies, TV, music albums, and video games.

Crocs

• Colorful plastic clogs/shoes with holes in them, popular for their comfort and because they are easy to wear (slip-on, like a sandal).

DVD & TV Monitors in cars

• Thanks to the advancement in technology people are able to add dvd players with headrest, flip visor, or in dash monitors installed for watching movies in cars. In fact, this has become so popular that many dealers will sell you a new automobile with them already installed.

Energy Drinks

• In the 90's there a few energy drinks such as Red Bull. But after the turn of the century energy drinks became so popular that there are now several on the market such as Full Throttle, Lost Energy, Sobe, and Monster Energy.

Fantasy Leagues

• Sports fans all around the nation are taking part in the hottest new craze. Its called Fantasy Leagues. Whether you prefer hockey, football, or baseball there is a league for you somewhere. You can join a public league or a private league with your friends. The object is to draft players and creating a starting lineup (daily or weekly) then you get points based on how your drafted players do in the real professional sport. You can play rotisserie or head to head. You can trade players, sign free agents, or drop players, your the manager of your own team. Thanks to popularity, televised sports games now have stat trackers during games and at halftime.

Flash Mobs

• A bunch of people meeting on the internet that agree to meet at a certain place at a certain time to do something meaningless or unusual and then just leave.

Flash Mob at Colonial Williamsburg

Reenactment of the reading of the Declaration of Independence

Mormon Tabernacle Choir throughout the crowd

Grillz

• A dental fashion trend in hip-hop culture consisting of a custom made removable mouthpiece made of gold, platinum or silver and sometimes inlaid with precious stones. Made popular by celebrities such as Nelly, Paul Wall, and Dirty South rappers.

Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The series chronicles the adventures of a young wizard Harry Potter, the titular character, and his friends Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry The main story arc concerns Harry's quest to overcome the Dark wizard Lord Voldemort, who aims to become immortal, conquer the wizarding world, subjugate non-magical people, and destroy all those who stand in his way, especially Harry Potter.  The first movie came out in 2000.  

Lines for a midnight release of a new book. Fans would dress up for these and movies in Harry Potter costumes.

Heelys

• Sneakers with wheels housed in the heel of the shoe. This allows children to release the wheel out and skate instead of walk...anytime they please!       

This is one fad I COULD NOT STAND!!!  The kids that wore them in stores, Jazz games, etc., really could have cared less who they ran into!  If worn to school, the wheels had to be taken out.  Several kids would say they couldn't get them out!  I would have the custodian help them with some tools!

Then, in the winter, they couldn't figure out how all the snow would get packed into the hole!!!

High School Musical

• A 2006 TV movie on the Disney Channel starring Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, and Ashley Tisdale, that because wildly popular and spawned 2 sequels. The plot of the first movie revolved around two high school juniors from rival cliques who try out for the lead in their high school musical.  Filmed at East High School and St. George.

House Flipping

• During the real estate boom, people would buy homes, renovate them, and then sell them as fast as possible. This also led to a bunch of popular house flipping reality TV shows such as Flip This House and Flipping Out. Once the 2008 recession started, many real estate flippers targeted foreclosed homes instead.

iPods

• A smaller, much better version of the Sony Walkman type portable music player. Like an iPhone, but without internet access or phone calls. Once Apple introduced the iPhone, iPods sales dropped significantly.

Livestrong Wristband

• A yellow fund raising bracelet launched in 2004 by Lance Armstrong's Livestrong Foundation (formerly known as the Lance Armstrong Foundation). It gained popularity after many of the 2004 Tour de France participants wore it, and then Oprah and many other celebrities also endorsed it.

 I would get my kiddos wristbands for Christmas like these...except they were only red or green.

Low Rise Jeans

• Jeans that are lower at the top and hug the hips. Popular with women and usually worn with a thong.  The tattoo at the top, became known as a "tramp stamp."  

McMansions

• A term for newly built luxury houses in the suburbs which all seem mass-produced and generic looking. Also used to describe a new house that is out of place as compared to the rest of the neighborhood due to its large size. When the economy crashed in 2007, the market for these houses took a nose dive.  The name came from the fast food chain, McDonald's.  Most of their menu items begin with "Mc."

mp3's / mp3 players (iPod)

• Thanks to file sharing and online music stores such as iTunes, people are now uploading all their music to their MP3 players instead of carrying around cassettes or cd's. Most mp3 players can hold several hours of music.

MySpace

• MySpace.com was created in the 2000's as a way of networking with people. In just a few short years it would become one of the most visited sites on the internet. Millions of people log onto their MySpace created page everyday. 

MySpace lead to a more popular social networking, Facebook.

Napolean Dynamite

• In 2004, this hit movie caused a cult following. DVD sales for this flick were astounding! In early 2005, the search term 'Napolean Dynamite' was a top phrase searched for according to Yahoo! Youngsters were wearing T-Shirts that read, "Vote For Pedro". There has even been talk about a sequel to this movie, or perhaps a prequel.

Online Slang In Speech

• People have started to use internet lingo in their everyday speech. For example instead of saying "Oh My Gosh!" They would instead say "OMG" or "BRB" instead of "Be Right Back".

Over-sized Sunglasses

• Borrowing a look from the 1960s, celebs such as Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie, and Jessica Simpson wore these as a fashion statement.

P2P File Sharing

• Sharing music with Napster became so popular a few years back that record companies were angry, considered it stealing and sued the creator of the software. Courts ruled it illegal and shut it down. Well, shortly afterwards a few other peer-to-peer networks have popped up such as Kaaza, which has been ruled legal in the U.S. and not only is music shared with these new P2P networks, but other files such as videos, software, and documents are also shared. Millions of internet users are using P2P networks daily. 

Paintball

• A sport where two teams square off against each other using compressed air guns to shoot little gelatin paint ball capsules at each other. Rules of games may very and being shot with paint on any part of your body can cause some pain and bruising.

PDAs

• Before smartphones, there were PDAs (personal digital assistants) from companies such as Palm. You could use them to keep track of you calendar, contacts, to do lists, and even check your email. But, they could not make phone calls.

PS2

• The Sony Playstation 2 is the hottest game console for gamers. With popular games like Tony Hawk, Grand Turismo, and Grand Theft Auto, no user ever gets bored with the hot PS2. In fact recently the release of the handheld PSP, has caused stores across the nation to sell out immediately.

Razor Scooters

• Everyone remembers when these scooters were most popular because almost every kid in the neighborhood would race up and down the street with them. Eventually battery operated / electric scooters would become the hottest item.  The majority kids at school had one of these.  They had to be able to fold them up to have them at school.  Otherwise, no room on the coat hooks.  Kids loved to ride these...and were tempted to do it inside the school.  They were to walk them on school property.

Segway

• Invented by Dean Kamen, it is a two-wheeled, self-balancing electric vehicle. Before it was unveiled in 2001, there was huge hype as to how it would change the world, even though nobody knew exactly what this mystery product was. Venture capitalist John Doerr speculated that it would be more important than the Internet and the fastest company to reach $1 billion in sales, while Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said that "...cities will be built around this device." In the end, the Segway did not live up to the hype, selling only around 30,000 units from 2001 to 2007, mostly to police departments, military bases, warehouses, and other business customers.
• This picture is my old Dixie roommate, Sara, and her husband, Fred.  They live in Las Vegas.  They are on these Segways in San Diego.

Sleeved Blanket

• With names such as Snuggie, Slanket, and Toasty Wrap, this is basically a bathrobe worn backwards to keep you warm. It became a massive hit through TV commercials and gave rise to hundreds of TV and Youtube.com parodies.  
• 

I have one of these!

Speed Dating

• A time efficient event where singles go on short "dates" (by sitting at a table talking) from 3 to 8 minutes in length, rotating from one date to another when a signal is given (like a bell ringing). When the event is over, the participants submit a list to organizers of who they want to provide their contact information to. If there is a match, the organizers forward the contact info to both parties. Unlike at a bar or dance club, there is no need to take the initiative to go up and introduce yourself, everybody is single, and you can sit and talk comfortably in a quiet setting.  This is how Heidi and Mike met at Dixie State!

Tivo / PVR's (Personal Video Recorders)

• The newest and best way to record your favorite shows. In the past you had to get a VHS tape, put it in the VCR and push record as soon as the show started. With Tivo there is no extra tapes to buy, you can record hours of tv, pause, rewind, playback, and on top of all of that, Tivo can remember which types of shows you like just in case you forgot to record something.

Trucker Hats

• Originally made popular in the 1970s by truck drivers, they became a fad when celebrities such as Ashton Kutcher and Paris Hilton wore them as a fashion accessory.

US Flags on Cars (after September 11th)

• Many Americans became patriotic after September 11th. The way most people expressed their patriotism was by adding a US car flag to their automobile window.

Wide Skate Shoes with Fat Laces

• The sneaker trend in the 2000's seemed to be wide skate shoes such as Etnies or Adidas with big fat laces.

Wireless Camera Phones

• This is probably the greatest feature ever added to a mobile phone. Many people are using their phone to take photos and email them to their friends and family.