Five Disappointments of 2010

Yesterday, I blogged about the good in 2010 and now it’s time to look at the other side of the coin, the disappointments.  I won’t say bad, because in all of it’s weirdness, 2010 was not a bad year.  It was just filled with strangeness and some real head scratching moments.  Let’s get to the list.

5) Bad Customer Service

Am I alone here or was 2010 really bad for getting your needs met at certain establishments?  And I don’t really consider myself a bad customer, but in my growing up, I’m willing to put up with a lot less than I was used to in my youth.  And it was just weird things, too.  My bank screwing up very simple requests, forcing me to make multiple visits to get it cleared up.  Getting a simple drink right at a restaurant.  Taking nearly a month to get internet installed at my house.  Getting the wrong shirt shipped to you from the one you ordered in person, right in front of the person who runs the business.  I don’t get it.  What made it so that 2010 is such a bad year to get good service?

4) Buying the House

This one get’s it’s own heading.  In the past, I would have expected the purchase of a house to be a bit of an ordeal, mainly because I just wasn’t that good with my own money and that caused problems.  But a lot has changed since those days and though I’m not an expert in financial issues, I’m not a liability any longer.  Which is what baffles me to why getting our house caused a lot of headaches with Melanie and me.  There was nothing complicated about the mortgage we were trying to do, no fancy tricks, no zero money down hoo-ha.  It was a conventional mortgage for a sum which we were well able to afford.  When the bank stopped answering our correspondence for two weeks, it really confused the hell out of us because we were kept in the dark during a critical time of the purchase.  Granted, everything worked out in the end, but I’m not one to really relish surprises when I’m making the biggest purchase in my life.

3) Internet Noise

I can’t really read the Star Tribune online anymore.  The inmates have taken over the asylum.  It’s not just the Star Tribune, but on a number of websites.  Commenting has become such an expected part of some of these sites, I’m not sure how much they realize that it’s a hindrance rather than a facilitator.  The lofty goal was to create a community discussion where people can engage with each other.  However, the trolls are more persistent, more rancorous, more interested in defending their ideology rather than debating the merits of their position.  News sites in particular seem loath to turn off comment sections because it can drive page views, but they do that at the cost of sacrificing the story to those trolls.  Editorials are shredded down to partisan broadsides, ditto for any story dealing with government.  Even sports sections are fraught with the homers who support the team no matter what and those yelling for wholesale change.  None of this started in 2010, but it did seem to grow exponentially this year.

2) The Election

I’m not going to write too much about this as you can look back to my post-election rant I wrote in early November.  And to the surprise of some, I’m not even going to say that the Dems losing was much of a surprise and I’ll admit to some extent, they deserved it.  Hell, I was pretty disappointed at their lack of progress over the last couple of years and was apathetic to the election.  But to see such a swing to the Republicans was shocking to me.  It was a shock to me that candidates pledged not to compromise at all when they were running for the Senate, the deliberative body of Congress and the half of government where many deals are created.  Regardless, I’m not going to rehash this.  It’s depressing.

1) Accomplished Goals

I’m calling myself out on this one.  I had a bunch of goals set, most of which were attainable.  Of those goals, a handful were reached while there were a good number more either half finished or nothing done at all.  I could give myself a pass on it and chalk it up to all the stuff I did get done this year, plus the big events of this year. That’s not who I am though and before anything here gets misunderstood, let me tell you that things are fine.  Actually, it’s helpful to me to see what I set and where I fell short so I can address those items.  They are my little failures, but I know what they are and on at least some of them, steps have already been taken to correct for those missteps on the year.

The areas I fell short?  In writing, I only partially achieved my goals (blogging more regularly) and didn’t follow through on more creative writing.  At home, I have an established routine, but still not one that completely works.  Health-wise, I need to work out more, eat better and take better care of myself.  I need to be a better husband and father.  It’s all attainable stuff and ones that I’m not completely horrible at doing, but improvement can be made.  That’s why my life keeps getting better as I get older.  Hard to believe, but it’s true.  The disappointments drive me to be a better person and hopefully I can hit those goals this year.