Once you have gorged yourself at Thanksgiving dinner and taken down the holiday decorations, you can turn your attention to the new upcoming year. Last year, 2011 didn’t have much going for it in the beginning. There seemed no way out of debt or recession and we faced the sad 10 year anniversary for 9/11. Meanwhile Osama bin Laden was still out there. Through all of this, as a technologically growing nation, we are still intrigued by new gadgets. New versions of the iPhone and the invention of the iPad took America by storm. It allowed Facebook, Twitter and Youtube to keep growing in popularity.

Games like Angry Birds, which was a simple game at first, literally blew up into a nationwide obsession. The once simple “app” grew into stuffed animals being sold at Walmart and shirts being sold at clothing stores. But the death of Steve Jobs put the hype of new gadgets on hold. Due to health problems, he was forced to resign from CEO of Apple. Two days after he had to leave, Apple was named the world’s most valuable company. On Oct. 4, he was pronounced dead, the same day the iPhone 4S was announced. Even though Jobs is now gone, his legacy will never be forgotten.

Our celebrity news during 2011 never really was quiet. With Simon Cowel leaving American Idol, the death of Amy Winehouse and the royal wedding, celebrity news never seemed to take a break. Arnold Schwarzenegger was caught in the middle of a sex scandal, everyone seemed to be keeping up with the Kardashians with Kim’s awaited 72 day marriage and Charlie Sheen fell completely off his rocker.

As celebrity news was burning hot, the weather took some of the heat. Summer 2011 was the second hottest summer on record. While the Midwest and Mississippi areas were bracing for record river levels and rainfall, the Southwest was experiencing historic drought levels. On May 30, an abandoned campfire became the largest wildfire in Arizona history. The Wallow fire raged under severe drought conditions, and spread rampantly through the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, burning 500,000 acres in Arizona and New Mexico before it was contained on July 8. The drama of the year's extreme weather began to truly show itself in the spring, as the nation experienced extremes on many climate levels. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), April set the record as the most active tornado month in history with 753 tornadoes causing 364 fatalities. This new record shattered the previous of 542 held by May 2003.

As 2011 came to an end so did a lot of things we have known and loved. The spaceship shuttle program closed shop and launched the last shuttle on July 8. Oprah aired her last talk show and Harry Potter came to a climactic end. One thing we will all remember was the finding and killing of Osama bin Laden. As we ended the year, December 31, all soldiers were withdrawn from Iraq under President Barack Obama’s orders. Know we focus on 2012 where the presidential election and the 2012 London Olympics will take place. Twilight will continue to please fans with Breaking Dawn Pt. 2 and many other movies that are sure hit it home. Let’s start looking at what we can accomplish this year and make it happen. Let’s make 2012 the year for change and possibility!