Mine...Mine...ALL MINE...

Today I paid off my car. Finally.

Now I'm not saying that it took a long time to actually OWN my 1998 Honda Accord (reasonable facsimile pictured above), but let me take you on a little journey to the time when I actually took ownership of the vehicle.

I was leaving the next day to go see the Spice Girls (five of them) kick off their world tour in Dublin, Ireland. (For work, not pleasure.)

And in the real world...

• Bill Clinton was in the White House. The Lewinsky story had just broken.
• Lance Armonstrong had not yet won a Tour De France (he went on to win seven times).
• George Clooney could be seen on your TV every week on ER.
• Seinfeld was still on the air - with new episodes, not in syndication.
• Frank Sinatra and JFK Jr. were still alive.
• There were only three Star Wars movies.
• MTV's "The Real World" was the only reality TV show (Survivor wouldn't happen for two more years).
• Viagra was still just a twinkle in the eye of the FDA.
• The Concorde Super Sonic Jet was still flying.
• John Elway had just won his first Super Bowl.
• Titanic was the #1 movie and that damned Celine Dion had the #1 song.
• Puff Daddy (aka P Diddy) had just been nominated for "Best New Artist."
• Shawn Colvin won the Grammy for Best Song of the Year - her thank-you speech was interrupted by Old Dirty Bastard (Big Baby Jesus) - who died six years later in 2004
• Oprah was on trial in Texas for the mad cow/beef incident. It was at this trial that she met Dr. Phil.
• "Columbine" was just the name of a flower.
• Pluto was still considered a planet. (Sorry Bean)

So, in summary, I've been paying for this car for 1,000 years - and have probably paid about $50K for a car worth about a third of that.

But as of today...it's all mine...