I'm 52 years old. I bought my last new car when I was 39.
In 1993, at the same time I bought TFrog, my wife picked up a brand-new Escort GT. That car became my son's first car, when Jean picked up a new Mercury Mystique. After her second new Mystique (now my daughter's car), Jean moved on to the Ford Escape, and is now driving her second, a new 2007 model.
My daughter, who was 11 in 1993, learned to drive with the Princessmobile*, moved on to a '99 Escort, and now drives my wife's '99 Mystique.
In 1993, George Bush 41 watched as William Jefferson Clinton was sworn in for his first term in office as President of the United States. Today, Mrs. Clinton is running for the office.
In 1993, Jerry Orbach was introduced as Detective Lenny Briscoe. He's dead now.
In 1993, my computer was running with Windows 3.1, which incorporated the new DOS 6.0. I remember the day I installed an extra 4MB of RAM, doubling my capacity, and then swapping my 2400 baud modem for an amazing 14,400. Somewhere in there, I began my life as an AOLer (already with 3,000,000 users), after having toyed with CompuServe and Prodigy, and I've been "TFrog93" ever since. Today, I'm using a computer and peripherals that would have only been dreamed of in "Star Trek."
In 1993, the Philadelphia Eagles were in their second season under the great Rich Kotite, who, thankfully, would later parlay a 7-9 season into a head coach position with the New York Jets. The Eagles would then begin their four-year flirtation with an equally fine head coach, Ray Rhodes.
In 1993 (don't hold me to it), we were using a Pentax K1000 that Jean picked up for a college filler course in black & white photography. The K1000 was the camera that every student had to have, fully manual with no bells or whistles. I later picked up the Pentax ZX-M, then my first digital (1.3megapixel), my second digital (3megapixel), and now a D-SLR with a growing list of lenses.
In 1993, it was all about the Wu-Tang Clan.
In 1993, there were still fewer than 150 sites on the new World Wide Web. Also in 1993, Mark Andreesen came out with "Mosaic X", which allowed far greater use of graphics over the internet (does anyone remember the all-text AOL?), which, in turn, gave rise to Netscape Navigator and Windows Internet Explorer. The race was on.
In 1993, we had one television in the house - a 19" Zenith with a clunky channel knob and UHF. We had to get up and walk over to the TV to change the channel. Today, we have HDTV, surround sound, 5-disc DVD changer, and cable hookups in all of the bedrooms.
In all areas of my life but one, I have seen amazing changes, undreamt of in my philosophy. And every day I go out and start up my 1993 Ford Mustang, now with 204,000+ miles, which I still love and still plan on keeping.
dwight
- Princessmobile - see formatting linkclick on CFrog.