1992 to 1997

From 1992 to 1997 I stayed with the same law firm and traveled at least twice a year to London - one year, I even got to visit the place 3 times!  That particular year I was finally upgraded with American Airlines (having purchased my favorite airline, TWA) and could get the best deal on a Business Class ticket.  At first I'd fly Coach over and Business back (to save on miles), then I was finally in a position to be able to fly Business both ways - what a treat that was!  There was nothing better than flying business on a Boeing 747!

In 1997, I quit my law firm job and jumped to yet another law firm.  The pay and perks were a lot better and it was at this time that the personal computer was starting to make an appearance.  The Internet was new and buying/selling through a computer was also new.  EBAY was all the rage in 1999 (having begun life in 1998) and while I was mildly intrigued with selling via the Web, I didn't have the resources to purchase a computer as yet (they were still very expensive) nor did I have the money to purchase an AOL subscription.  I can still hear that screech AOL made when you were finally connected to the Internet.  To teach myself, I used to stay after hours at the law firm and use my boss's computer to log onto the Net - his was the only computer in the firm that would do so.  Good thing.  The minute I tried it, I was hooked.  I taught myself everything about EBAY, saved my money and finally bought my own computer.  A prepackaged deal from GATEWAY.  Anyway, once my package was opened, and my personal computer operational on my  desk, the next thing to do was to come up with inventory to sell.  And that was easy!

Recognize the critter?  Well, guess who had a wholesale account with TY.  Yep, me.  Because of all the crafting I did before getting into antiques, I had bears by Ty Warner up the whazoo in my apartment.  I also had been a bit of a hoarder and managed to keep a lot of toys in the apartment from the 1980s that I thought might grow in value.  The Clash of the Titans toys were the ones I had oodles of and when I saw their value on EBAY, well it was time to get rid of them and buy BEANIE BABIES!

And I will leave now to continue a bit later with this story.

Till next time.