I had been in the high 2100s for some time but had never broken through. I came into the last round with 3.5/4 and was playing a 2100 opponent that I had played many times, knowing a win would finally put me over the coveted 2200 mark. He didn't play the opening that well, and I got to a position with a definite advantage. He cracked by playing c7-c6, and I found a very nice long combo to achieve a fully winning position and achieve my long held goal. I know white has a definite edge with a variety of moves, but I found a sequence that removes pretty much all doubt from the game. White to move:

Congrats on master!

Well, this was like 7 years ago lol

Yes, the tricky part I had to figure out was

I am a little confused. Why 2200? You can register a FM title only after you reach 2300? I know in some countries there is the Candidate Master (CM) title that can be registered after reaching 2200 Elo.
Nice game, btw.

in America there are 4 or 5 different master titles to bridge the gap between 1600 and 2300

In Canada, 2200 is the NM line. I was not ever and probably won't ever reach FM+.

By my understanding 2200 in the USA is known as a 'junior master', with 2400 being a 'senior master' Im pretty sure the FM, IM, and GM titles have absoluty nothing to do with rating right? (though obviously correlated) Perhaps FM does, someone explain this 'norm' stuff, haha.

FM is based on rating - I think you have to either achieve some certain type of performance in a Zonal tournament, or maintain a 2300 FIDE rating for 25 games or some such.

IM & GM are a combination of norms and rating - a "norm" is a performance rating in a tournament that meets certain criteria (X number of other titled players, players from multiple countries, etc). What performance you need depends on the rating of the opposition, and you need 3 norms to qualify.

Once you have your 3 norms, FIDE then checks to see that you have a certain minimum overall rating (I think 2400 for IM, 2500 for GM?). If you have the norms and the rating, you will be conferred the title at a FIDE Congress.

Wait, are there still zonal tournaments? I thought they got rid of them when FIDE started screwing around with the championship system to make Karpov their champion again, because he couldn't get past Kasparov legitimately (or illegitimately, for that matter.)

I'm not sure if there are still zonal tournaments, but there are still some "special" ways to get the FIDE titles. For example a once-off performance in an Olympiad or a World Junior Championship or even a continental Junior Championship.

Good point: also, women's and senior world championships confer the GM title (see: Larry Kaufman.)

FM is like one full class above National Master. In the US once you reach 2200 USCF you are a "master", but you're not close to being an FM.