I opted not to make resolutions for the year 2000. January 1st of the new year was like December 31st of the old year; I worked at the same publishing company, doing the same thing for almost the same pay, which (at the time) I really didn't mind because I'd already had plans for my role in that organization. Somehow, I was going to convince those who mattered that I could energize the company web site. The designers knew it; I simply had to get "the suits" to know it, too. Never mind that I'd tried twice and failed already, for reasons unknown.

So my new year didn't truly begin until January 20th, the day of the company banquet.

I'd been having a strange and restless anxiety all morning, which stayed with me throughout lunch and much of the award-giving ceremonies. It was while the company owner and CEO gave his speech -- some bologne about spending time and money on a web site to no good end -- that it finally struck me:

I did not belong here.

...not with a company who used a bright girl like me merely to scan pictures all day, and certainly not with a company whose CEO would essentially say "Dot-Com, Schmott-Com" like a slap in my face, and mean it. That same night, I began searching through ads at Monster.com and Headhunter.net, bitterly disillusioned.

My goal:
To work for a company that believed in the power of the internet, a company that would let a person like me do more than just scan. Basically, I wanted to grow, get into print or web design, learn, master, and progress.

I was clearly not getting that there; I could try until I was blue in the face and still not get it. So I resolved to get out.

In the next few months I sent out hundreds of résumés and arranged for dozens of interviews. I refused to get discouraged by the slim pickings, telling myself that I wasn't the one being interviewed; I was the one doing the interviewing, and I had very high standards. By mid-May I was moving from a darkened cubicle to a windowed office, working on both print and web design, on both Mac and PC. I even got a considerable pay raise -- woohoo! -- and my surroundings are now classier and more sophisticated.

First "resolution" of the year -- RESOLVED.

But the year isn't over yet, and I'm not about to wait until January 1st of 2001 to make another resolution. At 27, I've learned that if you want something, you plan for it now, and not "tomorrow" or "in the new year". I'm ready for the next step.

When I accepted the new position back in May, I resolved to learn as much as I possibly can on the job, and so far, I'm doing exactly that. I see myself doing this for at least two years -- and more if it grows into something else -- but by the end of 2000, I want to have mastered the use of Active Server Pages (ASP), Structure Query Language (SQL), and preflighting my print jobs.

I know I'll get there. I just take it one step at a time, with the following quote in mind:

"Success is a journey, not a destination." -- Ben Sweetland

Just keep moving down those roads not taken.