In celebration of this, and in light of many others’ posts about their new year’s goals, I present my own list of goals that I will be striving for in 2009.

1. Become financially prosperous
Raised by a single mother, I come from a very working class background. As a child, I watched my mom fight to stay afloat in the financial waters, running into things like unemployment, gender equality, and the general obstacles of life. When I grew up, I knew that I’d have to work my ass off to make it in this world, and my hard work and perseverance are starting to pay off. This year, my primary focus will be on saving money and making investments which will help ensure a financially prosperous future.

2. Have more adventures
This is actually going to be a pretty attainable goal for this year. As I am going to be working remote for a while, part of my money-saving strategy includes moving back home – and home for me just happens to be Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. My dad and stepmom have a well-established life there, having been there since 1999 selling real estate, and by going back, not only will I gain massive benefits from Mexico’s low cost of living, but I will be able to go on tons of adventures and weekend road trips. Mexico is a seriously beautiful country, filled with jungles, mountains, rivers, and valleys, and exploring them has been something I’ve dreamed about for a long time.

3. Keep building my online persona
Someone once told me that my online persona was, “a bit much,” well I’d argue that it’s not enough. This is the web generation, and for anyone who makes their career out of Internet-based means needs to have an online persona – the bigger the better. That’s how people like Chris Prillo and Ted Murphy thrive in this market. I know that I’ve gained much benefit from my online persona – it’s how I get people interested in my work, and it’s how I find out about interesting, life-changing things (I found my gig with Apple through Twitter). I just passed 200 followers on Twitter – and by the end of the year I better have at least doubled that count, if not tripled.

4. Expand my writing beyond this blog
When I first went to college, I was an English major. I’ve always been fond of the written word, thanks to an enormous amount of reading I did as a kid, and people like my Aunt Sandra, who have written and published books professionally. This year, I need to change that in some shape or form, whether it’s by co-writing a book or even publishing an article in a magazine (online or offline).

5. Build something new
This is the most interesting goal, as it’s success depends heavily on having the 4 other goals in place. When I was a teen, I made sites like Operation Blackout, and Dark Angel Online, which gained serious, international attention and were pretty innovative for their day (I was blogging back in 1999). However, since turning professional, I haven’t made anything significant on my own. Not to say I haven’t had ideas, because I have, but I’ve been lacking the time and drive to keep building after a long day of work. This must change this year, as I’ve had an idea floating around for a while, and will not rest until it’s a reality.

2009 is going to be huge – possibly the most important year of my life. I feel like I just won an Emmy, but I also know that this year will be a lot of hard work, and will require new levels of discipline and responsibility.

Good news is, I feel ready, I feel empowered, and I can’t wait.

I admit that I could have been a bit more tactful with some of my previous comments, but I did compliment the design, and I am still very impressed with it. However, even after the explanations and the excuses about 10 year old code and CMS limitations, something doesn’t sit right with me. I can’t quite put my finger on it, and I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but I feel like the front-end development on the site could have been executed better.

So, I’m gonna put my money where my mouth is… in a way. I’ve accepted a “Web Application Developer” position with Fox News.com, where I’ll be pushing ahead with the latest and greatest in front-end web development. When the time comes to redesign the site, I bet anyone $10 it’ll have a doctype.

I’m at work right now, walked about 60 blocks this morning to get here – I’m just nervous about how the commute home is going to go. With a heat index of over 100 degrees, I really hope that a walk home is not required.

That happened to me today, but in New York fashion, the person I was talking about was David Hyde Pierce.

So the story goes like this – My company’s clients are largely made up of Broadway musicals, so as I mentioned before, there are certain perks involved. After seeing The Color Purple the other night, it really got me in the mood to see more shows, and in no time I’ve gotten a short list of “Must see’s”.

On the top of my list is a musical called Curtains, which is a comedy / mystery starring David Hyde Pierce. Since I was a kid I’ve been a fan of his – I grew up watching Frasier, and Niles had always been my favorite character. So, walking into the lobby of my office building with some co-workers, I ask one if he had had seen the show, and how I wanted to see it because I (and I quote), “Love David Hyde Pierce”. He tells me that yes, he saw it, and that it was ‘rough’. That took me back a bit – but he went on to say that the only reason he thought that was because he had seen it even before opening night – a ’sneak preview’ night which was actually the first time the play had been performed in full.

Then, a man who all of us had completely not noticed interjected with a “Oh, but it’s gotten better”. That man was David Hyde Pierce.

It was the strangest encounter ever – and I wasn’t 100% sure it was him. He was very incognito, dressed down and wearing a hat, and I wasn’t confident enough that it was him to say anything. It was just too big of a coincidence! So instead I just kind of half stared with what I’m sure was a surprised / confused expression. Because seriously, why would David Hyde Pierce be in some random office building in Midtown? Thankfully, by that time we were walking on the elevator anyway.

My only direct communication with him was a quick ‘bye’ when we exited the elevator (he was going up to a higher floor). As soon as my co-workers and I got into our office suite, the reality of what had just occurred sunk in, and we all got a good laugh knowing that we all made total fools of ourselves.

At least he knows I’m a fan.

And, this is really cool, I was sitting right next to Sherri Shepherd. Of course I was a retard and had no idea that she was famous until the people were lining up for autographs. I must say that she’s one of those honestly good people; we chatted for a while when I was all alone and quite frankly a bit intimidated by the lights and the rush of the people ushering in, and it was really nice to have someone to talk to.

I got to go see the play thanks to my new employers – Situation Marketing. If you’re not aware, I accepted a web developer position with the company about three weeks ago – in New York City. It’s been very exciting so far, if a bit hectic, but the City has really got me full of energy and I feel like I’m really able to push myself at Situation and do loads of cutting-edge trickery.

Speaking of cutting-edge trickery, I’m starting a… group… I guess, but more like a collection of web professionals. I’m calling it FeedFish, and you can check out the website I’m building at www.ifeedfish.com. I built this over the weekend, and at the very least it’s gonna be a place where I can present and showcase current software I’m developing / designing. I dunno if it’ll become anything or not, but I’m having fun building it, and that’s really what’s important.

Since the start of the series, she’s been the sweet, downtroddden girl – the quiet wallflower of the office. Once you get to know her character, you can understand why. She’s had a very contained life – same boyfriend since high school, same job for years. If you’re in a situation like that, you get used to the flow of things and they start to become standard. It’s easy to ‘forget’ how to fight back, how being ‘alright’ with how life is going can be a blanket of security, and you hide behind it rather than pursue what it is you would really like.

This last season was a big ‘growing up’ time for Pam – she called off her 4 year engagement (and 10 year relationship) with that jerk of a fiancé, got her own place, started pursuing her hobbies, and in the last few episodes of the season, she learned how to stand up for herself and be fully honest – even if that honesty is scary and uncomfortable.

And much to our delight, her new honesty came with a big reward – the possibility of a new beginning with her best friend and confidant. While some will say that it’s silly, and it’s just a show, her character’s transition this season really got to me.

It’s all too easy to be that person who isn’t really happy with their situation, but too unsure to change things up, because change is risky. It’s easy to sit back and let others make decisions for you, and shape the life around you. What’s not easy is understanding yourself, what you want, and taking steps to get there.

All too often I find myself in the same footsteps. Knowing that there could be better things out there, but too stuck in the current to do anything about it. Seeing Pam step up (and succeed) has been a bit of motivation to me, a reminder that sometimes you need to step out of your comfort zone to get ahead. And although it’s scary at first, as I’m learning, the scariness soon fades and changes to a tone of excitement.

And that’s a wonderful feeling.

So here we go. My name is Jade Rauenzahn and I’m a web developer. By day I work for MindComet, an interactive advertising agency in Maitland, FL, where I’m constantly challenged to come up with new concepts and web solutions. It’s fun, and it keeps me on my toes.

The tone of the site is both personal and professional – on most days I’ll be blogging about the dailies of being a web developer, but the occasional post about my interests or personal life might slip in.

Oh, and I’m not really one for formalities. I wouldn’t say I’m a vulgar person by nature, but if you’re the type to get upset from mild language and sarcasm, it’s best you find another blog.