One Year Here

One year ago was my first day at KDRV. Time's flown by.

I remember moving in one year ago. Still trying to learn the lay of the land, how to navigate the tricky I-5 overpass between home and work, and the fact that I am legally not allowed to pump my own gas.

Then the real change came when I went to work for the first time.

I remember being in awe of the people, the equipment, the process, the ease with which everyone did their job and made it look good.

Coming from a small school with only two journalism classes put me in David's shoes trying to live up to the work that the Goliaths around me were doing after going to J-Schools with reputations like Missouri, USC, and Florida. I was a youngster in a big world.

I was told by a mentor, "the first year in the bid'ness is a roller coaster of ups and downs."

That's exactly what it's been.

I've come home exhausted, angry about my work. Other days I come home exhausted, but incredibly pleased about how I handled the curveballs I was thrown during the day.

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Beyond work has been a roller coaster in its own right. Making friends who are more than a few years older than myself and seeing some of my bests leave for new jobs and new adventures has happened several times.

Also, being one year removed from college and my friends there has been an odd experience. I miss them, wish them the best always, and hope to reconnected as often as possible.

But it's the circle of life and in the future I'll play a different role, too.

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Completely unrelated to being halfway through my contract, I got a performance review last week. The news director and assistant news director sat down with me for about 45 minutes talking strengths and weaknesses. It was very helpful to get constructive criticism and some tools to help me improve.

As they said, coming from a school that wasn't a Journalism powerhouse (or even a regular house) meant I could have turned out to be a real disaster. But I haven't. So far.

I'll be working on the notes to improve and, hopefully, will be the best I can be soon.

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One year later, it feels a bit different. Every day throws the same number of curveballs, but I've learned how to do more than just foul them off, and actually turn them into solid line drives. Every now and then, there's a home run. And some strikeouts, but fewer of those.

I feel like I've grown a lot in past year. Can't wait to see where I go in the next year.

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Also, I get a raise.
Which is nice.