Over the past two days, I’m sure all of you have heard “Happy 2013!” more times than you’d like, so let me just add more fuel to that fire and say, “Happy 2013!” I’m excited to see what this year brings for us involved in the tech industry. I know many of you are anticipating great things as well, and with recent changes within PhoneDog I know some of you are a little wary of how things might go from now on.

Changes are a difficult thing to deal with and not always the easiest to adjust to. Aaron is a great guy and although he’s not with PhoneDog anymore, you’re still able to stalk... I mean follow him through the wonderful world of social networking (I know I will be!) I’ve creepily watched him do reviews and unboxings on YouTube over the past few years, and I’m pleased that his personality is the same both on camera and off. He’s taught me a great deal since getting on with PhoneDog and I'm definitely going to miss him! However, I’m also excited for PhoneDog’s future and getting to know Taylor and David better. I know you’ve all read Taylor’s articles and see how well he voices his opinions through his articles. I think he’s going to be great doing the review videos and unboxings as well.

I think this is a good time for me to talk a little bit about myself and what PhoneDog means to me. I’ve been following PhoneDog since around 2008 when trying to decide what phone I wanted to get. I stumbled on a video about the LG Lotus, which started off with a guy asking which pocket had the phone, and which pocket had the wallet (I was wrong on which was which, by the way). It was both entertaining and provided the information I was looking for; this Noah guy was officially awesome. I watched another video, and another… and the next thing I know I spent my entire evening watching review after review of different phones. Watching the videos led me to the main website, and PhoneDog then became my main source for my tech fix. I played the One-Paw Bandit Giveaway as often as I could remember (to no avail) and lurked for quite a while. If it wasn’t for PhoneDog (and YouTube) I probably wouldn’t have been as involved in this industry as I am right now.

I decided that I loved phones so much that I wanted to work with them all the time. I applied for Sprint in 2011 and shortly got and interview and was hired on – by accident. As it turns out the company was on a hiring freeze, which the store manager where I was interviewed at was unaware of. I and one other girl had already gotten the phone call offering us the job, so we were allowed to get hired on as sales representatives.

As much as I enjoyed cell phones and their features, it turns out I wasn’t very good at selling the devices. Maybe it was that I babbled too much about the features, or maybe it was the scandalous and competitive atmosphere that retail locations often endure when pitting employee against employee for sales and clientele. Either way, I was not the right fit to be a sales representative. I couldn’t help but think I would have been a better fit as a technician, but it was an experience nonetheless and at least now I know that just because you like cell phones doesn’t mean you’re good at selling them. Ultimately, my time ending at Sprint led me to submit an application for internship here at PhoneDog.

Many of you know me as ‘the intern’ or ‘that other girl that is not Sydney but I can’t quite remember her name’ but hopefully you know me as ‘Anna’. I was brought in as an intern in August after I applied for an internship on a whim. I wasn’t expecting anything, as the application itself basically tells you at the end ‘Yo, we get a lot of these. So if we don’t respond, just be chill.’ Surprisingly enough, I got a reply back from Aaron just one day after submitting my application. I learned that this was also by sheer luck – apparently he meant to click on an e-mail that was near mine, but a slip of the finger (and fate?) led him to open my application. This seems to happen to me a lot. Either way, after a couple of phone calls and sample articles I’m fortunately here writing articles for you today.

I realize that as an opinion editor my opinions are not always the same as everyone else’s, and there are going to be opinions that I have which others simply won’t agree with and others that will; but that’s the beauty of opinions! You can have one, and somebody can have another, and that gives us something to talk about! In fact, my opinions on certain phones or platforms seem to change as often as the seasons. That’s just how this industry is - everything is on the move constantly. That’s why I love this job so much. I can write an article about how I love my iPhone 4S one day, how it pales in comparison to other phones the next day, and turn around and talk about how it’s really not that bad after all. Nothing is ever really set in stone here and it gives us something to discuss; we can all relate to one another.

I really do appreciate the feedback and the comments that you guys leave on my articles and through Twitter. I’m still not much of a Tweethead, but I’m trying to get better at it and incorporate it more into my life and my articles. It’s been a fun 4 months for me and I hope you guys will continue to share the good times with me (and the rest of us) here. If it weren’t for you guys’ support, none of us would be here.

I’m very grateful that Aaron and you, the readers, have given me this opportunity. I’m excited to see what changes Taylor and David have in store for us, and I look forward to discussing and hearing your opinions about upcoming phone and tablet releases this year. I hope you guys will have as much fun as we do learning about all of the new devices we have yet to discover!

Here’s to 2013!