Confessions of a new MVP

I confess. I've been a Microsoft MVP for less than 2 weeks and I didn’t realize what I was getting into. There is a well-known quote from "The Matrix" where Cypher says to Neo, "I know what you're thinking, 'cause right now I'm thinking the same thing. Actually, I've been thinking it ever since I got here: Why oh why didn't I take the BLUE pill?"

I thought I had a pretty good handle on what resources I had available to me as an IT professional. TechNet, conferences, white papers, sponsored webcasts, blogs, books, user groups, training classes… My schedule was easy to fill.

And then comes the MVP award. Sure, I could just hang my certificate in my cube and call it a day. After all, it’s an award for recognizing past contributions to the tech community. But turns out its more than just an award. It’s a door to a world of resources and information that I didn’t know existed.

Barely a week has passed and I find myself trying to be realistic about the amount of information I can actually consume in the next year. There are more webcasts and chats and online meetings and downloadable resources than I can even begin to get my head around. I feel like a kid in a candy store, or perhaps like someone in the TV aisle of Best Buy, trying to figure out where to focus my attention first.

I’m sure I’ll have a better handle on what direction I should be facing as I get more comfortable with the ins and outs of the program. I’m looking forward to being able to use this experience as a way to give back to all those who’ve helped me out of a jam with a timely blog post or magazine article. But until then it seems like I’m back at my first days as a high school freshman. Does anyone know the way to the cafeteria?