A big project launches

A project I've been working on for some time now launched this week. It's the re-branding and change of direction of Amazon Unbox, now called Amazon Video On Demand. Rather than just offering digital video downloads to Windows PCs and TiVo DVRs, we now also offer instant streaming in the web browser on PC and Mac (or really any device with the latest and greatest version of Adobe Flash).

It's a pretty exciting change in direction and I'm really glad to have this initial version launched (especially before I go on maternity leave). You can check it out yourself or read about it in the press. The first 2 minutes of most videos are free, but there are also some free TV shows right now you can check out for a more extended freeview--they're featured on the home page linked above. :)

Birthday photos

A milestone in brownies by Corinne S.

I am working my way backward and posted photos from my birthday party (aka 4th of July). They're all in the Corinne's birthdays group on Flickr. S. Ben and others had already posted photos from this year's party there, but now mine are there, too.

Dashiell photos (belated)

Sweet face by Corinne S.

I just posted a few Dashiell photos I took 3 weeks ago. I'll take and post some new ones soon. You can see all the photos in the Dashiell and Amelia group on Flickr.

Our latest portrait

Blueberry's family--30 weeks by Corinne S.

Here's a photo of us from today. Blueberry is 30 weeks old now in gestational age and, as you can see, the nursery is now functional, if not complete. I posted some related photos as well that you can see at these links:

• Family portrait series
• Baby "Blueberry" set

Butternut baby

Butternut baby by Corinne S.

This past week--week 29--the baby was supposed to be the size of a butternut squash. When at the grocery store the other day I decided to get a sense of this size relative to my belly. To clarify though, I think BabyCenter's baby-fruit comparisons are based solely on length and don't take mass or weight into account. I think our baby is still a little under 3 pounds. (Sorry about the crappy perspective, BTW. It's hard to get good photos of one's own pregnant belly without aid of mirrors.)

TV: Angel - Season 4

It's not Buffy, but it's the best of Angel

While Angel has never been as good as Buffy (in my opinion), Season 4 is the best season I’ve seen. For the first time we burned through the discs similar to how we do with Buffy. In previous seasons, Angel seemed to take about 10x longer to get through than Buffy.

In Season 4 things were really happening and the pace was good. The ongoing story was compelling and there were a couple of Buffy character crossovers that made our day since we’ve already finished the entire Buffy series and we’re jonesing for more (that doesn’t exist).

We just started season 5 and so far it’s a big disappointment. I’m going to persevere and watch it all, but it’s looking like the show many have “jumped the shark.” If that’s the case I’ll end up recommending to others that they just stop at the end of Season 4 and call it good. I hope I’m wrong—stay tuned.

John Lennon Interview with Animation

This is a pretty inspiring conversation in our current world state. The animation is beautiful, compelling, and fluid.

Thanks to Richard for the link. rb.log» Blog Archive » John Lennon Interview Animation

Mabry has dinner at the pool

Mabry has dinner at the pool by Corinne S.

I fed Mabry her quinoa dinner at the pool tonight while her mommy swam. She's got the sign for "more" down. ;-)

Oregon roads

Oregon roads by Corinne S.

Benjamin and I are making a circuit in NW and central Oregon this weekend. While the scenery is beautiful, the hours in the car are wreaking havoc on my now third-trimester body.

We've also had hellishly bad luck with traffic on our journey, at least whenever I5 is involved. Friday we drove from Seattle to Salem and it took us 7 hours (4 hours is the expected travel time). We got caught behind two different major vehicle fires--one a Metro bus, the other caught the entire I5 median on fire and closed the freeway in both directions for a couple of hours. We also hit every misc and typical backup I5 has to offer. We were 2 hours late for the wedding that instigated this entire trip.

Yesterday we drove from Salem to Bend to meet up with my brother and sister-in-law who're living in John Day, OR. What little time we spend on I5 was a trafficy mess. My mom and Rich were at the wedding in Salem and drove to Bend, too.

In Bend we visited with my family, ate at McMennamin's, and had dessert at Goody (yummy, hard, cold ice cream). Then this morning we all ate breakfast at our B&B before disbanding.

The whole weekend it's been over 100 degrees during the day. Though I haven't been out in the sun much at all, I think I got dehydrated yesterday so I was pretty miserable last night.

Today we're driving from Bend to Portland for one last night in OR before we head home.

Excercise, outdoors, sun "tans"

Sadly these are things that don't go together often in my Seattle tech-worker existence. But they do on summer weekends at Colman Pool!

I resumed swimming a few weeks ago after an extended hiatus. The hiatus began when I was sick for three weeks and then lingered on when my swim buddies were unavailable and my motivation was low.

Now I'm swimming one evening a week with Miller again and trekking over to the big outdoor pool as often as I can on weekends. I've been to Colman pool 3 times so far and I went to the Titlow outdoor pool in Tacoma with my mom last weekend.

I have to get as much outdoor swimming in as I can before the pool closes for the fall.

Progress

Blueberry's family - week 26 by Corinne S.

I'm doing a crappy job of blogging lately, but I'm still out here growing a baby and working full time. We're also making good progress on turning my office into the baby's room. I even signed us up for our childbirth class in September, made progress on baby shower plans, and made the arrangements for our weekend in Oregon later this month (we're going to a wedding).

I've been having a lot of physical problems lately with my back and shoulder, as well as various other inconveniences. Nothing major, but a lot of minor and it's impacting my sleep. I'm just 9 days away from 3rd trimester at this point and 3 more months is starting to look like a long time from a body standpoint.

The transformation of office to nursery isn't as dramatic in these pictures as it could be because I am having trouble letting go of my drafting table and craft area in the corner. But you can see that my computer setup and TV are gone and the baby's dressing and changing table have been moved in. Also since this picture was taken I've made arrangements to get rid of the desk, chair, and TV cabinet. They're all on the porch right now awaiting picked in the next 2 days.

In addition to having Piper help me most Saturdays with cleaning out my office and moving downstairs (did I mention Benjamin and I are now sharing an office in the basement--that's where I am now), my dad has been helping us with household projects. We've gotten a bunch of small indoor and outdoor projects done and it feels great to be crossing things off the list. Yes, nesting. I know. I guess I can't be unique in every way. ;-)

Today's best thing

My mom likes to ask what your "best thing" is each day. When she asked me this question at 11:30am today all I had to offer was snuggling in the bed with the dog this morning.

While my day is still pretty far from over, I have a much more substantial "best thing" to offer now: Amazon announced this morning that, effective August 1st, they're increasing the percentage of salary paid and extending the duration of pay during maternity leave. That's great news at a great time for me. Woohoo!

I welcome additional great things to continue happening for the rest of the day (and beyond).

TV: Buffy the Vampire Slayer - The Complete Seventh Season

Last night Benjamin and I watched the series finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It’s so sad it’s over. It was great fun to watch and I imagine we’ll always associate it with this pregnancy since we watched it from start to finish since I got pregnant.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer - The Complete Seventh Season

Week 24

Blueberry's family - week 24 by Corinne S.

Here we are 24 weeks into the pregnancy. I know this still looks like a messy office, but with Piper's help I am making incredible progress on cleaning out my stuff, moving into Benjamin's office, and turning this room into a nursery. Seriously.

Dashiell - Day 2

Dashiell - Day 2 by Corinne S.

I went to the hosptial again last night and got some good pictures of Dashiell. You can see them in Dashiell & Amelia's new group on Flickr.

Dashiell - Day 1

Dashiell - Day 1 by Corinne S.

This is a newborn pic Erik took of little Dashiell yesterday. I haven't been using my iPhone for my pics so I haven't posted any of mine yet. Soon.

I visited sweet, quiet Dash last night and I'm here at the hospital again today. So far he's a really mellow, sleepy little guy. I guess with the early delivery and c-section he didn't get the message to wake up yet. ;-) I suspect we'll all enjoy the mellowness while we can.

Claire's baby is here (on the outside)

Claire & Erik's new son Dashiell Alexander was born this morning at 10:10 am via planned c-section after an amniocentesis yesterday to confirm that his lungs were ready for the outside world. The c-section was necessary due to Claire's placenta acretia, but the surgery went quickly and flawlessly and mom and baby are now resting comfortably.

Dashiell weighed in at 7 pounds 6 ounces with a length of 19-3/4 inches. Head circumference was 13-1/8 inches. He cried a little on arrival and has since had his first bath and he's enjoying snuggling with mom on the outside of the womb.

I'm going over to the hospital later today so I'll take pictures and hopefully get some posted tonight.

New car

New car by Corinne S.

Yesterday Benjamin and I bought a brand new Toyota RAV4 to replace his 1996 Honda Passport that was totaled a few weeks ago.

I've never been involved in the purchase of a *new* car before and I'll admit freely that I was extremely hard to convince. But it happened.

Buying the vehicle outright, I've determined that this was my single biggest cash outlay ever. Our house had a *much* bigger overall pricetag, but I had less savings back then so my personal cash investment was lower for the house purchase (shocking in a way).

Giving (Technology) Birth

A project I've been working on for a number of months is going to public beta as we speak and The New York Times wrote an article about it: Amazon Plans Online Store for Films and TV Shows.

"In a significant step toward vanquishing the local video store and keeping couch potatoes planted firmly in front of their televisions and computers, Amazon.com will roll out a new online store of TV shows and movies on Thursday, called Amazon Video on Demand.

Customers of Amazon’s new store will be able to start watching any of 40,000 movies and television programs immediately after ordering them because they stream, just like programs like a cable video-on-demand service. That is different from most Internet video stores, like Apple’s iTunes and the original incarnation of Amazon’s video store, which require users to endure lengthy waits as video files are downloaded to their hard drives."

You can join the beta if you're interested in trying it out, though sign ups are limited so do it now if you want to try it out. If it's full, try back later.

Too cute

Too cute by Corinne S.

On Friday I went to an unofficial reunion of the Tablet PC team from Microsoft. Lots of folks came and it was people from all different eras of the team's lifespan. I got the see several of my UX colleagues who I hadn't seen since leaving MS over a year ago. It was really nice. One friend brought her adorable daughter along, so I snapped a picture of her in her little Sherrif's hat (blinged-out flip-flops not shown). Little Tate is cute and quite funny, if very contrary (as toddlers are inclined to be).