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.)

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).

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).

Thump, thump

Birthday belly by Corinne S.

It's official--Blueberry is in there and she's an active little berry. Last night Benjamin felt her move for the first time. Up until a few days ago her movements were pretty indistinct and I only felt them sometimes. It's still not super dramatic, but I've noticed lately that when I eat she does sommersaults--yowza. I think that might hurt when she's bigger.

So last night Benjamin and I were watching Buffy and had jsut eaten a late dinner. I was feeling her move around a lot and started trying to see if I could feel it from the outside. She started repeatedly kicking the side of my belly in one spot and I could feel it a bit from the outside so I quickly put Benjamin's hand there. He was skeptical that he'd really feel anything, but he did.

Go little berry go--start kicking your parents and letting them know who's boss right from the start. ;-)

Psychology experiment

It's interesting to walk around the workplace with a bandage on your face. It's been informative to see who pretends it's not there, who immediately asks if I'm okay, and a few other responses (like "what's that?"). It's an unexpected opportunity to learn about my coworkers. ;-)

Oh, if you're wondering--I had a "hemangioma" (big red vascular lump) removed from my temple yesterday. It was growing fast (normal in pregnancy) and was "too red" so they took it off to be safe. Biopsy results are expected to be negative.

Mabry and Miller

Mabry and Miller by Corinne S.

Last night the weather was gorgeous. Maple and I met Miller and Mabry at Magnuson Park for a nice walk. We stopped on the waterfront to feed Mabry her quinoa dinner. She was pleased.

Another decade under my belt

Birthday girl by sben

This past holiday weekend the tens digit on my age-ometer turned over. I turned 30 on the 4th of July, surrounded by friends and family. It was a great party, good weather, fantastic turnout.

As a bonus, I worked my ass off cleaning up the house before the party so I'm reaping the benefits of that post-party. :)

For more pictures from the party, check out the Corinne's Birthdays group on Flickr. Adorable toddlers and babies are heavily featured.

Adorable travel companion

Adorable travel companion by Corinne S.

Maple accompanied me to my cousin's 40th birthday BBQ last night in Everett. Maple had on her extra adorable face on during our ride there. At one point she even laid her chin onto the center console and looked up at me with her big brown eyes. Cute! Blueberry's gonna have a run for her money is the cuteness department. ;-)

Blueberry's first books

Sex books for baby by Corinne S.

The other night I was getting sandwiches to go from Honey Hole so I went over to Toys in Babeland to browse while I waited. (Can I take this opportunity to note the lack of pregnancy and trying-to-conceive toys, lubes, and books at TIB? Would it kill them to carry Pre~Seed and a book or two about getting it on while pregnant?)

Anywho, while I was browsing the books I saw that they had several books on sex topics for kids of various ages. I was immediately curious about the ones for the littlest kids, since I am a big fan of not making sex something you have to learn about at age X, but instead just learning progressively as you go along.

So I sat down and read through these books (yes, I was late getting back to our sandwiches) and I ended up taking two home: First Comes Love and What's the Big Secret. It tickles me that my first book purchases for Blueberry are about sex. I guess that's the kind of parent I want to be, even if she won't be reading these for a while yet. ;-)

Hot day

12:00 Friday. The corporate throngs are out enjoying our first very nice day in quite a while.

Sedaris' autograph

Sedaris' autograph by Corinne S.

Today there was an "author fishbowl" for Amazon.com employees with David Sedaris. It was very cool to see him in person and hear him talk off-the-cuff. It took me 5 minutes or so to make his voice and face go together in my head though--with such a unique voice he's a pretty ordinary-looking guy.

I didn't have any of his books for him to sign, so I cut the end off of one of the boxes from his new book they raffles off. He didn't mind signing my cardboard though.

The line to get stuff signed took an hour to get through because he was being his chatty self and shooting the shit with everyone. He was drawing odd little pictures in people's books too.

He was narrating as he drew in the book of a woman before me in line--apparently the sketch was of a turtle that lives in an abortion clinic. He inquired of the room at large what a turtle who lives in an abortion clinic should be named. We had no brilliant retort.

I'm ordering the audio version of his new book from the library asap.

Boys

Tonight Alan came over and we barbequed for the first time this year. It was the first time I'd seen him since my bithday party last year. Alan was nice and patient enough to help us get the grill up and running, sweet the porch, clean off the chairs, and even chop onion. What a guy.

The food was yummy and the talk was good. It was really pleasant hanging out in the yard again too.

After cigar time and complete darkness, we moved indoors and the guys talked music. In this picture Benjamin and Alan are both looking at Benjamin's MacBook Pro. See any similarities? ;-)

18 weeks and a cold

I'm 18 weeks pregnant as of Friday and this Friday we have our big mid-pregnancy ultrasound, at which we'll hopefully learn Bluberry's gender.

In celebration of week 18, I've come down with a bad cold. I'm thankful I managed not to get sick until second trimester so I can take some basic meds. But on day 4 I'm feeling quite tired of this!

Here we are

Blueberry's family (week 17) by Corinne S.

Though I'm hanging onto my regular pants by the skin of my teeth, Blueberry is starting to peek out (in the form of my belly). Here we are--17 weeks into the pregnancy--in my insanely cluttered home office, which will eventually be Blueberry's room.

Sex and the City

Sex and the City by Corinne S.

On Friday night Ola took Steph, Maddy, and me to see the Sex and the City movie. It was an amazing estrogen fest at the theater. The impossibly long lines consisted of 98% women, many of them more dressed up than is normal for Seattle.

During the movie, the theater was filled with gasps, oohs, aahs, and laughter. It was a corny and fairly predictable movie, but an interesting event.

Birthday wish

Birthday wish by Corinne S.

Last weekend Benjamin and I went to Christy's surprise birthday BBQ. I held baby Mia for a while so her parents could eat and socialize. Took Christy's pic instead of Mia's though.

Grin

Grin by Corinne S.

When I visited Claire last weekend, Amelia gave me big smiles. But she's a bit too fast-moving for my iPhone's camera. ;-)

Yummy baby

This week the baby is about the size of an avocado, according to BabyCenter.com's fruit-oriented size comparisons. This is an especially pleasing size to me since I'm a big avocado fan. Just remind me not to eat the baby.

My belly is starting to show a bit and my pants are getting tighter. Now that we're officially 4 months in, it might be coming up on time for me to start wearing maternity pants. But I'm still in that awkward transition phase where I mostly don't need them and they feel funny and tend to be a little big (or just fit really oddly) so I will probably continue to push the boundaries of my pants a little longer. ;)

To learn more about what little "Blueberry" is up to developmentally this week, check out Your pregnancy: 16 weeks on BabyCenter.

PS> I stole this picture from Becca's Baby Blog.

Sunday, lazy Sunday

Mabry, upright by Corinne S.

On Sunday, Benjamin and I went to brunch with Nathan, Miller, and Michael for a much-belated birthday celebration of Miller.

We went to the new South Lake Union neighborhood location of the Portage Bay Cafe. The food was as good as ever, but the atmosphere wasn't as warm and personal as the U District location.

Afterward we wandered over to Guitar Center, I got a latte at Uptown Espresso (too much vanilla syrup!), and we trilled through the merchandise at Antique Liquidators (there were several things I liked, but nothing I needed). It was a nice, warm, plan-free afternoon.

Bird adventure

I discovered this injured crow in my yard this morning as I got ready for work. I ended up missing my first meeting as I tried to figure out what to do with it (it could barely walk).

After a web search and several calls I found out that Seattle Animal Shelter will come pick the bird up. This is a huge relief since I didn't think I should be handling a wild bird while I'm pregnant (if ever).

I did find myself wondering about the wisdom of where we draw the line for creatures worth saving, but it looked so forlorn and I didn't feel right just waiting for it to die so I could throw it in the trash. Dismal. At least now it has a chance.

Backyard antics

Backyard antics by Corinne S.

My neighbor has a new temporary housemate who comes with a little brown shitzu-bichon frise mix dog. Our combined back yards are now even more of a small dog park.

Carol loved it on her last day here when the new dog moved in. Maple, on the other hand, mostly barks at Pepper and Kaia for playing. ;-)

Thanks Portland!

Benjamin and I thoroughly enjoyed our weekend in Portland even though it felt predictably too short. We didn't make it to Saturday Market or the Rose Garden. We did go to Powell's, though briefly.

We slept, ate, wandered, saw Iron Man at the theater, and read books in our King sized bed. We stayed in a new-to-us hotel (the Embassy Suites downtown in the historic Multanomah Hotel building) and it was good. We slept through our complimentary breakfast both days though. ;-)

We ate at mostly at new-to-us places too and we weren't disappointed. We tried Manzana Rotisserie Grill on more or less a whim when the hotel concierge's recommendations didn't appeal. Not a 10 for atmosphere, but good food (especially their unusual creamy-cheesy tortilla soup). We did return to the Portland Steak & Chophouse since it was right in our hotel lobby. We ate new dishes this time though--both were pretty good.

But the culinary hit of the weekend was a recommendation from a valet at the hotel for our lunch on our last day. Muu-Muu's World Grill was extremely tasty and the bartender/server was friendly, helpful, and cute. :-) The menu was so wide-ranging we were dubious it could all be good, but our 2 entrees and 2 appetizers were all fabulous. I wish I could go again tomorrow.

Walking around the neighborhood

Benjamin and I just took a long, slow walk around the neighborhood with the dogs. We got coffee and eats, looked at houses, and I restocked on audio books from the library. Its a lovely day today (thank God).

Benjamin and "the girls"

Benjamin and "the girls" by Corinne S.

My mom's pug Carol (aka The Barkster) is staying with us this week while my mom and Rich are in Las Vegas. Here Benjamin is watching episodes of Star Trek with the "pigs" between dog baths (Carol freshly bathed and Maple soon to be).

New hobby?

New hobby? by Corinne S.

Perhaps taking pictures of ironically-labeled toilet seat covers is my new hobby.

Getaway

My 4-day weekend has officially begun. Wahoo!

Tomorrow is an at-home day to sleep in and then either get some home stuff done or do a whole lotta nothin. Then Saturday we're headed to Portland for a belated anniversary weekend escape.

I'm so glad to have a break!

Thoughtful reminder

Thoughtful reminder by Corinne S.

Apparently the first of the month came and went and I didn't think to renew my parking pass. The parking company chose this cute way to remind me (and presumably others) of the oversight. Much nicer than a ticket!

First birthday girl

First birthday girl by Corinne S.

Yesterday Benjamin and I went to a party to celebrate the first birthday of our friend Sylvia's daughter Sabrina. Sabrina generally shoes away from the adoration of strangers and groups. This was a rare moment of near-hamming from little S.

Sabrina's actual birthday was on May 1st, which is also my wedding anniversary. Sunday when we celebrated Sabrina it was the actual birthday of my stepdad Rich and my cute pug Maple (born 60 years apart).

Typographic skillz

Typographic skillz by Corinne S.

I just used my higher education in typography to craft this oh-so-fancy sign. We've been having trouble with Maple (aka Pig) getting double-feelings so this new sign has two sides: "Pig last ate Dinner" and "Pig last ate Breakfast." If we remember to flip it over when we feed her, we'll be in good shape.

31 cents

31 cents by Corinne S.

Thanks to a heads-up from Maddy, Benjamin and I just enjoyed a little jaunt to our local Baskin Robbins on their 31 cent scoop night. Despite it being 9pm on a not-too-hot Wednesday, the parking lot was full, the line was out the door and they'd implemented some restrictions to their normal scoopage.

Videos from Maddy's wedding

Bride's Toast and Self-Introduction video by Corinne S.

I just uploaded five videos from Maddy & Mike's wedding. They're of the toasts and the cake cutting. I missed the dances. See the Mike & Maddy's wedding reception set on Flickr.

I couldn't upload the videos straight to Flickr--even though they now support video--because my videos were too long (more than 90 seconds). So sad. And the Vimeo interface is atrocious, especially when compared to the ease of using Flickr.

Out of the Blue

Playing live 1 by Corinne S.

Saturday was my dad's birthday. We took him and Mimi to brunch at Portage Bay Cafe and then went to the U District Farmer's Market, even though the weather was pretty terrible.

Later that day we went to the West Seattle Unitarian Fellowship's pledge dinner because my father-in-law's new blues band Out of the Blue was playing at the event. The music was good. We snuck out after dinner since we aren't members of the congregation and thus weren't planning an annual pledge.

This time, the baby photo is mine

Our little "blueberry" at 10 weeks by Corinne S.

If you read this blog at all, you're used to seeing me post photographs and ultrasound pictures of other people's babies. This time, it's all mine (okay, Benjamin's too).

This is our future baby, code named blueberry. While you've probably seen a million ultrasound images before and they don't look like much, it's completely different to see this miniature baby-like being on the monitor--moving! To realize there is a tiny human inside me that can move of its own accord. Well, it's just astounding.

Blueberry's ship date is November 7th, but s/he reserves the right to make schedule changes without notice.

On Wednesday morning when this picture was taken, blueberry was 2.9cm long (~1.15 inches) and 9 weeks and 5 days old by "gestational age."

We'll get to actually hear blueberry's heartbeat in mid-May, but we won't *see* him/her again until June, which is when they do the "big ultrasound" (aka fetal survey) and we'll also hopefully learn his/her gender.

Dead time?

It might sound like bragging or sheer silliness, but having an iPhone
turns what would be dead time into productive (or entertaining) time.

The downside? I spend a lot more time looking at my phone than I do
absorbing the world arround me. Anti-social and bad for creativity?
Perhaps.

Mabry's new transport mode

Mabry's new transport mode by Corinne S.

Tuesday evening I decided to forego swimming since I'm fighting a cold. Not wanting to miss my chance to see Miller between her trips, I went over there to visit. While I was there Mabry demonstrated her new skill--crawling. Nice work little cutie!

Doggy treats

Doggy treats by Corinne S.

On Saturday, Benjamin and Maple and I went to Tacoma to celebrate my mom's birthday. Her my mom is giving the pugs their celebratory treats--apple peels leftover from making homemade applesauce. They were very attentive to their treat-giver. :-)

Nest of clothes

Nest of clothes by Corinne S.

This morning Maple decided that Benjamin's dirty clothes made a more interesting bed than her customary spots on the couch or in her crate.

Man-pug bonding

Man-pug bonding by Corinne S.

At least now Benjamin is feeding her non-alcoholic drinks, though the intensity with which she cleans the bottle is a bit disturbing. Plus now she thinks unattended bottles are all fair game. ;-)

Great customer experience

With the explosion of pregnant ladies in our lives last summer, we were seeking alternate beverages to serve our guests that still felt special and were tasty. I'd had a lavender dry soda at a yummy restaurant in Redmond, so I was exciting when I saw these sodas at the grocery store. I started buying them for our pregnant guests and they were a big hit.

In the meantime, Benjamin became a kumquat dry soda addict and has been buying them regularly ever since. They're a great choice compared to regular soda health wise, but they're harder on the pocketbook.

So recently Benjamin found two bot