Author: Michael Pellegrini

Today our beautiful baby girl turns one year old! It’s so hard to believe that she’s already been with us a year, especially since it seems like just yesterday that I was holding her in the hospital. This has easily been the best year of my life and it looks like things are only getting better. We are hard at work this week preparing to move back to Seattle but will be taking time out to do a photo shoot with Ava. My friend Lisa from work is coming over this afternoon to take pictures of her and she’s going to get another chance to dive into a cake and get messy. We’re also thinking about doing something with balloons, maybe even pink and blue balloons since we don’t know if Ava is going to have a little brother or little sister.

Tomorrow our moving Pod will arrive and we will spend the day filling it with all our stuff. Hopefully everything will fit… I’m working my final two days at ScrollMotion on Tuesday and Wednesday, then we hit the road on Thursday morning. The goal is to make it to Redding, CA on Thursday, which is the half–way point, then drive from Redding to Seattle on Friday. We’re staying Friday night with Dana and her family, then taking Amy to the airport early Saturday morning. We get the keys to our new house on Saturday but our Pod doesn’t arrive until the following Friday, which means we will be living with practically nothing for a week. It’s going to be tough but there is no question that it’s all worth it.

My mom flew back to Vegas yesterday and it was tough for her to leave. She is sad because we won’t be able to hop in the car and drive over for a visit anymore but we’re committed to flying her out to visit us more often, plus we’ll still be going to Vegas a couple times a year. Being further from her is the toughest part of this move but she agrees that we’re doing the right thing. I still can’t believe I’m starting at Amazon.com a week from tomorrow. I have been studying constantly to make sure my skills are sharp when I get there. Next time I write we’ll be in the Northwest!

Happy first birthday baby girl. We love you so very much!!!

Yesterday was Thanksgiving, which was already one of my favorite holidays, but it’s so much more special now that we get to celebrate Ava’s birthday as well. This was an extra special birthday because it was her first one, and we had a house full of people to enjoy it with. There were ten adults (my Mom, Amy, Tom, Trevor, Emily, Derek, Laruen, John, Jessica, and myself) plus three babies (Malena, Cole, and Ava), and everyone had a great time.

We were waiting for this long weekend to break some very exciting news to our Mom’s in person, which is that Jessica is pregnant with our second child! We couldn’t help ourselves and ended up telling several other family members already, but were so excited to wait and see the expressions on our Mom’s faces when they got the news. Jessica is now six weeks along and has a due date of July 15. Obviously we’re thrilled about adding to our family and have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.

My mom and I did the cooking for Thanksgiving and everything turned out delicious, then we got to enjoy Ava opening presents and getting messy with her first birthday cake. There is a 5 minute video of this below. Yesterday was definitely a day of enjoyment but today, and every other day leading up to the move back to Seattle next week, are days of work. We got a lot of work done today boxing things up but there is still so much to do. Luckily we will have the help of my Mom, Amy and Tom tomorrow, plus we have Amy staying to make the drive up to Seattle with us, which will be a huge help with Ava.

We’ll be arriving in Seattle a week from today and obviously there is so much to do between now and then but I have no doubt it will all go as planned. We also recently got the news that we were approved to rent the house that we were most interested in. It’s in northeast Bellevue right on the border between Bellevue and Redmond. Luckily for me the jiu–jitsu school I was most interested in is only 1.5 miles from our home and we have easy access to the freeway when commuting to the city for work. Having a house situated is a huge relief. Here’s the video of Ava with her first birthday cake.

Today is a day Jessica and I will never forget because this is the day that I was offered a job at Amazon.com. I was contacted yesterday by the recruiter I’ve been dealing with and offered a phone interview today for a position as a front end web developer at Amazon. I didn’t know if I was ready, or qualified, but I studied all night last night and came into it today feeling cautiously optimistic. The interview was only about 30 minutes and consisted mainly of technical questions about web development. By the time it was over I felt like it went pretty well. I only stumbled on a couple questions and felt like I had a good rapport with the interviewer. Less than an hour after the interview I was contacted by my recruiter asking me to call him because he had news about my interview. To make a long story short, he told me that the manager liked me and felt that I would be a good fit for the job!

I’m initially being hired as a contractor, but the Amazon manager specifically said he intends to make me into a full–time employee before my 3 month contract expires. This is a common scenario for tech companies, and it’s exactly how I got my start at ScrollMotion. Rather than go through an extended interview process, it’s easier for the company to give the candidate a chance as a contractor. This allows them to work with the person for an extended amount of time without any long–term committments. If I don’t do a good job they can simply let my contract expire, but if I show dedication and the ability to learn, I will be brought on. At ScrollMotion I was not only offered a full–time position when my contract expired, I was also offered a raise and a senior title. My only concern was getting the chance to come in as a contractor because I know I will get the full–time position once they get to know me and see what kind of dedication I have to my work.

Obviously all of our family members have been extremely excited for us about this opportunity. The look on Jessica’s face when I saw her tonight was priceless. This is a life–changing experience for us and I can’t believe it’s all happening. It’s also going to be a crazy next few weeks. We are now tasked with hosting Thanksgiving next week, then moving to Seattle the following week. This means lots of planning and hard work, but it’s all well worth it. I think we will look back on this day for years to come as the day our lives changed forever. In my industry, it doesn’t get any bigger than working for Amazon.com and I can only equate it to getting called up from the minors to the big leagues. We have a ton of work to do over the next couple weeks but can’t wait to get back home to Seattle and visit with our loved ones. Many updates coming soon!

Last night I did a guest bartending shift at the Tractor Room, which was the last restaurant/bar I worked at before switching to full–time development work. I just looked back at our old website posts and saw that my last shift at the Tractor Room was on Nov. 9, 2011, which makes it exactly one year and one day later that I did my guest shift. I knew it would be a good time but it went even better than I expected. It was so great seeing everyone and getting caught up. I was a little nervous on my way in because I hadn’t made any of their drinks in a year and most of them are pretty labor intensive, but it couldn’t have gone any better. Everyone there was really happy to see me and I was having a blast all night. They told me that they would love to have me back again anytime so hopefully I’ll do it again soon.

There’s been a lot going on with us lately. We’re only two weeks away from Ava’s first birthday and we’re having a bunch of family out to celebrate it over the Thanksgiving holiday. There also might be a job change in my near future, as well as a possible move back home to Seattle. I was recently contacted by a recruiter from Amazon.com about a web development position that they’re hiring for. It was encouraging that they found me, and a bit surprising. Amazon is the largest online retailer in the world and working for them would be a dream. It simply doesn’t get much better as a web developer than working for Amazon so I’m very hopeful that it works out. I’m doing a phone interview with them this Wednesday and if it goes well they will invite me to Seattle for an in–person interview. The phone interview is highly technical so I’ve been spending a lot of time preparing. I’ve also been getting lots of advice from Tom and my Uncle Jim about interviewing.

If I do get this position it means that we will be moving back to Seattle. Jessica and I have talked a lot about it and we really like the idea of going back home in order to be closer to family and friends. It can be tough living in San Diego with no family in the area and we want Ava to grow up knowing her Aunts, Uncles and Cousins. We also have several friends in Seattle with children that are about Ava’s age so it would be great for her to interact with them. I’ve already decided that if this Amazon opportunity doesn’t pan out I’m going to continue looking for other positions in Seattle. Obviously it could be a lot worse than living in San Diego but I’m confident that something in Seattle will come up sooner than later.

Here’s a couple recent pics of our beautiful baby girl. I can’t believe she’s almost a year old!

Today is Halloween, which means its my Mom’s birthday! Although we won’t be seeing her today, we had the pleasure of spending last weekend with her in Vegas. We were in town for our friends Devin and Eve’s wedding, which turned out to be a great time, and of course we always love seeing my Mom. We got into town on Thursday afternoon, took a nap, and then I went out to Devin’s bachelor party that night. I don’t get out much anymore, or even drink for that matter, so it turned out to be a pretty epic night. We have some really great friends in Vegas and its always a blast hanging out with them. By the time I called Jessica to come pick me up it was 5:00am, meaning we had been out for over 10 hours. I managed to win $70 playing poker with the boys, which was nice because it made my night out on the town very affordable. Waking up Friday was a little rough but well worth it considering all the fun we had the night before.

We didn’t do much on Friday besides hang around Mom’s house and watch movies. I’ve been extremely busy at work lately so I brought my laptop and got a lot done while we were there. Saturday afternoon I received my results on my blue belt test and I was thrilled to find out that I scored a 99 out of 100! The previous high score for a student from my school was 98, so I now hold the record for the best blue belt test score. I was on cloud 9 the whole rest of the day after getting that great news. Saturday night we went to the wedding and had a really nice time. We couldn’t help but notice quite a few similarities to our wedding (which Devin and Eve attended) but it’s all good. I’m just glad that they enjoyed themselves and had a memorable night.

We came home Sunday afternoon and I’ve been playing catch up at work ever since. I’m also busy with school, plus I’m transitioning into a new role at work which adds more to my plate, but it’s all worth it. I think by the time we move to Denver in a couple years my career will have taken a huge positive swing. We’re going to enjoy some quiet time at home for the next few weeks, then we have a bunch of family coming out for Thanksgiving and Ava’s first birthday. I can’t believe our little girl is nearly a year old. This has easily been the fastest year of my life and I doubt they’re going to start slowing down anytime soon. We’ve always got a lot going on but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Here’s a few pics from our fun weekend in Las Vegas. Happy birthday Mom – we love you so much!!

Having fun at the Egan’s wedding

The bachelor party crew

Someone loves chocolate pudding with whip cream

Today I tested for my blue belt in jiu–jitsu and it went great. The test is divided up into 5 sections that are individually recorded and sent to the Gracie University website for review and grading. My teacher Matt said sometimes people will need to re–shoot a section because they had several errors, but everything went smoothly and we only shot each section once. At the end he told me it was a guaranteed pass, so that felt good. Hopefully we’ll get the official results in the next week.

Our friends Tiko and Tina were in town from Vegas this weekend for the 5K Zombie run. They stayed the night with us last night and were kind enough to babysit Ava this morning while I did my test. Jessica doesn’t normally work Sunday mornings but its typical that she would get scheduled on a Sunday where we had something going on. Luckily our friends were here and it all worked out.

I got approval to take on some new higher level projects at work last week so hopefully I can get started with that tomorrow. I’m going to be working with a couple guys that I really like doing advanced JavaScript programming. This is a skill set that I’ve been wanting to build so it should be an excellent experience. We’re taking Thurs – Sun off for Devin and Eve’s wedding in Vegas so it should be a great week!

Today we got the sad news that my sisters Dana and Lora’s Mom Barbara passed away early this morning. Barbara Pellegrini Wentz was my Dad’s first wife and was always very kind to me. She was Dana’s best friend and was instrumental in the lives of Kallan and Anna. She lived a great life and will be missed. I spoke to Dana today and had a great conversation about her Mom, and the rest of our family. Her ability to stay truly positive in the toughest of times constantly amazes me.

Amy left on Thursday after spending a week with us. She gets quality time with Ava and gives Jessica and I some extra free time. We’re looking forward to having her back along with Tom, Trevor, Emily, Derek, Cole and my Mom for Thanksgiving. We will be celebrating Ava’s first birthday that day so it should be a great time. I’m using both my floating holidays that weekend and will have 6 consecutive days off. I haven’t had that much time off since we moved to San Diego and had to find a job.

Tomorrow I am testing for my blue belt in Gracie Jiu–Jitsu. It’s been almost exactly 6 months since I had my first class and have been hooked ever since. I’ve been preparing for this test for over a month, which is the longest I’ve ever prepared for any test in my life. I feel totally confident and ready to go, so I can’t wait for 11:00am tomorrow to come.

We’re heading to Vegas on Thursday for our friends Devin and Eve’s wedding. Thursday night I’m going to Devin’s bachelor party, then Saturday night will be the wedding. Obviously if we’re going to Vegas we’re staying at my Mom’s house, so we’re looking forward to seeing her. She’s always thrilled to spend time with Ava and its nice for us to get away from home for a bit.

My nephew Kallan is going to his senior Homecoming tonight so I hope he has a great time. Today Dana told me that QFC, his employer of the past 2 years, is paying for him to go to Bellevue College after high school to major in Retail Business Management. He’s a really great kid and he’s setting the perfect example for his little sister Anna. Both of Dana’s kids are amazing; Jessica and I have both said many times that if our kids turn out as good as them we’ll be in very good shape.

Joel and Melanie came to visit us on Thursday and stayed until yesterday. It was their first trip to California and they seemed to have a nice time. They went kayaking in La Jolla on Friday, then went out in the Gaslamp District for a bit that night. Saturday they met me in La Jolla after I finished Jiu–Jitsu and we all went to La Jolla Shores to hang out. We played frisbee, boogie boarded, and I took Joel surfing for the first time. I hadn’t been surfing in quite a while and had a blast. I’ll definitely be in the water again soon. That night, as we were about to leave for dinner downtown, Ava took a spill and cut her upper eyelid. It freaked everyone out but only bled for a minute and I was able to calm her down by taking her out for a walk around the neighborhood. This is the first time she’s hurt herself and it killed us to see her in pain. I’m sure there will be plenty of incidents like this in the future but I’ll never get used to it. Seeing my baby in pain is the worst thing in the world but she’s such a tough little girl and shook it like a champ.

We still made it out to dinner although we had to take turns taking Ava for a walk because she started making noise in the restaurant. She was getting tired of sitting in her car seat, which I can’t blame her for, but she loves going for walks and people on the street always come over to comment on how cute she is. On Sunday I started my new quarter at school and had a bunch of work to do so Joel and Melanie went back to the beach to hang out for the day. That evening we went to the final "Symphony at the Park" series at Hoyt Park in Rancho Bernardo to see my friend Victor’s band play. Victor and I work together at ScrollMotion and talk constantly about music. He and his wife play in a band called Siren’s Crush and perform all kinds of great pop and dance cover songs. They do everything from Madonna and Michael Jackson to Adele and the Black Eyed Peas. The show was outstanding; even Ava was rocking out and having a blast. It was a really nice way to end the weekend.

Yesterday they went home but unfortunately their flight was delayed, which caused them to miss their connecting flight so they had to stay the night in Denver. I’m sure they were happy to get home today. Thursday Amy will be arriving to stay with us for the weekend, so Jessica and I will take advantage of having her here and we have some fun stuff planned. Friday night we’re going to see Taken 2 in the theater, then we’re going to another car show on Saturday after Jiu–Jitsu. Sunday morning we’re going to the beach again because I’m dying to catch some more waves. I’m also staying busy preparing for my blue belt test, which is a week from Sunday, then that following week we’re going to Vegas for Devin and Eve’s wedding. We’re as busy as ever but it’s all good!

Jessica had the day off on Sunday so we decided to head up north to Orange County to check out a classic car show. I have fond memories of going to car shows with my Uncle Jim and Aunt Brenda when I was a teenager, and since Jessica also enjoys them, we thought it would be a fun tradition for our family. Shortly after arriving I stumbled across a beautiful 1970 Plymouth Roadrunner that is being raffled off for charity. I spoke with the owner for a while and he explained that he and his wife were selling raffle tickets for $20 each and that the drawing would take place once 5,000 tickets were sold. All proceeds are going to local charities so I decided to buy a ticket. I’m actually thinking about getting more tickets soon because I like the car so much. Once this car goes they’re going to do the same thing with his wife’s 1969 Roadrunner. I received a thank you email the day after purchasing a ticket and they seem like really nice people. If anyone reading this wants to buy a ticket just go to www.earlyrides.org for more information.

It wasn’t a very big show but the quality of the cars was great and we had a really fun time. We’re looking forward to going to another one soon. Here’s a few pics from the day.

Jessica and Ava with an Oldsmobile Superbee 442

Not sure what kind of truck this is but it was very cool

This is the Roadrunner that I’m hoping to win!

Our friends Liz and Matthew came to visit from Dallas this week and we’ve all been having a great time. I haven’t seen them since our wedding, where Liz was the Maid of Honor, so it’s been nice getting caught up. They stayed with us Monday night, but unfortunately I got stuck at the office until 11:00 that night and didn’t get to spend much time with them. They had a hotel downtown for the middle of the week but met up with Jessica and Ava everyday for brunches and beach trips. Last night we all went out to dinner at Cucina Urbana, which is a place Jessica and I have been wanting to go to for quite a while. Dinner was everything we hoped it would be and we’ll definitely be going back. We really loved everything about it. After dinner we stopped by the Tractor Room for a drink and got to say hello to all my old buddies. Ava was with the babysitter and apparently everything went great. It’s hard to believe she’s 10 months old now! We had a late night last night but it was a really nice time. Today they’re going home to Dallas, which I’m sure they’re ready for, but I hope they enjoyed themselves. Ava is coming to jiu–jitsu with me this morning so Jessica can join them for one more brunch before flying out.