Author: Michael Pellegrini

The day before yesterday I interviewed for a position as an application developer with a company in La Jolla called ScrollMotion. I was originally contacted by a vice president of ScrollMotion on Friday of last week after she found my resume online and felt that I would be a good fit for their company. She explained that they were a three year old company with an office in Manhattan and another in La Jolla, who build mobile applications for the iPad and iPhone. In their short existence, ScrollMotion has built the official Superbowl application for the iPhone and iPad for the last three years, plus built numerous applications for companies like GE, Esquire Magazine and the Oprah Winfrey Magazine. Just last week they signed a deal to build applications for Nike as well.

It’s a small company with only about 150 employees between the two offices, but they are expanding rapidly and expect to employ about 400 people within the next year. As mentioned, I interviewed on Monday afternoon with one of their project managers and it went perfectly. I left the interview feeling that it couldn’t have gone any better and that I would be shocked if I didn’t at least get called back for a second interview. As it turns out, a second interview wasn’t needed. I was called today by the same vice president that I spoke with last week and she extended me an offer to join their team for a 90 day contract. She said that they have every intention of making me a full–time salaried employee after my contract is up, but that they would prefer to start me on a contract basis in order to get me up and running immediately. As long as I like the company and they are happy with me, I’ll be full–time when my contract is up.

This is exactly the kind of company that I was hoping to find and it’s only two or three blocks from Jessica’s work, which is perfect. I can’t wait to get started on Monday morning! More updates coming soon.

We recently got Jessica’s maternity photos back from our photographer Nick Tooman and wanted to post them for all to see. Below are a few select pics that were edited by Nick.

Tomorrow night we will have our first of six baby classes as we prepare for Ava to arrive. The classes are held at Mary Birch Hospital every Tuesday night from 7:30 to 9:30. Here we will learn all about the entire birthing process and get tips on caring for our newborn. I know Jessica is totally ready for all this stuff but I haven’t spent any time around babies in my life so I’ll take as much instruction as they’re will to give me. Should be fun!

Apple founder Steve Jobs died today after a long battle with a rare form of pancriatic cancer. Just last month he stepped down as CEO of Apple because of his health issues, and is now gone at the age of 56. I’ve been a huge Mac user for over a decade now and have the utmost respect for Mr. Jobs. In my opinion, he was the single most important person in the world of computers. He was a leader and a visionary, the likes of whom we probably won’t see again anytime soon. His first, and only, authorized biography is due to be released next month. Jess and I both can’t wait to read it. R.I.P. Steve Jobs.

I can barely express how thankful Jessica and I are for the help and work done by Amy and Tom over the past two weeks. They have completely transformed our entire house, and made our guest bedroom into the perfect nursery. They painted the room, setup the crib, added a beautiful rug, hung curtains, added shelves, and got us a nice fouton that functions as a sofa and a bed. It’s hard to believe it’s the same room! I will definitely be adding photos of all their hard work asap. Last night the four of us went out to an amazing dinner at Trulucks, which is our favorite restaurant in San Diego. It’s hard to believe that our little Ava is only two months away from her due date. Having the nursery all setup is a major achievement and makes it all seem that much more real. We’re officially on the home stretch!

Last night Jessica and I went to the Padres game. The Cubs were in town for the final series of the season, and since they’re Jessica’s favorite team, we decided to go see them play. Jessica’s work has season tickets and they were nice enough to set us up for the game. We ended up sitting in the fourth row right behind the home dugout. It was the closest I’ve ever sat at a ball game and we had a great time.

Today I had a job interview in the morning and then went to meet up with Jessica and her Mom for some maternity photos in Balboa Park. Honestly this isn’t something that I’ve been very excited about being a part of, but did it because she wanted me to. I look forward to family photos once Ava is born, but didn’t feel like I really belonged in maternity photos. Either way it wasn’t all that bad and it looks like we got some nice shots.

Jessica’s Mom Amy arrived in San Diego yesterday and has been hard at work helping us get the house reorganized and ready for Ava. The three of us went out to dinner last night at a cool little latin restaurant in Leucadia called Le Papagayo. We sat outside and had a nice time getting caught up. Today has been full of work – house work for them and website work for me. It’s always nice having family come to visit.

Jessica and I are closing out our second summer in San Diego with lots of visits from friends and family. Last weekend we had a visit from our Vegas friends Brian, Tiko and Tina, which was a blast. This weekend Jessica’s friend Laurel is in town from San Francisco for a wedding reception, then we have Jessica’s Mom Amy coming to stay with us for a week starting on Tuesday. Amy is going to help us get the house ready for Ava (which is only 2.5 months away at this point). The following Tuesday Amy’s husband Tom will be in town for work so we’ll have the two of them nearby for another week. Having all this company is making time fly by really fast. It’s hard to believe that less than three months from now Ava will be here…

I just came across a list of things that have changed in the past ten years and it almost doesn’t seem believable. Please enjoy:

• The iPod, XBox, YouTube, Facebook, Flickr, Ubuntu, and Blu-Ray did not exist.
• IBM was still in the PC business, Handspring was still around, and Blackberries were data-only devices with no telephone capabilities.
• The Euro had not yet entered circulation, currencies like the Franc, Mark and Lira were still legal tender.
• George Harrison, The Queen Mother, Gregory Peck, Barry White, Johnny Cash, Ronald Reagan, Ray Charles, Julia Child, Pope John Paul II, Johnny Carson, Steve Irwin, Gerald Ford and Michael Jackson were still alive.
• SARS, Avian Flu, H1N1 were not in the common vernacular.
• Enron and WorldCom were still in business.
• Oil was $24/barrel, gold was $276/ounce, NASDAQ was at 1912.41, and the DOW was at 10,382.35.
• The Concorde still flew.
• The Petronas Towers were the tallest skyscrapers in the world. (They’ve been surpassed twice since.)
• Lost and 24 had never aired, there were only four books in the Harry Potter series, and Arnold Schwarzenegger was still making movies.
• Lance Armstrong had only won the Tour de France 3 times. (He went on to win 4 more.)
• The most recent Boston Red Sox World Series win had been 1918 (which remained true until 2004).
• The Netherlands was the only country in the world that legally recognized same sex marriages. (That stands at 7 now).
• Charley, Ivan, Jeanne, Katrina, Dean, and Ike were not names associated with weather.
• 61 Extrasolar planets had been discovered. (Currently that’s up to 424).
• Pioneer 10 signals were still being received on Earth.

I guess there’s only one word to describe all this… progress?