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I just learned (thank you MySpace) that my longtime friend Christy gave birth to her first child named Julian Corryn 10 weeks early.

Julian was born Jan. 31 weighing 1 pound, 15 ounces and she was just 14.25 inches long. Christy just came home after a 10-day stay at the hospital and Julian will stay in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for the next couple months, but she's doing well!

Christy gave birth early via C-section after learning she had preeclampsia. I had never heard of preeclampsia before, but after a little Internet research, I learned that the condition affects 5-8 percent of all pregnancies and is one of the various hypertensive disorders that claim more than 75,000 lives globally each year.

According to Preeclampsia Foundation, preeclampsia can cause your blood pressure to rise and puts you at risk of stroke or impaired kidney function, impaired liver function, blood clotting problems, pulmonary edema (fluid on the lungs), seizures and, in severe forms, maternal and infant death. Because preeclampsia affects the blood flow and placenta, babies can be smaller and are often born prematurely.

Christy was fortunate to get to the hospital early, likely feeling preeclampsia symptoms, which include swelling, sudden weight gain, headaches and changes in vision.

Congrats, Christy! I'm excited for you and am keeping Julian Corryn in my thoughts.

in

Paint me purple. I'm a Husky!

I learned yesterday that I was accepted into the University of Washington Master of Communication in Digital Media (MCDM) program. Woo hoo!

I am SO relieved. Only 25 students get into this program each year, so I was really sweating receiving an acceptance letter. Now I still have some paperwork to do, so I could totally and accidentally screw up my admissions, but at least I know the program likes me enough to tell me so and make an offer.

I emailed John, my (and your) favorite WWU journalism professor, upon learning the good news, to which he replied:

"Well, that just goes to show how little clout I have with UW. I ripped you and said you'd never succeed in the program, and you still got in. Oh well, good for you anyway."

Gotta love that S.O.B. I learned from the best.

Thanks to everyone for their support of this next venture, especially my employer for offering a sweet tuition reimbursement plan and Scott, for forcing me to rewrite most of his MBA papers.

And thank God I won't have to take the GREs again.

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Yesterday, the band finished the "Alright EP," which features five all-new focuspoint tracks.

We're hosting a CD release party at The Central in Pioneer Square on Saturday, March 8, where we'll be debuting the tracks and playing all the other bangers from our last CD.

No matter how much shit I talk, these songs and this album are absolute labors of love. Hopefully you'll enjoy the new material.

- Paolo

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I'm up super early for work today. Ugh. I'm filling a little time reading the papers about the Democratic caucuses. I didn't go, but did anyone else rock out with their caucus out?

I was talking to Wesley last night and he said it was a totally confusing, unorganized disaster. (Matt: "Just the way the democrats would run the country.")