"What we want to be is something completely new. There is no physical analog for what Amazon.com is becoming"

So I’ve hit the halfway point of my internship and that means the dreaded midpoint review comes into the picture. At Amazon, that means that the culmination of your weeks of intense work to that point get compressed into a single white paper that gets scrutinized by your boss, your boss’ boss and occasionally his boss too. In my case, that was two white papers thanks to the two projects I was working on. To be fair, they did put the “work hard” bit before “have fun” in the company tagline.

I’m continually astounded at the effectiveness of meetings here at AMZN. Having been exposed to working environments where hour-long meetings resulted in little in the way of a productive outcome, I’ve found that Amazon meetings are short and to the point with decisions made and feedback given all within the space of 15-30 minutes. It’s a far more effective use of time and it means that I fit more productive hours into a working day. Maybe there’s something to be said about the no-PowerPoint policy…

As far as the project work itself, it’s been challenging yet fulfilling. You really feel that you get to take ownership of meaningful, difference-making projects. Colleagues have all been very supportive and have made a big impact on my ability to get so much done in so little time. Of course, my projects have been focused on the area of <<content redacted>> so it’s clear how this will impact the future of the Kindle organization.

Outside of work, Seattle’s been an awesome place to spend the summer. The much-lauded summer has finally kicked in and I no longer have to pull on a sweater before heading to work in the morning. Having said that, I’ve probably jinxed myself and it’ll end up drizzling for the rest of the week. Sorry Seattle.

For entertainment, I've occupied myself with a Seattle Sounders match (I discovered why Fulham dropped Eddie Johnson from their squad), oyster happy hours, balsamic strawberry ice cream, rally school, ordering coffee at the first Starbucks store, jellyfish gazing at the aquarium and exploring the less traveled bits of the city. I’ve not been as enamored with the appalling road conditions and the unbelievably high price of gas, though the number of more interesting cars on the roads make up for it somewhat.

Before I forget, I should remind everyone that even more content is now available on the Prime Instant Video catalog. Hundreds of classic movies and hit TV episodes have been added to the library, which is open to all customers who have a Prime membership. Prime customers can access Instant Video on numerous platforms, including the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 gaming consoles as well as the Kindle Fire tablet. Customers who are not Prime members can enjoy a 1-month free trial of Prime. To find out more about how you can watch Prime Instant Video, visit www.amazon.com/PIV.

Typical Seattle lunch

Typical Seattle car

 Typical Seattle weekend driver