Cliff Mass gives 11 meteorological explanations for why Seattle has the best summer weather in the world, morning, noon and night. We also have the best Fall, Winter and Spring, in my opinion.

From their commencement speech at Stanford, which is all about innovation, empathy and optimism:

Optimism for me isn’t a passive expectation that things will get better; it’s a conviction that we can make things better – that whatever suffering we see, no matter how bad it is, we can help people if we don’t lose hope and we don’t look away.

Optimism is a reason to do something. Pessimism is an excuse to do nothing.

It took 7 years but I’ve officially been recognized by the international community for my work with children:

I spent the entire day alone with Hudson today. We colored, played trains, had lunch, watched yesterday’s stage of the Dauphiné and then he helped me (seriously) mow the lawn, pull dandelions and fix the sandbox wall. This is a milestone: it’s the first time one of my kids was actually useful in helping me do work — until now, their “help” always made more work for me.

The best part was that as we worked, he asked me a bunch of questions about why I use this tool, why I did things a certain way, how things work, etc. I felt like my dad because I used to do the same thing to my dad while he worked. My dad’s willingness to answer my questions nurtured in me a lifelong habit of asking questions. I believe that has helped me immeasurably in life. I am happy to be able to pass this on to my kids.

My sister-in-law’s photo was selected to be on the New Mexico lottery tickets (which really are square but not really that big):

We went to the Seattle Aquarium’s Splash! fundraiser. I won the Russell Wilson autographed helmet and the Malcolm Smith autographed Super Bowl football in the silent auction. Plus, I got to hold the Lombardi trophy!

Gay hugged Blitz, the Seahawks mascot. In the live auction, Dan and Wendy won a visit to the set of CSI in LA to hang out with Ted Danson.

My question was answered today: the 50th Super Bowl will use “50” rather than “L“. I like it.

Reminds me of Steve Martin in “The Jerk” excited about the new telephone book. My favorite catalog was delivered to the brewery building, I must’ve gotten added to some industrial mailing list. Don’t they know I use the iPad app?