For anyone despairing about all of the ills of the world, whether it's overpriced gas,  undervalued dollars, wars, natural disasters, low frame rates, or the fact that Pontiac is effectively relaunching the El Camino next year, I have good news: The intelligent and productive adult population of this planet was just increased by 71. On June 17th, the inaugural class of Seattle's Aviation High School graduated in a ceremony that, like the class itself, was a perfect mix of intelligence, efficiency, irreverence, and a great sense of humor. I consider myself lucky to have watched the AHS Class of '08 grow since the school opened 4 years ago, and luckier still to have befriended a number of them like "Falco," "Extra Canopy Bug Guy," "Andrew," "Monkey Story," and my dear and occasionally erstwhile mentee, "Cheesy".

Keiko Hiranaka, the class speaker, captured the tone perfectly in her speech when she declared that she wasn't the least bit nervous about facing her future, because she is "...a nerd with social skills." It brought down the house, but it also says something utterly wonderful about the culture at AHS: "smart" and "popular" are not mutually exclusive. That's no small achievement in the pubescent chaos of high school. My hat, were I wearing one, would be off to principal Reba Gilman, her faculty and staff, and, most of all, to the graduates. They're fanning out into adulthood, heading off to schools and jobs in just about every imaginable discipline, and the world just got a little smarter, a little funnier, and a little happier for it.

On behalf of all of us at the Flight Simulator Factory, congratulations to the AHS class of 2008! 

(Note to anyone reading this who might have seen me at graduation: If you noticed, or think you did, that my eyes were a little redder than they should be for someone watching other people's kids graduate ... it's allergy season, or something. Shut up!)