Seattle's Olympic Sculpture Park is now open!

This weekend we had absolutely gorgeous sunny weather and have spent large part of both days happily strolling outside! On Saturday we went for a long hike in Magnolia's Discovery Park followed by a hearty late lunch at Red Mill Burgers, which has by now become the Kong family weekend tradition! On Sunday we decided to check out Seattle's newest park on the waterfront which recently opened.
On January 20, the Seattle Art Museum (SAM) opened the Olympic Sculpture Park, transforming downtown Seattle's last and largest waterfront property into a vibrant green space and dynamic setting for modern and contemporary art. The nine-acre park was designed by Weiss/Manfredi of New York and integrates architecture, landscape and urban design, enabling visitors to experience sculpture outdoors while also enjoying magnificent views of the Olympic Mountains and Puget Sound. It's little wonder that it has attracted more than 40,000 visitors in its first week!

Leonardo Da Vinci at Seattle's Museum of Flight

There shall be wings! If the accomplishment be not for me, 'tis for some other. The Spirit cannot die; and man, who shall know all and shall have wings. - Leonardo Da Vinci

These words greeted us at the entrance to Seattle's Museum of Flight, where we had a chance to see a fascinating exhibit Leonardo Da Vinci: Man, Inventor, Genius this afternoon. The show is a collection of reproductions of Leonardo's sketches, paintings and more than fifty working 3-D models of his machines including flying machines, a parachute, a car, a tank, a helicopter, and the first working robot. The exhibit reminds us that Da Vinci was not just an exceptional painter but also a gifted architect, art historian, engineer, inventor, scientist, sculptor and writer, far ahead of his time. Many of his inventions were so progressive that they required modern materials and technologies to be realized, and would be 500 years later.

Leonardo was such a rare and universal person, that you could say nature worked one of her greatest wonders in creating him. - Unknown

Once you have flown, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been, and there you long to return. - Leonardo Da Vinci

Here comes Comet McNaught!

Comet McNaught is all over the news but to our great disappointment we did not manage to see it in person. The weather in Seattle did not exactly cooperate: two nights ago we had a snow storm that cause havoc including severe traffic problems and office closures (mostly due to ice on the roads), yesterday was a sunny day but with freezing temperatures and today, when we finally decided to brave the cold and see the comet, southern-southwestern sky had significant cloud cover! In addition to not having a clear sunset, today was the last day to see the comet in the Northern Hemisphere which meant that we had a very small time window and that the comet would be very low on the horizon. Although some claimed they could see a momentary glimpse of the comet (we could not!) by the time the coulds somewhat parted the sun had already set and it was too late. Thus we will have to settle for local TV coverage and numerous online photos. Solar and Heliospheric Observatory - SOHO also has a fun website with footage of the comet from a different perspective.

Speaking of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation...

I found an interesting article in the Los Angeles Times entitled Dark cloud over good works of Gates Foundation, which investigates the foundation's investment practices, in particular the millions of dollars it makes each year by investing in companies blamed for many of the same social and health problems the foundation seeks to address. As the investigation reveals the Gates Foundation's humanitarian concerns so far do not appear to be reflected in how it invests its money, much of which is tied up in companies whose practices run counter to the foundation's charitable goals and social mission.

CEN Seattle Event at Microsoft

On Thursday, January 4th, we attended our first Cornell Enterprenurial Network (CEN) event in Seattle. The 2007 Annual Entrepreneurship Event: Improving Business Relationships was held at Microsoft's main campus in Redmond, WA and included an optional tour prior to the event, which we dicided to attend. The tour turned out to be two tours, one focusing on the office and the other on the home of the future, showcasing prototype technologies, many expected to be incorporated in Microsoft's products in the near future. Office of the future examples included future software designed to increase security through new methods of user identification, software that among other things enables mobile employees to stay connected in real-time, seamlessly link and offers instant analysis of information such as sales projections and inventories. Microsoft's video on hi-tech home of the future is a fun showcase and very similar to the presentation we had a chance to see.

We also had a great time mingling with fellow alumni and getting updates on what is happening on Cornell Campus, particularly an update on William H. Gates Hall, the result of the $25 million grant from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to Cornell University.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

New Year's Eve fireworks extravaganza at the Seattle Space Needle!