Hey Jeff, thanks for sharing this. And yes, for sure this isn't to give anyone confidence in prepping for an update or going crazy with plugins, but my way of saying, "Hey, WordPress updates are pretty damn good when it comes down to it".

I remember being in a session at a WordCamp where Otto basically said the same thing as you, Mika and myself. It's not the quantity, but the quality.

And in the end, it was all about seeing "what the heck will happen". Cheers!