As a parent, I want my kids to have an optimistic outlook, and one that has hope, and that makes sense, where good does triumph over evil and it's not cynical, and it's not snarky.

When I was a child, I thought I was going to be a paleontologist because I loved dinosaurs. I loved monster movies and sci-fi, and then 'Star Wars' came out, and I was completely out of my mind with that, with 'Close Encounters,' and then I thought maybe I was going to go into special effects makeup, which I thought was awesome.

I'm a middle-aged dad, which means I have no social time or life to speak of, and so I connect with my buddies with my Xbox.

When they told me I couldn't sit on the Senate floor with an iPad - that the technology wasn't even permitted - I breathed deep and knew that I was going to have to start pushing.

Technology loves and thrives and makes gobs of money on conspicuous consumption.

You don't need a corporation or a marketing company to brand you now: you can do it yourself. You can establish who you are with a social media following.

The Internet makes everything much less mysterious.