NSJ

There is nothing I appreciate more than people who make amazing things. People who don’t settle for mediocre, or good, but instead insist on amazing.  Take the iPhone. I’ve hated every phone I’ve ever owned (and believe me, I’ve owned a lot) until the iPhone. The team that built the iPhone never settled, right down until the last minute when they switched to a different glass screen. Most impressive to me is that doing something amazing requires very hard choices. It typically means spending less time sleeping, less time with those you love, and less time doing anything but thinking about making something amazing.

I feel this way about every episode of Sesame Street, and all the movies and shorts made by Pixar. We have dropped Niko in front of these programs since birth and it is amazing to watch the impact they have on him. Just last week were were counting to 10 and he continued to 20. We never taught him to count to 20, but The Count did. He knows his letters and how to jump because of these shows. Best of all, where as something like Dragon Tails or Blues Clues makes me want to kill myself, I can watch Sesame and Pixar over and over again and still enjoy it. Making material like this is really, really hard and requires an unrelenting drive to amazing.

So a big shout out to both Sesame Street and Pixar. Thanks for making amazing things.