The Magic iPhone and a Very Defensive Steve Jobs

Everyone who reads this knows that I love gadgets, and that my relatively old iPhone 3G is with me at all times.  Even when I forget my wallet, my iPhone is in my pocket (and all my pocket T-shirt necks now droop permanently to the lower left).  But my 3G's battery was losing steam and my screen was cracked.  And I made the mistake of upgrading my 3G to iOS4.  Mind you, it has some nifty features, but it sure wasn't designed with the 3G in mind -- slow, slow, slow!  So, I just had to have my own iPhone 4 that was released yesterday.  My son Henry's phone was in about the same shape as mine, so family members all chipped in to buy him a new one for his birthday, and the release date is just close enough to that day to make it count as a birthday gift!

Getting our hands on two of these devices wasn't easy.  It took a day intermittently wasted trying to break through AT&T's and Apple's overwhelmed servers on the day they opened the product up for pre-order sales, to place an order for 2 (and no, you can't purchase 2 in one transaction -- you have to return for more torture).  Then there was the wait yesterday at the Pentagon City Mall's Apple Store (with Henry as great company) from 5:15 to 9:15.  We were 100th in the pre-ordered line and I would guess there were 400 or more behind us, and another 400 in the "hope they have some to sell off the shelf" line.  The wait actually wasn't so bad, in part because we were expecting the worst (and it moved quite well when the doors opened at 7:00).  It was also a fun, light-hearted and relaxed group, and Apple employees worked their way down the line with Starbucks coffee, donut holes, and water.  Everyone was excited.

So, was it worth it?  Yes!  The iPhone 4 is really an incredible little device.  It is fast.  It has two good cameras and takes real HD video that you can edit right there on the device.  Voice commands work great without a software training session.  The screen resolution is awesome, really awesome.  This is what iOS4 was designed for and it works great.  And the apps; tons of very useful (and not so useful, but fun) apps that run so much better on this model than my old one.  FaceTime, Apple's video conferencing feature works very well and is, ah, very very cool.  Here's hoping that Skype will add the video calling feature to its iPhone app so that calls are not limited to those with an iPhone 4.

But, there is one major problem that has me in a tither with Steve Jobs and Apple.  The damned cellular antennae, which is built into the steel band that wraps around the phone's edge and holds it together, does not work when you hold it in your hand like anyone holds a phone.  Your water-filled, and maybe sweaty, hand blocks the cell signal.  The only way I have found to use the phone in my house (that normally has 3-4 bars of signal strength with the help of a signal extender) is to lay it flat on a table and use the speaker phone.  This problem has gotten a lot of press between yesterday and today, and Steve Jobs finally responded to the problem by saying it is a "non-issue;"  just hold the phone differently, he says, or buy a rubber bumper to cover the band.  Well, his first suggestion is ridiculous -- iPhones will be falling to the floor ten times a day.  And if it needs a rubber bumper around the band to make the phone work, why wasn't it either built into the iPhone 4 to start with or at least -- realizing that they'd really screwed up this wonderful piece of technology -- hand out free bumpers with every sale until they get the problem fixed!  C'mon Jobs, get off your egotistical horse and do what's right for all those who have forked over a good bit of money, not to mention time, to get their sweaty palms on a magical device whose cell phone doesn't work right out of the box!

North Korea

Today's New York Times has a story about North Korea that has had me thinking about my seven months working there with CARE and the U.N.'s World Food Program (WFP) in 1998.  Things were not good then and appear to be much worse now.  It is incredible that, 55-60 years ago, North Korea had the stronger and more industrialized economy of the two Koreas.  Today there is no comparison:  night-time satellite images show a dark northern half of the Korean peninsula and a south lit up like a Christmas tree.  (Click on The Mess that is North Korea to see the NYT heart wrenching story.  You can read more about my experiences there, and a bunch of pictures, by clicking My North Korea Experiences).

I don't see any way the North Korea problem can be solved without some initiative and leadership from within the country, either in the form of a popular uprising or a military coup.  An uprising seems unlikely from a cowed population unless it is somehow energized by some central (surely military) leadership that demonstrates a coup's relevance to it instead of just a play at the top.  So for the North Korean population as a whole, and for the outside world, it's a wait and see game -- and likely one of seeing who is going to pick up the pieces when things just totally collapse.

So, today I'm thinking:

Where are these people today, and how are they doing?

Did these kids survive?  They should be vibrant teenagers now.











What do these village leaders and party members really think about the current state of affairs?

I'm sad for these people today.  They were most hospitable to us on our many, many field trips and I wish them relief, a full stomach, and opportunities to do more with their lives than just survive.

It Has Been a Good Week!

The Best:


My core family was together for the first time since Lillian & Michael got married in August 2006, and now with the addition of lovely Alice there are six of us.  Wonderful brunch on the Georgetown waterfront at the Sequoia restaurant deck.  Outstanding weather, dragon boat races out of Thompson's Boat House and good family fellowship.  This was followed by a wonderful dinner at Argia's in Falls Church where Henry, who works there, was a most gracious host to 14 of my siblings, offspring, and friends all gathered to welcome Alice into the extended Lacy family.

The Good:

I finished up the redesign and rebuilding of my 30' trellis that collapsed during the big snow of February.  I was hoping it would take a week, but it took two (and I still have cleanup to do).  It took longer partly because I underestimated the amount of work involved but frankly more because my body is no longer able to do what it used to do.  Nevertheless, it's done, and I was able to save a good, healthy portion of the climbing hydrangea that had fully covered the old trellis.

The Ugly:

A swollen red Lone Star tick bite.  Unfortunately, the Lone Star tick is one of several species that carries Lyme disease and they seem to drop out of trees this time of year.  Like Texas, Lyme disease ain't to be messed with and I'm not totally convinced that I got rid of my first bout with it in 2004; it has a nasty way of going dormant and hiding under deep cover.  This was the first of five or so Lone Stars I've found my body hosting this year but the first to have really latched on.  So I had to spend virtually the whole morning yesterday to get a prophylactic Doxycycline prescription.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that it only required one 200 mg dose rather than a full two week cycle and unpleasantly reminded about how much time doctors take up of one's life with aging.  On the other hand, I would probably be more comfortable had the doctor chosen an overkill kind of strategy, like Collin Powell's approach to the first Gulf War.  Beware the Lone Star tick with its very distinctive white lone star on its back.

Six reasons for loving the spring season:

Grand Fatherhood

I became a grandfather last Monday.  The news arrived iPhone-to-iPhone from my breathless, thrilled son-in-law.  I was on Rt. 301 about 20 miles north of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge when his image flashed on my screen to the tune of Jerry Lee Lewis' "Great Balls of Fire."  I was driving at a somewhat reckless speed, hoping to arrive at St. Vincent's Hospital in lower Manhattan in time for the big event.  But little Alice Lee wasn't about to wait -- not even for a doctor let alone a grandfather.  Thank God midwife Barri was on hand...

Interestingly, my daughter's labor and delivery of Alice mirrored my wife's at my daughter's birth -- very fast and efficient (and believe you me that matures into a personality trait).  At least they both had the courtesy of waiting until they were in the hospital before breaking loose.

This is neat stuff, grandfather-hood, and even neater the grand fatherhood of it all.  Daughter grows up and becomes a mother to swell my pride in an otherwise sedate existence.  Even Celexa couldn't hold this one back!