The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

We picked this book for our most recent edition of book club and I was initially excited about it. Everyone I know has been raving about it and reviews on both Amazon and Goodreads have been very favorable. Besides, historical fiction set in World War II? Sweet, let’s do it!

quick. what do you see? a random piece of bold text that doesn’t make sense? does this seem confusing and out of context? me too. imagine seeing something like this over and over again…

I quickly found the narrator annoying, and his constant intrusion into the story was really distracting. The writing style left a lot to be desired as parts of the story seemed to start and stop at random, often with a bold sentence or two that was completely out of context. It felt like right as our train got underway and things would get interesting, the narrator would derail us. Sometimes it was a bold sentence, other times it was a list.

activities. these are things I could have been doing instead of reading this book.

1. Clipping my nails.

2. Reading a better story.

3. Give up reading books for Lent.

average. sorry, allow me to explain.

Maybe the abrupt writing style was there to try and make this story more compelling than it actually was. Between these random fits of starting and stopping, there is a distinctly average story. I never found myself really attached to any of the characters.

View all my reviews

Dodgers vs. Giants at No Cell Service Park, originally uploaded by Dave Schumaker.

Earlier this week, we went to AT&T Park for a Dodgers vs. Giants game. Sadly, my boys in blue lost.

Still, AT&T Park is probably one of my favorite places to see a ballgame. Fantastic place!

Originally posted on gdgt on February 10th, 2011.

Last night, we ventured across the bay to check out a play by Mike Daisey at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre. It was a 120 minute one-man extemporaneous show about the history of Apple and a look at the people who build the gadgets that we love.

Judging by the title (and with recent events relating to Job’s recent health), you might think this is a show taking a deeper look into the life and times of Mr. Jobs. This would turn out to be an incorrect assumption. Daisey’s performance is an insightful, an often hilarious tale of the two Apples under Steve Jobs and John Scully. “Steve is not a micro-manager — he’s a fucking nano-manager!” Daisey switches between this and taking a serious look into what goes on behind the scenes at “all factories” in Shenzhen, China.

Daisey is the perfect epitome of an Apple fanboy, calling himself a devout follower of the Apple religion and perfectly describes what it’s like to own an Apple product. For those of us who are equally under the influence, it makes him easy to relate to. (That said, I don’t think you need to be a fan of Apple to enjoy this show.)

This sets up his story for a perfect transition from faithful believer, to wavering skeptic. “One day,” says Daisy, “I began to do something that all religions fear — I began to think.” Daisey goes on to explain that it all started because of a post he read on an Apple news site (Daisey says, “Have you ever noticed there’s no such thing as an Apple news site? The only thing they talk about are rumors.”). The post was about an owner of a new iPhone finding a series of pictures from the factory in the camera roll of their phone. A few of the images even showed factory workers in their cleanroom jumpsuits. This changed everything for Daisey. Until that point, he had never thought about the actual people who made his gadgets.

Side note: I think this may be the post that Daisey speaks of.

Daisey ends up traveling to Shenzhen, China and poses as an American businessman. He shares some of the things he saw; from factories with tens of thousands of people working on assembly lines in complete silence, to young teenagers who spoke to him about their work days (12, 14, or 16 hours).

Throughout the entire performance, Daisey is switching between the seriousness of what he saw in Shenzhen and his light hearted story of Apple’s history. In the mid-1990’s, Daisey explains, “Apple needed Jesus Fucking Christ to save them. So, they got the next best thing and brought Jobs back.”

If you’re a fan of gadgets and technology, I think you’d get a kick out of this show. It’s an interesting look into Apple and makes you consider the consequences of using the gadgets we love. Daisey explains that while it’s shameful nearly all companies turn a blind eye to this sort of behavior, the onus is on us as consumers to let these companies know we won’t stand for it.

Fortunately, Daisey’s humor and stories make the show quite entertaining, and you never really feel like you’re being lectured at. That said, I definitely felt bad about using my gadgets afterward (I arrived at the show carrying my bag containing a MBP, iPad, and iPhone — all of which were made in Shenzhen). You leave the theater with a heavy heart.

“The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs” is performing at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre until February 27th, 2011. Ticket prices range anywhere from $45 – $75 dollars.

Show info: www.berkeleyrep.org­/index.asp

Austin, in summary, originally uploaded by Dave Schumaker.

Ending our week in Austin. Here’s a summary of what it was all about!

I originally posted this on gdgt, read and comment here.

In the weeks leading up to the iPad 2 announcement, I clung to a rather steadfast belief that I wasn’t going to be interested in iPad 2. “My iPad is perfectly fine,” I thought, “besides, probably no retina display, slightly faster processor, and maybe a FaceTime camera — big deal!”

I thought about how I would justify this in my head and how it would sound to my friends, all of whom expect me to have whatever the latest and greatest Apple device is. I even thought of the perfect analogy.

This upgrade was going to be akin to the iPhone 3G to iPhone 3GS upgrade (interestingly, that’s the argument I’m currently telling myself for the potential iPhone 4 to “iPhone 5” upgrade). More evolutionary than revolutionary, no must have features, pretty much the same design. Did I *really* need to upgrade back then? Probably not.

Anyway, here’s why I thought that was an apropos analogy:

At the time (a month or so ago), based on what all the conventional rumors were saying, the iPad update wasn’t going to be that impressive. Same screen, mostly same form factor, potentially two cameras (FaceTime – yay?), new CPU and increased RAM. The two cameras rumor, I didn’t really care about. Besides, how many times have I used FaceTime? Probably once, and that was to test it out. What I wanted was more RAM and maybe a better display.

So, March 2nd, 2011 arrives and Steve Jobs strolls out of Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and surprises everyone. He launches into the standard Apple press event and highlights numbers of apps they’ve sold, misquotes various competitors, and uses almost every synonym related to the word “magical.”

Finally, he announces the iPad 2 and its feature set.
– Same enchanted display
– Magical A5 dual core processor
– 9x otherworldly graphics performance
– Conjuringly thin design
– Spectral battery life
– Wizardly cameras*!

* Notice, like the iPod touch 4th-gen keynote (a device which was renowned for just how crappy its cameras were), Steve made zero mention of the number of megapixels iPad cameras were capable of. Contrast that with iPhone 4, which literally had an order of magnitude more megapixels, Steve couldn’t say “5 megapixels” enough times and tout the phone’s ability to take pictures. And believe me, I love the photos that phone takes.

Anyway, I quickly fell under the influence of the infamous RDF. I wanted one. Needed it even. My current generation iPad instantly looked obsolete. It smelled obsolete. Just using it seemed to hurt my technology street cred.

Here at gdgt HQ, we discussed who would be waiting in line at the Apple Store next Friday and when we should go. Interestingly enough, one person who had an iPad wasn’t excited about it at all. Two others who didn’t have iPads were eventually persuaded / convinced that they needed them. I was all about it. Another remained irrationally committed to his singular cause of being the only person in San Francisco that would eventually own an Android tablet (subject to price and availability, of course).

So, for the last week, I’ve been all about iPad 2. I couldn’t wait for it to arrive. I stressed about how early I should wait in line. I thought about how awesome it will be to use while I’m in Austin for SXSW and our gdgt live event.

And tonight, it all just suddenly changed. The iPad 2 embargo is up, so all the major news organizations and tech publications have posted their detailed reviews of the device. They love it. It’s even faster. Feels good to hold. It still sets the bar for any tablet coming out.

One thing everyone seems to agree on though, is that it’s a brilliant device for people new to tablets or otherwise buying their first iPad. For people who already own an iPad, it’s a tossup. There’s definite speed improvements, and more RAM is great in apps like Safari, but it doesn’t offer much otherwise.

And that’s the feeling I can’t shake. This iPhone 3G to iPhone 3GS analogy. Using my iPad tonight (with iOS 4.3), Safari is still fast and mostly responsive. Yeah, the meager amount of RAM in the device means I still lose webpages when I switch tabs, but do I really want to drop another $600 for the device for that reason alone? Probably not.

So, I might sit this round out. I’m not urging or suggesting anyone else do the same, I’m just reflecting on my own thought process over the past few months. For someone with a massive case of gadget envy and weak defenses to the RDF, it’s been a wild roller coaster ride.

So, what will you do? Are you still excited about getting one? Has your enthusiasm been tempered for one reason or another? In the market for something else?

—-

Some caveats:
1. I’m completely aware of the possibility that once we get a review unit in the office, all bets are out the window. I might want one all over again, and just as bad, if not more so.
2. I realize the possibility that some new app or game will come out to take advantage of the features. For example, if they somehow come out with a better version of Civilization that runs better on the new iPad, it’s over. Goodbye. See you later.
3. There are social pressures as well. If my friends, my significant other, or even my parents get one, well we can’t have that now, can we. (Honestly, we probably can. It’s a ridiculous justification.)

Anyway, stay tuned for my post tomorrow, where I write a thousand word essay on why I’ll probably be camping out overnight to get an iPad 2.

Stryker Vineyards, originally uploaded by Dave Schumaker.

Barrel tasting in Sonoma.

I have a little problem.

AT&T won’t stop texting me.

They periodically (multiple times a week) send out these tips and reminders via text message. I’m not charged for them, but it’s just annoying to receive them.

Their solution is to simply text “STOP” back to them. I’ve done that.

It didn’t work.

So, I escalated this war. I replied to stop, with a rage face.

They replied with, “Thanks! We’ll unsubscribe you soon!”

Only they didn’t.

Today, I received this helpful tip for reporting SMS / MMS spam and other abuse. Awesome!

AT&T Free Tip: To report unwanted text or picture/video messages, simply forward the message at no charge to 7726 from your wireless phone. AT&T will investigate the situation and take appropriate action.

Hey! That *is* pretty informative.

Let’s do it.

Step 1: Select text message.

Step 2: Forward message.

Step 3: Report number that text spam is originating from.

Here’s to hoping that AT&T stops spamming me and they properly deal with the people abusing text messages!

Based on a recent discussion I had, here is the current list of iPhones I’ve had. 8! 8 iPhones in 4 generations. To be fair, the iPhone 3GS and the iPhone 4 were flawless devices for me.

1.) iPhone 1st-gen: Touch screen stopped working.
2.) iPhone 1st-gen: Touch screen stopped working.
3.) iPhone 1st-gen: Some weird short caused constant “device not designed for iPhone. Please use airplane mode” messages to appear, even if nothing was hooked up!
4.) iPhone 1st-gen: Dock connector completely stopped working.
5.) iPhone 3G #1: Upgraded to iPhone 3G by choice. Hoping for relief. Just kidding! Glass screen began to delaminate from iPhone. Weird defect.
6.) iPhone 3G #2: Hopefully it will be perfect for now?
7.) iPhone 3GS: (Upgrade) Worked perfectly!
8.) iPhone 4: (Upgrade) Works perfectly, so far!

(See previously.)

Imagine my surprise this weekend when reading this review of “The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs” in the New York Times and seeing the following quote:

“I definitely felt bad about using my gadgets afterward,” Dave Schumaker wrote on the personal-technology site Gdgt.com, where he is community manager. “I arrived at the show carrying my bag containing a MBP [MacBook Pro], iPad and iPhone — all of which were made in Shenzhen.”

Not too shabby!

(And yes, I still feel bad about these gadgets. Man, oh, man. What a performance by Mike Daisey.)

EDIT: The Big Picture is featuring powerful and scary photos of the damage.

We’re just starting to find out how bad today’s M6.3 earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand was.

A former professor of ours when we were in New Zealand in 2006 dropped us an email this evening and let us know that it was going to be bad. He also informed us that the iconic Christchurch Cathedral in the center of the city was destroyed.

It was an absolutely beautiful building – originally built in mid-1800’s and completed in 1904.

As we saw it in 2006:

And as it lays today:

[via TwitPic]

My heart goes out to everyone in Christchurch. This is going to be fairly bad.