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Before I begin, this isn't going to be one of my normal posts (which is somewhat noticeable from the title). I had a few things to say, and figured I might as well post them out to the rest of the world in the hopes of getting them off my chest.

First, I should explain a little bit of a background. This morning, I received an email from my mother that my Grandmother, who was 93 years old, passed away in her sleep last night. This got me to thinking about things; namely the fact that I wasn't really sad in any way and didn't know if that was right or wrong. Not that there's anything particularly wrong with my Grandmother, we were just never really all that close; and no one's really to blame on that. For most of my life she's lived on the other side of the country, periodically visiting but mostly existing as a random voice on the other end of a phone during various holidays. I never really knew what to talk to her about, cause I didn't really know her and she didn't really know me. Our lives were always seemed very different, and so there was physical and emotional distance. I liked her as much as any person, but how close can you really feel to someone when you barely even know or interact with them.

So, on the news of her death, I tried to feel something. I tried to use memories, or stories, or anything I could think of to actually find a feeling. But, nothing came. And then I started feeling bad about it; she is related to me. If she didn't exist, I probably wouldn't either, and I kind of like existing. But in all honesty, in my day-to-day life she rarely, if ever, popped into my thoughts. So, how do you really mourn for someone that exists so little in your life; are you required to just because you're related? As much as I hate to admit it, I'd feel more sad if the local sushi chef died, simply because I happen to see him far too many times in a week.

But, then I realized a few things. First, I don't have to feel bad about not feeling bad; you really can't push something that you don't feel. I loved her, she was my Grandmother (weird usage of past tense), and I'm sad we weren't closer, but there's not much we can do about it now. In fact, I know I shouldn't feel bad, because even if someone said, "Just kidding she's not really dead" it's not like I'd rush to her side and start working on getting to know her; that sounds cruel, but it's the truth. Second, I do feel sad, but not because of how her passing affects me, but how it affects those I'm close to. My father lost his mother--that has to be hard--and my mother lost a friend. I realize that I feel sad for this fact and for them. So, I guess in a way I am mourning; but more for their loss.

I know that my Grandmother died peacefully and lead a long life (not always happy, not always sad; so a good life indeed). It might be wrong of me to think this; but I love the fact that she passed while playing bingo (she got tired, went to rest and never came back). I hope in someway she was winning, because how cool of an exit is that, "Yeah, I could beat you; but I've got better things to do."

OK, so this entry will probably hurt in the future (especially if AT&T actually reads my blog), but I'm going to put it out here anyway, because this is the one thing that makes my buying an iPhone 3G (there Apple, I even capitalized it right ... that counts for something, right?) an actual justification.

So, with other phones, I was able to tether fairly easily (see the WM6 write-up I did earlier). For people like me that don't want to carry around a 3G card for their laptop (or have a tmobile, AT&T, and who knows what other wifi hotspot account), tethering is about the only way to make sure and be able to jump online and get some work done while in between destinations. The 3G network, while not the zippiest thing out there, at least provides a respectable connection for email, some chatting (work based, of course), and some light web browsing. Heck, if YouTube can work on the phone in 3G mode, I should be able to use it on my laptop as well.

Earlier incarnations of tethering on the iPhone involved specifically using 3proxy (available from the Cydia installer). And, believe me, this worked quite nicely. Sure, there were some manual steps involved (e.g. setting up proxy settings for firefox and thunderbird), but in general it worked in a pinch. But, then along came PDANet to make things even better.

A port of the old PDANet application, this basically turns your iPhone into a WIFI router. Create an Ad-Hoc network, join your phone to it, and off you go. No longer do you need to change your proxy settings, just make sure that your default routes point to the IP Address of your phone. All network apps work without an issue (unless you count slowness an issue ... ok, so maybe one issue).

Now, I don't condone this approach. My feeling is that Apple completely missed the mark by creating an "open" development environment (App Store, how many flashlight programs do you really really need?) instead of an open one (see, no quotes). And by disabling some core features (e.g. tethering, bluetooth syncing, etc.) they've opened the door to people killing their market share (if only these "people" would get busy designing) as new phones come to market. And with each passing firmware update of nothing more than flash instead of substance (cut/copy/paste? really? still not there?) the lack of attention becomes more and more noticeable.