Doesn't work: phone

I got my first cell phone, a verizon free phone, in 2003 and hated it.  I replaced that in 2005 for a sidekick 2, which I loved.  Sucky web browser, but great everything else.  I wasn't expecting good web browsing then, so I was very satisfied.  It finally died in 4 years; not bad.  I replaced it with a used sidekick id, as I needed a replacement right away.  That didn't go so well, mostly because t-mobile does not have good coverage at my new office in Ohio. 

So, last summer, I upgraded to a motorola droid.  I love a lot of things about this phone, but it's clearly malfunctioning.  When returning to the home screen (launcher) it suddenly decided to clear all my icons.  I went back through my apps and created a new "desktop" full of icons.  A few weeks later, it brought back my old icons so there were two layers.  My launcher was an illegible mess, especially when I tried to move icons around.  I fought through to remove the old icons that had reappeared.  Later, the icons disappeared again.  At this point, a friend recommended the Launcher Pro app.  This has solved the problem, except that it often hangs when loading the icons and shortcuts.  That's pretty annoying.

I've also had random shutdowns, which I assume is a related problem.

I brought the phone into the store once, but the kid only told me I should shut the phone off, so he just did, without asking me.  This closed all the windows in my browser, though he told me after it shouldn't have.  He then said my problems should be solved.  They weren't.

Other symptoms have included very slow-loading apps (such as maps), a stingy market (it would tell me it was downloading apps and updates, but never install them) and GPS that works fine except when I started driving navigation.  Some of these are still issues, but I don't always use all these things.

I still love having this phone (I'm writing this post on it; hooray Blogger app!), but I'd really like it to last for 3 more years and not frustrate me at random times.  Let's hope Google fixes this on the software side!

Something that works: car seat + car

I'm pretty tall---nearly 6'7" (2 meters)---so when our first baby was on the way, it was time to switch out the 99 VW Golf to find something that would accommodate us as well as a newborn car seat.  I still can't believe I fit in that golf as well as I did!

We looked at a bunch of cars and seats.  Often, the drivers seat of the car was fine, but the passenger seat was not okay for my legs.  This happened in a Honda Element, two different Toyota Prius models and every different minivan we checked out.  In an elantra touring wagon (we like the wagon/hatchback style over a sedan) I didn't even fit in the driver's seat. 

Since the golf had been such a good car, we also checked out the 2010 VW Jetta Sportwagen (TDI).  Even if you're not planning on adding children, this is a great vehicle for tall drivers and passengers; I can drive comfortably with the seat in the not-quite-all-the-way-back position.  Matching this up with a car seat was a bit more tricky, but we really lucked out on timing. 

A new infant seat had just arrived: the Graco Snugride 30.  This fits great in the middle of the backseat with both front seats pulled pretty far back.  We could even probably push them all the way and squeeze around the car seat if necessary.  The snugride helps make this possible by allowing the handle to safely be up over the baby while traveling instead of needing to be behind their head.  I don't know why the behind-the-head position is normally required, it's an annoying restriction normally.

So, for simple math: graco snugride 30 + 2010 VW Jetta Sportwagen = comfy 6'7" new parent.

We'll have to see what happens when it's time to find a convertible seat that fits...