From the Editor’s Desk: Good Decisions, Less Good Decisions ⭐

I still don’t understand how she did it, but in the two weeks of time we had between our trip to Berlin in early September and our trip to Mexico City (and, from there, onto Hawaii) in mid-September, my wife Stephanie somehow orchestrated the purchase of the condo we’ve been living in, in Pennsylvania, for almost two years now.

“Herding cats” doesn’t even begin to describe the effort, which involved corralling my three sisters (two in PA, one in Arizona, all three of whom have power of attorney over their mother, the now-previous owner) and representatives of local mortgage and title companies, plus an in-person signing that (thankfully) only one of my sisters had to attend. And if this wasn’t essentially an in-family sale, it could never have happened when it did, as the check that paid my sister’s mother wasn’t even ready until after we had signed all the papers.

This sale came about, oddly enough, this past spring when it occurred to me that, barring any unforeseen events, we would spend more time in Mexico in 2025 than we would in the United States. Commenting on this to Steph in my own joking way, I noted that since we were crossing that milestone, we should obviously buy a place in Pennsylvania, instead of renting as we’d done for the previous couple of years. It was meant to be funny, in that it didn’t make sense logically. But she surprised me by saying that she was thinking the same thing. And here we are.

Our places in Mexico City and PA share several commonalities, the most obvious being that both represent considerable downsizes from our last house. (Indeed, both places added together are smaller than that house.) But to me, the nicest commonality is that we have neighbors in both places that we explicitly rely on. This is important because we are gone from either place for months at a time. We have security systems in both places, and we only use the one in PA when we’re not there. But it’s really our neighbors who make what we do possible.

In PA, our next-door neighbor collects our mail and whatever packages as needed. We obviously stop mail delivery when we can, but the time frame on that has gone down. And some packages are outside our control as we get certain things on whatever schedules, and it’s not always obvious. But our neighbor is there, monitoring the neighborhood, as she does, and God love her. And when a UPS or FedEx truck or whatever shows up, she’s on it.

Last year, I wrote about the bizarrely agonizing day that UPS delivered the iPhone 16 Pro Max in iPhone Day (Premium): We were planning to drive up to Rochester to visit our son, the phone was supposed to arrive in the afternoon, and, well, things went south. The schedules for UPS and other deliveries are very much based on whatever routes you happen to be on, and for things like new iPhones, there’s nothing you can do about it. When we were in the house in PA, our deliveries always came early in the day, which was nice. In our condo, literally a block over from the development the house is in, the deliveries always come late. And that can be miserable if you’re trying to get other things done. As it was a year ago.

This year, we’ve been in Mexico City since mid-September, aside from that side trip to Hawaii for the Snapdragon Summit and a more recent long weekend away in Oaxaca. And that means we missed the delivery time frames for the iPhone 17 series devices (we literally flew to Mexico the day the new iPhones were delivered to the first customers) and the Pixel 10 Pro Fold. And so I’ve had time to stew and think about what to do, if anything.

In the end, I ordered a Pixel 10 Pro Fold this past weekend, on the last day of a sale. (Though I could have waited, since Google will be offering the same sale price over Black Friday, we since learned.) That was almost a no-brainer, since I am essentially benefitting from two trade-ins in addition to the sale price reduction. But I spent a lot more time second-guessing my decision on a new iPhone. It may surprise you to know that I really, really want an iPhone Air. Despite its many real-world limitations.

In the end, I went the safer route and did what I usually do and ordered an iPhone 17 Pro Max, a big hulking mass of metal, glass, and battery. That was partially informed by the obvious, in that I value camera quality above all else and I am quite interested in some of the upgrades there. But it was also informed by my need/preference for a larger display: I love the idea of an easily pocketable small phone, and I could make it work. But the bigger displays are easier on my eyes, which aren’t terrific.

The iPhone Air would have met that need, at least. As would an iPhone 17 Plus, had Apple decided to sell such a phone. I almost bought an iPhone 16 Plus last year, and sort of regretted not doing so for months. This was why I chose the Galaxy S25+ over, say, the more obvious Galaxy S25 Ultra when I gave Samsung another shot this past spring: It has a big enough screen but not the highest end camera system, and it was (and still is) a terrific smartphone. I feel like a Plus model iPhone could slotted in similarly for me. But now I’ll never know.

The iPhone Air complicates things for me greatly. It is clearly a first generation device with some compromises, and I can see why those limitations—a single rear camera lens and a single speaker, most obviously—are understandably deal breakers for many. But the Air is also clearly the future of the iPhone as a product line, a peek at the future in the same way as the iPhone 4 and iPhone X. The thinness of the Air is incredible, as is its (yes, sorry) air-like lightness. I was able to check out the new iPhones at the Palacio de Hierro here in Mexico City, a high-end department store like those in Paris and throughout Europe, and the Air blew me away.

This is an interesting thing. When it comes to making decisions, whether it’s about buying something—a condo, let’s say, or an iPhone—there are logical concerns that are obvious to anyone. And I often refer to what I think of as a matrix of decisions, where a decision about such a purchase is really a list of weighted micro-decisions. We all have needs, just as we all have preferences. But there is also an emotional element to these decisions. And those will vary even more by person.

I can’t explain this. But the iPhone Air speaks to me. And I feel like I will regret not getting one much more than I did with the iPhone 16 Plus last year. I know the limitations. I know how I spend time on phones, I know the pros and cons. I understand the technology. But I still want it.

This is how I feel about certain other things in life. For example, Paris, which is my favorite place on earth, and Washington D.C., my favorite place in the U.S. I am drawn to these places, would give up a lot to be in either. And I write that, and say that, knowing that both make no sense, not really. Both are incredibly expensive. Both are miserably cold in the winter and miserably hot in the summer, extremes that I cannot stand. There are additional language and paperwork complexities to Paris that aren’t worth discussing. But you get the idea. Neither makes sense logically. But I love them both.

I have seen the reports about Apple cutting the production of the iPhone Air because of worse-than-expected sales. I have seen the more recent reports about Apple postponing the next Air, allegedly so it can figure out how to add a second rear camera lens to this incredibly thin and light (and, go figure, durable) device. I get it. But neither of these things impacted my decision. I don’t care about any of that.

Well, I do care, of course. I am holding out hope that a second generation iPhone Air erases the only two meaningful issues I have with this device and that I can get that—or, God help me, a folding iPhone—whenever Apple figures it out.

But meanwhile, logic won out.

Except that it didn’t. I can’t explain this either, but I ordered an iPhone 17 Pro Max that I will discuss in a separate article soon. And I didn’t have to. It wasn’t on sale, it’s not in short supply, and I could have literally ordered one the day before we flew home and not had any issues. But I didn’t do that. I ordered it over the weekend, possibly on the same day I ordered the Pixel 10 Pro Fold. And yeah. I never learn.

This past Tuesday, UPS delivered the Pixel 10 Pro Fold. It arrived a day early, I was warned by emails and text messages. And Stephanie notified our neighbor when it was delivered. She texted back that she had gotten it off our porch before she even saw my wife’s message. Nice. She’s so reliable.

Yesterday, Wednesday, UPS delivered the iPhone. It, too, arrived a day earlier than expected, and I was likewise warned by a barrage of messages from both Apple and UPS. But this time, things went differently. Where the Pixel was delivered in the early afternoon, the iPhone delivery was delayed twice and it finally arrived in the early evening. But this time there was no photo showing the box on the porch. Steph texted our neighbor, but she never wrote back. 30 minutes went by. An hour. And then two hours. Nothing.

So I texted my sister and her husband, apologized for the coming inconvenience, explained what was happening, and asked if it were possible for one of them to see if the box was still out on the porch. They both went over right away, which I appreciate. No box. No neighbor, either, her lights were all off.

And so I worried. This was so unnecessary. So frustrating. So avoidable. $1200 sitting in a little box, somewhere. Gone?

It ended up working out: Our neighbor finally texted Stephanie back about three hours after the iPhone had been delivered. She had gotten it immediately and it’s waiting for me inside our condo, protected by our security system and our watchful neighbor. Who had been out at dinner with another of the neighbors in our little quad, as it happens. She invited Stephanie to join them the next time. That’s nice.

I think my blood pressure is finally returning to a normal level. And I got an iPhone, hooray. But I’m not sure if it’s the one I want. Or that any of this matters. But I will discuss that iPhone soon. You know, after I’ve fully calmed down.