Washington, DC - July 4, 2009

Happy Independence Day, friends. While thinking about this holiday and what it means to me, personally, I remembered the post I wrote on this day in 2004, when I was living in Seoul and missing home a lot. At the time, we were pretty worried about where our country was headed–and that was without a horrible economic downturn. Today, as we are still mired in war, recession, and political bickering, I found that these words that I wrote six years ago still ring true.

I hope this give you some food for thought–and some inspiration to stay in the fight to save our country.

On behalf of all the expats here, I’d like to wish everyone at home a happy Independence Day. Allow me to take this opportunity to share my thoughts on our great nation.

America is a great country. Not because our people are more industrious, more talented, nicer, or better than everyone else; not because God decided to bless America more than any other country. No, America is a great country simply because for me (and for the majority of my readers) it is home.

America is where I was born, where I grew up, and where I will grow old. It is where my family and my friends live. It is where my sons and daughters will live. And no matter how acclimated I will get to Korean culture and the Korean language, I know will never be able to feel as comfortable here, or anywhere else for that matter, as I would in America.

I am an American. I love baseball, rock and roll, college football, cheap beer, and hamburgers. So do a lot of other Americans. This may sound superficial, or at least heinously obvious, but I really like being around people that I have a lot in common with. In other words, I like being around Americans.

That being said, I am certainly enjoying this cross-cultural experience, and I feel like I will be the better person for it after I’m done. But I will also certainly come to appreciate the things back home that most of us take for granted. The diversity, for example. Jews, Italians, Asians, Blacks, Hispanics–they’re everywhere in the states (or at least where I went to school). Here, there are…Koreans. A lot of them. Okay, I live with a lot of Japanese people, but the diversity that one experiences in America is truly unique and certainly something that I miss.

I know a lot of things are wrong with America right now–Americans make headlines these days for being obese on a horrifying scale, performing poorly in school, and abusing prisoners in Iraq. The country is about to split itself in two during the upcoming Presidential election in what promises to be a bitter, polarized campaign.

Still, it is home. It’s the only one I have, and I love it for all its good and bad. My fellow Americans (whoo, there’s a doozy! I sound like a politician. But I know not all of my readers are U.S. citizens. But I digress), on this day, our nation’s birthday, I hope you find it in yourself to love your country, if for no other reason than because it is your home too, and it needs your help now more than ever.

They say you can’t go home again. I hope they’re wrong.

Happy Fourth of July. God bless America.

My friend Tom’s band, Bellman Barker.

[vimeo 972983]

5:45 am: I show up at the 5th Avenue Apple Store (“The Cube.”) Everyone must have seen the same supply status indicator on the Apple web site which strongly suggested that the other stores in NYC were running out of phones.

About 75-100 people in front of me.

7 am: Line starts moving as the doors open. We shuffle forward slowly and make small talk.

8:30 am: The guy next to me starts quizzing every Apple employee who walks by if he can sign up for his dad’s family plan, though he is not on the plan and his father is not present. Confusion sets in.

9:30 am: As we get tantalizingly close to the front, I start to get nervous. What if there’s something wrong with my account? This guys is definitely worried as several Apple employees in a row tell him that he is out of luck. After waffling back and forth, he decides to just give it a try and stay in the line.

10:15 am: I enter The Cube and get in another short line inside the store. I see my line companion walk away dejected, sans iPhone.

EPIC FAIL!

10:30 am: It’s my turn! Apple store staff are doing one on one activations with customers, which is why the wait is so heinous.

10:38 am: It works! iPhone is mine! w00t!!!

Total elapsed time, approximately 5 hours. Do I feel a little sheep-like? Absolutely. Do I have time for more introspection on my decision to stand in line and buy this little toy? No, my phone is ringing, and I have all these apps to play with…

(Clarification: This all went down Saturday, July 19. But I’m still playing with these apps.)