But not this year. This year he gets his own iPad.

When the iPad was first released some dismissed it as a toy, an overgrown iPod touch, or an inadequate laptop substitute. Even those who generally support Apple’s hardware efforts wondered exactly what they might do with an iPad. And, for a lot of them, it took using one to find out.

For example, during a family gathering last summer my sisters and I convinced my mother to get an iPad, figuring it would be an easy way for her to check her e-mail and surf the Web. She and my older sister visited the local Apple Store and returned with a along with . I configured her e-mail account, bookmarked a few favorite Websites, and left her to it.

During my Thanksgiving visit I found that she has expanded her horizons. She’s now an avid player, frustrated that she’s less successful with than her 9-year-old granddaughter, just getting the hang of watching movies on her iPad, and has downloaded a few old and new books from the iBookstore.

It’s this last purpose that brings us back to Lew. With the “for a 100-year-old” caveat in mind, he’s in great shape. He gets around with the aid of a walker, he goes to the gym twice a week, he reads three papers a day, and he follows every ball caught, dropped, kicked, or thrown by a UCLA team.