Q:

UIView animation delays

I'm noticing that UIView animations using the UIView class methods seem to more or less put the program on "pause" until they finish. 
Is there a way to have an animation start that, for examples, lasts 3 seconds, and while it is animating, other aspects of the program are still running, accepting touch events, etc?

A:

Yes, UIKit blocks interaction during animation by default. To override, set UIViewAnimationOptionAllowUserInteraction:
[UIView animateWithDuration:0.3 delay:0.0
                    options:UIViewAnimationOptionAllowUserInteraction
                 animations:^
 {
     // ...
 } completion:NULL];

