Michael After my good old 486 computer, imported from Germany (sponsored by Mom!), has now become outdated after four years (four Internet years equate to forty human years), I finally decided to buy a new one, hooray! For those interested, here are the specs: 400 MHz Pentium II, 96 MB RAM, 17 GB hard drive, 17'' Trinitron monitor, 56 Kbps modem.

My good old computer will spend its retirement in the bedroom, where Angelika can now surf the Internet undisturbed. She has always complained that she never gets a chance to use the computer because of my constant typing!

Of course, in the Internet age, you don't just buy a new computer in a store. Instead, you go online, find a manufacturer, select the components, and instantly see how much the whole thing will cost. Then, you enter your credit card number and—bam!—a week later, a huge package arrives by mail, and the fun can begin!

This method even saves money because, as tourists in California painfully learn, you have to pay an additional 8.5% sales tax (a kind of VAT) on top of the listed price. However, when ordering online and shipping to another state, you are exempt from this tax. So, I simply ordered the stuff from Dallas, Texas, and it was flown to San Francisco without any problem! Many people do this, and politicians in Washington have considered imposing a flat internet tax. However, since everyone here in the U.S. sees the internet as the best communication tool and economic booster of all time (rightly so!), they decided to postpone the idea for a few years to avoid artificially slowing down the current development, which can only be described as an "explosion!"

With the new setup, we can now watch the German "Tagesschau" every day: the technology called RealVideo allows us to watch TV broadcasts over the Internet. The picture is only a few centimeters in size and a bit shaky, but you can see everything necessary and the sound is flawless. Due to the time difference, the 8:00 PM Tagesschau airs here at 11:00 AM—if that’s not progress, I don’t know what is!

Michael By the way, we also order our books online—whenever we're interested in a book, Amazon, a book retailer, offers all books 20% cheaper on the Internet. You order using your credit card number, and Amazon usually ships the goods via UPS. You get a so-called tracking number, which allows you to track the package's location at any time—again, on the Internet. Recently, I ordered something and saw that it was loaded onto a truck in Florida. Then it disappeared from the tracking system for three days; I was about to call UPS when it reappeared at a large distribution center near San Francisco. The fools had driven it across the entire country by truck!

In Germany, there's currently a debate about the fixed book pricing. The fact is that in Germany, no bookseller is allowed to offer a book for 17.95 DM if the price is listed as 19.95 DM; everyone has to sell it at the same price. Even if a supermarket wanted to make a special offer, they wouldn't be allowed to (except for clearance sales of old stock). Here in the U.S., it's different; the free market rules, and anyone can sell books as cheaply as they want. This, of course, means that the large bookstore chains dominate the market, and the small bookseller around the corner can't compete. Additionally, these chains only stock the books that sell well, namely bestsellers. Alternative books from small publishers don't stand a chance; they never make it to the shelves. As a result, the book selection here is quite monotonous, and you rarely see anything truly new or interesting.

Michael Another interesting market is the car market. We still haven't found a car—we're hesitant to visit a dealer because it's well-known that they're all crooks who will rip you off. We're looking to buy a cheap used Japanese car and have already read a few books on the subject. They say you should never pay the listed price but always negotiate first. If the seller doesn't accept, which is usually the case, you must resolutely walk out of the store. But, as the guidebook said, you can bet that a flailing salesman will come running after you, assuring you that you can indeed discuss the price further. You should only go back with him if he solemnly promises to consider your offer, which he usually does, and then the bargaining resumes in the showroom. For every little thing, there are additional fees (registration and incomprehensible individual charges), and then you have to start arguing again, continue negotiating, and finally settle on a reasonable price.

As you can see, this process requires a lot of time and patience, but we'll manage to get a car eventually.

(Michael) On November 12, America Online held its All-Hands Meeting. Here's how it goes: around 5000 employees who work at the headquarters in Dulles, Virginia, and the surrounding area gather in a sports hall (not all of them, customer service is maintained), and the top guru, Steve Case, announces the new direction. Employees from branches in Columbus, Ohio; Chicago, Illinois; many other locations; and finally, San Mateo (where your narrator was present) gathered in local hotels where the show was broadcast live via satellite on a giant screen. These annual general meetings are put on as a total show, quite unlike the usual German practices!

It starts with a video, hardcore heavy metal music (Metallica): "Fuel, Fire, Desire!" You see Steve Case, the company boss, behind a stack of envelopes and brochures, seemingly busy stuffing the latest AOL disks into envelopes and getting them ready to send out—until his secretary reminds him that the general meeting is about to start. Case then puts on his fireproof racing suit, dons his helmet, takes the elevator down from his office to the lobby, salutes the AOL motto engraved in the wall, and steps outside where a race car is waiting for him. He squeezes in, starts the engine, and takes off with smoking tires. The AOL doorman watches in amazement as the car speeds through the gate. "Fuel, Fire, Desire!" Pow! Pow! Pow! The Metallica song pounds as Big Steve races down the highway toward the general meeting. Eventually, the race car arrives at the sports hall—and ten seconds later, the live broadcast kicks in: Steve Case jumps onto the stage in his racing suit, the cheering is immense, it feels more like a pop star than a company boss. He quickly changes into jeans, sneakers, and an unbuttoned shirt, as he's known. It's important to note that this man owns several billion dollars. He delivers a TV-worthy speech; the show rolls on for an hour and a half. Bob Pitman, the Chief Operating Officer, comes in wearing a leather jacket and sunglasses—now that's a general meeting I can get behind!

(Michael) Since, as you all surely know, November 12 is also my birthday, and I was somewhat, uh, tied up at the company, I took the next day off. Angelika and I went to Wine Country for the extended weekend, stayed at a charming bed-and-breakfast, and spent our days visiting all the local wineries, sampling an estimated 30 wines in two days.

For now, I can't look at another glass of wine, but we did stock up on some fine bottles.

Okay, my dear ones, that's it again from your USA vacationers! It would be nice to hear from you as well; here in exile, it's always a joyous day when news from distant lands trickles in. Take care, write lots!

Angelika & Michael