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| Angelika/Mike Schilli |
Michael In the second week of December, I had the honor of visiting the headquarters of AOL in Dulles, Virginia (very close to the capital of the USA, Washington D.C.) to give a two-day course on a programming language (for the experts among you: Tcl) for the folks there. Since Virginia is on the East Coast and we live on the West Coast of America, I had to set off on a Sunday morning, sit on a plane for five hours, rent a car, and navigate through a maze of highways to find the hotel and AOL. Not so easy, since my chief navigator Angelika wasn't with me. So, I arrived at Washington airport at 9 PM, rented a car, and (who would have thought?) promptly got lost. Anyone familiar with the Washington area knows that one highway leads into another and that once you miss an exit, there's no turning back because you have to go through three interchanges before you can take the next exit and turn around. I managed to pass the same toll booth twice, luckily it only cost 25 cents each time. There were large funnels set up there, into which you could toss the appropriate coin with a big swing and half out of the car window while driving, super cool! Fortunately, I had enough coins with me.
Then, of course, there was the three-hour time difference to overcome, so that, calculated by San Francisco time, I got up at 3 AM and started the lecture at 6 -- but in the end, I managed to chatter almost non-stop for an average of six hours a day and tell funny stories from the life of a web engineer. Americans expect much more than anyone else that a course is primarily "fun." Since it took them no more than three seconds to realize from my accent that I'm not American, I immediately told them where I'm from, and from then on everything went smoothly, and the people actually enjoyed it. Maybe one day I'll become a great speaker after all, anything is possible!
Michael The second half of our annual vacation (1 week) was spent in the deserts down by San Diego. Within California, you can fly around very cheaply, so the flight from San Francisco to San Diego, about 800 kilometers further south, and back costs only about 100 dollars per person. The weather there is a bit warmer; in San Francisco, it tends to rain in the winter, and although the temperature here rarely falls below 45 degrees Fahrenheit, we prefer it to be really sunny. We regularly buy the Süddeutsche Zeitung along with the "Magazin" from our "Pali" (as Angelika always calls the Palestinian newspaper vendor around the corner) every Friday, and Angelika had read there that in a small desert town called "29 Palms," there are not only 29 palm trees but also a nice motel that rents out small cottages with fireplaces and such.
Occasionally, illustrious figures from nearby Palm Springs, who have grown tired of the whole jet-set scene there, hide out in the cheap lodging for a few days to laze around without being recognized by anyone--because the dull folks living in this end-of-the-world area probably wouldn't even notice if Madonna and Dennis Rodman (for the older folks: Madonna is a pop singer and Dennis Rodman a basketball player with green hair) strolled arm in arm through the streets. Unfortunately, we didn't spot Cindy Crawford in a worn-out tracksuit or Steven Spielberg in swim trunks, but Angelika thought that an elderly gentleman who was lurking around the bar in the evening was a famous director, though she couldn't recall his name.
Anyway, we had our fun exploring the deserts in our legendary hiking boots during the day and inhaling the remarkable air, which lacks any moisture and smells distilled--the mountains surrounding the desert area block any rain, and the sun shines about 364 days a year. Nevertheless, various types of thorny bushes and cacti thrive there, which are nice to look at--though not to touch. There are said to be plenty of rattlesnakes too; we didn't see any, but one evening it seemed to us as if we heard one rattling away in the distance. Kssssrrr! Kssssrrr!
On the way to a rather rocky area at the foot of a mountain, where we had hoped to find a waterfall according to the travel guide, we came across a sign warning of mountain lions. Indeed, these not entirely harmless animals are quite common here in America. We were aware of reports that even near San Francisco, in Berkeley, a jogger was recently attacked by a mountain lion that had wandered into the city.
I must digress briefly here, because when we mentioned this topic to our motel host and I remarked that these lions had probably become city lions, the host interjected that they would no longer growl but only shout "Hey, Baby!" Back to the wilderness: From previous visits, we knew that if you encounter a mountain lion, you should make yourself appear large, wave your arms, shout, and throw small stones--and if attacked, never fall to the ground but stand upright and fight the animal--and always hit back hard! This is not a funny joke; it was actually stated in a brochure from the visitor center.
So, after passing the warning sign on our hike, we grabbed sticks and I picked up a rock, and we continued on our way. The path deteriorated noticeably, becoming narrower, and we had to push aside some thorny bushes to get through. When we finally reached a sort of oasis with palm trees, where a small stream flowed and we climbed a few rocks, we heard a suspicious rustling in the bushes and shortly after a loud splash, as if a medium-sized animal had jumped into the water.
That was too much for us, and we made a hasty retreat. Due to our rush, we pushed back the thorn branches rather carelessly, resulting in a few minor scratches, but eventually, we reached open ground without a rendezvous with a mountain lion. And "Hohoho! Hohoho!" echoed from the bushes in the distance--no, I made that part up, but the rest is true, really true!
Michael And there is also news to report from the production mill of the tireless Michael S.: The reach of German books is inevitably limited to German-speaking countries, and as is well known, I want to bombard the whole world with my products. So it was very convenient for me to hear from the UK branch of publisher Addison-Wesley that they were interested in translating my German book into English and launching it on the world market. No sooner said than done: A translator received the book via email, worked on it for a month, and finally sent back the result. I reviewed it, made corrections here and there, sent it back, and after a few rounds, the final result was ready: It will be in stores at the end of January. I have already received 6 sample copies and have given most of them to my colleagues at AOL. You can also order it from the largest bookstore on the Internet, Amazon: Go to amazon.com and enter "schilli" in the search field -- and you'll be beamed to the right place. It's quite strange to read my text in English -- but hey, if it brings money in... and my declared life goal is, as is well known, for my book to one day be in the bookstore of Stanford University. That could happen soon, then we'll go there with the camera...
Michael Like typical Germans in exile--giving in to hopeless sentimentality--we naturally couldn't resist buying a Christmas tree this year. We had to shell out 60 dollars, but it was delivered directly to our apartment. That was important because we still don't have a car, and transporting a 6 foot Christmas tree on the streetcar would have been quite conspicuous. Since the houses here are made of wood and real candles on Christmas trees are actually illegal, I kept a filled bucket of water ready just in case... but everything went well.
Michael Angelika is now quite active on the internet as well -- writing emails, browsing the web, and sending me "instant messages" to the office. It's a good thing that our access doesn't cost us anything in terms of phone charges or membership fees, otherwise, we would have ended up in the poorhouse long ago. Here in America, you don't pay a penny for local calls; they are all included in the so-called "flat rate," $15 a month for the second line. It's about time that Telekom in Germany or its competitors adjust their fees!
The photo above shows how Angelika is using the new computer in the living room, which she prefers because, allegedly, the screen of the old computer in the bedroom is "so bad." Ungrateful computer youth! Back in my day, we would have been happy with such a cheap monitor! We had to remember our programs in our heads because we didn't have a hard drive! Oh, how tough we were...
The photo above also shows the setup that has been enhancing my comfort while sitting at the computer for quite some time: In front of the keyboard lies a regular towel, on which my hands rest comfortably while typing. In front of the mouse is a small washcloth, which keeps the wrists warm and thus prevents the computer ailment "carpal tunnel syndrome" (a type of chronic tendonitis) that comes from too much typing.
So, that's it from me. Back to the broadcasting house!
Angelika So, now it's my turn. Michael keeps writing and writing, I can't get a word in! First of all, I want to inform you that I have actually managed to book a flight to Germany. I will be flying out on January 15th and will stay until February 12th. A four-week visit to Germany sounds incredibly long, but experience shows that four weeks are just flying by. As it stands now, I will be doing a little tour around Germany to see as many of you as possible. Since this is a major organizational effort for me, I would be very grateful if you could help me organize meet-ups. I fear that time will be too short to visit each of you individually. Therefore, it would be great if we could arrange group gatherings, if possible.
The problem is also that I need to go to Frankfurt to the American consulate to get a new visa stamp in my passport. I have to deal with this annoying bureaucratic matter because Michael switched to AOL some time ago, but we still have the Blacksun stamp from the old company in our passports. The guidelines of the American immigration authorities stipulate that you can only get this stamp if you leave America (please don't ask me why that is). However, I need the stamp to be able to re-enter. I will spare you the nerve-wracking process of reaching the consulate in Frankfurt. Long story short, I managed to make an appointment in Frankfurt, and since our friend Britta decided to move to Frankfurt and will grant me asylum (thanks, Britta!), the whole thing has a silver lining. I can visit Britta and take care of the visa stuff at the same time. What I actually wanted to say is that I have to plan my Germany tour around this appointment. So far, my plans are as follows:
I will land in Bremen on January 16th and then stay with my parents in Oldenburg. On January 20th, I will head to Münster in the evening, where I will stay with my friend Christa. I will stay there until January 23rd. On Saturday, January 23rd, I will leave early for Frankfurt. I have an appointment at the consulate on January 25th. On January 26th, I will set off for Augsburg/Munich. I plan to visit Bavaria for 8 days, then return to Oldenburg, where I will stay until February 12th. Hope this makes sense! Changes are, of course, possible. If anyone wants to reach me in Germany, it's best to call my parents. My parents usually know where I am, so they can help you if you don't remember where I am at any given time.
Angelika By the way, two astounding events occurred in San Francisco shortly before Christmas. One of them was even reported on German television: There was a power outage in San Francisco for several hours because an employee from the energy supply company, called PG&E, flipped the wrong switch at a power substation near San Francisco. Nothing worked for hours: no computers, no buses or streetcars, as they run on overhead lines, no subway, no traffic lights, no ATMs, etc. However, there was no doomsday atmosphere, as was often claimed on television; people took it rather calmly. It's important to know that in America, power outages for short periods are relatively common, but several hours is extremely unusual even by local standards.
I found it interesting that there was no emergency power system at all; not even at the airport, and this in a city prone to earthquakes, where everyone knows that the power easily goes out when the earth shakes heavily. We were lucky that our room heater still worked, as it runs on gas, and the hot water functioned perfectly. Michael didn't notice any of the excitement anyway, as he was on the East Coast at the time. I was a bit worried about my refrigerator (but it held up bravely and didn't defrost) and suffered greatly from not being able to make coffee all day, but otherwise, it wasn't too bad. I somehow found the story that a wrongly flipped switch was to blame for everything quite endearing, following the motto "Small cause, big effect!" You could really make a movie out of it.
The second sensation was that it snowed in San Francisco. You might not find that exciting, as you are used to German winters, but here it was the first snowfall in 20 years. Of course, the snow didn't settle, but the children still found it amazing because many of them had never experienced real snow before.Planning a Visit to Germany
Power Outage in San Francisco
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