Michael In search of ever new, more exciting newsletter topics, your intrepid reporter Michael sometimes has to take unconventional paths. To stay at the top in the cutthroat news business, it's not enough to keep churning out the same funny stories; every now and then, you need a real blockbuster: Drumroll... Ladies and gentlemen... Three... Two... One... the bomb drops... ka-booooom!: I jumped out of an airplane from a height of 15,000 feet with a parachute. And here's how it happened: A friend at Netscape told me about the so-called tandem jumps, which are currently all the rage in the USA. You get strapped to an experienced skydiver, fly in a small plane to dizzying heights, jump out, and race towards the earth in free fall for 60 seconds before the skydiver pulls the cord and the parachute opens, allowing you to leisurely glide back to the starting point.

Michael Angelika is meanwhile diligently working on her photos. Figure 1 shows the artist retouching the images, where even the last specks of dust that sneaked onto the negatives and photo paper during development are covered with matching color. Of course, the old overachiever received an "A+" in her photography course again. When I was in school, I also got straight A's, as you know. Haha, or not! And in the photo lab at the UC Berkeley Extension, the lady has made herself so indispensable that at the end of the semester, she received a call from the manager asking if she would like to take on the "Monitor" (tutor) job one day a week, to assist the students with advice and support, and to ensure order and discipline (the whip cracks: Pchtsch! Pchtsch!). As compensation, she is allowed to choose a course at the university and hang out at the photo lab as often as she wants, even when it is officially closed to the public, like during the holidays. I already know who will take full advantage of that until the very end.

Michael Recently, I was walking through the cubicle rows at Netscape again to make myself a cappuccino in the kitchen. There's a professional espresso machine there that not only creates a top-notch "crema" but also has an endless steam wand for frothing milk, hiss, hiss. On one of my first days at work, I had to have a colleague explain how to use it, but by now I could easily serve at the counter in a cafe.

Angelika So, now I finally want to contribute to the newsletter again. I can't offer anything as exciting as skydiving (I'm not crazy), but as Michael already mentioned, I've snagged the "monitor" job in the darkroom. On Thursday (from 12 to 6 PM), I had my first shift, and it went quite well since the beginning of the semester is usually not that busy. This is great for getting accustomed.

Angelika We still have sand in our shoes from Hawaii... that's an old German song and no joke, because just one week ago we came back from our one-week vacation, which we spent this time on the island of Maui. Just like that, five hours on a plane and you're in a tropical paradise, without even needing to show your passport, since Hawaii is, as you know, part of the USA. The word "Hawaii" probably conjures up images of surfers, palm trees, sandy beaches, cocktails, landscapes like Jurassic Park (the movie was actually filmed on Kauai), and floral print button down shirts not just for us. And let me tell you, you can find all of that there. Sometimes you really feel like you're looking at a postcard and not reality (see Figure 1).