Photos in San Francisco City Hall

Originally, we planned to lease a venue, meet there regularly, and hold exhibitions. However, the tight rental market in San Francisco quickly showed us that this goal was more wishful thinking than reality, so we were trying to exhibit our pictures in other locations. And it's not just about organizing exhibitions for us. We meet to view each other's photos and provide constructive criticism. We organize workshops to learn photographic techniques, visit museums together, or invite photographers to talk about their photos.

Now, back to San Francisco City Hall. Various exhibitions are regularly held there--there's even a "curator" who organizes them. If you want to display photos or similar works in the town hall, you get in touch with the curator, explain why the town hall is particularly suitable for the exhibition, show your portfolio, and if you're lucky, you get the go-ahead. As you can tell, we were lucky because our photos will be on display from March 20th to May 27th. Anyone who happens to be in San Francisco during this period is, of course, obliged to stop by City Hall. You can then admire the photos from 27 members. There is no specific theme, and each of us has submitted three to four photos.

The official exhibition opening took place on March 22nd and was organized in a highly professional manner. Not only did we have printed postcards as announcements, which were distributed and sent everywhere, but we also sent so-called press kits to various newspapers, hoping that our exhibition would be announced with a photo in the newspapers' event calendars. In San Francisco, this is a challenge due to the diverse cultural offerings, but it was indeed prominently announced in the so-called "Pink Pages" (weekly event calendar) of the Chronicle (a daily newspaper in San Francisco). At the exhibition opening, there were easily 400 people. Even Michael, who is not easily impressed, was astonished. Cynics among you might now say that such events usually only attract friends or well-meaning acquaintances. Far from it!!! Even if each of us dragged 10 friends or acquaintances to the exhibition opening, I would only reach 270. Ha! And even if you might think I'm approaching delusions of grandeur, I'm telling you, there's nothing better than seeing your own photos hanging on the wall in a public place.

I was so excited that the day before the exhibition opening, I snuck into the town hall to stand, completely moved, in front of my own pictures. It's a good thing no one saw me. At the opening, many people I didn't know at all--I emphasize, complete strangers--approached me about my photos. That's what I really love about Americans; they aren't shy about sharing their enthusiasm and giving praise. By the way, during the opening, Michael often stood behind some people who were looking at my photos, trying to catch their comments, and he didn't report any devastating criticism to me. But enough about my photography.

Economy in Crisis

In San Francisco, the wave of layoffs has suddenly resulted in apartments becoming available for rent again. As recently as December, there was absolutely nothing on the market. Walking around our neighborhood, you would only occasionally see signs for outrageously overpriced house sales. Now, we suddenly come across signs saying "Apartment for Rent." Many people have to move away because they have lost their jobs. Stock options that were part of their salary are now worthless, making the exorbitantly expensive life in San Francisco and its surroundings unaffordable. Unfortunately, the slight easing of the housing market has not yet led to a decrease in rental prices. Landlords probably still don't quite believe that the golden age is over.

They are already complaining that they no longer earn anything from rentals. However, I have no sympathy, as the high-price policy has driven many artists and poorer families out of this city. Perhaps the end of the myth "the internet can do everything and will make us all millionaires" is a good thing for San Francisco. The city can breathe again and return to its old friendliness, where there is once again plenty of room for outsiders, families, older people, artists, and not just for young, dynamic dot-commers with cell phones (oh dear, this will earn me harsh criticism again). We only hope that we will still be here to enjoy it, because for us, the changing job market can have much more far-reaching consequences. After all, we are only here because there weren't enough American software engineers to handle the boom. And we are already wondering if soon the first people will start shouting that foreigners are blocking jobs that Americans could fill.

Changes in Immigration Law

Pink-Slip Parties

Angelika Californians are known for their boundless optimism and inventiveness. In San Francisco and other cities in Silicon Valley, there are now so-called "Pink-Slip Parties." These are parties that serve no other purpose than informal job searching. The term "Pink Slip" is used because a termination notice is typically given to an employee on a "pink slip" (a pink form). At these gatherings, job seekers and employers casually exchange information over a bottle of beer or a glass of wine in a nightclub. The goal is to make connections in a pleasant atmosphere and hopefully be invited to a job interview. Not a bad idea!

Filing an Income Tax Return

Accounts/Checks/ATMs in the USA

The American word for "Geldautomat" is "ATM," pronounced "Ay-Tee-Em." It stands for "Automatic Teller Machine," which roughly translates to "Automatische Bankkassierermaschine" in German. These machines have three advantages over the German ones, and I don't know if I could live without them: First, you can choose your own PIN instead of being assigned one that no one can remember. Second, there is a button called "Quick Cash." You tell the bank once what amount you usually withdraw from the ATM, and the machine remembers it. Then you just go there, enter your PIN, press "Quick Cash," and the ATM dispenses the same amount of money every time. By the way, ATMs here only dispense twenty dollar bills because no one withdraws huge amounts. Third, and this is what I'm really getting at, you can not only withdraw money from American ATMs but also deposit cash.

Here in the USA, instead of using cash, people often pay with checks. These are so-called "personal checks," which are not like Eurocheques that guarantee the recipient will receive at least 400 marks. Instead, personal checks do not guarantee anything. If someone writes a check and doesn't have enough money in their account, the check "bounces." The word "bounce" means something like "to be rejected." The doorman of a bar or club is called a "bouncer." Or if the train is already full with 24 bicycles and the conductor turns you away, you might tell your fellow cyclists, "I got bounced off the train, man, this sucks big time!" But I digress.

You receive checks from people you know to settle amounts of more than twenty dollars, or, for example, as a payment method for a mail-in rebate -- you know, where you pay more at the register, send in a coupon by mail, and get the money back after a few weeks.

You can then deposit the check at an ATM and the amount is credited to your account immediately. However, you can only access the money once the transaction is finalized and the bank has collected the funds from the check issuer, which can take up to a week. Of course, instead of using the ATM, you can simply go to the teller. In the USA, you typically don't pay any monthly fees for a checking account -- however, at our bank, it costs two dollars each time you have something done by the staff instead of the machine.

Depositing a check at the ATM is quite simple: First, you need to "endorse" the check. You write your name, account number, and signature on the back of the check you received from someone. Then you go to the ATM, take an envelope from a drawer there, put the check inside, and seal it. Next, you insert your ATM card into the machine, enter your PIN, and select the "Deposit" option from the menu. You enter the amount written on the check (if it's an odd amount and you haven't memorized it, you have to quickly tear open the envelope again!) and suddenly the machine starts whirring and opens a flap you've never seen before, eagerly sucking in the envelope you hold out. What happens next, I can only guess: The next day, a bank employee opens the envelope, checks if the amount was correct, and processes the transaction.

Exactly this check depositing (and you can also deposit cash this way) is currently being rewarded by our bank with a chance to win a prize. Every time you deposit a check and luck is on your side, you can win three times the deposited amount. Therefore, if you've ever wanted to send me a check, send it now!

Now the question -- how do I write a check? In Figure 12, you can see an example. Let's assume I received an invoice from a company called "Bullerbü Enterprises" for 10 dollars and 95 cents. I would agree with it and want to send them a check. First, you write the date in the "Date" field at the top right. Month, day, year, separated by slashes or dashes, as is customary in America. In the image, you see January 31, 2001, written as 01-31-01. By the way, in America, you can postdate checks to prevent them from being cashed before the entered date. In Germany, it doesn't matter; the check is always cashed immediately. In America, the bank will not cash it before the entered date.

Then, in the "Pay to the order of" field, you enter the name of the company that will receive the check, in this case, "Bullerbü Enterprises." It is very important to write the name correctly, as the check is only valid for this company or person--for security reasons, since it could get lost in the mail. Similar to an "account payee only" entry on a German check.

The amount goes in the field with the dollar sign in front, and in America, the comma is a period, so it's 10.95 and not 10,95. Don't take this lightly; the comma in America is used to separate thousands, so 1,000 means one thousand, which in Europe would be written as 1.000. And of course, the number one is written without a stroke, but educated newsletter readers have known this for years. The amount is then written out again in the field below, first the whole number value, followed by the word "and" and the cent amount as XX/100. In our case, it's 95 cents, so it reads "Ten and 95/100". Quite unusual, but that's how it's done in America.

As with German checks, you should fill in the blank spaces in the fields with horizontal lines so that no one can tamper with them. Then don't forget to sign, and you're all set. In the "For" field, you can enter a kind of purpose, such as writing the phone number when paying the phone bill, or perhaps the name of the magazine and the subscription duration for a magazine subscription, but this is all optional and will most likely not be noticed by anyone. It's sometimes quite useful just for your own bookkeeping.

In the top right corner of the check, you will find the current check number (2145), and at the bottom in the machine-readable section, there are first 9 and then another 4 digits for the routing information (a type of bank code), followed by two sets of five numbers for the account number (12345-12345 in the illustration).

Then you stick a 34-cent stamp on an envelope (that's how much it costs to send a letter within the USA that weighs no more than one ounce, about 28.35 grams) and send it off. On your invoice copy, you write "Paid 01/31/01 Check #2145" and file it in a folder so you know that you've paid the bill in case a reminder comes at some point, and also with which check. If the check gets lost in the mail, you can call to have it canceled at the bank, so you can send a new one. This happens in about 1% of cases. In your checkbook, you record that a check for the amount of $10.95 was written and calculate how much is left in your account. If you forget to do this, you might end up writing checks that aren't covered, and they "bounce," which is uncool.

By the way, you might be wondering how you can be sure that a check you receive is covered. Because a "Personal Check" does not have guaranteed coverage, hardly anyone accepts one except for the corner supermarket, which will also ask to see your ID. In such places, it might happen that bounced checks are publicly displayed so everyone can see what kind of fool doesn't have enough money in their account. Letting a check bounce is considered pretty foolish, and if it happens to someone once, they are forever discredited.

So, for example, if you're buying a used car, no one will accept a "Personal Check." Once the purchase price is negotiated, the buyer goes to the bank and obtains a so-called "Cashier's Check," which is guaranteed to be honored. By the way, the cashier's check has a detachable side strip. I've heard that if you tear it off, the "Cashier's Check" is no longer valid! The bank requires real cash from the account for a "Cashier's Check," otherwise, they won't issue it. The buyer then takes it to the seller, and the purchase is finalized. Why use a "Cashier's Check" instead of cash? Because of the traceability of the transaction. With cash, no one can prove who received what and when. However, when a check for a certain amount is cashed at a bank, it is officially recorded because the bank logs it.

What if you buy a used car on a Saturday? In the USA, the customer is, of course, not the fool but a king -- and so some banks are naturally open on Saturdays as well. By the way, it's quite funny because that's when they have "Casual Day," meaning none of the employees have to wear a suit with a tie, or a costume. Angelika and I went to our bank four years ago, when we were new in the country, on a Saturday to open an account, and someone in jeans and a shirt approached us in the lobby to ask about our needs. Confused, I thought, "What does the janitor want from me?" but it was a bank employee from the counter who was walking around the customer area! It's funny what you have programmed into your brain.

"Traveller's checks" that can be purchased at banks in Germany are, by the way, the ideal means of payment for tourists. Amex traveller's checks are accepted everywhere here in the USA, as long as they are issued in dollars. Even the corner store or a restaurant will gladly accept them without any fees to settle the bill, as long as you don't try to pay a $5 bill with a $100 traveller's check. Otherwise, tourists are best off using a credit card, as it offers the best exchange rate and only about 1% in fees. With cash, the exchange rate is approximately worse by 5%.

It's also amusing what happens when you first arrive in the country and receive your first checkbook, usually containing about 20 so-called beginner's checks. Absolutely no one accepts these, except for the electricity company and the telephone company, to whom you send a check by mail each month to pay your electricity and phone bills. If you don't run into trouble with the first checks, the bank will send you a proper checkbook after a few weeks. Since many stores are rather dismissive towards people who have just received their first checkbook, the bank will suggest starting the check numbers not at 1, but at, for example, 1000. Over the years, you build up "credit," or creditworthiness.

At some point after a year, you can apply for a credit card. Incidentally, it doesn't matter if you already had a credit card from the same company (American Express, Visa, MasterCard/Eurocard) in Germany; American credit companies don't care about that at all. Most Americans come into contact with credit very early, and similar to the "Schufa" in Germany, the American "Credit Report" records who repaid their debts and who didn't. Three private companies maintain "Credit Reports": TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax. Because these are private companies, you have to be extremely careful to ensure no errors slip in. For example, if a bank reports just for fun that someone hasn't paid their credit, you can file an objection against the entry (which will then be noted in the entry), but the entry itself remains. I've read that people have had to fight against these arbitrary or erroneous entries for years before they were finally corrected. The best stories, by the way, are in the very good book https://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASIN/0596001053/perlmeistercom04 by Simson Garfinkel.

Anyone who once fell out of line (even if it was just for not paying the rent, missing an installment payment, or running out of money in the account) has a very hard time correcting this mistake. When you apply for a credit card, the card company checks the "Credit Report" to see how creditworthy the potential new customer is. In the case of a foreigner newly arrived from Germany, this inquiry results in a blank sheet of paper, which leads to the automatic rejection of the application. The same applies, by the way, when renting an apartment: the landlord checks the "Credit Report," and if there is something negative or nothing at all, you don't get the apartment. At that time, I had to plead with our landlord until I finally got our apartment -- because my credit report was simply empty.

Having "credit" or creditworthiness is very important in America. If someone pays amounts over 20 dollars in cash at the supermarket, they are looked at strangely, as if the cashier is thinking: Why doesn't anyone give them a credit card or a check? What's wrong with them? However, I still like to pay in cash, and I don't care what they think of me. On the contrary, it drives me crazy when some fool pays a 5-dollar purchase with a credit card, and it takes forever--quite common in America. Those with a good credit receive about two offers every day (by mail or phone call) for new credit cards. This starts happening to foreigners who haven't had any negative incidents after about two years, as they become known in the system.

Cash, on the other hand, provides anonymity--no one can trace who bought what, where, and when. However, supermarkets are naturally interested in collecting data on purchasing behavior and selling it back to advertisers, who then bombard you with targeted, tailor-made advertising. For example, a check might have your phone number on it, which the supermarket can sell to people who call you at 8 PM at home trying to sell you something. If the bank doesn't write the phone number on the check, the cashier will ask for it. Of course, you can say you don't want to provide it or just give a fake number like 123-4567, but it's amusing. Supermarkets like "Safeway" issue customer cards, and certain special offers are only available at a discounted price if you present the customer card. And you can't even enter our favorite supermarket, "Costco," without your membership card! This way, the supermarket knows who bought what and has more data to feed into the computer. I don't think this is bad at all because the advertising that bombards us today is so annoying precisely because it is not targeted. When the TV interrupts a program for 5 minutes to show beer or detergent ads, it's a waste of time. If, during the same time, computer stores advertised their products, I might not have any objections.

American Expressions: "Gung Ho"

Preparing For the Marathon

Michael On July 8th, I will be participating in the San Francisco Marathon. Yes, you heard that right, the speedy newsletter reporter will lace up his running shoes and race 42.195 km across San Francisco city streets with a few thousand other enthusiasts. While I am in pretty good shape, a special training regimen is necessary for such an ordeal: since March 8th, I have been training four times a week following a proven special program. I started with 5-kilometer runs and increased the distance weekly so that my muscles could build up gradually and there is no risk of injury. By the way, the longest training run in the program is one week before the San Francisco Marathon and is 29 kilometers long. So, the full 42 kilometers are only being run on marathon day itself, and then probably not ever again.

In the San Francisco Marathon, you run across the city past many landmarks. If you've been to San Francisco before, you'll recognize parts of the route: You start in Golden Gate Park, run north over the Presidio to the Golden Gate Bridge, then along Fisherman's Wharf down the Embarcadero by the Bay, into the tech district "SoMa," then briefly through the Mexican neighborhood "Mission," almost past our home in "Noe," up Laguna Street to Market and all the way back up to Golden Gate Park. Across the park to the ocean, where the Pacific waves are crashing onto the beach, then along the promenade down to Lake Merced, turn around and run the same road back up to Golden Gate Park -- and to the finish line. So it definitely won't be boring, I just have to keep going. And it's quite simple: You have to drink enough water and remidn yourself to not stop running!

The History of the Marathon: Around 490 BC, the Greeks drove back the advancing Darius (King of Persia) and his troops--a successful battle approximately 40 kilometers from Athens, in an area called "Marathon." Once the battle was won, a runner set off to bring the joyful news to the Athenians in Athens. He ran the entire 40 kilometers to the city, but overexerted himself and could only shout "Victory!" before collapsing dead.

At the first Olympic Games in Athens in 1896, the marathon was immediately included as a discipline because it was considered almost superhuman to cover this distance by running. In 1912, at the Olympic Games in Sweden, the distance was adjusted to the now standard 42.195 kilometers, actually by circumstance, because the runners were supposed to run exactly to the location of the throne of the King of Sweden.

The problem with a marathon is not the 42 kilometers; it's only the last ten that are hell on earth. Here's why: The muscles in the body derive their energy from adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which the body produces during an easy long-distance run from about 50% carbohydrates and 50% fats. After about 30 to 35 kilometers, all the carbohydrates are depleted, and the body begins to generate energy from pure fat. This is said to be quite painful and it requires a lot of willpower to break through this barrier. In American terms, this is called "hitting the wall." You have to run slower and drag your leaden body laboriously to the finish. But if you regularly consume carbohydrates during the run in the form of drinks like Gatorade, you can delay this barrier, and if done skillfully, even until the end of the marathon. I have read several books on the subject and am confident that I can do it. In the July newsletter, I will surely report on it at length and boast like ten naked savages, don't worry.

Wine of the Month

Michael And here again is the popular section: Now-let's-drink-another-bottle-of-wine! This time, a delicate little wine that was on the shelf for 13 dollars at the giant supermarket Costco and apparently only caught the eye of the speedy newsletter reporter. When you stick your nose in the glass, something wafts towards you that the American wine connoisseur would describe as 'liquorish', almost a brandy-like note. Also not unlike the scent of Mon Cheri, a popular German pre-christmas snack. Very delicious. On the palate, nicely balanced, fine, unobtrusive tannins. A wonderfully heavy red wine that is best suited for snuggling into a heavy Italian leather armchair in the evening and reading an excellent Perl book. Aaah ....

Top Product: The TiVo Box

Michael And here is this month's newsletter's top product: the TiVo box. In Germany, you have the problem that only crap is on TV, which is constantly interrupted by commercials. In America, it's even worse, and that's why the company TiVo came up with a box that contains a small computer that continuously records the TV program onto a hard drive while you're watching.

If you miss a dialogue in a TV show because you were munching on potato chips too loudly, you can quickly press the TiVo remote and jump back in time--up to half an hour if needed. However, you will then be watching the program on a delay: you are watching the past while the TiVo box continues to record the present. That's also a clever way to skip the frequently inserted commercials. You let TiVo record the show, watch it with a slight delay, and fast-forward through the commercial breaks.

Some readers are already shouting: Hahaha, my VCR can do that too! To which your uncle from America says: Not so fast, kids. The TiVo box can record one show while playing another that's already been saved. Or even play the beginning of a recorded show while it's still not finished! So if you come home late and your favorite TV show has already started, you don't have to freak out and run to the gun cabinet (see the second-to-last newsletter), you just let the TiVo box play the beginning of the show while it continues to record the end. This way, you watch the show just slightly delayed! During commercial breaks, you can fast forward to catch up a few minutes until you're back in the present!

This time delay feature is also useful when you're watching something live on TV but need to quickly run to the phone because someone is calling during prime time. You simply press the "Pause" button, and the TiVo box continues recording the show. When you later press the "Play" button, the TiVo box resumes playback from the interruption point in the past while still recording the present.

Furthermore, the box knows the entire TV station schedule by heart because it secretly calls TiVo headquarters every night and downloads the current day's schedule for all available stations in your area. And, thanks to smart software, you don't have to tell the TiVo box, "Switch to channel 2 on Tuesday at 7:00 PM and record for half an hour." Instead, you just tell it the name of the show. For example, if I say "Seinfeld," it asks me if I only want the next episode that's airing somewhere soon or if maybe I want to obtain a so-called "Season Pass," which is like a "season ticket" that records every "Seinfeld" episode that airs at any time on the 60 or so channels we can receive. The box can store 30 hours of television, and you don't have to deal with video tapes, as the computer in the box saves it on its hard drive.

You come home in the evening, turn on the TV, and are offered a menu with shows that were recorded during the previous night and the past day. In my case, there's a list with "Seinfeld," "The Simpsons," the 6 o'clock news, and various movies that aired on the pay-TV channel HBO (similar to Premiere in Germany).

You simply keep recording everything, better too much than too little (you can always delete it later) -- even news broadcasts. Because all of that isn't even enough to fill the entire TiVo storage, the box tries to record shows that are similar to the ones you have selected, if there is still space. On the remote control of the TiVo box, there are two buttons: thumbs down and thumbs up. With these, you can give the box bonus or penalty points, depending on how much you like the automatically selected shows. That way, the box is constantly learning and getting better.

Moreover, the box shares your ratings with TiVo's data center during the nightly phone calls to their headquarters, and supposedly anonymizes this information before it gets sold to advertisers--a video recorder and Allensbach Institute in one. However, you can call TiVo and request that your data not be used, and they promis this will be promptly be taken care of. I really like the box, and it has completely changed my TV habits because I no longer wait for something to air on TV. Instead, I have so many recording that if I have time to watch TV, I can immediately turn it on and "watch away" everything the box has recorded and interests me. Angelika has also become fond of the box and no longer rushes to the TV when a show is on. Thanks to my intensive TiVo courses, she watches TV when she has time! Admittedly, I'm always the one who munches on potato chips the loudest and therefore often misses a dialogue. No problem anymore. Thank you, TiVo! A true top product for newsletters!

Or, as they say in American: "The best thing since sliced bread." This is a common expression used to suggest that something is considered a great invention. Here's some background: In America, you can have a freshly bought loaf of bread sliced into perfectly even slices by a machine installed at most bakeries and supermarkets. Indeed, a great invention that Germans will be chewing over for a long time. By the way, Angelika often says "Das sind ja wieder Bemmen!" when I cut bread into extra-thick slices -- can someone explain the etymological origin of this apparently northern German word to me? Until next time!

Angelika und Michael