Michael On July 8, 2001, the racing newsletter reporter ran the San Francisco Marathon. It was so incredibly tough that probably none of you softies can even imagine it. Let those who have ears to hear, listen: Anyone who even thinks about giving up will do so by kilometer 35 at the latest. The only way to complete the 42 kilometers is to firmly believe that there are only two ways to finish a marathon: crossing the finish line on your feet or being wheeled off lying on a stretcher.

Michael And here comes "Rundi," the newsletter supplement for our dear young newsletter readers! You little rascals, in California, the Pacific Ocean is practically on your doorstep, and you don't need to go to the zoo to see the cutest animals. I already mentioned once that we saw whales from the beach near the Point Reyes area, frolicking in the water and spouting water fountains. Recently, we were down in Morro Bay and walked along the beach. Suddenly, there was a splash in the water, and we looked out to sea: there were actually dolphins in the water, jumping around! In the photo with the arrows, you can see the black tail fins of the two flippers sticking out of the water. It's a bit hard to see in the printed version, but on the internet, you can enlarge the picture nicely. If you don't have internet access, pester your parents until they sign you up with AOL!

Michael And now, dear children, let's turn to an important topic. Your Uncle Michael has researched this especially for you: American sweets. Of course, not "Twix" or "Milky Way," as you already know those from home.

Michael Since we want to go to Japan either this year or next year, we are currently learning the language in a course that takes place every Saturday in Japantown in San Francisco. There, a Japanese woman teaches us Japanese in both spoken and written form. It's absolutely crazy, of course--Japanese has absolutely nothing in common with European languages, and it is also written completely differently. There are no individual letters, but thousands of symbols that either represent things or determine pronunciation or grammar.

Michael And here's something new: The newsletter music reporter will be introducing new super-strong CDs freshly squeezed from the American music scene. Usually this is what is on 24 hour non-stop rotation at newsletter headquarters. In this issue: The band "Cake," which hails from the Californian capital Sacramento, has released a new album called "Comfort Eagle." Figure 1 shows the cover illustration. On the internet, you can find the super funny Video for the song 'Short Skirt/Long Jacket' . Listen to the song all the way till the end, and a German tourist will make an appearance! An amazing record! Buy it immediately!

Michael Recently on Saturday, I was driving our car "PERLMAN" along the wide Castro Street when suddenly a "Lexus" car shot out from a side street, running a stop sign and crashing right into the driver's side of my car. There was a huge bang, I hit the brakes, and when I got out, I could barely open the door because it was so dented (see illustration 1).

Angelika I want to start today with a report about our still ongoing Green Card process, because in the last few weeks we have once again been struggling through the bureaucratic mills in this regard. Some time ago, in Rundbrief 05/2000 I already wrote about this, but due to the current events and because we keep receiving inquiries, I am happy to summarize it once again.

Angelika I would like to report on President Bush and his political ambitions. This time, it's about his tax reform, which was passed at the end of May. During the election campaign, Bush liked to boast about freeing Americans from the scourge of high tax payments. I boldly claim that many Americans voted for him for this reason alone. Because when citizens--no matter where in the world--hear the magic word "tax cut," most of them see dollar signs in their eyes, and everything else becomes secondary. Poor public schools--never heard of them. Millions of Americans without health insurance--not a big deal ... the main thing is we pay less tax. However, liberal minds criticize the tax reform heavily because it brings the greatest financial benefits to those who are already very well-off. The Democratic Party managed to trim Bush's originally planned reform and also give lower earners and families with children a piece of the pie by increasing the child tax credit. Nevertheless, this remains more of a drop in the bucket.

Angelika Non-profit organizations hope that many will take heart and donate the tax refund for a good cause -- including the "Tenderloin Childcare Center," where I still volunteer twice a week. They published donation appeals in various newspapers. And now, here it comes. Ta-da!!! The cover photo for these appeals, which shows a child from the Childcare Center, was personally taken, developed, and enlarged by me! Here's how it happened: The director of the Tenderloin Childcare Center's umbrella organization was very impressed with the photos I always take of the children and wanted to decorate the organization's office spaces with them. So, I donated five of my black-and-white photos and five color photos. These photos were so well-received by the staff member responsible for public relations that she asked me if I would agree to let her use my photos for their public relations work, i.e., for brochures, advertisements, etc. Naturally, I immediately agreed.

Angelika Now, back to the California energy crisis, which I have reported on before. The looming prediction was that we would be without power constantly in the summer. Thankfully, this has not happened so far. Power has not been shut off for a long time, which does not mean that California has overcome the crisis. Because, as we know, people tend to forget quickly, especially when the power is flowing again, many fear that saving electricity is no longer a top priority. That's why TV commercials are still running, showing the best ways to manage electricity usage. And after the first commercials came across as somewhat silly, as they only admonished with a raised finger to turn off the lights, the second generation of the ad campaign does not lack the necessary humor. Particularly amusing is the spot where a teenager is seen sleeping in bed in broad daylight, urging not to disturb this state, as teenagers are known to waste electricity. After all, those who sleep do not consume electricity. A very commendable concept, as I am also known to enjoy sleeping quite a bit. The latest trend regarding the energy crisis met us recently in San Diego, where we spent a few days because Michael attended the Perl Conference. The hotel we stayed at demanded an additional energy cost contribution of $2.50 per day! But President Bush recently remarked so aptly that Californians shouldn't need to complain about their higher electricity bills. They should just use their tax refunds for that. Yes, one really doesn't know what to say to that.