Michael On the morning train ride to Silicon Valley, I recently decided to stare out the window for a change and noticed that the sun was beautifully illuminating the industrial area of South San Francisco. I quickly grabbed my digital camera, which I always have with me, from my backpack and started taking pictures.

Michael I've already mentioned previously that Americans do not like to adhere to arbitrary rules. As a typical example, I always mention the white lines painted on the baseball field, which designate rectangles about two by five meters in size for the coaching areas. Every, and I really mean every single coach can been found at least one meter outside the box. If I were a baseball official, I would take strong action!

Michael After seven years at AOL, I thought to myself: If I don't quit now, I'll have to stay at the company until retirement. Now, the selection of successful companies in Silicon Valley is quite large, and the job market is on the verge of booming again. It so happened that the company Yahoo! (correct, with an exclamation mark!) conducted a phone interview with me, showed interest, and then invited me for an in-person interview. Everything went smoothly there; they were familiar with my Perl modules from the internet, and the team and manager there made a very competent impression on me. In short, we reached an agreement, and shortly thereafter, I signed the contract.

I had already heard rumors about Yahoo!, but what I learned on the first day really blew me away. It felt like it was suddenly 1996 again, with the internet boom at its peak.

With our new open fireplace in the apartment, the question of firewood procurement arises. If you don't live in the woods but in a big city, it's not so easy to acquire and store enough wood! For big city fireplace enthusiasts, there are "Logs" by a companty called Duraflame, which you simply light up on the paper wrapper. They burn continuously for four (!) hours, creating a nice, clean fire! Naturally, they are bought at Costco in a pack of nine.

Angelika On the night of the election on November 2nd, we watched the US map intently, hoping that the state of Ohio would turn blue and go to presidential candidate Kerry, after Florida was already flashing at us in ominous red.

Since September 30, German citizens have been greeted at US immigration counters with: "Smile, you're on Camera!" This is because a digital photo is taken of every traveler from Germany, even if they are not subject to the American visa requirement. Additionally, both index fingers must be scanned for fingerprints. Since the end of October, every German tourist also needs a machine-readable passport for visa-free entry. This applies to babies and children as well as adults. Americans are strict about this!

Every time we sit down with American friends, the topic of the dismal American healthcare system inevitably comes up. The better-informed Americans know and envy the fact that almost all European countries have a single payer health insurance system for everyone. Michael immediately rolls his eyes, knowing that I could discuss this tiresome topic for hours.

Michael Man, there's a lot of complaining today! To calm everyone down, we'll put on a record with some feel-good music. Lalalala ...