Katy Dickinson

Caboose Ladders (and other welding)

Last week, Chris Gremich* and John re-created the steel ladders at each end of WP668, our backyard caboose. The original ladders had been cut into pieces long ago. Chris used the remnants of the rusty scap 1943 ladders as a pattern to bend new galvanized steel pipes. He created the rungs from steel pipe once the side pieces were in place. It took about nine hours to go from new pipe to finished ladders on the caboose. The ladders are about eleven feet tall (bent and cut from sixteen foot pieces of 1-1/4" pipe).

John is learning more about fancy welding by watching Chris work. I, in turn, am learning simple MIG (metal inert gas) welding from John. I have made three plant stands out of scrap steel.

* Chris is "The Iron Expert" of CG Designs in San Jose, CA, phone: 408-313-3706

Here is what WP668 looked like with her original ladders intact, in 1974:

Photo used with permission of S. Roger Kirkpatrick

Here are some ladder restoration photos:

Original ladder scrap

Installing new rails

1st ladder done

looking up ladder

making 2nd ladder

Chris leveling a rung

John on roof

Chris Gremich

Katy's 1st plant stand

Katy's rail spike plant stand

Images Copyright 2007 by Katy Dickinson

Posted at 10:05PM Jan 02, 2008 by katysblog in Caboose Project and Other Trains  |  Comments[2]

Carnegie Mellon (1st Frosh Semester Update)

My daughter Jessica is home from her first Freshman semester at Carnegie Mellon University, CMU. (Actually, she is off skiing with her boyfriend and his family but she is home based even if not physically at home.) She got straight A's on her first report card and is looking forward to harder classes next semester. She seems very happy at CMU.

We have been hosting many parties for her friends from Junior High, High School, and College since Jessi came home. Listening to the teen chatter, it is clear not all Freshman students find their new colleges as much to their liking as Jessi has. Two or three of her friends are already in the process of transferring to new schools. I am glad that Jessica's school is a good match for her.

Jessi sang in four CMU holiday choir performances last month and has been invited to perform as one of the three genii (or three boys) in Mozart's opera The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflote), at Saltnote Stageworks in Washington, D.C. this summer. She hopes to make Music her minor at CMU but is still thinking about what her major area of study will be.

Posted at 04:04PM Jan 02, 2008 by katysblog in Home & Family  | 

SEEDs have 88% executive mentors (so far)

As expected, the winter break was a very quiet time for matching SEED program participants with new mentors. However, the pace has picked up today as Sun Engineering returns to work. By the end of 2007, we had 40 out of 50 matched (78% were matched in the first ten days of the cycle). We have had three new matches today (for 43 total, or 86% matched so far). This SEED Established Staff term will run January-July 2008.

3 of the new mentors are Fellows, 12 are Vice Presidents, 16 are Directors, and 7 are Distinguished Engineers (that is: 88% executive mentors so far).

More information on the SEED Engineering mentoring program is available at http://research.sun.com/SEED/

Posted at 02:58PM Jan 02, 2008 by katysblog in Mentoring & Other Business  |