Friday February 29, 2008
Katy Dickinson
- All
- Caboose Project and Other Trains
- Church
- Home & Family
- Hopper - Anita Borg Institute
- Lions
- Mentoring & Other Business
- News & Reviews
Friday February 29, 2008
Accepted by Music!
My daughter Jessica had originally applied to Carnegie Mellon University as a Music major. She was turned down by the Music department but accepted by CMU in the Humanities Scholars Program. She has been very happy in her CMU Freshman year in Pittsburgh, PA, and made the Dean's List in her first semester (meaning that CMU is also happy with her!). As soon as she could, Jessica applied for a Music Minor. She just called to say she was accepted! We are very happy and proud.
When we were researching colleges in 2006, we saw that the Fiske Guide to Colleges (22nd Edition, 2006) summary of CMU was: "Carnegie Mellon is the only premier technical university that also happens to be equally strong in the arts. Applications nearly doubled in the past ten years, so it must be doing something right." This sounded like a good fit for Jessica's strengths and interests (and so it has turned out).
Jessica will be singing 26-29 June 2008 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. Tickets go on sale tomorrow.
Posted at 03:47PM Feb 29, 2008 by katysblog in Home & Family |
Wednesday February 27, 2008
Susan Landau - One Reason Why Sun Labs is Cool
Congratulations to Susan Landau!
It was announced today that Sun Labs' Susan Landau, Distinguished Engineer, is the Anita Borg Institute 2008 Women of Vision Award winner in the Social Impact category. From today's press release:
-
Landau’s focus is on the interplay between security and public
policy. She has profound impact in at least three areas of computer
science: as an extensive commentator and advisor on U.S. wiretapping
and encryption policy; as a world renowned expert in computational
algebra and number theory (mathematics intimately related to
cryptography), and in developing numerous programs to benefit women
in computer science.
While I myself am not a member of Sun Labs, my department sits with them here in Menlo Park, California. There is also a Sun Labs in Burlington, Massachusetts (where Susan Landau works). The coolest thing about Sun Labs is the stimulating and creative people. Walking by the offices of major innovators like Ivan Sutherland, Gilda Garreton, Whit Diffie, Danny Cohen, and Sheueling Chang is inspiring even when they are not around for a visit.
This is the second time that a Sun Engineer has won an ABI Women of Vision award. Sun Fellow and Vice President Radia Perlman was so honored in the Innovation category in the first year the award was given (2005).
Here are some pictures of Sun Labs, Menlo Park:
Sun Labs, Menlo Park
|
Car in Sun Labs
|
Sun SPOT Map
|
Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson
Posted at 03:16PM Feb 27, 2008 by katysblog in Hopper - Anita Borg Institute |
Tuesday February 26, 2008
PreSEED Mentor Matching Update
The mentor matching cycle for the PreSEED pilot program participants started a week ago, on 19 February. 13 are matched so far, with 6 additional potential Mentors having responded that they are considering it. 13 or 45% matched during the first week is about the same rate of progress that I usually see in a regular SEED worldwide Engineering term, so PreSEED is doing well.
So far, we have mentors matched from Bangalore (India), Broomfield (CO USA), Brush Prairie (WA USA), Burlington (MA USA), Ft. Lauderdale (FL USA), Itasca (IL USA), and Menlo Park (CA USA).
PreSEED has a number of differences from a regular SEED worldwide Engineering term. Two PreSEED special requirements are: Mentors must talk with the Mentee's Manager before starting to work with the Mentee; a two hour mentoring partnership facilitation session is required (for PreSEED Mentor and Mentee). I have been sending reminders to the Mentors to meet with the Managers. It looks like those talks are happening.
PreSEED is a pilot of the SEED worldwide Engineering mentoring program. More information on SEED is available at http://research.sun.com/SEED/
Posted at 06:10PM Feb 26, 2008 by katysblog in Mentoring & Other Business |
Crossing USA Border, Flying Home from Mexico (GLL, MMML, KCXL, KPAO)
Charlie, Marji, John were in Baja California 15-17 February. Our pilot was Charlie Jackson, Sun Labs' Webmaster. Our Cessna 182 Skylane II was one of four private planes on the trip from the Shoreline Flying Club. See the following blog entries for more:
Flying home again took a full day - leaving Mulege shortly after sunrise and arriving in Palo Alto at sunset. We got fuel and checked out with Mexican customs in Mexicali, then flew 9 miles north across the US border to check in at Calexico. The Calexico airport is directly on the US-Mexico border fence. We were treated with a great deal more dignity and respect by US Customs arriving in a General Aviation plane than I have ever been treated by the TSA on a commercial flight.
Our flying buddy was Radu but even though his plane took off first, it was much smaller than ours, so we lost track of him after Mexicali. All four planes got home safe. We were first back, two more arrived that night, and Radu got home the next day.
Photos were taken with a Nikon CoolPix S510 camera with an 8G SDHC photo card. We ran the photos through a filter to reduce some of the haze resulting from taking photos through a window. The filter produced some oddly intense colors.
Radu and Kitty Before Takeoff
|
Loading our plane
|
Radu Takes Off
|
Charlie Jackson, Pilot
|
John Plocher, Copilot
|
Sea of Cortez Islands
|
River
|
Baja Coast
|
Landing at Mexicali
|
Fuel Stop at Mexicali, Mexico
|
Flying Along USA-Mexico Border
|
USA-Mexico Border
|
Flying Over USA-Mexico Border
|
USA-Mexico Border Fence
|
Calexico Airport, USA
|
Plane Food, Calexico
|
Home Sweet Home
|
Calexico Cropdusters
|
US-Mexico Border Fence
|
No Man's Land Between Fences
|
Red Pavement Ants
|
Southern California Mountains
|
Snowy Mountain
|
Windmill Farm, Southern California
|
Racing the Sunset
|
Charlie Home Safe, Palo Alto
|
Parking the Plane at KPAO
|
Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher
Posted at 01:28PM Feb 26, 2008 by katysblog in News & Reviews | Comments[1]
Loreto, Baja Mexico
Charlie, Marji, John and I flew to Baja California to see the grey whales 15-17 February. Our pilot was Charlie Jackson, Sun Labs' Webmaster. Our Cessna 182 Skylane II was one of four private planes on the trip from the Shoreline Flying Club.
On 16 February, we went on a fuel run from Mulege south to Loreto. We tied down the plane and took a cab into town for lunch and to see what there was of interest. We found out that Loreto is where Father Junipero Serra began to establish the California missions in the 18th century. Over the Church of San Francisco Javier door it says: 25 Oct 1697, Cabeza y Madre de las Misiones de Baja y Alta California (that is: Head and Mother of the Missions of Baja and Alta California). John and I had seen St. Francis Xavier in Old Goa, India, last year (see my March 14, 2007 blog entry). It was interesting to see another church dedicated to this much-travelled missionary. Loreto is also an up-and-coming tourist resort with interesting shops. Cab rides cost about double what we had been paying in Mulege.
Cessna 182 Tie Down
|
Domingo's Place Steakhouse
|
Baja Map on Menu
|
Saguaro Cactus Lightshades
|
McLulu's Fish Tacos
|
Majolica Ceramics For Sale
|
Loreto Garden
|
John, Marji, Charlie
|
Over Church Door
|
Inside San Francisco Javier
|
Airport Stop Light
|
Marji Copilot
|
John in Back
|
Loreto Cemetary, Sewage Plant
|
Landing shadows 1
|
Landing shadows 2
|
Landing shadows 3
|
Landing shadows 4
|
Landing shadows 5
|
Back in Mulege
|
Dog on Mulege Runway
|
Bicycle on Mulege Runway
|
Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher
Posted at 09:53AM Feb 26, 2008 by katysblog in News & Reviews |
Monday February 25, 2008
Fuel Run to Loreto, Mexico
Charlie, Marji, John and I flew to Baja California to see the grey whales 15-17 February. Our pilot was Charlie Jackson, Sun Labs' Webmaster. Our Cessna 182 Skylane II was one of four private planes on the trip from the Shoreline Flying Club. On 16 February, while the rest of the group went to see the cave paintings or scuba diving, we went on a fuel run from Mulege to Loreto. We filled up for ourselves plus extra for the smaller Flying Club planes.
On the map below, Loreto is at the bottom right: the next big town south of Mulege on Baja's Sea of Cortez.
Baja Coast
|
South of Mulege
|
Baja Coast
|
Baja Mountains
|
Baja Coast
|
Loreto Airport
|
Fueling at Loreto
|
Guard with Gun
|
Loreto Airport Building
|
Loreto Tower
|
Airport Sign
|
No Corruption Sign
|
Sign Against Cultural Theft
|
No Extortion Sign
|
Saguaro, mountains
|
Pink Weed
|
John Tying Down Plane
|
Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher
Posted at 06:32PM Feb 25, 2008 by katysblog in News & Reviews |
Sunday February 24, 2008
Flying from Mulege to Laguna San Ignacio and Back (Baja, Mexico)
Charlie, Marji, John and I flew to Baja California to see the grey whales last weekend. Our pilot was Charlie Jackson, Sun Labs' Webmaster. Our Cessna 182 Skylane II was one of four private planes on the trip from the Shoreline Flying Club. I already published a blog entry called Flying to See Whales in Laguna San Ignacio, Baja which has whale and dolphin photos. Below are photos of our flights from Mulege to Laguna San Ignacio and back on 16 February.
On the map below, the whale nursery at Laguna San Ignacio is in the upper left hand corner - northwest across the Baja California peninsula from Mulege (which is in the middle on the right). The flight took about an hour each way. Both the Mulege and Laguna San Ignacio airstrips are sand, dirt, and bits of shell (no control towers or fuel). The surface of the plane parking area at Laguna San Ignacio is like crusty impact-resistant foam, very strange to walk on. Since there is no night navigation support in Baja, we flew during daylight only.
Marji Does Windows
|
Charlie Checking Plane at Mulege
|
Katy Copilot, Marji in Back
|
Flying Over Mulege Lighthouse
|
Charlie Jackson, Pilot
|
Landing at Laguna San Ignacio
|
John at Laguna San Ignacio
|
Laguna San Ignacio Surface
|
2 Flying Club Planes on Runway
|
Take off shadows 1
|
Take off shadows 2
|
Take off shadows 3
|
Take off shadows 4
|
Take off shadows 5
|
Flying Over Baja to Mulege
|
Flying to Mulege
|
Approaching Mulege
|
Saguaro cactus
|
Back in Mulege
|
Mulege Runway
|
Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher
Posted at 04:49PM Feb 24, 2008 by katysblog in News & Reviews |
Saturday February 23, 2008
Mulege, Mexico
Charlie, Marji, John and I flew to Baja California to see the grey whales last weekend. Our pilot was Charlie Jackson, Sun Labs' Webmaster. Our Cessna 182 Skylane II was one of four private planes on the trip from the Shoreline Flying Club. Below are pictures of Mulege, Mexico, where we stayed. Mulege is pronounced MOO-leh-hey.
Mulege is a popular fly-in location for General Aviation even though it offers the simplest runway, no tower and no fuel. The Saturday night pig roast at Hotel Serenidad (immediately next to the runway) is excellent, and day trips include whale watching, ancient cave painting tours, and scuba diving.
There were patriotic posters up around town from 2003 celebrating the 156th aniversary of the heroic defense of Mulege. Other posters celebrated "Mulege Divers Since 1705" and tourist opportunities. Mulege is on the Mulege river at the Sea of Cortez. The best flowers in town were the violet, red, and apricot bouganvillea. The vine trunks were often a foot or more wide.
Our group stayed at various hotels in town: Las Casitas, Hacienda, and Terrazas. Terrazas (where Charlie, Marji, John and I were) offered clean rooms, a friendly lobby dog (Bellina), a Lotus 7 parked out front, and a good breakfast that always took over an hour to cook and serve even if we were the only ones eating and we ordered the night before. Hacienda is right next to the town amphitheater (loud music until 2 am) and offered dirty sheets. Las Casitas is next to the church (morning bells!) and offered a good restaurant and very helpful staff who speak English. We often ate at Las Casitas but they did not have enough rooms for all four planes.
Mulege Defense
|
Mulege Tourism
|
Mulege Divers
|
Bougainvillea vine
|
Hotel Serenidad
|
Hotel Serenidad Pigroast
|
Hotel Serenidad Pigroast
|
Hotel Terrazas
|
Hotel Terrazas Bougainvillea
|
Bellina Terrazas
|
Terrazas Piano
|
Lotus 7 at Hotel Terrazas
|
Mulege Lighthouse
|
Mulege Boats
|
Mulege River
|
Mulege Street
|
Mulege Street
|
Perros Calietes (Hot Dog) Stand
|
Mulege Taqueria
|
Mulege Swan Fountain
|
Mulege Church Bells
|
Church Door Sign-Jesus on cell phone
|
Mulege Shop
|
Bougainvillea
|
Flowers
|
Cactus
|
Cactus
|
Local cat
|
Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher
Posted at 11:34PM Feb 23, 2008 by katysblog in News & Reviews | Comments[1]
Friday February 22, 2008
PreSEED Mentor Matching Started
The mentor matching cycle for the PreSEED program participants started on 19 February. That is, the first email invitations went out that day. Ten are matched so far with four additional potential Mentors having responded that they are considering it.
If PreSEED follows the same pattern as the older SEED mentoring program, Participants may be considered by as many as six potential Mentors before a good match is found. Others are immediately matched with their first choice. Each potential Mentor may have multiple email, phone, or personal contacts with the program staff. Potential Mentors are contacted serially in priority order and each one may take a long time to respond and then decide. It may take about six weeks to match all of the current PreSEED Participants.
The Participant is not kept informed of each step in the match process. They will not know which potential Mentor from their "Mentor Wish List" is contacted. Potential Mentors need to have space and time to consider the possibilities of a mentoring partnership without risk of offending the potential Mentee or interfering with future communications with them or their Manager.
PreSEED is a pilot of the SEED worldwide Engineering mentoring program. More information on SEED is available at http://research.sun.com/SEED/
Posted at 11:19PM Feb 22, 2008 by katysblog in Mentoring & Other Business |
Thursday February 21, 2008
Flying from Mexicali to Mulege, Mexico (MMML to GLL)
Charlie, Marji, John and I flew to Baja California to see the grey whales last weekend. Our pilot was Charlie Jackson, Sun Labs' Webmaster. Our Cessna 182 Skylane II was one of four private planes on the trip from the Shoreline Flying Club. Below are pictures of our second Air Charlie flight, from Mexicali to Mulege, Mexico, on 15 February. Mulege is pronounced MOO-leh-hey. At the flight briefing the pilots (and interested passengers) attended several days before we left, the following overview directions were given: fly south from Mexicali (MMML), keep the land on your right and the Sea of Cortez on your left, set down at the first green spot, that will be Mulege (GLL).
Charlie landed just before sunset. We were immediately greeted by friendly dogs and kids running around on the runway. After unloading and tying down the four planes, we took cabs into town and had dinner at Las Casitas Hotel.
River Fractals
|
Me in the Back Seat
|
Baja Coastline
|
Baja on GPS
|
Clouds Over Baja
|
Charlie Pilot, John Copilot
|
Mulege's Sand Runway
|
Radu and Kitty Arrive
|
1st Mulege Sunset
|
Charlie and Yoichi
|
Friendly Puppy on the Runway
|
John Pounds Tiedown Stakes
|
Las Casitas Parrot
|
Las Casitas Hotel
|
Unnamed Bust in Mulege
|
Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher
Posted at 09:53PM Feb 21, 2008 by katysblog in News & Reviews | Comments[1]
Flying from Palo Alto to Mexicali (KPAO to MMML)
Last weekend, four of us (Charlie, Marji, John and I) flew from Palo Alto to Mexicali (KPAO to MMML) on our way to Baja California to see the grey whales. Our pilot was Charlie Jackson, Sun Labs' Webmaster. Our Cessna 182 Skylane II was one of four private planes on the trip from the Shoreline Flying Club. Photos were taken with a Nikon CoolPix S510 camera with an 8G SDHC photo card. We took about 1,400 photos on the 4 day trip. The photo card was about 1/3 full when we got home (two lithium ion batteries recharged per day). Here are pictures of our first Air Charlie flight, starting before dawn on 15 February 2008.
Me before Dawn
|
Marji at KPAO
|
Almost Dawn at KPAO
|
John at KPAO
|
Charlie checking the plane
|
Dawn at KPAO
|
Parking our cars where plane was
|
Charlie Jackson, Pilot
|
Marji, Copilot at dawn
|
Over Sun Menlo Park Campus
|
Me in the back seat
|
Leaving SF Bay Area
|
Southern Cal. Snow
|
USA-Mexico Border
|
Leaving USA for Mexico
|
Mexicali Airport, MMML
|
Mexican Air Force, MMML
|
MMML Refueling
|
Wreck on side of MMML Parking Area
|
Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher
Posted at 03:43PM Feb 21, 2008 by katysblog in News & Reviews | Comments[1]
Wednesday February 20, 2008
Flying to See Whales in Laguna San Ignacio, Baja
Last weekend, John and I flew to see the grey whales at Laguna San Ignacio in Baja, California. Our pilot was Charlie Jackson, Sun Labs' Webmaster. Our Cessna 182 Skylane II was one of four private planes of the Shoreline Flying Club based in Palo Alto, California. We went out on two boats hosted by Antonio's Ecotours (based in Laguna San Ignacio). These pictures were taken with disposable water sports cameras. I will write more about our amazing trip but first, here are some whale and dolphin photos. Yes! That is my very own hand petting a baby grey whale.
El Vizcaino Biosphere Reserve Sign
|
Laguna San Ignacio
|
Pelican
|
Shell Mound
|
Whale Bones on Beach
|
Tour Boat
|
Charlie and the Whale
|
Mama and Baby Grey Whale
|
Grey Whale Nose
|
Grey Whale Under Water
|
Grey Whale Under Water
|
Grey Whale Nose
|
|
My Hand and
Baby Grey Whale! 
|
Dolphins
|
Our Boat
|
Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher
Posted at 12:29AM Feb 20, 2008 by katysblog in News & Reviews |
Wednesday February 13, 2008
SAMA Recipes and Auction
I have been adding to the new SAMA (St. Andrew's Medical Assistance) web page: 4 more middle eastern recipes plus auction items donated for the 13 April Middle Eastern Feast. The dinner for raising funds to support SAMA's medical outreach programs will be: Sunday, 13 April 2008 at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, 13601 Saratoga Avenue, Saratoga, CA.
SAMA published a small cookbook called "Favorite Middle Eastern Recipes" in 1998. It is now out of print. The new recipes I just added to the SAMA webpage are:
SAMA Favorite Middle Eastern Recipes
- Tabooli
- Chicken and Rice Soup
- Shorabat Addas (Lentil Soup)
- Split Pea Soup
I will add more recipes as I get them typed in. I also added a new web page section listing auction items donated so far:
SAMA Auction Items
| 16-inch colorful ceramic fish platter by artist Carol Worthington Levy |
| Backgammon Instruction (Basic or Advanced) - training certificate for one hour for up to four people, plus rules of the game |
| Brunch on a private 1916 historic railroad caboose (Western Pacific Feather River Railway WP668) in Willow Glen, San Jose |
| Middle Eastern Dinner for Six |
| Update your collection: Convert 10 Long Play Albums or 10 Audio Cassettes to CD Audio Format |
Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson and Sami Asfour
Posted at 10:59AM Feb 13, 2008 by katysblog in Church | Comments[1]
Monday February 11, 2008
29 PreSEED Participants Accepted
On 8 February, we accepted 29 PreSEED mentoring program participants into the pilot program. The new participants are now creating their 15 name Mentor Wish Lists (due 19 February). About the New Participants:
Work Location:
* Central USA: 5 [ 17% ]
* China: 5 [ 17% ]
* Czech Republic: 1 [ 3% ]
* Eastern USA: 2 [ 7% ]
* France: 1 [ 3% ]
* India: 4 [ 13% ]
* United Kingdom: 1 [ 3% ]
* Western USA: 11 [ 37% ]
Division: 100% Sun's Software Group
Gender of Participants:
* female: 9 [ 31% ]
* male: 19 [ 66% ]
* decline to state: 1 [ 3% ]
7 Previously Applied to SEED, 24%
Countries of origin this term include: China, Czech Republic, France,
India, and the USA
PreSEED is a pilot of the SEED worldwide Engineering mentoring program. More information on SEED is available at http://research.sun.com/SEED/
Posted at 05:15PM Feb 11, 2008 by katysblog in Mentoring & Other Business |
Caboose Stained Glass Update
The restoration of WP668, our backyard caboose, is making progress:
- Last weekend, John continued to install the wood facing which holds the new window frame in the bay. (For comparison, I included a photo of what WP668's damaged bay window looked like when we first saw it in December 2005.)
- Last month's storms blew down our 94' fence which runs along the side of WP668. I am working to get that replaced. I already had Davey Tree out to trim the trees and dracenas in the way of the new fence.
- Stained glass artist Vince Taylor brought by his drawing for WP668's new window, along with some glass samples. If you look closely at my photo of Vince's drawing below, you will see the silhouette of a train in the hills. Vince is using the photo by Dave Stanley below as inspiration for the train image. (1973 photo used with permission of Dave Stanley.) Vince is also going to add a lizard silhouette to one of the rocks in the foreground.
Some photos:
John in WP668 Bay Window
|
WP668 Bay Window - Inside
|
WP668 Bay Window in 2005
|
Vince and Window Drawing
|
Vince's Drawing Closeup
|
WP668 in 1973, Sacramento, California area
Images Copyright 2005-2008 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher
Posted at 04:02PM Feb 11, 2008 by katysblog in Caboose Project and Other Trains |
Subscribe!