Katy Dickinson

Painting Our Caboose Inside

Today, Avi Lenchner of Avi Decorative Painting (Menlo Park, CA) started painting the inside of our backyard caboose, WP668. John and I have spent many months getting ready for this. John put the final caulk on the new bay window last night. The painting will go on for several days. Here are photos of the work so far, starting with photos of WP668's inside when we first saw her in 2006:

WP668 inside Jan 2006

WP668 wall Jan 2006

WP668 empty bay Jan 2006

WP668 window Jan 2006

WP668 wet wood Jan 2006

Caulk yesterday

Papering windows today

Tarp on steps

Painting starts

More Painting

Checking 1st coat

Images Copyright 2006-2008 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher

Posted at 05:49PM Mar 31, 2008 by katysblog in Caboose Project and Other Trains  | 

All PreSEEDs Matched with Mentors

We matched the last PreSEED mentoring program participant with his mentor today. We are now planning for a 2nd PreSEED pilot term, to be announced very shortly. We have interviewed 4 of the 5 Directors whose staff are participating in the 1st pilot and their feedback is positive. Here are the metrics so far for PreSEED's 1st term. These are very similar to the metrics of a regular SEED worldwide term (except more PreSEEDs were matched with mentors who were higher in priority on their Mentor Wish Lists).

This term had a 41 day matching cycle (19 Feb - 31 Mar 2008).
75% were matched in the first 13 days.

72% were matched with their 1st or 2nd priority mentor.
17% were matched with their 3rd or 4th priority mentor.
10% were matched with a mentor 5th or lower in priority.

31% of the mentoring pairs work in the same geographic location.
69% work at a distance from each other.

Countries in which participants and mentors in this term work are: 
China, Czech Republic, France, India, Ireland, UK, 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 05:08PM Mar 31, 2008 by katysblog in Mentoring & Other Business  | 

Certify Your Habitat

My backyard is now a Wildlife Habitat certified by the National Wildlife Federation. I found out about this program from our new neighbor, Linda, who is also an enthusiastic gardener. Linda is delighted to have moved in so close to the Guadalupe River. According to Wikipedia, the Guadalupe is the only known salmon spawning river running through a major U.S. downtown area (outside of Anchorage, Alaska). The Guadalupe is not only a river of water and fish but also of ducks, geese, song birds, humming birds, hawks, vultures, racoons, opossums, cats, squirrels (grey, black, and gold), snakes, lizards, Jerusalem crickets, and homeless people. John and I own to the middle of the river along our back property, so providing a wildlife habitat means not messing up what we already have.

To provide certification, the National Wildlife Federation asks that elements from each of the following areas be provided:

• Food Sources. For example: Native plants, seeds, fruits, nuts, berries, nectar
• Water Sources. For example: Birdbath, pond, water garden, stream
• Places for Cover. For example: Thicket, rockpile, birdhouse
• Places to Raise Young. For example: Dense shrubs, vegetation, nesting box, pond
• Sustainable Gardening. For example: Mulch, compost, rain garden, chemical-free fertilizer

Here is my new certificate:

Some recent pictures of our backyard river:

Log jam

Top of bank

Down the bank

Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson

Posted at 03:56PM Mar 28, 2008 by katysblog in News & Reviews  | 

Associate Bunny Memoir

The Easter Bunny is an important and very busy personage at this time of year. Our family understands that, unlike Santa Claus, The Bunny cannot be everywhere, so each year there is an Associate Bunny who helps out. In recent years, my daughter Jessica was Associate Bunny but now that she is at college, I returned to that role. Of course, the Associate Bunny cannot participate in the great Egg Hunt, so my son Paul declined the nomination. He did help dye the eggs.

This year, we had over 20 guests for Easter. Early in the morning, The Bunny hid 240 eggs (real hardboiled and dyed eggs, also plastic eggs with candies inside). Before the hunt, the children old enough to hunt are briefed by the Associate Bunny. During the briefing, every child picks a stuffed animal to be their personal advisor (since parents are not allowed to help hunt), plus a basket for their eggs. Egg Hunt Rule #1 is always There are no eggs in the flower beds. After the briefing, children line up inside the house in order of age. The youngest (5 years old) goes out first and has one minute by the clock before the next child leaves the house. The last three (ages 12 to 15) went out together.

For the adults, The Bunny hides the Gold and Silver eggs in very difficult places. The only clues are offered in two poems:

Gold Egg Poem
My hiding place is off the ground
My holder here is partly round
I can see you through the bars
Colored like the planet Mars
If the gold egg you would find
Seek the string which does me bind

Silver Egg Poem
A dark dry home looked good this year
And becoming cold wasn’t a fear
You will find me warm and snug
Trying to avoid both bug and slug
Would you find me hidden here
Lift me up and give a cheer

THis year's Gold egg was hanging from a thread behind some red wooden steps (found by my brother). The Silver egg was under some boards in the wood box (found by Jenny even though she was carrying Baby Emma while hunting). Here are some images from our Easter:

Hardboiling 5 dozen eggs

Freshly dyed eggs

Green-Blue-Purple-Red-Orange-Yellow

Half finished

Wax drawings on eggs

Almost done

Holy Saturday Service St. Andrew's, Saratoga

Selling SAMA Auction Tickets St. Andrew's, Saratoga

Daniel, Paul, Pete, John Easter Morning

Eggs Waiting for the Hunt

Eggs on the Caboose

Egg on an Aloe

Xian Warrior Eggs

Almond Tree Eggs

Hose Eggs

Egg on a Column

Hunters Briefing

Youngest About To Go

Hunting Eggs

Hug Time

Lynda looking in the Woodbox

Emma's 1st Easter

John's Salmon

Easter Lilies

Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher

Posted at 04:43PM Mar 24, 2008 by katysblog in Home & Family  | 

Middle Eastern Feast and Auction, 13 April

Save Sunday, 13 April for the SAMA Dinner and Auction!

St. Andrew's Medical Assistance (SAMA) exists to provide hope and healing to a hurting world. The fundraising event will be held at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, starting with a silent auction at 5:30 pm, followed by a Middle Eastern Feast and live auction. Tickets are $30/adult or $15/child

Auction item listing: http://st-andrews-sama.org/

St. Andrew's Episcopal Church
13601 Saratoga Ave. Saratoga, CA 95070
(408) 867-3493

Medical Programs SAMA supports in the Holy Land include: Ahli Arab Hospital (the only Christian hospital in Gaza), and the Four Homes of Mercy (a home for the severely disabled based in Jerusalem).

2008 Photos

New Facilities Supported by SAMA at the Four Homes of Mercy

Images copyright 2008, Liz Mulford

Posted at 11:28PM Mar 20, 2008 by katysblog in News & Reviews  | 

6 More Days to Submit to Grace Hopper Conference 2008

Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing (aka GHC and Hopper 2008) will be held 1-4 October 2008 in Keystone, Colorado.

• March 26, 2008: Proposals due
• Conference website: http://gracehopper.org/2008/
• About Hopper: The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing is a series of conferences designed to bring the research and career interests of women in computing to the forefront. Presenters are leaders in their respective fields, representing industrial, academic and government communities. Leading researchers present their current work, while special sessions focus on the role of women in today's technology fields, including computer science, information technology, research and engineering. International participation is encouraged.
• Why go to Hopper?
  1. Professional education, celebration, and excitement
  2. Networking and Visibility
  3. Recruiting (University and Professional)
• What do I do? Consider attending the conference. Make a proposal to speak, join a panel, present a poster, manage a BOF, be a conference volunteer or blogger. Over twenty Sun women are proposing or participating in proposed Hopper panels, BOFs, and activities. We will find out in May 2008 which proposals are accepted.

The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing is presented by the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology (ABI) and the Association for Computing Machinery. Sun is an ABI Strategic Partner.

Posted at 11:11PM Mar 20, 2008 by katysblog in Hopper - Anita Borg Institute  | 

Spring Flowers in Silicon Valley (Photos)

Spring is well advanced here in the Silicon Valley. The daffodils are all bloomed out, the cherry trees are replacing blooms with leaves, and the magnificent row of ornamental pear trees at Sun's Menlo Park campus are in full bloom. Here are some of my photos from both Sun's Menlo Park campus and my garden in San Jose since all of this extravagant flowering began...

My daffodils in bud

My daffodils opening

My daffodils open

Agave and narcissus

My almond buds

Almond tree flowers

Sun Menlo Park leaves

Buds - Sun Menlo Park

Blooms - Sun Menlo Park

Pacific Coast Iris

Prostrate rosemary blooms on wall

Western redbud tree

Jasmine vine

Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson

Posted at 11:21AM Mar 19, 2008 by katysblog in News & Reviews  | 

Bougainvillea in Bondage (Photos)

When we flew to Mulege, Baja Mexico last month, we saw many lovely bougainvillea vines in full bloom, some trained as small trees with trunks often a foot or more wide. I decided to convert my backyard Barbara Karst Bougainvillea into a small tree. This will give us a red flowering canopy in the summer and, as the vines grow thicker and develop bark, should also protect the tropical plant against the short winter freezes we get here in San Jose, California. This also allowed us to remove the garden fence which is no longer needed because we replaced our pool with WP668, our backyard caboose.

I started with the vine spread out along a black metal garden fence. Over two days, I compressed the thorny vines into a column using green plastic garden tape. Finally, I enclosed the compressed vines between three black metal panels which are zip tied together. (I removed the garden tape after enclosing the vines between the panels.) My vine is now a 6' column with a fountain of vines coming out the top. It looks squashed at the moment but it is growing fast. Here is how far I have gotten on this project:

Vine tree in Baja

My Vine Blooming in 2007

Step One - Tie it Up

Step Two - Vine In Bondage

Images Copyright 2007-2008 by Katy Dickinson

Posted at 10:50PM Mar 18, 2008 by katysblog in News & Reviews  | 

Lent, Soup, and the Millennium Development Goals

My parish church, St. Andrew's, Saratoga, has been offering an inspiring series of Wednesday night soup suppers during this Lenten season. Please come join us for the final Wednesday Soup Supper, on 19 March. We will be watching the excellent feature film The Girl in the Café.

I have attended all but one of the series. Even though some of the topics have been disturbing to hear about, the large room has been almost full each time. We gather in the Center at 6 pm, collect our soup, bread, water, and cookies, then sit down at round tables to talk. After about half an hour of visiting, we watch a Bullfrog Life film and hear a speaker.

The topic of each evening has been one or more of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The Millennium Development Goals are a framework world leaders have agreed upon to reduce poverty and improve lives. These eight goals offer a vision of what we want to achieve to address the challenges facing the world today. The national Episcopal Church and our own Diocese of El Camino Real have each endorsed the MDGs. I wrote about the MDGs in my January 26, 2007 blog entry. The eight goals are:

1. Eliminate Extreme Poverty
2. Achieve Universal Primary Education
3. Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women
4. Reduce Child Mortality
5. Improve Maternal Health
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria, and Other Diseases
7. Ensure Environmental Sustainablity
8. Develop a Global Partnership for Development

In addition to the Wednesday Soup Suppers, each Sunday sermon during this Lenten season has been structured around the MDGs. St Andrew's has also used the MDG Litany from the Bread of Life as part of the Sunday service. Linda Rogers created a new MDG banner and there is a table display of MDG information from Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD) on colorful cloth from Africa.

Here is what we have heard so far at St. Andrew's Wednesday Soup Suppers:

• UNCSW 2005 – Melita Thorpe spoke on her experience as an affiliate representative to the United Nations 49th Session and the Millennium Development Goals. Melita is a member of the CSW (Commission on the Status of Women). She has made 17 trips to Africa and carrying medical supplies, visiting the AIDS ward in the Nairobi hospital, talking to women about their situation in Zimbabwe, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi.
• Jean Hankey spoke on MDG Goal 1 - Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; Goal 2 – Achieve universal primary education; and Goal 3 - Promote gender equality and empower women. Jean is co-chair of the Women Helping Women group at St. Andrews. The group brought handmade note cards to sell as a fund raiser.
• Dr. John Watson-Williams & Melita Thorpe spoke on Goal 4 – Reduce Child mortality & Goal 5 – Improve maternal health. John spoke from his experience treating Malaria in Africa. He also presented research data about the effect of Malaria on maternal health.
• Dr. John Watson-Williams & Jean-Claude Gigot spoke on Goal 6 – combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other preventable disease. Jean-Claude spoke of his experiences working to combat disease in Cote d'Ivoire.
• Bruce Friesen spoke on Goal 7 – Ensure environmental sustainability & Goal 8 – Develop a global partnership for development. Bishops Blend Coffee was served and everyone was sent home with a sample. ERD is offering Bishops Blend, Pura Vida's premium line of Certified Fair Trade, organic, and shade-grown coffees from Central America and Indonesia. Purchases of Bishops Blend helps ERD meet needs worldwide.

Melita wrote in her notes on these suppers: "It is hoped that by sharing our hopes and concerns for a world in which our Christian faith calls us to action, we helped our congregation engage in these issues in our own context as well as globally. Together, we can work toward creating a world where all God’s people may flourish. Katy, I cannot speak for the others but I am happy to help facilitate a program on the MDG’s with any congregation."

Posted at 10:09PM Mar 15, 2008 by katysblog in Church  | 

Goodreads

A few weeks ago, my daughter recommended that I check out the social networking site goodreads. I have been enjoying it ever since. It is a site for people who like to read and want to find out what others are reading and why. Users list the books they are reading and recommending and can see the lists and comments of other readers. I have written up 16 books so far, starting with Bill Bryson's William Shakespeare: The World As Stage (2007). My review:

Research into the life and times of William Shakespeare is surprisingly still evolving as new documents are found even after 400 years. So this new biography makes a helpful and fun addition to the many thousands of books about Shakespeare already available. Bill Bryson's entertaining books are usually about his life. This is the first I have read that is on a literary topic. He has clearly done his homework and, even though I added a few snippy margin comments, generally his conclusions are sound. Bryson leaves out what was learned about the Globe theater from site excavations and he sometimes is too focussed on "we can't know anything really"; however, this would still make a solid introductory book to a topic which is all too often dry and nitpicky.

I have established the following goodreads "bookshelves" for my reviews so far: children-youth (1) | fantasy-fiction (4) | general (5) | history (4) | mysteries (2) | religion (1) | shakespeare (2) | trains-and-transit (2)

I am having a good time writing book reviews and reading the reviews by others of books which I have already read or about which I am curious.

Posted at 08:59PM Mar 15, 2008 by katysblog in News & Reviews  | 

Pearl Jasmine Tea, Persian Food

Tonight we went out to dinner with friends at our favorite Persian restaurant, Chelokababi on Wolfe at El Camino in Sunnyvale, CA. We had a well-prepared and tasty dinner of Joojeh Kababs with rice and tomato but passed on dessert. On the way home, we went to Ten Ren Tea at Wolfe near highway 280 for "spitballs in milk" or black tapioca pearls in milky tea. In addition to wanting spitballs for dessert, we went to Ten Ren because we were almost out of Pearl Jasmine tea at work.

As I wrote in my February 7, 2008 blog, one of the local events held on Sun's Menlo Park campus is our weekly party during which we serve hot tea from all over the world, plus cookies and other goodies. While we usually offer Assam or Darjeeling plus some blend flavors, jasmine tea is the all-time favorite. Ten Ren's Pearl Jasmine costs $100/pound but it is worth it. Just the glorious smell from the gold metal can makes me happily lightheaded.

When we visited Sun's China Engineering and Research Institute in Beijing for three weeks in 2005, of course we bought tea to bring home. In the Ten-Fu shop, we were introduced to jasmine varieties that smelled even more heavenly than Pearl Jasmine. It was explained that there were jasmine teas available in China that were higher up the mountain (in quality and price) than what was available in the US. Unfortunately, we have since used up all of the lovely tea we bought in Beijing so we buy new supplies at Ten-Ren.

Last week, we tried a new restaurant at 1180 Lincoln Avenue in Willow Glen, San Jose, called Maykadeh Cafe. This is a sister to Maykadeh Persian Cuisine in San Francisco. Maykadeh Cafe shares its space with an antique store so the decorations are fascinating. The food is also very good and we plan to return soon to try more menu choices.

Posted at 12:57AM Mar 15, 2008 by katysblog in News & Reviews  | 

OpenSolaris Governing Board Elections

My husband, John Plocher, is one of the candidates for the OpenSolaris Governing Board. Elections are taking place during this week. If you want to learn more, go to: OGB Election Candidates. Candidate biographies, position statements, and Podcast interviews are linked.

John and I have been discussing OGB issues and politics for a long time. He considered seriously whether he should accept the nomination to run for the OGB. I know if John is elected, he will do a fine job.

It took me time to recognize that the OGB discussions I was hearing about: charter, constitution, and sources of authority, were very familiar. St. Andrew's, our parish church, is in the Episcopal Diocese of El Camino Real (ECR). Our Diocese spent years having this same discussion.

As the October 2007 diocesan convention approached, our governance discussions about ECR's Constitution and Canons revisions escalated in intensity and passion. John and I are both ECR convention delegates. We went to dozens of diocesan meetings and were very involved in trying to get the best structures well documented. Finally, our newly-elected Bishop Mary pointed out that these issues were diverting all of us from the business at hand. That is, discussing the draft documents at length and working to get the details perfect was absorbing all of the energy we should be putting toward the work of the church. She called discussing the canons the safe option, a comfortable place to spend energy. (What we at Sun call a "mink hole" - that is, a very soft, warm and comfortable rat hole, a distracting topic.) Bishop Mary asked us to pick the harder option, doing the work that was given us to do.

On our refrigerator at home is a magnet that says

Perfection
is the enemy

of "Good Enough"

A lesson that many organizations need to learn, and the lucky ones do learn.

Posted at 09:03PM Mar 11, 2008 by katysblog in News & Reviews  | 

WP668 Puttering

We are still puttering around with little jobs on WP668.

Over the weekend and yesterday night, John got our backyard caboose all ready for the rough electrical inspection. In Santa Clara County, there are two required inspections for electrical work done under a building permit: the rough inspection (where the wiring cables and trenches and boxes and switches are opened up for viewing), and the final inspection (after all of the wires and plates are put away and screwed down). To keep a permit open, there have to be inspections at least every six months. WP668 has two permits open, one for the stairs and the other for the electrical. When the inspector was out for the rough inspection of the stairs he also looked over the wiring and gave John an idea of what he wanted to see for its rough inspection. Next step is to schedule the official electrical rough inspection visit.

While John was finishing the wiring, I painted more external lettering on WP668. It takes several coats of yellow paint for each set, so I can only use the stencils when the weather is dry plus I have a whole day to paint, let dry, and paint again. I have three more sets of letters to paint, including the big WP 668 on each bay window. I am leaving the bays for last because we still have to touch up the paint on one bay window and prime and paint the other. For more lettering and stenciling information, check my blogs: November 27, 2007 and December 4, 2007.

In between painting, I have been weeding. I have pulled up bucketsfull of volunteer bluegrass, burclover, buttercup oxalis, creeping woodsorrel, mallow, scarlet pimpernel, plus some horrible creeping green weed with purple flowers whose name I don't know. It is pretty and breaks easily but if ignored twines around and mounds and strangles everything. Months of rain have encouraged the weed seed to make its bid for next generation survival. I cleared out the flower bed along the driveway - removing the weeds so that the California poppies, sweet alyssum, gazanias, and fennel can grow all summer. John used the torch to burn more weeds out from between the bricks in the garden walkways. I also moved some red rocks into a ring around my new Evergreen Pear tree (Pyrus Kawakamii) so that I can mulch it against the summer heat. We are getting ready to install my new cactus garden between WP668 and the house.

Last week, I pulled my red Barbara Karst Bougainvillea vine off the fence and enclosed it in three ornamental black metal panels. I want to make it grow into a multi-trunk upright tree like the ones I saw in Mulege, Baja Mexico. My Bougainvillea fought with all of its long thorns but it is now firmly (if unwillingly) bound in a 6' column with a fountain of vines coming out the top. I hope this works!

This week's heap of yard waste waiting for pickup in front of our house is about 3' high and 4' in diameter.

Posted at 06:06PM Mar 11, 2008 by katysblog in Caboose Project and Other Trains  |  Comments[1]

24 PreSEEDs Matched - Matching Update

The mentor matching cycle for the PreSEED pilot program participants started on 19 February. 24 have been matched in 16 days (83%). There are five participants left to match. All are now under consideration by potential mentors.

The PreSEED pilot participants are among those invited to the SEED mentoring program's MidTerm Event on 11 April. 93 Sun attendees are registered so far for this event. Speakers will include:

• Jonathan Schwartz (Chief Executive Officer and President)
• David Yen (Executive Vice President, Microelectronics)
• Tiki Dare (Associate General Counsel, Sun Legal) speaking on OpenSolaris
• Chris Frank (Senior Staff Engineer, Industrial Design Architect, & SEED Alumnus, Sun Systems Group) speaking on "Out of the Box: Initial Experiences Create Lasting Impressions"
• Darryl Gove (Senior Staff Engineer, SEED Mentor & Alumnus, Sun Software Group) speaking about his new book Solaris Application Programming
• Nicole Yankelovich (Principal Engineer, & SEED Mentor, Sun Labs) speaking on "Wonderland: Using a 3D Virtual World for Collaboration"

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 12:51PM Mar 05, 2008 by katysblog in Mentoring & Other Business  | 

Have You Seen This Ham?

Last month, while some of us were celebrating Shrove Tuesday, others were celebrating Mardi Gras. Here at Sun's Menlo Park Campus, the Solaris folks held their annual party and float parade. For the second year, the prize was a canned ham. In fact, it was the same ham as last year, until it was stolen.

Posters have appeared all over Menlo Park 17 saying HAVE YOU SEEN THIS HAM? with a photo of the missing foodstuff. There is great suspicion that the creators of the Pirate float were to blame. They say they are innocent (but who believes pirates?). Various pork products, including little canned hams (Hamlets?), have appeared in conspicuous and suspicious MPK17 locations. This morning, even more posters appeared. Engineering Director Pat Hill says that the ham won by her team has a distinctive silver case unlike the black cased pretenders which appeared yesterday.

Is this an early Sun Prank? No one knows...

Posted at 12:24PM Mar 05, 2008 by katysblog in News & Reviews  |