Katy Dickinson

SMUM Graduation

We went to a graduation party yesterday. John and I volunteer weekly at SMUM (Santa Maria Urban Ministry) Studio 17, an after school homework and computer lab in San Jose. Yesterday, we went to SMUM with Jessica and Paul for the end of year pizza and cake party. This summer, Studio 17 will offer weekend activities, including a karate self-defense class by Jessica. Here are photos from the party:

SMUM Big Girls

Brother and sister

Lining up for cake

Ice Cream Cones

Compukidz Bilingual Toy Laptop

Loves her computer

Graduation picture

Graduation picture

Graduation picture

Graduation picture

Computer boys

Pattycake rhyme games

Carlos' 13th Birthday

Studio 17 picture

Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson

Posted at 03:17PM May 30, 2008 by katysblog in Church  |  Comments[1]

Mourning Cloak at Sun Labs

In my May 19, 2008 blog entry, I wrote about the large and lovely brown and black and white butterfly which emerged from its chrysalis during a meeting in a Sun Labs conference room, then flew into the light fixture. Yesterday, one of the Engineers found it clinging to a wall and (after I took a photo) took it outside where it flew up into a pear tree. Even though there are no visible blue spots, I think this is a Mourning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa), a kind of true brush-foot butterfly found all over California.

Sun Labs Mourning Cloak

Butterfly Chrysalis in Conference Room

Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson

Posted at 09:05AM May 30, 2008 by katysblog in News & Reviews  | 

PreSEED and SEED Status

We are in the mentor matching cycle for the second PreSEED term. So far, 48 out of the 52 are matched (92%) since the cycle started on 5 May. This term officially starts in June and runs through December 2008. The newly matched mentors are now having their preliminary meetings with the mentee's managers and the mentor-mentee pairs are going through their two hour training sessions as those are scheduled.

The SEED program is also now accepting applications from Sun Engineering staff worldwide for its Recent Hire and Established Staff terms which will start in September 2008. (The next PreSEED term does not start until January 2009.)

To date, we have 47 SEED applications, 8 of which are complete. All materials are due by 9 June. SEED has applications from Sun Engineering staff working in Czech Republic, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, P.R. China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, Taiwan, the UK, and the USA. They work for Sun Labs, Microelectronics, Global Sales and Services, Software, Storage, Systems, and Worldwide Operations.

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

Posted at 09:37PM May 29, 2008 by katysblog in Mentoring & Other Business  | 

Geese at Sun

It is the time of year for Sun Menlo Park to play host to Canada Geese. Our campus is right at the edge of the San Francisco Bay, so we see hawks and ravens and songbirds all year long. In the late Spring, the big loud geese arrive to have their babies and wander around the lawns of Sun's Fitness Center.

Sun Menlo Park from the Air

Geese in Front of Fitness Center

Flock on Fitness Center Lawn

Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson

Posted at 11:56AM May 29, 2008 by katysblog in News & Reviews  | 

Moving into Caboose

This week, we are moving books and bookcases into WP668, our backyard caboose. We have been planning this for years but we still have to rearrange or swap furniture, books, and stuff in a variety of rooms and storage areas to get everything into the right place. Jessica and Paul have been very patient and helpful.

Jessica and Paul move bookcase

John, Jessica, and Paul

Starting to fill with books

John and Jessica in WP668

Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson

Posted at 01:37PM May 28, 2008 by katysblog in Caboose Project and Other Trains  | 

Twin Lakes State Beach, near Santa Cruz

On the Memorial Day holiday, we joined another family for a beach picnic at Twin Lakes State Beach, near Santa Cruz, CA. Except for the constant wind and blowing sand, it is a pleasant and pretty place with nearby parking, showers and lavatories, and metal firepits for cooking. There were many crabs, pelicans, and sea gulls but only small shells.

Beach signs

Lighthouse and sailboat

Crab on rocks

Jessica and Matt's sand castle

Cooking bratwurst

Kite overhead

Pelicans overhead

Cooking marshmallows

Sand blown onto blanket

Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson

Posted at 01:05PM May 28, 2008 by katysblog in News & Reviews  | 

What is a tea cosy?

Twice recently at our Wednesday afternoon weekly tea in the Sun Labs building in Menlo Park, we have had guests who looked at our tea cosies and said "what are those?" We said we make tea in a big pot, take out the leaves once the tea has steeped, and then cover the pot with a padded cosy to keep it warm. The cosy is like a warm hat.

Both guests explained that this is not how tea is made in China, then went on to tell us about pot size and materials and how to reuse the leaves for different tea tastes. We invited them to come back and show us how they make tea.

In the meantime, for the benefit of those who have never seen one, below is a picture of three tea cosies. These are my own cosies plus my two favorite tea pots. You can see that both the pots and cosies are whimsical in shape and decoration. There are much more traditional designs but I like having an Aladdin's lamp tea pot with a Queen Elizabeth cosy to keep it warm.

Three tea cosies

Two tea pots

Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson

Posted at 10:17PM May 27, 2008 by katysblog in News & Reviews  | 

Caboose Brunch

The Memorial Day long weekend was a very busy time for WP668, our backyard caboose. We were getting ready for Sunday when we served a brunch to the winners from the SAMA Auction. We did not get everything done but the caboose looks great (particularly our new stained glass windows by Vince Taylor!). Our guests said they had a wonderful time.

We served them fresh fruit (including cherries from our own tree), eggs and bacon and sausage, french toast and morning buns, coffee and tea and orange juice and champagne. Here are some photos from Sunday:

Cherries on tree

Fresh cherries

Table set the night before

New stained glass windows

Brunch guests

Brunch guests

Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher

Posted at 09:31PM May 27, 2008 by katysblog in Caboose Project and Other Trains  | 

Caboose Stained Glass, Bookcases

The Memorial Day long weekend was a very busy time for WP668, our backyard caboose. Now that the rough electrical inspection has been passed, on Saturday, we finally filled in the trench running through the ballast under WP668. Vince Taylor delivered and installed our new stained glass bay window, and the three big red bookcases were delivered by Crate and Barrel. We were getting ready for Sunday when we served a brunch to the winners from the SAMA Auction. We did not get everything done but the caboose looks great and our guests said they had a wonderful time.

It was a delight to see the lovely windows Vince created. You can see his initial drawings and art glass samples on my 11 Feb 2008 blog entry. Here are some photos from Saturday:

John finishing exterior wiring

Open pipe trench

Filled in pipe trench

Vince and John prepare bay window

1st stained glass panel going in

Train silhouette

Lizard silhouette

Vince in window

Vince and John

Vince starting on 2nd window

Two windows done

3rd window ready to go

Three windows done

Vince in window

Delivery truck

1st bookcase arriving

3rd bookcase going in

Glass and bookcases in place

Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher

Posted at 10:55AM May 27, 2008 by katysblog in Caboose Project and Other Trains  | 

Sun at Hopper 2008

Sun is a long-term supporter of the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing and the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology.

About Hopper

The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing is an annual conference 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.

This year's Hopper 2008 conference theme is "We Build a Better World". Hopper 2008 will be held October 1-4, 2008 in Keystone, Colorado.

The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing is presented by the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology and the Association for Computing Machinery.

Why go to Hopper?

1. Professional education, celebration, and excitement
2. Networking and Visibility
3. Recruiting (University and Professional)

Here is one example of what happens at Hopper:

In 2007, a group of senior women Engineers and Executives got together and created MAGIC, a new mentoring program for middle school and high school girls. MAGIC was kicked off as a BOF (birds of a feather session) at Hopper 2007, and a group of interested potential mentors signed up. MAGIC is now partnering with Girls' Middle School on its pilot program with volunteer mentors from Sun Microsystems, Google, NASA, and other organizations. An update BOF is scheduled for Hopper 2008.

Sun's Participation

Congratulations to Sun staff who are on panels or BOFs accepted by the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing 2008! This is a starting list - there are always changes and additions as panel rosters are developed.

Sun Submissions Accepted for Hopper 2008

1. BOF - Best Practices for Latina Grad Students
2. BOF - Experiences with Maternity Leave and Returning to Work
3. BOF - Setting Up An Effective Organization To Support Girls
4. Panel - CTO Panel
5. Panel - Letting the Cup Overflow; expanding your experiences outside your research lab
6. Panel - Mid-Career Course Correction
7. Panel - Online Social Networks - Impact to our careers
8. Panel - Women in the Brave New World of Free and Open Source Software
9. Panel - Project Fortress: A Multicore Language for Scientists and Engineers
10. Panel - Synergistic Evolution of Software & Hardware Technologies
11. Panel - Taking the Long View - Many Careers in One Company
12. Presentation - Innovating with Chip Multi-Threading Technology

Posted at 09:56AM May 27, 2008 by katysblog in Hopper - Anita Borg Institute  |  Comments[1]

PreSEED and SEED Status

We are in the mentor matching cycle for the second PreSEED term. So far, 46 out of the 52 are matched (88%) since the cycle started on 5 May. This term officially starts in June and runs through December 2008. The newly matched mentors are now having their preliminary meetings with the mentee's managers and the mentor-mentee pairs are going through their two hour training sessions as those are scheduled.

The SEED program is also now accepting applications from Sun Engineering staff worldwide for its Recent Hire and Established Staff terms which will start in September 2008. To date, we have 32 applications, 4 of which are complete. All materials are due by 9 June. SEED has applicants from China, India, Ireland, Israel, Russia, the UK, and the USA so far.

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

Posted at 09:34AM May 27, 2008 by katysblog in Mentoring & Other Business  | 

MAGIC at Girls' Middle School

Three of us from the new MAGIC program presented at The Girls' Middle School (GMS) in Mountain View, CA today. GMS is partnering with MAGIC on our first pilot program. MAGIC (More Active Girls In Computing) is a mentorship program between very senior technical women at Sun Microsystems, Google, NASA and other organizations and middle school girls. MAGIC was kicked off at the October 2007 Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing. (MAGIC has just been accepted to present again at Hopper 2008.) We want to foster in these girls a positive attitude towards computing and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math).

Hosted by Michelle Friend Hutton (GMS Technology Director), Ira Pramanick, Meenakshi Kaul-Basu, and I presented at a GMS school assembly this afternoon to tell the girls all about it. We passed out MAGIC pencils imprinted with our web address. There was much trading of pencils until all the girls got the colors they preferred.

Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson

Posted at 11:13PM May 21, 2008 by katysblog in Hopper - Anita Borg Institute  | 

Caboose Passes Inspection

WP668, our backyard caboose, passed its first electrical inspection by the City of San Jose today! John worked from home to be there for the inspector. He said the inspector knew all about our project and was excited to be the one from his department who got to sign off. The inspector said if John wanted work as an electrician, he could get him a job. WP668 only has one more inspection: once the stair handrail is installed, it and the final electrical are all that need to be checked.

The original bunkbed and its wall have been reinstalled already. John put up the last of the ceiling trim and baseboards. Both ladders have been painted and installed. The stained glass and bookcases arrive on Saturday (we ended up buying bookcases but we still hope to build in a window seat). John is almost done filling in the bolt holes on the bay windows (once that is done, I can paint the big WP 668 on the front). I have almost all of the stones in place in the arroyito of the new cactus garden. We will be ready for the caboose brunch on Sunday, 25 May.

Work in progress on WP668:

• 24 May - Install stained glass bay window
• 24 May - Install bookcases
• 24 May - Finish painting exterior markings
• 24 May - Fill in trench for electrical conduit
• Install stair handrail (being made now)
• Final stairway and electrical inspection and sign off
• Install roof walk
• Install bay window seat
• Install phone and internet service
• Move in furniture and books

Ladder installed

WP668 side view

View out bay window

Aloe in Cactus Garden

Cactus Garden

John installing bunk

Katy sweeping up

WP668 interior view from the front door

Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher

Posted at 10:36PM May 21, 2008 by katysblog in Caboose Project and Other Trains  | 

SEED Mentoring 2008-2009 Terms Announced

Today Greg Papadopoulos, Sun's CTO and Executive Vice President of Research and Development, as the sponsor for Engineering's worldwide mentoring program, sent out his announcement that the 2008-2009 SEED terms will be open for applications from 21 May - 9 June 2008. As I wrote in my May 10, 2008 blog, as of Greg's announcement today, we have integrated PreSEED with the Recent Hire and Established staff groups offered by the SEED program. The 2008-2009 terms just announced are for Recent Hire and Established staff groups. The next regular worldwide all-Engineering PreSEED term will be offered January-June 2009 (with applications in November 2008).

The SEED program now has coverage for all of the exempt grades in Engineering, which it didn't before. This sounds like a small change but it took Tanya Jankot and me months of tool redesign and rewriting of the process documents to be sure that everything was covered and made sense. Now for the live test of a worldwide all-Engineering application period...

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

Posted at 05:20PM May 20, 2008 by katysblog in Mentoring & Other Business  | 

Matilija poppy

On June 3, 2005, I wrote about the two matilija poppy plants (Romneya coulteri) going into my garden. Matilija poppies are a Southern California native plant that can grow to eight feet tall. Matilija is probably a Chumash Indian word but many people pronounce it as if it was Spanish. The flowers look like big fried eggs balanced on top of long grey-green stems. Matilija poppies are mostly grown from cuttings and, once established, can take over large areas. I have dedicated a whole section of our river bank to matilija poppy colonization.

One of my 2005 poppies died in its first year but the second is strong and now in full bloom. When I was taking photos of the flowers, I caught a bonus image of a yellow butterfly pretending to be a poppy leaf.

Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson

Posted at 12:23PM May 20, 2008 by katysblog in News & Reviews  |  Comments[1]