Katy Dickinson

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  |