Katy Dickinson

Two Talks

I recently gave two talks here at Sun Menlo Park:

• To TechBridge, for "Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day" on 23 April
• To the annual Sun Design Summit (27-28 April), on "One time vs. Cyclic Survey" design

For "Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day" on 23 April, I talked with a group of 30 teen girls from the TechBridge after-school program for girls, sponsored by the Chabot Space & Science Center in Oakland, California. I was the last speaker in their busy day at Sun. I told them about my work with SEED Engineering Mentoring but also about my kids and WP668, the 1916 railroad caboose in my backyard where I have my office. I showed them photos on my blog and my daughter's blog. After my talk, the girls tried to program a peanut butter and jelly robot, which was very funny. At the end, they said what they enjoyed most about their Sun day. The Executive Briefing Center tour and Nicole Yankelovich's Collaborative Environments project from Sun Labs were tops. One girl even said that learning about having an office caboose was her favorite!

To the designers and usability experts at Sun, I talked about surveys in general, and the difference between one-time and cyclic surveys. Six years ago, I created Sun's "How to Survey" web page in self defense. As a Six Sigma Master Black Belt, I was getting too many requests for information about survey design, tools, policies, etc. So, I put together and maintain a SunWeb page which covers:

• Key Questions
• Reference Documents by Sun Experts
• Additional Resources:
  Policies, Helpful External Tools, Books and Articles, Survey Tools & Services
• Example Surveys

Most of my presentation was drawn from information and resources I have posted on "How to Survey". I chose to submit this topic for Kartik Mithal's Design Summit because usability and design staff are so frequently involved in customer data collection. Also, because so much of the good advice in this area comes from Usability Engineers, such as: Robin Jeffries, Jakob Nielsen, and Jared Spool. The second page of my presentation was:

Why Should You Care?
Listening to the Voice of the Customer Makes Your Work More Effective. Surveys are One Good Way to Listen.	.

I think both talks went well: the audience and I learned something. One of the TechBridge teachers told me about the fun and interesting Algebra vs. The Cockroaches computer game*. Several of the Design Summit audience members sent me additional information to post on the "How to Survey" SunWeb page.

* Algebra vs. The Cockroaches is now on my Good Free Games list.

Images Copyright 2009 Katy Dickinson and Terri Yamamoto

Posted at 01:46PM Apr 30, 2009 by katysblog in News & Reviews  | 

Spring Garden

My garden in full bloom is a place of joy and beauty. Trying to photograph glimpses of the Spring loveliness is a pleasurable challenge.

red rose

wet leaves

nasturtiums with geraniums

wild lily

tiny succulent blooms

succulent

purple sage

pink heuchra

rosy rat tail cactus

Images Copyright 2009 Katy Dickinson

Posted at 11:16PM Apr 29, 2009 by katysblog in Home & Family  | 

Listening to Oracle

Sun's CEO Jonathan Schwartz recently hosted an early morning Town Hall meeting with Oracle executives about the proposed acquisition. The actual meeting for Sun employees was held in a room which only seats a few hundred, so about 10,000 of us listened remotely. General questions were answered. The event was not recorded.

I listened to the broadcast with hundreds of others in the Menlo Park, California, cafeteria. The kitchen staff were noisily getting ready for lunch. Everyone else was very still and quiet, trying to hear the future.

Images Copyright 2009 Katy Dickinson

Posted at 07:26PM Apr 29, 2009 by katysblog in News & Reviews  |  Comments[1]

More Good Free Games

My 16-year-old son Paul is researching learning games for me to pass on to Studio 17, the after-school program where I volunteer at Santa Maria Urban Ministry (inner San Jose, CA). These computer games are free and educational (more or less) but are also fun to play. I started publishing this list on April 23, 2009.

The two "Pandemic" games below require a very dark sense of humor since the player takes the part of an evolving deadly virus killing humanity in a world pandemic. However, the game does give the player an unnerving understanding of how diseases move and change.

• Maverick very basic graphics but interesting physics (dated 1981)
• Pandemic Game be a deadly new virus evolving worldwide
• Pandemic 2 an improved version of the Pandemic Game
• Tetri Tower a physics building game
• Two Rooms two linked mazes

Posted at 06:54PM Apr 29, 2009 by katysblog in Church  |  Comments[1]

Colin Powell Photo Published

My daughter Jessica is finishing her 2nd undergraduate year at Carnegie Mellon University (in Pittsburgh, PA). She has a grant to spend six weeks this summer working in Washington DC but she will be home with us for a few weeks at the end of next month (hooray!).

Jessica has been working hard on her photo-taking skills this year. I was happy to read in her blog that a photo she took of General Colin Powell at a U.S. Presidential Inauguration event was just published by the Special Libraries Association as their cover image. (General Powell was the keynote speaker at SLA's 2009 annual conference.)

Posted at 05:57PM Apr 24, 2009 by katysblog in News & Reviews  |  Comments[1]

Welcome New SEED Mentors

Welcome and Congratulations to the 46 New Mentoring Pairs of the SEED Established Staff (April - October 2009) World-wide All-Engineering Mentoring Term: We are honored and delighted to include them!

This term had a 44 day mentor matching cycle (11 March - 24 April 2009). 77% of the pairs were matched in the first 3 weeks. Two of the participants in this SEED term had also completed a PreSEED term. This term was reduced by 3 mentees leaving Sun after they were matched.

Additional metrics:

• Executive Mentors: 74% of the mentoring pairs include an executive mentor (Vice Presidents, Fellows, Directors, Principal Engineers, Distinguished Engineers, etc.)
• Local vs. Distant: 16 mentoring partners are working local to each other (34%), 31 of the mentors and mentees work at a distance from each other - in another state or country (66%)
• Meeting Priority Requests:
• 87% of mentees were matched with one of their top four mentor requests (41 count)
• 25 mentees were matched with their 1st or 2nd priority mentor (53%)
• 16 mentees were matched with their 3rd or 4th priority mentor (34%)
• 6 mentees were matched with a mentor lower than 4th in request priority (13%)

Posted at 02:53PM Apr 24, 2009 by katysblog in Mentoring & Other Business  | 

Good Free Games

I have been concerned to watch the Studio 17 kids at Santa Maria Urban Ministry playing mindless smash-and-blood or doll-dress-up games during their after homework computer time. I have started a list of "Good Free Games" as alternative suggestions. Studio 17 will also be buying some games (like Zoo Tycoon and Crayon Physics) soon.

I asked my 16-year-old son Paul to research and recommend Good Free Games which were fun to play but also educational. I added to Paul's list games recommended by other sources. This afternoon, Studio 17 tried out about half of the games listed here and had a very good time. Additional suggestions are welcome!

• Algebra vs. The Cockroaches killing insects with math
• Ball Reflexion anticipate bounce directions
• Bucket Ball learn ballistics
• Contour learn topography
• Epsilon
• Insurgo create a building framework
• Make Your Own Kaleidoscope image manipulation
• Magic Pen like Crayon Physics
• Pixelist
• Seed Game (my favorite!) create your own flower DNA
• Time 4 Cat
• wOne-2

I am adding to this list as we find more games, see More Good Free Games - or search for "Good Free Games".

Posted at 09:16PM Apr 23, 2009 by katysblog in Church  |  Comments[2]

Refugee Flowers in Bloom

Last winter, my kids saved a large number of German Iris rhizomes, plus three roses. The plants were in the garden of a house which was being leveled. Jessica and Paul did not want the flowers destroyed along with the house. Amid much mud, we dug up as many as we could, brought them home, and planted them in our San Jose back yard. The refugees not only survived their journey but all are now in bloom. One rose had a tag (Sonia) and one looks and smells just like a rose I already have (Chrysler Imperial) but the smaller red rose is a mystery.

White German Iris

Chrysler Imperial (probably) Hybrid Tea Rose

Sonia Hybrid Tea Rose

unknown name red rose

Images Copyright 2009 Katy Dickinson

Posted at 04:52PM Apr 22, 2009 by katysblog in Home & Family  | 

Photos from the SEED Event

We had 81 people registered for the annual Spring Event by the SEED worldwide Engineering mentoring program. Fewer actually participated (I think Monday's "Oracle to Buy Sun" announcement caused some sudden schedule rearrangements). However, the event went well and feedback so far has been positive.

A group of mentors and mentees had dinner on Monday night at Mike's Cafe (150 Middlefield Road at Willow, Menlo Park, CA) just a few miles from Sun. Yesterday, we heard two speakers and a panel in the morning, then went on two afternoon tours.

Speakers for SEED's annual Spring Event:

• The keynote speaker is SEED's executive sponsor, Sun's Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President of Research and Development, Greg Papadopoulos spoke about his new book Citizen Engineer: A Handbook for Socially Responsible Engineering (written with Dave Douglas and John Boutelle).
• Software Engineering Director Meenakshi Kaul-Basu lead a Sun Open Source Discussion Panel including experts on OpenSolaris, OpenStorage, OpenSPARC, and GlassFish
• Principal Investigator Stephen Uhler talked about his ePBX Project in Sun Labs

Greg Papadopoulos

Greg Papadopoulos

Open Source Panel

Meenakshi Kaul-Basu

Valerie Fenwick, Sreeram Duvur Open Source Panel

John Beck, Durgam Vahia, & Lynn Rohrer, Open Source

Steve Uhler ePBX Project, Sun Labs

EBC - Executive Briefing Center

EBC Black Box

EBC Tour for SEED

ETC Tour for SEED

Rob Snevely, ETC Tour

ETC - Enterprise Technology Center

Images Copyright 2009 Katy Dickinson

Posted at 01:36PM Apr 22, 2009 by katysblog in Mentoring & Other Business  | 

SEED and PreSEED Mentoring Applications

Since 14 April, SEED and PreSEED have been receiving applications from Sun Engineering staff to join the worldwide mentoring program. All application materials are due 30 April 2009 for both terms. What we have so far:

• PreSEED term
• 35 PreSEED applicants
• 15 complete applications
• Applications from: China (Beijing, Chengdu), Czech Republic (Prague), India (Bangalore), Japan (Tokyo), Russia (St. Petersburg), USA (California, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, & Texas)
• Applicants' Origins include: Brazil, China, India, Ireland, Japan, Laos, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, USA, VietNam
• Global Sales and Service SEED term
• 6 GSS SEED applicants
• 2 complete application
• Applications from: Belgium (Zaventem), France (Velizy), Italy (Padova), USA (California, Maryland, Virginia)
• Applicants' Origins include: Belgium, France, Italy, USA

The GSS term participants will be chosen by an executive Selection Committee. PreSEED has a time-based acceptance process: we will take the first 50 with complete and verified applications. During the most recent PreSEED term in 2008, the first 50 applications were completed by the 12th day of the application period.

Posted at 05:00PM Apr 20, 2009 by katysblog in Mentoring & Other Business  | 

John in the Paper

My husband John Plocher was quoted in the newspaper today!

The Mercury News published the article:

Silicon Valley unemployment rate jumps to record 11%
By Pete Carey
Posted: 04/17/2009 10:32:21 AM PDT
"Silicon Valley's unemployment rate jumped to a record 11 percent last month, and more than 100,000 people are now unemployed and looking for work in the area, the state reported Friday. The question now is how many more will join them before the recession ends....
It can't happen soon enough for John Plocher, a 47-year-old software engineer who was laid off from struggling Sun Microsystems in November after about 20 years with the company. 'It's just staggering how many people are out there looking,' he said Friday.
Job-loss shock
'All the big companies seem to be shedding,' Plocher said. At regular lunch meetings of his networking group, 'I just look at their name tags: 'I used to work at...' and it's all the big names in the valley.'
Plocher, who has a son in high school and daughter in college, said socializing and networking are important, especially to get over the first shock of losing a job. 'The first month was really, really hard.'"

Some of the resources which have been of most help to John in his job hunt:

• There is a networking and lunch group in Cupertino, California, called CSix where job hunters share ideas and leads.
• The book What Color Is Your Parachute? by Richard Nelson Bolles is excellent. This book is available in many languages (French, Korean, Russian, Turkish...). Also check out the resources on Dick Bolles' web site: JobHuntersBible.Com
• LinkedIn - a social networking web site for professionals who want to extend their contacts.
• For more, see my January 15, 2009 blog post.

Posted at 10:22PM Apr 18, 2009 by katysblog in Home & Family  | 

New Walks of Old Brick

The prior owner of our 1930 home in Willow Glen (San Jose, CA) passed on to us a large number of bricks and garden stones which I have been using for the last ten years in my landscaping. Most of the bricks are very old and worn, some are half-melted clinkers, others are still new-looking with crisp corners.

Several years ago, when we replaced the old leaky swimming pool with WP668, our 1916 backyard caboose, we had to take up several long brick walkways. Since then, we have been re-using the bricks in new walks. Some of the original walkways are in the Jack-on-Jack (or Stacked Bond) pattern, others are in a Basket Weave classic brick pattern.

To get ready for our annual Easter egg hunt and garden party, we installed several new walkways using old bricks. The new walks went in places where the walking surface was uneven or hard to roll a cart or wheelbarrow over. In the new walks, we used both Jack-on-Jack and Basket Weave patterns to match what was already there. Most are set in sand on top of weed cloth with wood borders. On one high-traffic section, we used concrete borders and mortar. Even though it took a week of work and what we have now is very different from what was there before, none of our thirty party guests noticed the change. The advantage of using old bricks in new walks is that if you are careful, they look like they have always been there.

2006 - Removing Pool & Bricks

4/2009 - installation

4/2009 - new walk finished

another new walk

Daniel at work

Daniel and WP668

WP668 Caboose, April 2009

Images Copyright 2009 by John Plocher and Katy Dickinson

Posted at 10:00PM Apr 18, 2009 by katysblog in Home & Family  | 

$163,613

If you have read my blog since January, you may know that my 16-year-old son Paul has recently developed chronic and debilitating headaches and dizziness. Despite the capable and dedicated care of Pediatricians, Neurologists, Neurosurgeons, Pain Specialists, Psychologists and Psychiatrists, Occupational and Physical Therapists, and Nurse practitioners, Paul's situation is stable but not improving. We continue to work with the Pain Management Clinic at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital (LPCH). Paul is still attending the Hospital School at LPCH, so he will not have to repeat his Junior Year in High School. Thanks for your prayers and good wishes - they have been been a great support and blessing to our family.

This blog entry is about the financial side of this experience. I am not pointing my Finger of Blame at one organization or another as being Bad. I think that in general America's medical care is excellent. But I am presenting a specific example of how very broken the financial side of America's health system is.

When Paul first went into the hospital, we did not consider the financial side. We approved the recommended treatments and stayed focused on supporting Paul and each other. Over the months, this situation has evolved from a crisis into a new schedule: six sets of pills a day, drop off and pick up at doctors' offices - hospital - school, walks and stretches and massage, time in the sun, and of course regular homework and chores. Almost every day, we receive medical bills or insurance Explanations of Benefits.

Explanations of Benefits are cryptic and offer a very narrow view of a small set of medical charges. The first bill which gave us any overview of what our medical adventure cost was the hospital bill for Paul's brain surgery, for $163,613.70.

When I reviewed the statement, I was equally amazed at the total price and the 83% insurance adjustment. I know if I did not have a good job which includes health insurance, I would not be eligible for either the $25,921.32 insurance payment or the $136,324.50 discount. I would have to pay $163,613.70. Please understand, with my husband still looking for work, I am quite happy to pay only $1,367.88 for Paul's brain surgery. However, I know there are growing numbers of people who have no job and little or no health insurance such as mine. It feels very wrong that the privileged pay the least.

Paul-Hospital School

Topiary Elephant

LPCH Giraffe

LPCH Daffodils and Pansies

Images Copyright 2009 by Katy Dickinson

Posted at 06:30PM Apr 17, 2009 by katysblog in Home & Family  |  Comments[1]

SEED Event, Plus SEED and PreSEED Application Periods

The annual SEED mentoring program Spring event starts with a dinner on Monday night, followed by a day of talks and tours on Tuesday, 21 April. We have 70 registered to participate so far:

• 51 will be there in person, traveling from Australia, Austria, Czech Republic, France, Russia, Spain, USA (Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Texas)
• 19 are participating remotely, joining the meeting from France, Germany, India, Netherlands, Singapore, UK, USA (Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, Texas)

Since 14 April, SEED and PreSEED have been receiving applications from Sun Engineering staff to join the worldwide mentoring program. All application materials are due 30 April 2009 for both terms. What we have so far:

• PreSEED term
• 31 PreSEED applicants
• 12 complete applications
• Applications from: China (Beijing, Chengdu), Czech Republic (Prague), India (Bangalore), Japan (Tokyo), Russia (St. Petersburg), USA (California, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, & Texas)
• Global Sales and Service SEED term
• 5 GSS SEED applicants
• 1 complete application
• Applications from: Belgium (Zaventem), France (Velizy), USA (California, Maryland, Virginia)

The GSS term participants will be chosen by an executive Selection Committee. PreSEED has a time-based acceptance process: we will take the first 50 with complete and verified applications. During the most recent PreSEED term in 2008, the first 50 applications were completed by the 12th day of the application period.

Posted at 03:52PM Apr 17, 2009 by katysblog in Mentoring & Other Business  | 

Tax Day at SMUM

Santa Maria Urban Ministry (SMUM) hosts a variety of community support programs in San Jose's inner city, including food distribution, a preschool, Studio 17 (the homework and computer club at which I volunteer on Thursday afternoons), and clothing distribution. The small building is thoroughly used! Last night, Lewis headed up the VITA volunteer team at SMUM, helping to prepare and electronically file income tax returns on America's Tax Day.

In VITA's own words:

"Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) volunteers provide FREE Income Tax Preparation Assistance to low-Income, elderly, disabled and limited English speaking people. Volunteers get FREE classroom training during the Saturdays in January at the San Jose IRS Office in Santa Clara County, and certification by the IRS after satisfactorily completing an open book exam."

John was at SMUM last night taking pictures for their newsletter. He guessed there were 150 people speaking many languages in the very full computer lab, waiting area, and parking lot. Only a few people arrived too late for the electronic filing deadline (9 pm California time = Midnight East Coast time).

VITA at SMUM

Studio 17 at SMUM

Here is the same SMUM computer lab being used by the kids of Studio 17:

Images Copyright 2009 by John Plocher and Katy Dickinson

Posted at 02:24PM Apr 16, 2009 by katysblog in Church  |