Katy Dickinson

Estate Sale

One of my quiet joys on weekends is going to garage and estate sales. I am not methodical about finding garage sales: I go to the ones I happen to see driving around rather than reading listings. However, I am on the mailing lists of two estate sale companies called "To Each His Own" or TEHO, and "Unexpected Treasures". I usually find stuff of interest at their sales. If I have time and the home being cleared is local, I try to attend the preview sale before they open to the public.

Some estate sales are sad: I feel uncomfortable seeing wedding albums, baby pictures, and hundred-year-old family Bibles available for a few dollars. Others offer only stuff which is worthless to me, like Hummel figurines, or cowboy, movie star, and military memorabilia. Last weekend, however, John and I attended a very interesting sale. We got there late but in about half an hour, we bought a laser level, ladder, storage cabinets, antique keys and doorknobs. We had planned to buy most of these things anyway and were happy to have them at about a tenth the price of retail.

1910 original brass doorknobs

Antique keys

Laser leveling tool

Images Copyright 2009 Katy Dickinson

Posted at 08:51PM May 26, 2009 by katysblog in News & Reviews  | 

Science & Technology at 49ers Academy, East Palo Alto

Gilda Garreton, Valerie Fenwick, and I were invited to visit the Media Center of the San Francisco 49ers Academy in East Palo Alto, California, this week to talk about science and technology in our lives. We spoke to the mostly-girl students of an extracurricular course on media who are studying video production skills and critical thinking.

Gilda, Valerie, and I work in different parts of Sun. We got to know each other well during our work on the annual Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing. Of course, we talked about Engineering women in addition to telling the students about our work and lives! I passed out Sun pens and stickypads plus "Why Should Young Women Consider a Career in Information Technology?" cards from the National Center for Women & Information Technology as well as NCWIT's "By the Numbers" (compelling statistics on women's participation in IT) and other materials.

The students asked us questions and then videotaped interviews with us. Each student very capably took on a job: interviewer, director, camera operator, etc. This is an impressive and well managed program. They even have their own blog called Girls' Tyme!.

San Francisco 49ers Academy

Media Students with Rebecca and Valerie

Images Copyright 2009 Katy Dickinson

Posted at 08:10PM May 26, 2009 by katysblog in News & Reviews  | 

Women in IT: Think Globally, Act Locally

Last week I attended a fascinating National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) workshop called "Women in IT: Think Globally, Act Locally". In addition to meeting many interesting and impressively accomplished technical women, I heard presentations on research and programs to bring technology to women worldwide.

I found the talks about specific programs of most interest. For example:

• Dr. Vivian Lagesen (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) spoke about perceptions of gender and computer science In Malaysia. CS is seen as a woman's profession there because it private, indoor work.
• Dr. M. Bernardine Dias ( TechBridgeWorld at Carnegie Mellon University) spoke about Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICTD), such as: designing multiple mice for computers in education in developing countries, literacy games, and user interfaces for illiterate and semi-literate users.

After the workshop, there was a party to celebrate the Computing Awards recently given to 32 young women in high school.

Workshop Program

Dr. Vivian Lagesen

Small Group Session Leaders

Dr. M. Bernardine Dias

Dr. Lucy Sanders

NCWIT Awards to High School Girls

Images Copyright 2009 Katy Dickinson

Posted at 06:19PM May 20, 2009 by katysblog in News & Reviews  | 

SEED Mentoring Participants Selected

On 14 May, the Global Sales and Service (GSS) executive Selection Committee, made up of six Directors and Vice Presidents, picked the 23 new participants for the 15 June - 15 December 2009 SEED worldwide Engineering mentoring term. This is the second GSS-only term for SEED. There were 38 applicants this term. The selection was very difficult. Participants in the SEED program were chosen based on professional performance, manager and executive recommendations, and the other SEED Selection Criteria.

The SEEDs in our second GSS term are an unusual group in several dimensions: all men, mostly in Europe, plus two countries in which SEED has not had participants working before: Hungary and Slovakia. Compare to the more-usual demographic/geographic distribution of the current PreSEED term announced on 8 May 2009.

The first GSS term also had some unusual metrics. As I reported on 20 November 2008 and 5 March 2009, that GSS term included few women, and was widely distributed geographically, but ended up with 96% mentoring pairs working at a distance (where the mentor and mentee are in another state or country). It will be interesting to see how this second GSS term's mentor matching patterns work out.

The 81 new GSS SEED and PreSEED participants are now researching and writing their 3-learning-goal plus 10-name Mentor Wish Lists, due 22 May.

About the New GSS SEED Participants:

    Location of Participants
	Belgium   1,   4%
	France   1,   4%
	Germany   1,   4%
	Hungary   1,   4%
	Italy   1,   4%
	Japan   2,   9%
	Netherlands   1,   4%
	Norway   1,   4%
	Slovakia   1,   4%
	Spain   1,   4%
	Sweden   3,   13%
	Switzerland   1,   4%
	United Kingdom   3,   13%
	USA   5,   22%

    Gender of Participants
	23 Male, 100%

    6 are Managers, 26%

    6 are prior SEED or PreSEED applicants, 26%

To learn more about SEED and to read SEED participants' blogs, check out http://research.sun.com/SEED.

Posted at 10:28AM May 20, 2009 by katysblog in Mentoring & Other Business  | 

Sun Presentations at Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing

The Hopper conference announced its acceptances yesterday. I just finished collecting review results from Sun's submitters. Sun staff submitted or were part of groups which submitted 19 proposals to Hopper 2009 and 13 were accepted (69%) - Sun's best acceptance rate ever! This includes Susan Landau's invited technical talk. The 2009 Sun presenters are from a very broad range of Engineering disciplines: Microelectronics, Software, Storage, Sun Labs, and the Systems group.

GHC 2009 will be held:

Tucson, Arizona
September 30 - October 3, 2009

Sun will be a Platinum Corporate Sponsor for the Hopper conference again this year.

Also, my daughter Jessica sent in two GHC 2009 submissions, both of which were accepted. This is Jessica's third Hopper conference and her second as an accepted presenter (she started out on my Girl Geeks panel in 2007). Jessica has just finished her Sophomore year at Carnegie Mellon University.

Sun's accepted submissions are:

1. "Bits and Bites: Explaining Communications Security (and Insecurity) to Washington and Brussels" invited technical talk by Susan Landau
2. "3D Collaborative Environments for Social Good" (Sun Proposal - accepted as a poster), Gilda Garreton and Nicole Yankelovich
3. "Designing for the 100+ Year Archive" (Sun Proposal - accepted as a poster), with Cathleen Wharton
4. "Developing sustainable technologies for an improved future" (panel submitted by Intel), includes Sudesna Dash
5. "Formal verification on leading edge microprocessor design" (Sun Proposal - accepted as a poster) by Catherine Ahlschlager, Pamela Parish, and Shrenik Mehta
6. "From Spec. to Silicon: Successful Validation of a Server-class SoC Microprocessor" (Sun Proposed Presentation), with Manisha Hardikar
7. "Open Source Community Development" (Sun Proposed Panel), includes Valerie Fenwick, Teresa Giacomini, and others
8. "Solving the Two Body Problem: Creating Technology While Maintaining Your Social Life" (NASA Proposed Panel), includes Katy Dickinson
9. "Speed Mentoring for Latinas in Computing" (IBM Proposed BOF), includes Gilda Garreton
10. "Technical Mentorship and Sponsorship: Why You Need It and How to Find It" (Google Proposed Panel), includes Cathleen Wharton
11. "The Value of Awards & How to Get Them" (Sun Proposed Panel), includes Katy Dickinson
12. Video blogging (Sun Proposal - accepted as a poster), includes Deirdre Straughan
13. "Women and the Flat Connected World" (Sun Proposed Panel), includes Meenakshi Kaul-Basu

Some Hopper 2008 Photos:

Jessica's Poster

Sun Reception

M Kaul-Basu

Susan Landau interview

Images Copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson

Posted at 03:13PM May 18, 2009 by katysblog in Hopper - Anita Borg Institute  | 

Cupola Update

The continuing saga of a garage repair... (taking up the story from the 6 May update). My husband John Plocher is making progress on replacing the formerly-termite-infested walls and roof of our garage-turned-model-train-room-and-workshop. The most visible progress is on the cupola he designed to let in light and air. Next steps are siding, roofing, and paint.

cupola side wall on the ground

first cupola wall on roof

John with cupola walls

John, roof framed and windows in

John on roof with cupola

cupola roof covered

Images Copyright 2009 Katy Dickinson

Posted at 02:50PM May 14, 2009 by katysblog in Home & Family  | 

Swine Flu Symptoms

Symptoms of the H1N1 Flu ("Swine Flu") which I have observed recently here in the Silicon Valley:

• Friends have shown detailed knowledge in casual conversations of how many H1N1 Flu cases have been reported in the US (see CDC H1N1 Flu Update: U.S. Human Cases of H1N1 Flu Infection)
• Friends have revealed detailed knowledge of which face masks are supposed to be most protective
• New signs are taped up in bathrooms and break areas on how to cough and wash hands to reduce transmission danger (see photo)
• Face masks and hand sanitizers are sold out week after week at local drug store (see photos)
• After school tutoring program was canceled for a week to reduce transmission risk
• Update emails arrived from Sun's crisis management team and from Congresswoman Anna Eshoo on what to know and do (good information!)
• More questions than usual for everyone entering the lobby of Packard Hospital: "Do you have a cough, rash, cold...?" plus new signs suspending VIP access to parents so that everyone can be screened before entry (see photos)

Cover Your Cough

sold out face masks

sold out hand sanitizers

new Packard Hospital signs

new Packard Hospital lobby sign

Images Copyright 2009 Katy Dickinson

Posted at 09:21PM May 13, 2009 by katysblog in News & Reviews  | 

New Trees for ARCO

On 9 March and 12 March, I wrote about our neighborhood working together to get our local ARCO gas station to be easier to live near. Since then, the station was closed for construction. It opened again just a few days ago.

The neighborhood's concerns were: too much light, noise, traffic, and gang tagging (spray painting and scratching of symbols and letters). Since the station reopened, the light pollution is much reduced because of the removal of the big lights facing toward our homes from the canopy. Thankfully, noise and traffic are also down (but those will probably increase as customers notice that the station is open again).

As part of the station upgrade, they killed three large old stone pine trees. The pines had provided a good buffer for the light and noise of the gas station. ARCO planted three new much smaller trees, two of them in the same place as the trees that were chopped down. We hope the new trees will grow big fast!

Photos of the reconstruction in April 2009:

Tree Removal Sign

Pine Tree Half Gone

equipment removed

Last Photo of 3 Old Stone Pines

Cut Up Tree

3 small new trees planted

Images Copyright 2009 Katy Dickinson

Posted at 04:44PM May 12, 2009 by katysblog in News & Reviews  |  Comments[1]

Keeping Current

An ongoing challenge of running the SEED worldwide Sun Engineering mentoring program is keeping all of its web pages current. The web pages present information, resources, and reports to SEED mentees, mentors, and managers, help to reduce email traffic, and also support participants so they are less dependent on program staff. However, even with all of the web information, SEED generates over 1,000 email exchanges in an average month. The SEED program staff (Tanya Jankot, Sheri Kaneshiro, and me) maintain many dozens of internal SunWeb pages, plus a few which are external. SEED's web presence has been growing since the program started in 2001.

Today, I have been updating SEED's primary external web page: http://research.sun.com/SEED/, checking links and adding resources. I added some new program reviews and took out older reports which have disappeared since the last update. Here is what we have now:

List of Publications About SEED:
Overview

• "5 Years of Mentoring by the Numbers" by Katy Dickinson, presented at the October 2006 Grace Hopper Celebration of Women and Computing (30 pages, PDF format)
• Sun Engineering Enrichment and Development (SEED) Program (Case Study 1): Mentoring Technical Women at Work National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) Social Scientists picked SEED among Promising Practices as the Case Study in this report, 2006 (2 pages, PDF format)

2009

• Maria Klawe (President, Harvey Mudd College), Telle Whitney (President and CEO of the Anita Borg Institute or ABI), and Caroline Simard (Director for Research at ABI): "Women in Computing - Take 2" February 2009 issue, Communications of the ACM (Association for Computing Machinery):
  "Some of the successful approaches that companies may use for recruiting, retaining, and advancing more women in computing, as well as in other technical professions, include:... Implement a mentoring program. Indeed, make mentoring which positively impacts career advancement and satisfaction, a basic part of the organizational culture. Sun Microsystems' SEED program, for example, is regarded as a major step in this direction."
• Computing Alliance of Hispanic Serving Institutions (CAHSI) "Mentoring Lessons Shared" panel member, 16 January 2009, Mountain View, CA. See "News - CAHSI: Developing Leaders Through Mentoring" By BJ Wishinsky, Communities Program Manager, Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology, January 2009

2007

• Ida Abbott Consulting Management Solutions Issue 17, Winter 2007 "Best Practices - Proving the Value of Mentoring" profiles SEED

2006

• Sun Engineering Enrichment and Development (SEED) Program (Case Study 1): Mentoring Technical Women at Work National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) Social Scientists picked SEED among Promising Practices as the Case Study in this report, 2006 (2 pages, PDF format)
• "Mentors can help women shatter glass ceiling - Senior colleagues can toot your horn, bringing you money and power" by Eve Tahmincioglu, MSNBC contributor, Nov 19, 2006 (mentoring quote on the 2nd page)
• "20 ways to get promoted in the tech industry - If you agree that there's no such thing as an IT project, you may already be on your way up the ladder" by Dan Tynan, October 16, 2006, InfoWorld (SEED is part of "10. Find Your Yoda")
• "Five Years of Mentoring by the Numbers" 4-7 October 2006 Grace Hopper Celebration of Women and Computing, San Diego Program Schedule for GHC Session 1 - Thursday, October 5, 2006 "5 Years of Executive Mentoring", TechLeaders - Building and Sustaining Change in Technology Cultures: Showcasing What Works (October 4, 2006, San Diego, CA)
• Information Week in Israel, 28 Feb 2006 (in Hebrew, with a photo)

2005

• "Outsourcing is essential for survival of companies" (SEED is mentioned), interview with Crawford W Beveridge, Executive Vice President (People & Places) and Chief Human Resource Officer interview, Deccan Herald > Economy & Business > Detailed Story, April 11, 2005

2004 and earlier

• "Bit by Bit: Mentoring & Practical Approaches to Advancing Women in High Tech" Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing ("GHC 2004") Moderator: Katy Dickinson, 7 October 2004
• Rhonda Holt (VP of Grid Engineering Program Office) interview, DiversitySearch - Up Close & Virtual Interviews, 2004 (mentions SEED)
• "SEED: Sun engineering enrichment & development" Research Disclosure Database Number 482013, defensive publication in Research Disclosure, Published in June 2004, Electronic Publication Date : 17 May 2004 (5 pages, PDF format)
• "Nurturing a Culture of Innovation" Express Computer May 2004 article on SEED program and participants in Sun's India Engineering Center (IEC) in Bangalore
• "Sun Engineering Enrichment and Development Program Fosters Growth New Hires, Experienced Staff Work with Senior Staff Mentors" Paragon Pinnacles > Volume 73 > Issue 3 > Sun Features > (March 15, 2004, Article #12480, Volume 73, Issue 3)
• "Sun Engineering Enrichment and Development Program Fosters Growth - New Hires, Experienced Staff Work with Senior Staff Mentors" Sun System News, March 15, 2004, Article #12480, Volume 73, Issue 3
• "Tapping into the Knowledge Network" www.sun.com article on SEED, 18 Feb 2004 [was featured on both the www.sun.com and research.sun.com home pages]
• "Sun (SEED) program pairs college recruits with senior engineering mentors, 23 Feb 2004 link to "Tapping into the Knowledge Network" www.sun.com article from LSTN (Learning & Teaching Support Network for Engineering section on "UK & World Media News"- now called The Higher Education Academy Engineering Subject Centre)
• "Mentoring and Being Mentored on the Technology Track" by Carla King, published on "developers.sun.com - The Source for Developers", 2003 [Now called Sun Developer Network or SDN]
• Bit by Bit: Catalyst's Guide to Advancing Women in High Tech Companies, SEED is the featured case study in the "Use Mentoring and Networks to Win" section (page 106), book published by Catalyst (Catalyst document #16146), 2003, ISBN 0-89584-243-2

Posted at 01:44PM May 11, 2009 by katysblog in Mentoring & Other Business  | 

PreSEED Mentoring Participants Selected

On 6 May, 58 PreSEED Sun Engineering mentoring program participants were selected for the 15 June - 15 December 2009 term out of an applicant pool of 76. The GSS SEED term applicants are being considered now by the executive selection committee, who will give their ratings at our meeting next week. Here is more information on the new PreSEED participants:

About the 58 New PreSEED Participants:

    Location of Participants
	9 China, 16%
	2 Czech Republic, 3%
	1 Germany, 2%
	5 India, 9%
	1 Ireland, 2%
	5 Italy, 9%
	1 Japan, 2%
	1 Russia, 2%
	2 Spain, 3%
	1 United Arab Emirates (Dubai), 2%
	2 United Kingdom, 3%
	28 USA, 48%
		5 Eastern USA
		3 Central USA
		21 Western USA

    Sun Division of Participants
	16 Global Sales & Service (GSS), 28%
	7 Microelectronics, 12%
	7 Software Group, 12%
	3 Storage Group, 5%
	20 Systems, 34%
	5 Worldwide Operations, 9%

    Gender of Participants
	9 Female, 16%
	49 Male, 84%

    20 Prior applicants to a SEED or PreSEED mentoring term, 34%

Posted at 10:33AM May 08, 2009 by katysblog in Mentoring & Other Business  | 

Heaven on Earth - An Amazing Pink Rose

My friend Susan gave me a bare root rose a few months ago. I planted it in full sun and recently have been enjoying some amazing large pink blooms. The flowers are too big for the stems so I cut them when half open for flower arrangements. I am not usually fond of pink flowers and I rarely buy plants from catalogs or web sites but "Heaven on Earth" is exceptional.

Information from the company which sells it:

Jackson & Perkins Company
Heaven on Earth Floribunda Rose
Item No. 28604
"Unlike any other floribunda we've seen- immense, peony-like flowers with breathtaking color and fragrance."
"Rosa Heaven on Earth /Light Pink,Apricot /Ovoid,Pointed buds / Blooms 5" / 40 petals / 14"-16" stems / Dark Green foliage / Spicy fragrance / Full Sun / Shipped as Bareroot / Height: 3 ft - 4 ft"

Some photos of my blooms:

Images Copyright 2009 Katy Dickinson

Posted at 06:49PM May 07, 2009 by katysblog in News & Reviews  | 

John versus the termites

On 5 August 2008, I wrote about the termites we found in our 1930 home in San Jose, CA. We had the termites killed last summer but the insects had done major damage to one end of our garage. (Well, it used to be a garage but has long been home to John's HO-scale model train layout and workshop.) Termites prefer to infest where the morning sun first shines: the worst damage was on the eastern face of the garage, next to the river wall.

In between looking for work, my husband, John Plocher, has been ripping out the damaged areas and rebuilding the two walls and roof. In addition to being a experienced Software Architect and Engineer, John is a capable electrician and carpenter (as well as being an apprentice welder).

Most of the demolition happened last autumn but work stopped when it started to rain. The construction area was covered by a huge blue tarp all winter. Now that the year's rain is mostly done, repair construction is progressing well. We are taking design inspiration from many sources (including the old Stanford barn in creating a roof cupola for air and light, instead of a simple skylight).

Here are some photos of the project so far:

termites hollowed out a wood beam

ripping out damage

Paul & John save eagle doorknocker

more termite damage

new wall under blue tarp

new roof frame

Stanford barn cupolas

John's cupola plans

looking through cupola-to-be

Images Copyright 2008-2009 Katy Dickinson

Posted at 05:30PM May 06, 2009 by katysblog in Home & Family  | 

Consolidated Rock & Mineral - Vacaville Rock Shop

When we were little, my brothers and I knew there were three things which could almost always get our mother to stop the car during a long driving trip: a roadside historical marker, an antique store, or a rock shop. We were most interested in the rock shops. Last Saturday, my son Paul and I drove 92 miles from San Jose to meet my mother and our friend Patty (who drove 61 miles from San Francisco) at the Vacaville Rock Shop, also called:

Consolidated Rock & Mineral 5115 Quinn Rd Vacaville, CA 95688 (707) 448-5525

Patty has been telling us about this amazing place for years and we did indeed have a wonderful time when we finally got there. The very large shop offers a little of everything from all over the world: minerals and gems (rough, polished, or cut and set), fossils and petrified wood, redwood slabs, plus more utilitarian items such as stone bowls, goblets, bookends, and tabletops. We wandered around happily for about three hours.

Paul, Eleanor, and Patty

amethyst nodule

fossil fish

sabertooth cat head

fossil snail

Patty and Eleanor

crystal lamp

fossil shells

Katy

jasper slice

rounded crystals

Mexican opal

iridescent labradorite

Images Copyright 2009 Katy Dickinson and Paul Dickinson Goodman

Posted at 05:32PM May 04, 2009 by katysblog in News & Reviews  | 

New Rector at St. Andrew's

The last few weeks have been very busy at my home parish, Saint Andrew's Episcopal Church:

• Two weeks ago, we enjoyed our annual visit from Bishop Mary, who confirmed twenty teens and adults.
• Yesterday, we said a sad goodbye to our Interim Rector for the last two years, the Reverend Kate Atkinson.
• This morning, the Vestry and Rector Search Committee gave an informal but delighted welcome to our new Rector (the third Rector for St. Andrew's since 1957), Rev. Channing Smith. Bishop Mary will formally install Channing as Rector in September 2009.

Some photos:

Bishop Mary Gray-Reeves

Rev. Kate Atkinson

Rev. Channing Smith

Images Copyright 2009 by Katy Dickinson

Posted at 02:40PM May 04, 2009 by katysblog in Church  | 

Mating with the Wind

Our house and garden are covered with Cottonwood Fairy Fuzz every year when the female Cottonwood poplar trees along the Guadalupe River release their seeds. We are in the middle of this charming mess of fluff right now. Drifts of seeds line the edge of every walk. In the short distance between my office in WP668 and the house, I collect tiny tufts of fuzz in my hair and on my clothes. Every spiderweb is full. Some photos:

Images Copyright 2009 by Katy Dickinson

Posted at 01:57PM May 04, 2009 by katysblog in News & Reviews  |