Katy Dickinson

Fan Pages on Facebook

I have recently been experimenting with Facebook Fan Pages. This is a Facebook web page not for an individual or a membership group but rather in support of a cause or organization. The instructions imply that these pages are often used for celebrities, bands or businesses. It seems to me to be a good way to provide pointers and basic information without too much structure.

I have created two fan pages:

SEED Engineering Mentoring Program. This has 37 fans so far. I added links to the new Sun Labs technical report "Sun Mentoring: 1996-2009" and to Katysblog and welcome ideas of what else fits.

Young at Heart, Children's Worship Service for St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church (Saratoga, California). This has 8 fans so far. Some of the photos I took for that page:

I am still working out how best to set up a Facebook Fan Page, playing with the options and reading through tutorials, like How to: Create a Facebook Fan Page and 5 Elements of a Successful Facebook Fan Page and Facebook Group vs Facebook Fan Page: What’s Better?. My biggest problem so far is that Facebook's Search is good for people but not so much for not-people (group, cause, business, organization names). The people I usually ask for advice on new tools say they have never created a fan page either. So, I am now the expert (scary thought)! Still working on it...

Posted at 02:14PM Oct 30, 2009 by katysblog in News & Reviews | Comments[0]

Andy's Pet Shop

After we adopted our two cockatiels from Mickaboo Companion Bird Rescue, we started hearing about Andy's Pet Shop (1280 The Alameda, San Jose, CA 95126, 408-297-0840)... how wonderful it is, how they are a 100% Pet Rescue shop, and about their current financial problems. Andy's adopts out birds through Mickaboo. Their web site says: "...all the pets in the shop come from a shelter, a non-profit rescue group, or are surrendered for rehoming due to foreclosure, illness, etc."

A few days ago, my son Paul and I went to check out Andy's. It is indeed a delightful place for animal lovers. We bought bird food and had fun visiting the exotic birds, puppies, kittens, mice, rabbits, turtles, and other critters looking for a home. A few days later, we went back because Paul and I had talked so much about Andy's that my husband John wanted to see for himself. My favorite at Andy's is Mango, the toucan who has a long narrow forked tongue and big blue feet. If you go, be aware that the big macaws are loud and very chatty.

Pictures from Andy's:

My cat Tino and birds Simon & Garfunkel (all rescue animals):

Posted at 01:56PM Oct 29, 2009 by katysblog in News & Reviews | Comments[0]

After the RIF notice, before you leave

Family Update

In light of Sun's current circumstances, here is an update of what I think is my most popular blog entry: "After the RIF notice, before you leave" (15 January 2009).

My husband, John Plocher, was laid off from Sun in November 2008 and (despite many interviews) is still looking for work. If anyone is looking to hire a senior software architect with extensive open source experience, please contact John!

This has been a wild year for our family. A few weeks after I wrote my "After the RIF notice.." blog entry, our son Paul ended up in emergency brain surgery. Paul recovered from that but still has constant terrible headaches. After finishing his Junior year at the hospital school, Paul is happy to be back in his regular High School for his Senior year. He plans to go to college next year. Having John off work during this time of medical adventures has been sortof a blessing.

Background

During the last year, we have found a good many things we wished we had thought to do before John was laid off. Additional items on this list were generously suggested to me from people who read my original 15 January blog entry. I eventually realized that official company sources are limited in what they can tell people. So, this unofficial list, while just based on limited observations and experience, turns out to have been of unique value to a variety of people. RIF stands for "Reduction in Force", also known as a lay off or restructuring.

Here are my opinions of some good actions to consider after the termination notice but before you leave Sun and lose your SunWeb access (and some actions to consider after). Some of these actions may only be appropriate for Sun staff in California since circumstances may differ from state-to-state, and country-to-country. Some actions - like joining LinkedIn - are good ideas whether you are staying or leaving. Usual disclaimers apply. Your mileage may vary. May contain nuts.

First, if you have to leave Sun involuntarily, please accept my appreciation for your work. After 25 years of working here, I know that Sun is a great company. Even if I never knew or worked with you, I thank you for your contribution and I am sorry you have been laid off. Check out "A Tribute to Sun Microsystems" and remember your good times.

What to do immediately

Before your SunWeb access shuts down, print out copies of key records:
- Current and last year paycheck history
- Company training history
- Stock option history and status
- Health benefit elections
- Vacation balance
- Past annual performance review documents
Many of these records will just go away and be unavailable by any means soon after your last day in the office. You may need your training history for a future certification, and you will certainly need your vacation balance to apply for unemployment. This is your one and only chance to get copies.
Immediately locate all personal internet identities (personal accounts, groups, billing, etc.) that you have communicating with your @sun.com email address, and change them to your personal email address. It is easy to set up a gmail account where you can continue to manage your billpay, website subscriptions and email lists after your Sun account goes away. Moving accounts will take time and those organizations may continue to send updates and confirmations to you @sun.com for days or even weeks. Start this move soon!
Your Sun home directory will go away very shortly after your last office day. If you have personal email in your Sun home directory, move it or copy it to a home server or your personal laptop before your Sun home directory disappears. Gmail has a way to upload old messages from other email accounts. Don't copy anything that belongs to Sun.
If you have not already done so, use your Employee Giving matching grant for the current year. If you do not have a SunWeb account (and you will not), you cannot take advantage of this benefit even if you are laid off long before the end of the calendar year.
Create a blogs.sun.com account or use your existing account to post a brief and professional going away message including at least your LinkedIn reference. Your blogs.sun.com postings stay available after you are gone.
Change your Sun voice mail outgoing message with a new professionally phrased reference to your home phone or other non-Sun phone number.

What to do later

Resources which may help and actions to consider later:

Sun provides some very good benefits to RIFed staff. Use any coaching services offered as part of your package (such as the excellent Right Management service). Let the service review your resume before you send it out. Join their networking groups.
Think through your health, dental, vision, and life insurance choices and application timelines. Read your RIF package carefully. If the staff member who is laid off is the spouse of a continuing Sun staff member, talk with Human Resources (SunDial) soon about when and how you can initiate a "Qualifying Life Event Change" to provide insurance coverage to the RIFed spouse.
File for Unemployment Insurance (UI) immediately. In most states there is at least a one week waiting period and some states may have more. In California, you can apply for Unemployment Insurance from the day of your notification (while you may still have months yet to receive Sun paychecks). If you are asked by the California Employment Development Department, do not call money Sun provides you after the 60-day WARN notification period "severance". It is accurate to call it "payment to forestall legal action".
More about the 60 days of WARN pay: The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act. I am told that while WARN is a type of "in lieu of" pay, WARN should NOT disqualify you from receiving UI benefits. For even more about this, read EDD's Total and Partial Unemployment TPU 460.37.
Here is Sun's address and phone number which you will need for the EDD paperwork - from Sun's 2008 Annual Report:
Sun Microsystems, Inc.
4150 Network Circle
Santa Clara, CA 95054
(650) 960-1300
In the San Francisco Bay Area, there is a networking and lunch group called CSix where job hunters share ideas and leads. Similar formal or informal groups probably exist elsewhere.
Review and update your resume. Create one or more cover letter templates. Review and confirm your references. (You need to know that Sun and other companies have a policy against giving job references.) Brush up on your interview skills.
Buy a current-year copy of the book What Color Is Your Parachute? by Richard Nelson Bolles. This book is available in many languages (French, Korean, Russian, Turkish...). Also check out the resources on Dick Bolles' web site: JobHuntersBible.Com
Join LinkedIn - a social networking web site for professionals who want to extend their contacts. Follow LinkedIn's advice to create your complete profile. Be diligent in linking to your former Sun coworkers so that you don't lose each other once you are no longer @sun.com. Use LinkedIn to recommend people you think highly of and also ask them to recommend you. There are several LinkedIn Sun Alumni groups, including SUNAlumni. Sun Engineering SEED mentoring program alumni can join the SEED LinkedIn group.
Join the Sun Microsystems Alumni Association "The network is the people"
Consider other social networking sites such as Facebook which has several Sun Alumni groups, including: The Sun Microsystems Alumni Group, Sun Alumni on fb, and others. Facebook also has a "SEED Engineering Mentoring Program" Fan Page. Plaxo is another good networking, address book site.
Participate in Sun Alumni Blogs
Make your own business cards so that you can easily tell contacts your new email and phone. John and I like the designs at Overnight Prints.
Make doctor, dentist, and other health care appointments soon, so you are seen while you are still insured. Renew prescriptions that are close to refills. The U.S. COBRA continuation health insurance coverage isn't always the same as the coverage you had before.
Consider creating a special job seeking email address at yahoo.com or gmail.com. Make it professional, not cute.
A job searching and recruitment web site which some people have recommended is http://www.dice.com/ - "career website for technology and engineering professionals"
A job searching web site which some people have recommended is http://www.indeed.com/ "to search job sites, newspapers, associations and company career pages"

Keep active and keep networking. Volunteer while looking for work. If you are in the San Francisco Bay Area and need a good cause, you are welcome to join John and me in helping inner city San Jose kids in the computer club at SMUM.

Don't lose touch with Sun people you care about. As John says, there are only really 100 people in the Silicon Valley, everyone else is just there to create traffic jams.

Posted at 02:05PM Oct 28, 2009 by katysblog in News & Reviews | Comments[1]

How to Run a Church Convention

The Episcopal Diocese of El Camino Real held its Diocesan Convention 2009 last weekend. I was a Delegate from St. Andrew's Episcopal Church (Saratoga, California) and my husband, John Plocher, was an Alternate Delegate and also backed up Web Sacristan Stephenie Cooper in managing the information flow to the big screen. Our son Paul was a convention Youth Representative for the first time. This blog entry is to document how Stephenie and John set things up so that there is a record for our own future use (and because it might be of use to others). This blog does not provide much information about the sound system, which had a separate crew managing it.

Ours is not a big diocese, there are 47 parishes (church areas) between Nipomo and Palo Alto on California's central coast, with 189 possible lay Delegates and 134 possible clergy Delegates. Our leader is Bishop Mary Gray-Reeves.

There were 200 to 250 people in Sherwood Hall (Salinas) during the two days of convention. Sherwood Hall has a raised proscenium-style stage which is forty feet deep and sixty feet wide. Here are some diagrams John drew of the stage layout and hardware, plus photos of what it looked like in the hall and behind the big screen:

Overview

Stephenie has been running the computers for convention for many years; this is John's first time. The computer resources required to run convention have been doubling or tripling each year. The big screen presents everything at convention, including the agenda, instructions, song lyrics, the text of resolutions and ballot lists, plus videos and slide shows. The convention has a somewhat flexible schedule since resolutions may be amended, discussions may go longer or shorter than planned, and people may arrive with a video or slide show to add that is unexpected or does not match what they said they would bring. The convention follows Robert's Rules of Order for meeting procedure.

Stephenie lives near us, so she and John mocked up the convention audio/visual layout at our house in the weeks before the event. They used almost every laptop we had plus monitors borrowed from the computer lab at SMUM (Santa Maria Urban Ministry). John bought about $125 in bits and pieces to put everything together.

Stephenie and John relied on PC and Mac laptops using simple and standard tools. That is, the displays used the same hardware and software tools with which the information was originally put together. There was no special software package. Reusing standard pieces allowed quick responses plus maximum flexibility, additions, and changes during the event. There was much dynamic interaction and modification of both music and meeting content. In general, Stephenie ran the screen while John queued material and coordinated with people who came backstage to add or change or discuss what was coming next.

The convention had very few computer problems this year. Every once in a while, during a transition we in the hall would hear a voice coming from behind the screen saying "almost ready..." Of course, several people replied with "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain."

Here are John's notes:

Requirements

    *  Working from a detailed master agenda that is subject to real-time revision,
          o Project desired content on main auditorium screen where it can be seen 
             by delegates and head table.
          o Show slideshows, movies and presentations authored and produced by 
             others.
          o Show song lyrics - and follow along verse by verse as sung.
          o Show announcements (break, lunch, count down timer).
          o Show resolutions:
                + Modify to show motions to amend in progress.
                + Show total and individual debate limit timers.
                + Update as voting results dictate.
    * Show "default background image" whenever other content is not being displayed.
    * Allow real-time editing and addition of content - agenda changes/reordering, 
       new songs, movies, resolutions, etc.
    * Synchronize activities to meeting in progress as dictated by the Secretary 
       of Convention.
    * Do this all from a back stage position without direct views of auditorium 
       or head table.

Hardware setup (see diagram above)

    * a 4-way Video Amplifier cabled to a local video monitor, the projector and 
        a head table monitor. 
    * The 4-way amp was connected to a 4-way VGA KVM switch that only used the 
        "V" connections.  This allowed us to easily choose the video source to 
        be displayed from any of the
    * 4 laptops, which were connected to external video monitors and configured to 
        use both the laptop screen and the external monitor as an "extended desktop".  
        2-way VGA amps connected to each laptop so they could drive both the 
        monitor and the KVM switch/video distribution amp setup.  The use of a 
        dual-monitor setup allowed us to edit and direct content from one screen 
        while using the other as a potential video source (more on this below).
    * The laptops were networked together via a local wireless hub/router that 
        was also connected to
        * a 320GB networked hard disk for shared file storage
        * a networked video camera (Axis 2100) aimed at the head table
        * a color copier/scanner/printer

Operation

- All systems were set up to use the convention "image" as the default desktop 
screen background, so that when no windows were open, their "second" display 
could be used as a placeholder video source.

- One system was set up to be the presentation and movie display host.  
Quicktime, powerpoint and other software was loaded onto it, and its 
"headphone out" audio jack was connected to the house sound system.

- Another system was set up to show the Axis video camera's display on its 
primary screen so to get visual feedback cues from the presenters. 
(This could have been done with a TV monitor and inexpensive surveillance 
cameras instead.)
 
- A monitor speaker was run from the house sound system so that John and
Stephenie could hear what was happening in front of the screen and in
the hall.  There was also an audio feed into the sound system so that music 
and movies could play from the computers.

- A third system was configured as a web page editing station in addition to 
being the primary content display driver.   The content was accessed by 
special links from an annotated detailed agenda that sported additional 
presentation cues, such as "SONG", "RESOLUTION 1",  "LUNCH ANNOUNCEMENT", 
"MISSION MOVIE", etc.   All content on this system was in HTML, and the 
special <href> links on the detailed agenda (and on the song lyrics index 
page) were of the form <A .... target="projector">...</a>.  This allowed 
us to display the detailed agenda and song lyrics pages iin a browser 
window on the laptop screen, and have the "projector" window that popped 
up when a link was clicked positioned "fullscreen" on the second monitor.  
Displaying any piece of content was as easy as clicking on its cue.

- The last system displayed a copy of the detailed agenda.  Its second display 
was cued with a copy of the 1-page simplified agenda used by the delegates.  
This proved to be useful in coordinating a presentation and lyrics from two 
systems or to pull up a default display during breaks.

Thoughts for next time


Bring and use at least 4 video monitoring cameras so that backstage can see the 
head table, the presenter's lectern, the musicians and the delegates/audience.  
Being limited to only one of these shots made coordination and timing difficult.  
If there had been more debate on the resolutions, we would not have been able 
to closely coordinate timers, motions and the like.

Move the main display screen up from the stage by at least 8 feet to get it out 
of the direct and reflected stage lighting (improves sight lines, heightens
contrast).

Choose a sans- style font and a better background/foreground color contrast
for greater visibility in the large hall.  Play to the eyesight of the most 
senior members of the group. 

Develop a stage lighting diagram at least 2 months before convention so that 
the Sherwood Hall AV and IT staff in Salinas can work with us to optimize 
things.  Use an 8-1/2" x 11" sheet of paper - same proportions as the actual 
40' x 60' stage.

Get a projector that has at least 2,000 Lumens.

Posted at 05:02PM Oct 27, 2009 by katysblog in Church | Comments[0]

Willow Glen Lions Charter Night

The new San Jose - Willow Glen Lions Club held its Charter Night event last weekend. We sold 125 tickets and had a fun party. Sami Asfour lead the Charter Night event team. The Sweet Adelines women's harmony chorus sang at the start of our celebration. Our new community service club was sponsored by the Almaden Super Lions. Guiding Lions Karen Fillmore and Jim Issacson started and supported us. The Willow Glen Lions club has 37 members. The youngest members are 19 and the oldest is 86.

My husband, John Plocher, and I are both club officers. We are enjoying meeting new folks in the Willow Glen, California community where we have lived for ten years.

Who Are Lions?

"Lions meet the needs of local communities and the world. Our more than 1.3 million members in 205 countries and geographic areas are different in many ways, but we share a core belief – community is what we make it." From Lions Clubs International

Following up on this story:

This blog entry was featured (with the cake picture) on the 27 October front page of the Willow Glen Extra. The full story: "It’s Official: Willow Glen Lions Club".
Lions Clubs International District 4-C6 "All Points Bulletin" (Vol.1, Issue 2, November 2009) p.19 included photos from this blog entry.

Photos:

Posted at 04:33PM Oct 26, 2009 by katysblog in Lions | Comments[0]

Willow Glen Halloween

Halloween decorations are getting more elaborate every year here in Willow Glen, California. There are at least six full graveyard scenes in front yards within a few blocks of my house. Some are put together with purchased headstones, ghosts, zombies, spiders, bones and webs but others are homemade and very clever. Each scene has a day and a night aspect:

Posted at 08:24PM Oct 22, 2009 by katysblog in News & Reviews | Comments[0]

SEED Mentoring Autumn Event

The SEED worldwide mentoring program held its regular autumn event yesterday. I think the talks and tours went very well and comments so far have been enthusiastic. We welcomed about 50 participants, with the majority joining remotely.

Speakers and activities for the event included:

Christine Bucklin,
Senior Vice President, Corporate Strategic Planning
speaking on "Harnessing Serendipity"
Hal Stern,
Vice President, Global Systems Engineering, Global Sales and Services
(and 14-time SEED Mentor)
speaking on "Tribes, Couplings, and Value"
Sun's CTO Greg Papadopoulos and Sun Fellow Jim Mitchell joined us for lunch in the Java Java Cafe (in Sun's Menlo Park, California, campus)
Tours were given of
Sun Labs (featuring Gilda Garreton, Poorna Udupi, Stephen Uhler),
the Enterprise Technology Center (featuring Rob Snevely),
the Executive Briefing Center

Event photos:

Posted at 12:12PM Oct 22, 2009 by katysblog in Mentoring & Other Business | Comments[0]

Glass Pumpkins

Glass pumpkins have become a common home decoration at this time of year. They come in even more sizes and colors than real pumpkins. I have a small group I bought a few years ago which live next to my front door from September through Thanksgiving (after which they are replaced by poinsettia plants for Christmas).

My son Paul's High School sells pumpkins made by David Camner and his glass students - "The Paly Glass Team" - each year to raise funds for their art program. Since my kids no longer seem interested in carving real pumpkins to make Jack-o'-lanterns for Halloween, I bought three Paly art glass pumpkins to decorate my Thanksgiving table this year. One is a long purple eggplant-like shape, the other two are traditional shapes but unusual colors. Paul helped me pick them out.

Posted at 04:31PM Oct 21, 2009 by katysblog in News & Reviews | Comments[1]

Shop for a Cause

I spent last Saturday morning sitting at a table in the Valley Fair Macy's shoe department distributing discount tickets in exchange for $5 donations to Santa Maria Urban Ministry (SMUM). My husband John Plocher and I are on the SMUM Board of Directors. We also volunteer in SMUM's after-school homework and computer lab program for grade school kids.

Edy Unthank (SMUM's grant writer, also on the Board) had arranged for SMUM to be one of Macy's "Shop for a Cause" program charities. Macy's contacted the organizations which sold the most tickets and offered us each a table next to one of their entry doors so that we could sell even more. I put my orange and yellow Mexican blanket on the table, set out a big bowl of candy and SMUM brochures, set up my laptop to loop John's SMUM video, and asked every shopper I could to accept a 25% discount ticket in exchange for a $5 charity donation. In four hours, I collected 68 donations! Edy took the afternoon shift and collected 40 more for a total of $540 (see photo below). We snooped one of the other charity tables last Saturday and were told they had only sold $135 worth of tickets all day - so SMUM did very well. Including the tickets we sold in advance, SMUM raised over $1000 from this program.

Thanks, Macy's!

Posted at 03:47PM Oct 21, 2009 by katysblog in Church | Comments[0]

Best Selling Mentoring Report (sortof...)

At the end of August 2009, Sun Labs published a technical report about Sun Microsystems' mentoring programs: "Sun Mentoring: 1996-2009", by Katy Dickinson, Tanya Jankot, and Helen Gracon, available free at: http://research.sun.com/spotlight/2009/2009-08-28_TR-2009-185.html.

314 Downloads

This week, I was very pleased to learn that there have already been 314 downloads, a best seller by technical report standards. OK, the report is free and 314 is hardly the tens of millions of books Dan Brown can sell writing about cryptography, symbols, and conspiracy theories; however, it is a solid and satisfying start. 314 downloads is in addition to the 90 paper reports we handed out from Sun's table at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing (GHC09) earlier this month. After so much effort, I am glad to know that someone is actually reading it (or downloading it, anyway). Hooray!

Report Overview

Sun Microsystems has benefited from a long-term successful culture of mentoring, especially in its worldwide engineering divisions. About 7,300 mentoring pairs have participated in one of Sun’s formal mentoring programs since 1996. Sun has developed several internal formal world-wide mentoring programs in which mentoring pairs focus on a business problem or goal of the mentee. To create this report, the authors analyzed Sun’s 1996-2009 mentoring program data, Sun-wide data, plus information from a Gartner report on Sun mentoring which focused on the ROI of Sun’s mentoring programs.

Mentoring is near the top of most lists of tools that are effective at promoting professional development and advancement in industry. As a business method, mentoring works well generally and also is particularly valuable to women and minorities.

Mentoring has paid off for Sun in increased productivity, efficiency, and greater satisfaction among participants. This report presents what Sun did and how Sun did it to allow others to take advantage of the company’s extensive and successful experience with this remarkably effective and versatile business method. So far as is known, this report is unique: no other company has published a long-term detailed analysis about its corporate mentoring program.

3 Authors

Helen generously took Tanya and me out to the new and impressive Rosewood Sand Hill Hotel for lunch to celebrate our publication and so that we could all sign report copies to give with thanks to our program sponsors. The pink drink in the picture is the Madera restaurant's "House Made Prickly Pear Lemonade" - very pretty and refreshing!

Posted at 06:04PM Oct 16, 2009 by katysblog in Mentoring & Other Business | Comments[0]

YouTube Video Slideshows, Shop for a Cause

This is an update to my October 12, 2009 blog on "Making YouTube Video Slideshows". My husband John Plocher just published his second video about Santa Maria Urban Ministry (SMUM), a charity for which we volunteer in inner city San Jose, California. John again used the lovely flute music from Adam Sun's Reflections CD as the background. You can now see the new video El Ministerio Urbano de Santa Maria (SMUM).

We will be showing this video at our display table tomorrow (17 October) at Macy's Valley Fair (2801 Stevens Creek Blvd, San Jose) while selling "Shop for a Cause" tickets to benefit SMUM. Some of the after school program kids at SMUM:

Santa Maria Urban Ministry in San Jose, California
photo: copyright 2009 Katy Dickinson

Posted at 12:29PM Oct 16, 2009 by katysblog in News & Reviews | Comments[0]

A Company for Big Hearts

In my 1 May 2009 blog, I wrote "Sun is a company for people with big hearts."

I thought about that today when I heard the end of a story which made me even more proud of the people with whom I have the honor to work. A week ago, one of the Software Directors sent out email to Sun's Menlo Park campus telling about one of our janitorial staff who had suffered a tragedy and needed immediate help. Her young son had just died by violence and she had no money to pay for his funeral. Her janitorial co-worker had asked for donations.

Since then, we learned from the Director who was helping to raise money that:

7 October:

13 October::

Such a sad circumstance cannot be said to have a happy ending but it could have been much worse without the support of the Sun community. I was not involved except by giving a small donation but (with permission) I wanted to share this story. Makes me proud.

Posted at 05:25PM Oct 13, 2009 by katysblog in News & Reviews | Comments[0]

SEED Mentoring's Autumn Event

The SEED worldwide mentoring program will hold its regular autumn event on 21 October 2009. Since the Sun-Oracle transition is taking longer than expected to complete, we are keeping up with business as usual as best we can.

Speakers and activities for the event will include:

Christine Bucklin,
Senior Vice President, Corporate Strategic Planning
Hal Stern,
Vice President, Global Systems Engineering, Global Sales and Services
(and 14-time SEED Mentor)
Tours of
Sun Labs (featuring Gilda Garreton, Poorna Udupi, Stephen Uhler),
the Enterprise Technology Center (featuring Rob Snevely),
the Executive Briefing Center
We may have a SEED dinner that night if there is enough interest

26 are registered to participate so far, less than usual for this event, about half of whom will join by video or conference call. We have reserved large video conference rooms in both Menlo Park, California, and Burlington, Massachusetts. I hope to see more registrations this week!

Posted at 10:26AM Oct 13, 2009 by katysblog in Mentoring & Other Business | Comments[0]

First Big Rain in the Bay Area

The San Francisco Bay Area is enjoying its first big rain in about six months. We had one or two light sprinkles this summer but other than that, it has been very dry. KQED radio said this morning at 7:30 am there were 50 major traffic accidents on the highways. I was driving my son to school on Highway 280 this morning, going 65 miles per hour in heavy rain in the diamond lane (for commuters with two or more passengers), when three cars in turn came up right behind me to flash their lights so that they could speed ahead. Traffic was light, so they soon drove around my apparently too-slow self. We all forget how to drive in the rain during the summer.

My husband John spent yesterday at home putting everything away that wandered outside during the dry spell: the pillow on the deckchair, the hammock, the painting scaffold, stuff moved onto the driveway while working on a project in the storage area, etc. He and our neighbor Felix also quickly finished the overhang roof over the storage shelves at the back of the garage. Unfortunately, one of my prickly pear cactus and the English walnut tree on the river bank had grown enthusiastically into that space, so much yelping and whacking of plants were part of the project.

Afternoon update -
what the Guadalupe River (West Alma/Lelong bridge in Willow Glen) looked like when we drove home:

Wet leaves:

Posted at 09:49AM Oct 13, 2009 by katysblog in News & Reviews | Comments[0]

Making YouTube Video Slideshows

Following our daughter Jessica's excellent example, my husband John Plocher has started to make YouTube videos. Since 2008, Jessica has been posting videos as part of her "P4" or Poetry and Prose Performances Project "Bringing Great Literature to YouTube". You can see her Background Info for instructions on how to do this.

John found out that this is harder than it seems when he created his SMUM Slideshow September 2009. Both the text and photos came out blurry when uploaded - which they were not when the video was made. The videos are helpful in both public relations and fundraising for the SMUM charity in inner city San Jose, California. While making the video, we were delighted to reconnect with Adam Sun (former owner of Szechwan Cafe on California Avenue in Palo Alto), who gave permission to use his lovely "Coincidence" flute music from his Reflections CD in the video. We also found out during testing that our pet cockatiels love flute music.

The blurry video started John on an investigation of how Apple - iMovie works with YouTube, which soon lead to a family upgrade to Snow Leopard (Mac OS X) software, which lead to buying new copies of stuff we were running on the down-rev version which does not work on Snow Leopard... Several weeks later, John is now working on his second video about El Ministerio Urbano de Santa Maria (or Santa Maria Urban Ministry, SMUM). John and I are on the SMUM Board so we tried out a draft video at last week's meeting (they liked it). He is working on a final version to be shown at the Diocesan Convention 2009 (Episcopal Diocese of El Camino Real) later this month in Salinas, California.

My contribution to this project is taking most of the photos which end up in the slideshow videos. I have been taking photos of specific SMUM subjects recently to fill in the gaps - pictures of ABC Playtime, the Board and regular volunteers, older kids other than Jose and Samantha and Stephanie (who all love to be in pictures and are very cute), the food sorting and distribution areas, action shots, etc.

Some recent images:

Posted at 01:46PM Oct 12, 2009 by katysblog in News & Reviews | Comments[0]

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