Category Archives: Home & Family

Geeky Model Trains

Yolo Short Line Dinner Train

While I was in Washington DC with the TechWomen mentoring program, my husband John was giving technical presentations at the National Model Railroad Association convention in Sacramento, California. He talked about state-of-the-art for model train layout wiring and the use of Arduino electronics in model trains. John also went on a Yolo Short Line train ride in Sacramento, a tour of the Lehigh Permanente Cement Plant in Cupertino, Sacramento area model railroad layout tours, a visit to the excellent California State Railroad Museum, and a generally had fun with the boys while I was off hanging out with the girls.

Lehigh Cement Plant Tour, Cupertino CA

Images by John Plocher, Copyright 2011

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Swimming Alcatraz

Pete Dickinson Alcatraz Swim . Pete Dickinson Alcatraz Swim

Last weekend, my brother Pete swam around Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay in the Swim Around the Rock open water competition.  He said it was a tough 3.25 mile course (from Aquatic Park around Alcatraz and back) but that the calm water on the far side of the island gave him a rest from the current. The water was a relatively-warm 60 degrees F.  Only 40 swimmers were allowed to enter.  The course was monitored by kayakers, lifeguards, and support boats.  Pete was met at the finish with family hugs and tea.

Pete Dickinson Alcatraz Swim . Pete Dickinson Alcatraz Swim

Images Copyright 2011 by Katy Dickinson and Julie Gutman

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TechShop San Jose Opens

TechShop San Jose

Yesterday, John and Paul and I went to the crowded opening of the new TechShop in San Jose, California. We also joined as lifetime family members!

TechShop is a membership-based workshop that provides members with access to tools and equipment, instruction, and a community of creative and supportive people so they can build the things they have always wanted to make.

Location: 300 South 2nd Street San Jose, CA 95113
http://www.techshop.ws/ts_sanjose.html

We heard the opening talk by my former boss, Greg Papadopoulos, on the topic “Think Global, Innovate Local”. There were at least dozen ex-Sun-Microsystems Engineering staff there to cheer for Greg.

Being the owners of WP668 (backyard caboose), our family already has developed a basic workshop but having access to some of the larger TechShop equipment and the classes will help with a variety of home and hobby projects.  Some of the equipment I want to learn to use: FlowJet 4′ x 8′ CNC Water Jet Cutter, Epilog Helix 60-Watt Laser Cutters, Tin Lizzie Quilting Machine, Hand-Held Plasma Cutter, and the Computer Controlled Embroidery Sewing Machine.  Paul and I plan to take classes together in Autodesk Inventor, and Arduino 101 (Board Soldering) later this summer.

Greg Papadopoulos TechShop San Jose . TechShop San Jose

Images Copyright 2011 by Katy Dickinson

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Portrait in Charcoal

Charcoal Portrait of Jessica by Paul Dickinson Goodman

My son Paul just finished his Freshman year at Foothill College (Los Altos Hills, California). Like his Grandmother, Eleanor Dickinson, he is an artist. Paul spent his first college year studying art and math. This quarter, he did an extra credit portrait for his first Drawing class. Paul took a photograph of his sister Jessica and played with the image to increase contrast, then created the portrait above in charcoal on paper. The teacher liked it so much, Paul got an “A” in the class! Paul has also been taking ceramics each quarter, so we now have dozens of lovely small bowls to find homes for.

Ceramic Bowls by Paul Dickinson Goodman . Ceramic Bowls by Paul Dickinson Goodman

Images Copyright 2011 by Katy Dickinson

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Jo Hanson’s Art

1990 Eleanor Dickinson and Jo Hanson

One of the closest friends of my mother, Eleanor Dickinson was Jo Hanson (1918 – 2007). Like herself, Jo’s art was always interesting, precise, well-considered, and different. Three of Jo’s pieces owned by my family are good examples:

  • An oak coffee table she made for me in 1982 out of scrap wood Jo salvaged from abandoned shipping pallets
  • A plywood cutout painting of two figures taken from a news photo
  • Foam tombstones and pictures of leaves from the trees near “The Crab Orchard Cemetery” from a 1974 exhibition of that name based on Jo’s Southern Illinois ancestral graveyard

One of my favorite Jo Hanson memories is hearing her talk about taking on the IRS. The tax service kept auditing her. Year after year, they said that Jo could not deduct her art supplies because was a only a hobbyist since never made a profit. Her many art exhibits, career as a San Francisco Arts Commissioner, and National Endowment for the Arts artist’s fellowship made no impression on the IRS. After many years of fighting, she eventually convinced the IRS that she had a citizen’s right to be in an unprofitable profession. Only Jo could have won that battle with such style and energy.

18 January 2022 update:

  • Artists’ Taxes: The Hands-on Guide, An Alternative to “Hobby” Taxes by Jo Hanson, 1987.
  • Crab Orchard Cemetary by Jo Hanson, 1975 (Exhibition, University of California, Mandeville Art Gallery, 25 September – 26 October 1975).
  • Women Environmental Artists Directory by Jo Hanson and Susan Leibovitz Steinman, 2004.
  • “About Our Founder, Jo Hanson,” Artist in Residency Program, Recology, recology.com
  • “Receipt of Delivery: Jo Hanson – Snails and Street Sweeping,” by Tanya Zimbardo, 8 March 2013, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, openspace.sfmoma.org
  • “Interview with the Curators – Women Eco Artists Dialog: The Legacy of Jo Hanson,” 14 April 2020, YoloArts, yoloarts.org
Jo Hanson Oak Coffeetable 1982 . Jo Hanson plywood painting

Crab Orchard Cemetery Jo Hanson

Images Copyright 1982-2011 by Katy Dickinson

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Why I Blog

ZapCar . Burning Man Car

Right now, someone is particularly angry at me for not communicating through the means she prefers. She wrote me an email saying that she wants letters on paper and will read email but thinks blogs are impersonal and not worth her time.

So, why write blogs?

  • I work two jobs (for TechWomen and Huawei), each of which is interesting and worthwhile
  • I love a distractingly wonderful husband, two remarkable kids in college, two dogs, a cat, and two birds, each of whom would like and deserves more of my attention
  • Our daughter is getting married in six weeks, with over a hundred guests
  • I am working with my brothers to advise and support two interesting parents (both over 80) whose health is failing
  • I am on several volunteer Boards and I teach a group of twenty adorable kids three hours a week in an after-school program, all of whom have justified expectations of my time and nurturing
  • I have plants that expected better when they came into my garden, and weeds that are much happier than they should be
  • I have a stack of well-written and highly-recommended books that leak guilt at me when I look in their direction

I am over-committed and over-scheduled doing work I love and do well.  When my daughter went to college, she made a wise decision. She could either try to keep in touch with her large circle of friends and relations individually, and do nothing else. Or, she could blog and hope that her admirers would follow her news in a less-direct but more complete way.

Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man.
Sir Francis Bacon (1561 – 1626)

When I don’t blog, I find that I drop out of touch and actually spend more time communicating to worse effect. I love writing and taking pictures and I think sharing what I see with my readers benefits both. I am frequently contacted by interesting people who ask to use one of my pictures or want to continue a discussion started on my blog.  For example, I was on the local TV news last week because of my blog entries last year about FEMA.  I have included recent pictures of strange local cars and old metal signs for you today – just for fun! Publishing here makes me consider more deeply and starts many of my conversations with my family and friends in the middle of current experience, instead of spending half of each meeting catching each other up.

Orchard Supply Hardware old sign . Western Hotel old sign

Images Copyright 2011 by Katy Dickinson

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Fun Fanime Shirts

Fanime Doctor Who tshirts

My kids love to dress up and go to the Japanese and anime culture event called Fanime here in San Jose, California. This year, my daughter Jessica, her fiance Matthew, his sister, and my son Paul went together. Fanime is as much about people watching as anything else. Jessica came home with stories about great costumes, vendors, and tshirts.

Today, three Doctor Who shirts she ordered at Fanime arrived:

  1. Tardis Express – When It Absolutely Has to Be There Before You Sent It
  2. I ♥♥ The Doctor
  3. Gallifrean Institute of Technology

She also told me about a shirt she saw at Fanime which I want to buy for myself:

English doesn’t borrow from other languages. English follows other languages down dark alleys, knocks them over and goes through their pockets for loose grammer.

According to Pegasus Publishing
This shirt has a paraphrase of a quotation made by James Nicoll. “The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don’t just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.”

Images Copyright 2011 by Katy Dickinson

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