In 2008, I wrote a blog entry about the hand-made ceramic Win Ng Chicken cooker my mother gave me. This year, she gave me the Win Ng ceramic cube that used to grace her back deck in San Francisco. This is a handsome and exceptionally sturdy sculpture, used as a favorite family seat since I was a child. It continues in this beloved and useful role in my San Jose living room.
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Images Copyright 2011 by Katy Dickinson
Filed under Home & Family, News & Reviews
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My friend Laura ordered free tickets to tonight’s Roger W. Heyns Lecture in Religion and Community, featuring Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, at Stanford. Even a dedicated Cal alumna such as myself has to admit that Stanford has a pretty campus.
The auditorium was almost full for tonight’s event. Someone remarked that we almost had a quorum for a convention in the audience – it did seem full of familiar faces from the Diocese of El Camino Real. Bishop Katharine’s talk was very interesting, full of big concepts and small interesting detours and quotes. She held an extended discussion with the audience at the end. I am looking forward to reading her books. Since Bishop Katharine had spoken about interfaith projects, I told her about the TechWomen program I have been working on while she signed books.
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Images Copyright 2011 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher
Filed under Church, Mentoring & Other Business, News & Reviews
The TechWomen program staff have been working for about nine months to get ready for 38 Mentees from 6 countries and territories who will be arriving soon from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) to work in the Silicon Valley in June 2011. We have already held the Mentor Training and are getting ready for Mentee orientation. After that, I will be one of the teachers for the Mentor-Mentee Workshop, to be held the day before the Mentees start work.
I have been answering questions for weeks from Mentors and other company representatives about Export status, non-disclosure agreements, Human Resources policies, laptop usage and security, project plans, plus all of the other details we need to sort through so that the companies will be ready to host their Mentees.
I am eager to meet the Mentees that Huawei will host. We have an office for them. I have seen their pictures. I know their backgrounds but I still have no idea if I am pronouncing their names correctly…
Filed under Mentoring & Other Business, News & Reviews
About two years ago, I took a liking to a large old brass pot in a local shop here in Willow Glen (San Jose, California). 2′ tall, with three feet ending in big claws, and two faces with rings in their mouths for handles, it had charm. I started negotiating. Having successfully purchased items in the souq in my travels in the Middle East, I enjoyed the slow negotiation here at home.
The store owner said that the pot was a genuine antique, valued at $5,000 but it had been in the store for a long time, so she was willing to part with it for $2,000. I was not interested and left that day. A few months later, I was back in the store admiring the pot again. The owner said she might come down a bit from her original price: was I interested in paying $1,500? Nope – I left that day too. The next year I went back and asked if the pot (which was not by the front display case any more) had sold? No – it was now in the basement, marked down to $1,000. Still I was not interested.
Then, a few months ago, I saw that the store was moving. I went in to ask about the pot. The owner’s brother was in charge. He said the price was now $500 because they needed to clear out the store quickly. I was interested but not willing to pay that much. I offered $200. We settled on $250. I am now the owner of an old brass pot, provenance unknown, value unknown, original purpose unknown, but an enjoyable new feature of my living room nonetheless.
Please leave a comment if you think know anything about my old brass pot: Where did it come from? What was its intended purpose? Who made it? The stamped mark on the bottom (pictured below) has 3 intertwined initials with an ampersand: SW&S or S&WS or S&SW or W&SS ? (hard to read).
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Images Copyright 2011 by Katy Dickinson
Filed under Home & Family, News & Reviews
Judgement Day and Rapture billboards have been pervasive here in the San Francisco Bay Area, saying that the world will end on 21 May at 6 pm Pacific Time. Didn’t happen – yesterday was refreshingly normal. The picture below (left) is what I saw at 6 pm California time yesterday. We were driving Highway 280 from San Jose to San Francisco to have dinner with my parents. In curiosity, our family listened to the 610 AM radio program which had been announcing the Rapture but the station only offered choral hymns at the critical time.
Today was the annual visit of Bishop Mary Gray-Reeves to Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Saratoga CA (pictured below, right) . Bishop Mary started her sermon with “Still here…” and then spoke about Rapture frenzy being in a context of fear and punishment, not the love and cherishing that she felt from her relationship with Jesus. During his life, Jesus took care of the needy, he did not abandon them.
Listening to the news this week, I was reminded of a cartoon which came out during the Y2K frenzy at the end of December 1999, before the Millenium New Year. It showed two couples awkwardly looking at each other: one pair in a bunker with food and weapons and the other dressed up for a great party, saying “In the morning, one of us is going to be very embarrassed.” I am still tempted to get a Rapture bumper sticker. I particularly like the one which says: “In case of Rapture, can I have your stuff?”
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Images by Katy Dickinson 2011 Copyright
Filed under Church, News & Reviews
Update: The San Francisco Bay Area CBS News affiliate ran a version of this story called ConsumerWatch: Storm Brewing Over New Flood Maps on 8 June 2011.
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I was recently interviewed in San Jose California for a CBS news story that ran today in Cleveland Ohio about getting a refund for FEMA flood insurance last year. It seems that very few homeowners have been able to actually get a refund for wrongly-required home insurance. Here is the interesting video story by reporter Danielle Serino (CBS 19):
Danielle’s Doghouse: FEMA
With all the flooding we’ve seen there are probably a lot of people thankful they have flood insurance. But what if you know you don’t need it, but have to buy it anyway? It’s happening thanks to FEMA, that’s why the agency is in Danielle’s Doghouse.
Last Modified: // May 20, 2011 8:16 PM
Images Copyright 2011 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher
Filed under Home & Family, News & Reviews
I was one of the teachers for the first TechWomen Mentor Workshop today. HP Labs in Palo Alto generously hosted the event. We were joined by most of the 38 Technical Mentors and more than a dozen Cultural Mentors from over 40 Silicon Valley companies. These impressive professional women will coach the 38 Mentees from 6 countries and territories who will be arriving in June from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). It was a day full of good questions, excitement, and anticipation.
TechWomen is funded by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA), managed by the Institute of International Education (IIE), and implemented in partnership with the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology (ABI). I have been the Mentoring Process Architect for TechWomen since September 2010, working with ABI. It is a joy to see the program finally starting!
Among many topics, we discussed schedules and expectations, technical and business competencies, vocabulary, learning goals, mentoring and community resources. The TechWomen program team put together a Mentor Guide which included many of these materials. Additional community resources which came out in discussion:
Some elements of the TechWomen program were inspired by the SEED mentoring program I created and managed for Sun Microsystems for 10 years. Details on SEED are available in the free Sun Labs Technical Report “Sun Mentoring: 1996-2009” (published in 2009).
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Images Copyright 2011 Katy Dickinson
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