Category Archives: News & Reviews

February 11, 2010 · 5:44 pm

SAMA Auction, Whirling Dervish, Middle Eastern Feast

Our committee at St.Andrew’s Episcopal Church is working hard to prepare for the annual SAMA (St. Andrew’s Medical Assistance) Dinner and Auction, to be held Sunday, 28 February 2010:

Starts at 5 pm
The event includes Entertainment by Gregangelo Whirling Dervish who has been dazzling audiences worldwide with his uniquely secular adaptation of the whirling dervish for over two decades, plus a Middle Eastern Feast, Live Auction, and Silent Auction
Tickets are $35/person or $100/family
Location: St. Andrew’s Hall, 13601 Saratoga Ave., Saratoga, California
Childcare or transportation provided on request.
Call: 408-867-3493 or 408-252-5211
All are Welcome!

SAMA exists to provide hope and healing to a hurting world.
In 2010, SAMA sent funds for medical relief in Haiti.
SAMA also supports health programs in Africa.
Medical Programs SAMA has supported long-term in the Holy Land include:

Ahli Arab Hospital (the only Christian hospital in Gaza)
The Four Homes of Mercy (a home for the severely disabled based in Jerusalem)

For more information, see the SAMA web page.

SAMA Auction Items (partial list)

New Vineyard, Old Manor

– Plein Air Oil Painting on Canvas by well known Pacific Grove artist Robert Lewis, 20″ x 24″, Catalog# 597, Gilroy, California. Signed and Framed.

WP668 with new Western Pacific herald photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson

Caboose Brunch

– by John Plocher – Brunch for six in a private 1916 historic railroad caboose (Western Pacific Feather River Railway WP668) in
Willow Glen, San Jose.

Wine – 1994 Treasure from Louis M. Martini

– Martini Family wine collection – Vineyard Selection Sonoma Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, Monte Rosso Vineyard Heritage Collection.

Wine – 1994 Treasure from Louis M. Martini

– Martini Family wine collection – Russian River Valley Reserve Merlot.

Rabbit Etching by Eleanor Creekmore Dickinson
– Original delicate and realistic red and white etching of rabbits by famous San Francisco artist Eleanor Creekmore Dickinson. 1983. 7-3/4″ x 5-3/4″. Etching 12 of 20. Signed and Framed.

Oaks, Cactus, Chickens

At last weekend’s Women’s Retreat held by St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church near the City of San Juan Bautista in California, we admired spectacular oaks, cactus, and chickens. I think the trees were California Black Oak (Quercus kelloggii), the cactus were prickly pears (Opuntia), but I have no idea what kind of chickens we saw wandering around the little town.

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Filed under Church, News & Reviews

Tagged as birds, St. Andrew's Episcopal Church

February 2, 2010 · 12:00 pm

Pictures Just for Fun

Sometimes I take photos to document events. Other images are simply interesting or pretty…

Oil Drops, Katy

Oil Drop Rainbows on Pavement

Lichen on Wood, Ivy

Eucalyptus leaf

Eucalyptus leaves

Small Jerusalem Cricket

Geraniums, Yucca

John and Ruby, Andy’s Pet Shop

Ruby the Macaw

Dean Martin at Diabetes Lunch

Our Willow Glen Lions Club bought over a table-full of tickets to the Willow Glen Diabetes Society benefit lunch last weekend. The entertainment was a Dean Martin impersonator. I have never seen an impersonator show before but from the large number available it seems to be a popular entertainment.

I am old enough to remember watching Dean Martin’s Rat Pack movies on TV with Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr., Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop. But I am young enough that Dino’s stardom seems as distant as that of Cary Grant. Girls of my generation sighed over Robert Redford. It was odd watching some of the ladies at the Diabetes Society lunch snuggling up to the actor: clearly he rang bells for them. Matt Helm, the impersonator, sang, told jokes and seemed to have fun camping it up with the audience. I have no idea what the much younger audience members thought about all of this.

Model Train Layouts, Berlin Wall, Koi

Last night, my husband John and our son Paul and I visited three HO-scale model train layouts which are part of this weekend’s National Model Railroad Association (NMRA) Pacific Coast Region (PCR) Layout Tours. One of the layouts was in an office in the Bayshore Business Park, very close to the original Sun Microsystems campus in Mountain View. Before Sun was big enough to have a cafeteria, we used to walk into the Bayshore Business Park to buy sandwiches. In addition to a good Deli, the Bayshore Business Park has a delightful koi pond, and two big pieces of the Berlin Wall in a tiny monument to freedom next to a parking area. The signs say:

A Tribute to American Resolve
Sections of the Berlin Wall

The period after the second World War divided Western Democratic and Eastern Communist ideologies by what was known as the Iron Curtain, which stretched from the Baltic to the Black Seas. Within East Germany, part of the communist sphere of influence, West Berlin was an island of freedom surrounded by a sea of oppression. In August, 1961, the East German government, to prevent the flight of its citizens from West Berlin, built a wall dividing the City. For 28 years the Berlin was the Rubicon for East and West until “Glasnost” became the new thinking in the Communist World. Between November 9 and 12, 1989 the Wall was breached; not from without with bombs or bullets, but from within by the sound of freedom and the vision of a better life that had drifted over the Wall.

The World must not forget that it was America’s resolve and its political and economic ideals that made this bloodless revolution and most significant historical event possible.

I enjoyed showing 17-year-old, 6-foot-tall Paul the Berlin Wall monument and nearby fish pond and telling him how he and I used to feed the koi bread from our sandwiches when he was tiny. We chased the fish around with our flashlight. My fish pictures turned out surprisingly clear, considering how very dark it was.

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Filed under Caboose Project and Other Trains, Home & Family, News & Reviews

Tagged as Paul, Sun Microsystems

January 30, 2010 · 10:49 pm

Photos from Sun’s Last Days

Below are some of the photos I took during the last month or so at Sun Microsystems’ Menlo Park, California campus as we were getting ready to become Sun-Oracle.

Long ago, when Sun was getting ready to build the MPK campus, Facilities surveyed the staff on what we liked best about our original Mountain View campus. The surprising answer came back: the gardens and fountains between the MTV buildings. MPK has a large and well-designed set of gardens with many fountains. Since the campus sits in the San Francisco Baylands, songbirds visit as well as seagulls, hawks, ravens, and Canada geese. Cats and squirrels are also frequent guests along with the occasional mouse or rat. There are usually a few pet dogs around as well. The MPK central walkway runs between Building 10 at one end and 18 at the other with landscaping to either side. I originally moved from MTV-1 to MPK-18, then moved to MPK-17 and finally about five years ago, to MPK-16.

I must have typed my Sun Employee ID (#398) tens of thousands of times over the last twenty five years. Just a few more to go when I complete my RIF paperwork…

Java Java Closed Permanently

Broken Java Java Cafe Sign

Inside campus

Rain on Leaves

Red Leaf

MPK campus walk

Sun Campus Raven

MPK-16 sign

My Office Door

Full office

Moving out

Empty office

Sun Badge #398

Images 2010 by Katy Dickinson

1/31/2010 note: This blog entry was mentioned in Tip of the blogger’s hat: Katy Dickinson takes a last look at the Sun campus on the “InMenlo” blog by three longtime Menlo Park residents.

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Filed under News & Reviews

Tagged as birds, Dogs, Menlo Park, Sun Labs, Sun Microsystems

January 29, 2010 · 1:49 pm

Goodbye Sun – It’s Been a Great Ride!

My last blog post at http://blogs.sun.com/katysblog/:

I have been laid off by Sun-Oracle. It has been a wonderful 25 years!

I joined a relatively-unknown startup three years before it went public. I enjoyed working with some of the greatest Engineers on Earth and together we made Sun a success which changed the world. I had a splendid ride. I worked for Sun since 1984 in Engineering, Marketing, Quality, Operations, Legal, Standards, Strategy, and finally for the Chief Technologist’s Organization and Sun Labs. I am looking forward to the next adventure.

I hope that the SEED worldwide mentoring program participants, mentors, and managers will create new programs and opportunities in all of the new places they will go. For those who stay with Sun-Oracle: keep contact and support each other. There is nothing like SEED now at Oracle. Consider creating it, locally or globally. It will take too much time and an unreasonable amount of work but it will be worth it. It has been an honor and privilege to create this worldwide Engineering community and to work with such inspiring people. I hope you will continue to work with each other and with me. Please connect with me on LinkedIn and Facebook.

I have two wonderful kids who have grown up running around at Sun. Jessica is now a Junior at CMU (in Qatar for a Semester at CMU-Q) and Paul is in High School. Sun is their lifetime context for work. My husband, John Plocher and I met at Sun and I were lucky enough to work at Sun together for 17 years.

2005-2010 http://blogs.sun.com/katysblog/ entries and new additions are now available here at https://katysblog.wordpress.com/.

I welcome your job recommendations. Your support is always appreciated.

How to Find Katy Dickinson After 29 January 2010

http://www.linkedin.com/in/katydickinson Katy’s LinkedIn Profile
http://www.facebook.com/katy.dickinson1 Katy on Facebook
https://katysblog.wordpress.com/ Katy’s Blog

Blog entry by Katy Dickinson

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Filed under Home & Family, Mentoring & Other Business, News & Reviews

Tagged as Jessica, John, Mentoring, Paul, Qatar, SEED, Sun Labs, Sun Microsystems

Category Archives: News & Reviews

SAMA Auction, Whirling Dervish, Middle Eastern Feast

SAMA Auction Items (partial list)

Oaks, Cactus, Chickens

Pictures Just for Fun

Dean Martin at Diabetes Lunch

Model Train Layouts, Berlin Wall, Koi

Photos from Sun’s Last Days

Goodbye Sun – It’s Been a Great Ride!

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