KatysBlog

October 28, 2008 · 9:38 am

Cactus Garden Update

The cactus garden I created this summer around
WP668, our backyard caboose, is flourishing. It has rained only very
briefly in San Jose, California the last six months. Once the rain starts
again, I will see how the new planting beds settle in. For now, everyone
seems very happy.

This summer, the Silver Torch (Cleistocactus Strausii) lost one of its three
spires to rot but the big spire now has
a fuzzy white baby. The babies around the Argentine Giant Cordon (Trichocereus
Candicans, Echinopsis) have about doubled in size since I planted them in
April. The blue and pink Bunny Ears (Opuntia Microdasys) I bought in
August looks good against the big boulder; I hope no one will touch it
there. Bunny Ears dropped so many glochids (tiny invasive spines) during
planting that I had to throw away the gloves I used. It took a week for all
of the glochids to work their way out of my skin – yuk! No new growth on
the bigger cactuses

Boris and Natasha but I hope they will perk up after it rains.
Boris is a Golden Barrel Cactus or Echinocactus grusonii. Natasha is an
Argentine Saguaro or Trichocereus Terscheckii. Photos:

Cactus bed

Cactus bed, San Jose, CA
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson

WP668 Caboose and Cactus bed

WP668 caboose and Cactus bed, San Jose, CA
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson

Last Aloe Bloom

Last Aloe Vera Bloom, San Jose, CA
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson

Argentine Giant Cordon

Argentine Giant Cordon Trichocereus candicans, San Jose, CA
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson

Silver Torch baby

Silver Torch Cleistocactus Strausii, San Jose, CA
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson

Bunny Ears

Bunny Ears Opuntia Microdasys, San Jose, CA
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson

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October 27, 2008 · 4:25 pm

Fall Color in Silicon Valley

California is not famous for its Autumn color. Many plants get confused
by what passes for seasons here on the west coast. Instead of the traditional four: Spring-Summer-Autumn-Winter, California has just two: the mostly wet and very
dry seasons (sometimes called the mudslide and wildfire seasons). Nonetheless, we do
have some plants in the San Francisco Bay Area which make an Autumn effort.
The Red Oaks have turned already. Soon, we will see the flaming displays
of yellow-orange-red Chinese Pistache leaves, yellow Ginkgo trees, and
red Pyracantha berries. We just drove from Palo Alto to San Jose on Highway
280: the new color show is worth seeing! It is not a riot of color, just a
colorful protest against the prevailing pallet of grey-green and brown.

My roses are putting on their last display before shutting down with
the coming cold. I have eleven rose bushes, including two of my favorite,
Chrysler Imperial. Chrysler Imperial is a Hybrid Tea Rose from 1952, one of
the first roses used to market a consumer product (the Chrysler
Imperial car). The Chrysler Imperial rose starts off as a scarlet bud, then
darkens to a rich violet red color as the bloom ages. The flower scent is
deep and complex.

Gas prices are dropping with the leaves. During our August 2008

family road trip, we paid prices as high as $4.99/gallon. Last night in
San Francisco, gas was for sale at $2.99/gallon. Always pleasant to have
some good news!

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Red Oak leaves

Red Oak leaves, Saratoga, CA
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson

“Chrysler Imperial” rose

Chrysler Imperial red rose, San Jose, CA
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson

“New Day” rose

New Da yellow rose, San Jose, CA
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson

“Playboy” rose

Playboy rose, San Jose, CA
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson

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October 26, 2008 · 11:19 pm

WP668 Caboose Railings Done

This weekend, we mostly finished creating the stair railings for
WP668, our backyard caboose.
There is some detail work to be done and the railings need to be painted
but what we have looks good and is very sturdy. I also stood in my cactus
garden and painted WP668’s name on her bay window (finally) since the weather was
warm. We still need to add the

Western Pacific Railroad decal to the side.

John worked with welders Chris Gremich (CG Designs in San Jose, CA,
phone: 408-313-3706) and Adam Stickles (Fusion Welding, 408-849-6636) to shape
and assemble the parts out of
galvanized steel pipe. Each rail set can be unbolted and removed
for painting – the banisters slot into pipes set in concrete in the
ground. Photos:

WP668 today:

WP668 view from cactus garden
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson

half done railing

WP668 half done railing
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson

railing removed for finish welding, Adam

WP668 stair railing removed for finish welding by Adam Stickles
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson

stencil on bay window

WP668 stencil on bay window
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson

first paint on stencil

WP668 first paint on bay window stencil
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson

baluster-banister welds close up

WP668 stair baluster-banister welds close up
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson

Chris grinding pipe

WP668 Chris Gremich grinding pipe for stair rail
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson

adding balusters: Chris, John, Adam

WP668 adding balusters for stair rail, Chris Gremich, John Plocher, Adam Stickles
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson

WP668 adding balusters for stair rail, Chris Gremich, John Plocher, Adam Stickles
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson

a few more to go

WP668 John Plocher - a few more stair rails to go
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson

looking upstairs

WP668 stair railing looking upstairs
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson

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Filed under Caboose Project and Other Trains

October 24, 2008 · 3:25 pm

WP668 Caboose Railings (half done)

We are half done creating the stair railings for
WP668, our backyard caboose.
See my
14 October 2008 blog entry for more. The rail and balusters
are being created out of
galvanized steel pipe.
John assisted Chris Gremich (CG Designs in San Jose, CA, phone: 408-313-3706)
to shape and assemble the parts. We hope to finish the job this weekend.

WP668 before stair railings

WP668 before stair railings
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson

John leveling railing

WP668 leveling stair railing
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson

1st two balusters in

WP668 1st two stair balusters in
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson

checking spacing

WP668 1st four: checking stair baluster spacing
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson

leveling again

WP668 leveling stair balusters again
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson

2nd railing in

WP668 2nd stair railing in
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson

cactus garden view

WP668 view from cactus garden
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson

checking 2nd stair railing height

WP668 checking 2nd stair railing height
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson

still needs welding

WP668 1st railing still needs welding
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson

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Filed under Caboose Project and Other Trains

October 24, 2008 · 1:04 pm

Arduino Night Pictures: Silicon Valley OpenSolaris User Group

John and I were up until midnight last night at the SVOSUG –

Silicon Valley OpenSolaris User Group meeting.
The event was held at the historic
Sun’s Santa Clara Campus Mansion. See my

21 October 2008 blog for more.

The meeting’s setting was charming and elegant. Sun’s

1913 Mediterranean Revival style Mansion was filled with arts and crafts
furniture and geeks showing off and building computer toys. Over 20 people
attended and the SVOSUG plans to hold another “Builduino” night in a few months.

Mansion main stairs

Sun's Santa Clara Campus 1913 Mansion stairs
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson

Front door

Sun's Santa Clara Campus 1913 Mansion Front door
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson

Fireplace

John Plocher’s

JMRI N-scale train

John Plocher's JMRI N-scale model train layout
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson

John Weeks’

Marvin Roomba

John Weeks' Marvin Roomba Robot
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson

Poorna Udupi’s

Sun SPOT car

Poorna Udupi's Sun SPOT remote control Robot car
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson

John Plocher’s

XyloTiger

John Plocher's XyloTiger
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson

Checking out specs

Checking out the toy specs SVOSUG Arduino Night
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson

Watching SPOTkin on
YouTube

Watching SPOTkin on YouTube SVOSUG Arduino Night
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson

Assembly demo in kitchen

Assembly demo in kitchen SVOSUG Arduino Night
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson

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October 22, 2008 · 3:30 pm

New SEED Term for Global Sales & Service

Peter Ryan, Sun’s Executive Vice President, Global Sales and Services
(GSS), just sent out the long-awaited announcement for SEED’s newest pilot
mentoring term. This term was specifically created for worldwide Engineering and Technical staff in the GSS division. Some of the GSS pilot Selection Criteria and Scope are unique to this term; some are the same as for a regular SEED term.

Hal Stern, GSS Distinguished Engineer and Senior Vice President, and 12-time
SEED mentor is co-sponsoring this pilot term with Peter. Sun’s CTO and EVP

Greg Papadopoulos has been SEED’s executive sponsor since 2001.

GSS Pilot Term Dates

This new SEED Pilot Program will run from January – June 2009. Applications will be accepted starting 27 October 2008. All application materials are due 7 November 2008.
Potential program applicants should read and think about the program and talk
with their managers between now and when the application forms open on 27 October 2008.

SEED’s General Selection Criteria:

All Participants are in Engineering.
Only regular Sun employees may participate.
Superior annual performance ratings are preferred.
Manager support is required.

There are additional criteria specific to this term – see the SunWeb
GSS SEED term home page for details.

Why should I apply?

The SEED program works with you to increase your value to Sun and your satisfaction with Sun, and thus the likelihood that you will become an even more productive and recognized contributor. By linking you with an appropriate mentor and exposing you to the prominent talent in Sun, the program will help you broaden your skills, and increase your connections to the Engineering community as well as to the rest of Sun. One of the long term effects of SEED should be a larger pool of diverse talent for Sun to draw on for the highest technical and management positions. This should result in a more varied and valuable set of solutions to the difficult problems before us as a company.

In most SEED mentoring terms, over 70% of Mentors are executives: Vice Presidents, Fellows, Distinguished Engineers, Principal Engineers or Directors. (In the 2008-2009 Established Staff term, 84% of the Mentors were executives.) Since 2001, the SEED program has a proven track record of strong diversity, very high satisfaction, high regard by management, and high retention. SEED participants as a group earn more promotions and higher performance ratings than Sun overall. Individual experiences will vary. GSS staff have participated in the regular all-Engineering worldwide SEED mentoring program since 2002.

More?

More information on the SEED worldwide Engineering mentoring program
is available at
http://research.sun.com/SEED/

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Filed under Mentoring & Other Business

October 22, 2008 · 10:54 am

Fish and Flower Kaleidoscope

Just for fun, I took images from my last blog post and tried out the

Make Your Own Kaleidoscope! software toy created by Jim “KrazyDad”
Bumgardner. I read about the
Kaleidoscope tool
on
Rich Burridge’s Weblog of 7 October 2008. If you like Kaleidoscopes,
check out
The Brewster Kaleidoscope Society.