Twin Lakes State Beach, near Santa Cruz

On the Memorial Day holiday, we joined another family for a beach
picnic at Twin Lakes State Beach, near Santa Cruz, CA. Except for
the constant wind and blowing sand, it is a pleasant and pretty place
with nearby parking, showers and lavatories, and metal firepits for
cooking. There were many crabs, pelicans, and sea gulls but only
small shells.

Beach signs

Twin Lakes State Beach signs, near Santa Cruz, CA
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson
Lighthouse and sailboat

Lighthouse and sailboat, near Santa Cruz, CA
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson
Crab on rocks

Crab on rocks, near Santa Cruz, CA
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson
Jessica and Matt’s sand castle

Jessica and Matt's sand castle, Twin Lakes State Beach near Santa Cruz, CA
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson
Cooking bratwurst

Cooking bratwurst, Twin Lakes State Beach near Santa Cruz, CA
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson
Kite overhead

Kite overhead, Twin Lakes State Beach near Santa Cruz, CA
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson
Pelicans overhead

Pelicans overhead, Twin Lakes State Beach near Santa Cruz, CA
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson
Cooking marshmallows

Cooking marshmallows, Twin Lakes State Beach near Santa Cruz, CA
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson
Sand blown onto blanket

Sand blown onto blanket, Twin Lakes State Beach near Santa Cruz, CA
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson

Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson

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What is a tea cosy?

Twice recently at our Wednesday afternoon

weekly tea
in the Sun Labs building in Menlo Park,
we have had guests who looked at our tea cosies and said “what are those?”
We said we make tea in a big pot, take out the leaves once the tea has steeped,
and then cover the pot with a padded cosy to keep it warm. The cosy is like a warm hat.

Both guests explained that this is not how tea is made in China, then
went on to tell us about pot size and materials and how to reuse the leaves
for different tea tastes. We invited them to come back and show us how they
make tea.

In the meantime, for the benefit of those who have never seen one,
below is a picture of three tea cosies. These are my own cosies plus my
two favorite tea pots. You can see that both the pots and cosies
are whimsical in shape and decoration. There are much more traditional designs
but I like having an Aladdin’s lamp tea pot with a Queen Elizabeth cosy to keep it
warm.

Three tea cosies

Three tea cosies
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson
Two tea pots

Two tea pots
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson

Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson

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Caboose Brunch

The Memorial Day long weekend was a very busy time for WP668, our backyard caboose.
We were getting ready for Sunday when we served a brunch to the
winners from the SAMA Auction. We did not
get everything done but the caboose looks great (particularly our new stained
glass windows by
Vince Taylor
!). Our guests said they had a wonderful time.

We served them fresh fruit (including cherries from our own tree), eggs and bacon and
sausage, french toast and morning buns, coffee and tea and orange juice and
champagne. Here are some photos from Sunday:

Cherries on tree

Cherries on tree
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson
Fresh cherries

Fresh cherries
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson
Table set the night before

Table set the night before WP668 caboose
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson
New stained glass windows

New stained glass windows WP668 caboose
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson
Brunch guests

Brunch guests WP668 caboose
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson
Brunch guests

Brunch guests WP668 caboose
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson

Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher

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Caboose Stained Glass, Bookcases

The Memorial Day long weekend was a very busy time for WP668, our backyard caboose. Now that the rough electrical inspection has been passed, on Saturday, we finally filled in the trench running through the ballast under WP668.  Vince Taylor delivered and installed our new stained glass bay window, and the three big red bookcases were delivered by Crate and Barrel. We were getting ready for Sunday when we served a brunch to the winners from the SAMA Auction. We did not get everything done but the caboose looks great and our guests said they had a wonderful time.

It was a delight to see the lovely windows Vince created. You can see his initial drawings and art glass samples on my

11 Feb 2008
blog entry. Here are some photos from Saturday:

John finishing exterior wiringJohn finishing exterior wiring WP668 caboose photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson Open pipe trenchOpen electrical trench WP668 caboose photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson Filled in pipe trenchFilled in electrical trench WP668 caboose photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson
Vince and John prepare bay windowVince and John prepare bay window WP668 caboose photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson 1st stained glass panel going infirst stained glass panel going in bay WP668 caboose photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson Train silhouetteTrain silhouette detail stained glass WP668 caboose photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson Lizard silhouetteLizard silhouette detail stained glass WP668 caboose photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson
Vince in windowVince Taylor in window WP668 caboose photo: copyright 2008 John Plocher Vince and JohnVince Taylor and John installing window WP668 caboose photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson Vince starting on 2nd windowVince Taylor starting on 2nd stained glass window WP668 caboose photo: copyright 2008 John Plocher
Two windows doneTwo windows done WP668 caboose photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson 3rd window ready to go3rd window ready to go WP668 caboose photo: copyright 2008 John Plocher Three windows doneThree windows done WP668 caboose photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson
Vince in windowVince Taylor in window WP668 caboose photo: copyright 2008 John Plocher Delivery truckDelivery truck WP668 caboose photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson 1st bookcase arriving1st bookcase arriving WP668 caboose photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson 3rd bookcase going in3rd bookcase going in WP668 caboose photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson

Glass and bookcases in place

Glass and bookcases in place WP668 caboose photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson

Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher

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Sun at Hopper 2008

Sun is a long-term supporter of the
Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing
and the
Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology.

About Hopper

The Grace Hopper
Celebration of Women in Computing is an annual conference designed to bring the research and career interests of women in computing to the forefront. Presenters are leaders in their respective fields, representing industrial, academic and government communities. Leading researchers present their current work, while special sessions focus on the role of women in today’s technology fields, including computer science, information technology, research and engineering. International participation is encouraged.

This year’s Hopper 2008 conference theme is “We Build a Better World”.
Hopper 2008 will be held October 1-4, 2008 in Keystone, Colorado.

The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing is presented by the
Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology
and the Association for Computing Machinery.

Why go to Hopper?

    1. Professional education, celebration, and excitement
    2. Networking and Visibility
    3. Recruiting (University and Professional)

Here is one example of what happens at Hopper:

In 2007, a group of senior women
Engineers and Executives got together and created
MAGIC
, a new mentoring program for middle school and high school girls.
MAGIC was kicked off as a BOF (birds of a feather session) at Hopper 2007, and a
group of interested potential mentors signed up. MAGIC is now partnering with
Girls’ Middle School on its pilot program with
volunteer mentors from Sun Microsystems, Google, NASA, and other organizations. An
update BOF is scheduled for Hopper 2008.

Sun’s Participation

Congratulations to Sun staff who are on panels or BOFs accepted by the Grace Hopper
Celebration of Women in Computing 2008! This is a starting list – there are always
changes and additions as panel rosters are developed.

Sun Submissions Accepted for Hopper 2008

    1. BOF – Best Practices for Latina Grad Students
    2. BOF – Experiences with Maternity Leave and Returning to Work
    3. BOF – Setting Up An Effective Organization To Support Girls
    4. Panel – CTO Panel
    5. Panel – Letting the Cup Overflow; expanding your experiences outside your research lab
    6. Panel – Mid-Career Course Correction
    7. Panel – Online Social Networks – Impact to our careers
    8. Panel – Women in the Brave New World of Free and Open Source Software
    9. Panel – Project Fortress: A Multicore Language for Scientists and Engineers
    10. Panel – Synergistic Evolution of Software & Hardware Technologies
    11. Panel – Taking the Long View – Many Careers in One Company
    12. Presentation – Innovating with Chip Multi-Threading Technology

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PreSEED and SEED Status

We are in the mentor matching cycle for the second PreSEED term. So far,
46 out of the 52 are matched (88%) since the cycle started on 5 May. This
term officially starts in June and runs through December 2008. The newly
matched mentors are now having their preliminary meetings with the mentee’s
managers and the mentor-mentee pairs are going through their two hour
training sessions as those are scheduled.

The SEED program is also now accepting applications from Sun Engineering
staff worldwide for its Recent Hire and Established Staff terms which
will start in September 2008. To date, we have 32 applications, 4 of which
are complete. All materials are due by 9 June. SEED has applicants from
China, India, Ireland, Israel, Russia, the UK, and the USA so far.

More information on the SEED worldwide Engineering mentoring program is available at

http://research.sun.com/SEED/

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MAGIC at Girls’ Middle School

Three of us from the new
MAGIC
program presented at The Girls’ Middle School
(GMS) in Mountain View, CA today. GMS is partnering with MAGIC on our
first pilot program. MAGIC (More Active Girls In Computing) is a mentorship program
between very senior technical women at Sun Microsystems, Google, NASA and other
organizations and middle school girls. MAGIC was kicked off at the
October 2007 Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing. (MAGIC has just
been accepted to present again at
Hopper 2008
.) We want to foster in these girls a positive attitude towards
computing and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math).

Hosted by Michelle Friend Hutton (GMS Technology Director), Ira Pramanick, Meenakshi Kaul-Basu,
and I presented at a GMS school assembly this afternoon
to tell the girls all about it. We passed out MAGIC pencils imprinted with our web address.
There was much trading of pencils until all the girls got the colors they preferred.

interior view from the front door WP668 caboose
photo: copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson

Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson

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