Caboose Painting Next Week

We are scheduled to start the final phase of exterior paint stripping and
painting of WP668 next week. Avi Lenchner, who has painted two houses for us, of Avi
Decorative Painting, 650-329-0770, Menlo Park, CA, has us on his schedule!

Also, Tanya Jankot found a 2007-2008 Catalog of Classes for

The Crucible
(A nonprofit collaboration of Arts, Industry, Community based in
Oakland, CA) which includes an entry-level Hot Wheels class called

“Caboose Restoration and Modification (Part I)”.

    In 2004, a class at The Crucible restored and modified a vintage fire truck to create our Educational Response Vehicle (ERV). Heartened by the success of that project, we’re at it again. A generous donor has provided us with a 1940s railroad caboose, which we are restoring and adapting to make a café to serve healthy food in our West Oakland neighborhood. Taught by The Crucible’s founder Michael Sturtz in collaboration with a handpicked team of metal fabricators, wood workers, and other artists, this class is a team-oriented, hands-on learning experience, with continuous skill-building opportunities. Aspects of metalworking, blacksmithing, wood refinishing, furniture making, painting, coppersmithing, glass working, and electrical wiring will be part of the work curriculum. And while you’re learning and working, you’ll help create a piece of Crucible history, that will provide meals to students and the neighborhood!

Looks like fun!

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Filed under Caboose Project and Other Trains

Earning a Shito Ryu Karate Black Belt

Almost a year ago, on
19 August 2006
, my daughter Jessica tested for and was awarded her provisional
Black Belt (Shodan-Ho) rank in Shito Ryu Karate. She has been studying with Shihan

Roberto Alvelais
at Pacific Martial Arts
for twelve years, since she was six. On 4 August 2007, after a year of teaching, acting as
a Black Belt and leader in the dojo, and technique improvement, Jessica tested again and
earned her full Black Belt (Shodan) rank in the JKO (Japan
Karate-Do Organization
). She tested with two Brown Belts seeking their Shodan-Ho
and another Black Belt also seeking her Shodan rank. The test consists of demonstrating
increasingly complex knowledge of forms, one-on-one fighting, and answering questions
about the meaning and history of karate. Below are some photos of Jessica’s big day.
When she moves to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in ten days to attend
Carnegie Mellon University, Jessica plans to look
for a new karate dojo to join.


Jessica's Black Belt Exam, 4 August 2007,
photo: copyright 2007 John Plocher and Katy Dickinson

Jessica's Black Belt Exam, 4 August 2007,
photo: copyright 2007 John Plocher and Katy Dickinson

Jessica's Black Belt Exam, 4 August 2007,
photo: copyright 2007 John Plocher and Katy Dickinson

Jessica's Black Belt Exam, 4 August 2007,
photo: copyright 2007 John Plocher and Katy Dickinson

Jessica's Black Belt Exam, 4 August 2007,
photo: copyright 2007 John Plocher and Katy Dickinson

Jessica's Black Belt Exam, 4 August 2007,
photo: copyright 2007 John Plocher and Katy Dickinson

Jessica's Black Belt Exam, 4 August 2007,
photo: copyright 2007 John Plocher and Katy Dickinson

Jessica's Black Belt Exam, 4 August 2007,
photo: copyright 2007 John Plocher and Katy Dickinson

Jessica's Black Belt Exam, 4 August 2007,
photo: copyright 2007 John Plocher and Katy Dickinson

Jessica's Black Belt Exam, 4 August 2007,
photo: copyright 2007 John Plocher and Katy Dickinson

Jessica's Black Belt Exam, 4 August 2007,
photo: copyright 2007 John Plocher and Katy Dickinson

Jessica's Black Belt Exam, 4 August 2007,
photo: copyright 2007 John Plocher and Katy Dickinson

Images by John Plocher and Katy Dickinson (Copyright 2007)

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Making IT Work for Women


“Making IT Work for Women –
Four women tell how they’ve survived and flourished in the IT culture.”


by Mary Brandel, August 06, 2007 (Computerworld)

Computerworld talked with four successful women about their own experiences in the IT profession: what they’ve found difficult, what they’ve found fulfilling and what they think it takes to attract more women into the field.”

I was one of those interviewed for this article. I think it came out well.
It is always interesting to see what parts of a conversation a reporter picks to
include in her story. I enjoyed reading the stories on the other three women profiled.
Mary Brandel has a two other related articles out today:

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Caboose Color for WP668

John is done welding the new caboose landing and place-to-anchor
the new stairs and he has the wood for WP668’s new landing mostly cut,
primed, and drilled for bolts. We have been discussing what color
to paint the caboose. The first color John tried on the new wood was on the orange-ish
end of brown and would have made WP668 look like a huge shoebox-shaped tomato. Ick.

The official color name is “Mineral Brown” but we can see from the peeling paint on WP668
herself that she has worn a wide range of red brown tints with yellow trim over the last
91 years. WP668 was one of the rail cars photographed for the book Western Pacific
Color Guide to
Freight and Passenger Equipment
by Jim Eager (Publisher: Morning Sun Books;
ISBN-10: 158248063X, ISBN-13: 978-1582480633), so we looked in there to see what colors
were actually used on in-service equipment. The book shows that during 1903 – 1983, the
Western Pacific Railroad
had many color combinations: Mineral Brown with
Yellow trim, Mineral Brown with White trim, Silver with Orange trim, Gray-Blue with
White trim, Yellow with Black trim, and Red with White trim.

Almost exactly a year ago, we moved the caboose wheels into our backyard
(see
5 August 2006
blog entry) and bought a brass HO scale model of a steel strapped bay window
WP caboose at The Train Shop (1829 Pruneridge, Santa Clara, CA). Yesterday, John took
that HO model down to the paint store and asked them to match the color in Acrylic paint.
John tried the new color out on WP668 herself just now and it looks perfect.
Here is the model caboose on the actual wheel truck of WP668:

HO scale WP caboose
photo: copyright 2006 Katy Dickinson

Image Copyright 2006 by Katy Dickinson

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Definition of Quiet

My daughter is going off to college in a few weeks and we are
getting ready for the big move. CMU
just sent us the “Carnegie Mellon Family Handbook” – a booklet
full of information about Academic Life, Student Services, Campus
Activities and Services, etc. I found the following formal definition
of Quiet amusing. I can only imagine how many discussions
and arguments and incidents it took to get a definition this precise:

    Community Standards at the Residences

    Quiet Hours

      Quiet hours are maintained weekdays from 8 pm to 8 am and weekends from
      2 am to 9 am. “Quiet” may be defined during quiet hours as being unable
      to hear any noise from a room with a closed door ten feet away, above and
      below. Courtesy hours exist at all other times. During courtesy hours,
      noise which is heard by others who are 50 feet away is considered a
      disturbance.

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Looking for Girl Geeks in Public High School

Looking for 2 More Panelists!

More information about Hopper 2007:
http://gracehopper.org/2007/
.
See my
About
page for contact information if you are interested or know
somone who is.

I am the moderator of the “Girl Geeks in High School – Technical Experiences of Future
Inventors” panel at the
Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing
2007. Sun is a Platinum Sponsor
of Hopper 2007 and I am managing our participation. Sun has eleven panelists, and
runners-of-BOFs at Hopper this year.
I have 4 excellent and impressive “Girl Geeks in High School” panelists already confirmed:

However, these amazing young women are all from private schools and I would also
like to include two girls from public schools in the Silicon Valley.
I am in touch with both Paly and
Gunn but no luck yet.

Who am I looking for?

    • Two rising Senior girls attending a Silicon Valley public high school.
      The two can be from different public high schools.
      Will accept an exceptional rising Junior.
    • Must be seriously involved in Robotics and/or Computer Science and/or Programming and/or
      Engineering.
    • Must be able to attend the Hopper Conference in Orlando, Florida,
      October 17-20, 2007. Our 1-hour panel is on 18 October – Thursday. I can’t offer travel
      funds but I can guarantee an exceptional and inspiring experience for the participants.
    • Must be mature and responsible enough to travel by herself or have
      a family or faculty member willing to come with her to Disney World.
      Two Moms of confirmed panelists are already attending.
    • Must want a remarkable accomplishment to include on her college applications.

Hopper is an amazing annual conference for women in computing. I am on the Technical
Advisory Board of the Anita Borg Institute which,
with the Association for Computing Machinery
(ACM), presents the Hopper conference. This is the third year I have run a panel at
Hopper (the other two were on mentoring): I recommend the conference most highly.

Hopper offers many activities, panels, and talks aimed at college students
as well as academics and people with jobs in the computer science industry. About half of
Hopper’s attendees are students (grad and undergrad). Hopper offers 1-day registrations or
full 2-1/2 day registrations. The conference is based at the Hilton Disney World. Just for
fun, Hopper offers these five good reasons to attend:

    1. It’s a geek utopia.
    2. Awesome keynote and invited technical speakers
    3. It’s in Orlando!
    4. You can bring your family. We’ve arranged tours for your
      companions and child care for children.
    5. It will give you a reason to add another friend to your MySpace.

Panel Session Summary

What is it like to grow up a geeky girl? This panel provides direct communication from a
panel of Silicon Valley girls about their recent computing, technical, and robotics
experiences: what worked for them (or did not work) in terms of teaching, course content,
approach, coaching, school resources, and technical internships. How does growing up in a
world-class center of technical innovation effect young women in particular?

Girls are included from a broad range of educational backgrounds: both private and public
high schools, girls-only and co-educational schools. The primary audience is those in
industry interested in their employee pipeline, plus high school and undergraduate
academics who want to hear directly from young women just about to start college about
what their high schools offered and what was effective in their technical education and
experience. The broader audience includes everyone interested in girls’ technical
education, particularly with a view toward encouraging innovation.

Questions for the panel include:

    1. What teaching methods or tools particularly benefitted you, especially in encouraging
      your innovation?
    2. What turned you off to computer science and math; what turned you back on again?
    3. Does having your own laptop make a difference? (how?)
    4. Does teaching theory work best for you, or were hands-on experiments, labs, and
      programming more effective? (examples?)
    5. How does it make a difference if math, science, and technical teachers are female?
    6. Do you have to be good in math to love programming?
    7. How do you deal with social pressures and bias, did you feel you had to to “outboy the
      boys”? (stories?)
    8. How do your parents feel about your involvement in technology? Are your parents
      technical?
    9. What have you done so far with your technical or computer skills?
    10. What do you see as your future in science or technology, and why?

More information about Hopper 2007:
http://gracehopper.org/2007/
.
See my
About
page for contact information if you are interested or know
somone who is.
Thanks for your consideration!

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Filed under Hopper - Anita Borg Institute

53 SEEDs Matched (77%)

The 2007-2008 SEED Engineering mentoring terms are now 77% matched with
53 participants and mentors paired. The mentors for the Recent Hire and
Established Staff participants so far include 12 Vice Presidents (2 of them
Fellows), and 26 Directors (half of them Distinguished Engineers). That is,
72% of the matched mentors so far are senior executives.

More information on SEED is available at
http://research.sun.com/SEED/

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Filed under Mentoring & Other Business