23 Matched So Far – SEED 4-Site Term

We have had a great many enthusiastic mentor responses already this week for
the SEED Engineering mentoring program’s 4-Site term. Just yesterday
and today (where it is still Tuesday morning!) I have matched 13 mentoring
pairs, for a total of 23 so far. This term is 45% matched at the end of
the first week of the cycle. 14 out of the 23 mentors are Directors,
Senior Directors, Distinguished Engineers, Fellows, Vice Presidents, or Senior
VPs. I was pleased to see two Directors based outside of the US have signed
up as mentors this term. Participants from all 4 sites (Bangalore, Beijing, Prague, St. Petersburg) are being asked for.

We are also getting ready for SEED’s Mid-Term Event this Friday. SEED holds
in-person events twice a year (plus 10 phone-in meetings). The 20 April
event will feature 3 executive speakers, the SEED Showcase (3 SEED
participants presenting their current work), a tour of Sun’s

Executive Briefing Center
, plus an invitation to the Sun Labs Bash.

My husband John Plocher, Tanya Jankot, and I are hosting this week’s Bash (a weekly after-work party that Labs folk take turns hosting). We are working
with
Jeanie Treichel
on the menu now. We suggested vegetables and dip, fruit
trays, sliced meats and cheeses, a ham, California roll sushi, and cakes.
Jeanie thought we might want to add little quiches, strawberries to dip
in chocolate, and ice cream. Decisions, decisions…

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Poor Yorick Shakespeare Catalogue

In case you are looking for a Shakespeare movie on DVD or video, or
books, spoken word audio, teaching materials, or toys with a
Shakespeare theme, check out:

On this web site you can even play “As You Like It Acrostics” in honor of the
re-release of Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet on DVD and his new film
As You Like It in theatres this fall.

Poor Yorick is where
to buy Kozintsev’s King Lear, based on a translation by novelist Boris Pasternak with score by Dmitri Shostakovich (made in 1970 in the Soviet
Union with the largest cast I have even for this play), most of Olivier’s
Shakespeare, the BBC play sets, newer releases like Michael Radford’s
Merchant of Venice (2004, with Al Pacino, Jeremy Irons and
Joseph Fiennes), plus older classics.

Poor Yorick does not have everything: the 1935 Midsummer Night’s
Dream
with young Mickey Rooney as Puck, James Cagney as Bottom, and
Olivia de Havilland as Hermia is sadly missing but the inclusion of the 1968
MSND with Peter Hall directing the Royal Shakespeare Company (including
Diana Rigg, David Warner, Ian Richardson, Ian Holm, and shapely Judi Dench
as Titania dressed in just paint and a few leaves) makes up for it.

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“TMNT” Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Movie)

Much against my best judgement and personal preferences, last Friday
my son and I went to see
“TMNT”
– the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. After several days
of working his way through all of his usual teenage tricks (puppy eyes, sulks,
showing me the trailer to get me interested, wheedling…), Paul finally got
around to offering me a straight trade. He agreed to watch two Shakespeare
videos before Monday plus giving me a shoulder rub in exchange for my taking
him to see that movie.

He absolutely loved “TMNT”. I have seen worse movies; there were some funny
bits. After picking over my Shakespeare movie collection, Paul dutifully watched

“Twelfth Night”
(1996 – Director: Trevor Nunn, Starring: Helena Bonham-Carter, Richard E. Grant, Nigel Hawthorne, Ben Kingsley) and
“Richard III”
(1995 – Director: Richard Loncraine, Starring:
Ian McKellen, Annette Bening, Jim Broadbent, Robert Downey Jr.) the next
day. He said Richard III was evil and that he had seen worse movies.
The shoulder rub was lovely.

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5 Matched So Far – SEED 4-Site Term

We started the matching cycle for the SEED Engineering mentoring 4-Site
term on Tuesday. Already, we have 5 confirmed mentoring pairs plus at least
a dozen more potential mentors who have expressed interest in
following up with the SEED participant who requested them.
All 5 matches so far have been at a distance, where the mentoring
pair are based in different countries. Surprisingly, SEED’s
satisfaction measures consistently show no statistical difference
between mentoring pairs working locally and those working
at a distance. 46 more SEED pairs to match!

  • Vice President and Fellow in Washington (State) accepted a
    Senior Staff Engineer in Bangalore

  • Senior Staff Engineer in California accepted a Staff
    Engineer in Bangalore

  • Director in Prague accepted a Member of the Technical
    Staff in St. Petersburg, Russia

  • Senior Staff Engineer in Illinois accepted an MTS in
    Prague

  • Senior Staff Engineer in California accepted a
    Staff Engineer in Beijing

We are also getting ready for SEED’s Mid-Term Event. We hold in-person events
twice a year (plus 10 phone-in meetings). The 20 April event will
feature 3 executive speakers who have all also served as SEED mentors:


  • James Baty
    , Distinguished Engineer, Vice President, Chief Architect
    Global Sales
  • Roger Meike,
    Research Director, Sun Labs

  • Noreen Krall, Chief Patent Counsel (Vice President)

In addition, the event will offer the SEED Showcase (3 SEED
participants presenting their current work), a tour of Sun’s

Executive Briefing Center
, and an invitation to the Sun Labs
Bash (weekly after-work party).

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Photos from Karnataka and Goa, India

I have been sorting through the photos we took in India last month.
Here are some that are just interesting or pretty.

I took a series
of pictures of flower arrangements because this seemed a good
local business – managing all of the vases and other floral display
paraphernalia centrally. Many of the larger businesses (including
Sun) had impressive, fresh, and elegant bouquets which were delivered
often enough to be worth looking for.

Panaji, Goa

Lawn Elephants:

Panaji, Goa, Lawn Elephants
photo: copyright 2007 John Plocher and Katy Dickinson
Panaji, Goa

House Crow on our balcony:

Panaji, Goa, House Crow
photo: copyright 2007 John Plocher and Katy Dickinson
Panaji, Goa

plantings:

Panaji, Goa plantings
photo: copyright 2007 John Plocher and Katy Dickinson
Panaji, Goa

schoolboys in uniform:

Panaji, Goa, schoolboys in uniform
photo: copyright 2007 John Plocher and Katy Dickinson
Panaji, Goa

Kingfisher roadside store:

Panaji, Goa, Kingfisher roadside store
photo: copyright 2007 John Plocher and Katy Dickinson
Bangalore, up inside

Divyashree Chambers:

Bangalore, up inside Divyashree Chambers
photo: copyright 2007 John Plocher and Katy Dickinson
Bangalore – Cauvery store

wooden toys for sale:

Bangalore, wooden toys for sale
photo: copyright 2007 John Plocher and Katy Dickinson
Bangalore – Cauvery store

wooden toys in bins:

Bangalore, wooden toys for sale
photo: copyright 2007 John Plocher and Katy Dickinson
Bangalore – Cauvery store

toymaker:

Bangalore toymaker
photo: copyright 2007 John Plocher and Katy Dickinson
Bangalore

flower arrangement:

Bangalore, flower arrangement
photo: copyright 2007 John Plocher and Katy Dickinson
Bangalore

Sun flowers:

Bangalore, Sun flowers
photo: copyright 2007 John Plocher and Katy Dickinson
Bangalore

basin of flowers:

Bangalore toymaker
photo: copyright 2007 John Plocher and Katy Dickinson
Bangalore

flower arrangement:

Bangalore, flower arrangement
photo: copyright 2007 John Plocher and Katy Dickinson
Bangalore

flower arrangement:

Bangalore, flower arrangement
photo: copyright 2007 John Plocher and Katy Dickinson
Bangalore

John and hotel doorman:

Bangalore - John and hotel doorman
photo: copyright 2007 John Plocher and Katy Dickinson
Bangalore

desk flowers:

Bangalore - more flowers
photo: copyright 2007 John Plocher and Katy Dickinson

Images Copyright 2007 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher

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Women’s Presence in Karnataka and Goa India

I wrote a blog about

Women’s Day in India
on 8 March 2007 but I did not post any
photos. Here are some encouraging images relating to the status of
women from my brief travels in Karnataka and Goa, India.

Bangalore, Karnataka

Anti-Dowry Store Sign:

Bangalore, Karnataka, Anti-Dowry Store Sign
photo: copyright 2007 John Plocher and Katy Dickinson
Goa road to Panaji

scooter showroom “Just 4 Her”:

Goa road to Panaji, scooters just for girls
photo: copyright 2007 John Plocher and Katy Dickinson
Panaji, Goa

Women’s Co-operative Bank

Panaji, Goa, Women's Cooperative Bank
photo: copyright 2007 John Plocher and Katy Dickinson
Panaji, Goa

Barbie in India:

Panaji, Goa, Barbie Dolls in Saris
photo: copyright 2007 John Plocher and Katy Dickinson
Goa and Bangalore Airports

Women’s Day Luggage Labels

from 3 Different Airlines:

Goa and Bangalore Airports, Women's Day Luggage Labels
photo: copyright 2007 John Plocher and Katy Dickinson
Bangalore Airport, Vijaya Bank

“Women Entrepreneurs!

We are Proud of You. Welcome!”:

Bangalore Airport, Women Entrepreneurs Sign
photo: copyright 2007 John Plocher and Katy Dickinson

Images Copyright 2007 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher

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“The Last Mimzy” Movie

My 14-year-old son Paul wanted to see the new movie
“The Last Mimzy” as
one of his Spring Break special activity requests. John and I saw it last
night with him, along with Jessica and her boyfriend Matt (both 18). Paul’s
movie choices are suspect (“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” was
his alternative) but surprisingly everyone enjoyed “The Last Mimzy”
very much. It had the charm and flavor of the 1982 movie
E.T.
Common elements include: innocent genius kids living on the U.S. West Coast,
space aliens, psychic themes, parents who are less in control than they
think, scary U.S. government bullies, and excellent and interesting
computer graphics.

“The Last Mimzy” is based on the 1943 short story “Mimsy Were the Borogoves” by Lewis Padgett. The title of course comes from Lewis Caroll’s poem
in his 1872 Through the Looking-Glass which starts and ends with:

    `Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

    Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:


    All mimsy were the borogoves,


    And the mome raths outgrabe.

Jessica and I recited the whole poem for Matt on the drive to the theater.

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