KatysBlog

January 31, 2014 · 1:13 pm

Welcome to Rwanda

The TechWomen delegation has started to arrive in Kigali, Rwanda. Ten of us flew in today (San Francisco – Los Angeles – Amsterdam – Kigali), taking 24 to 36 hours for the trip, depending on what flights we got. It was dark when we arrived so we mostly went to our rooms to tidy up and get some rest. Three of the TechWomen Emerging Leaders met us at our hotel – so great to see them again! The night smells spicy here. This is my first trip south of the equator. I am looking forward to seeing something of Kigali tomorrow.

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Tagged as Africa, Mentoring, Rwanda, technical women, TechWomen

January 29, 2014 · 5:37 pm

“Global ICT experts to inspire Rwandan women”

There is another news story about our TechWomen delegation – in the Rwanda Eye today: “Global ICT experts to inspire Rwandan women” by Olive Ndaka, 29 January 2014. I am almost done creating my handout for the Gashora Girls Academy workshop I am developing – on blogging and web-based research.

Later on 29 January 2014… Here is the “Blogging and Web Research Workshop” handout – ready to go!

3 February 2014 – Here are the presentation slides to go with the handout for today’s presentation to the Gashora Academy girls.

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January 27, 2014 · 12:20 pm

“Silicon Valley Women Gurus Inspire Rwandans”

Our TechWomen delegation is a Rwanda New Times front page story today! Read all about it: “Silicon Valley women gurus inspire Rwandans” by Collins Mwai, 27 January 2014.

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Tagged as Africa, Mentoring, Rwanda, Silicon Valley, technical women, TechWomen

January 27, 2014 · 12:15 am

Model Train Layout Tours

Yesterday, John and I went to see some of the model train layouts in the San Francisco East Bay as part of the Bay Area Layout Design & Operations Weekend of the Pacific Coast Region-National Model Railroad Association. As always, there were some hobbyists whose fascination is for precise modeling, others focused on prototypical operations, and a third group who are just having a good time playing with trains. Some day, we hope that John’s N scale layout in our former garage will be developed enough to be on a operations weekend tour.

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Tagged as John, San Francisco, WP668

January 19, 2014 · 6:51 pm

Rwanda Delegation Pre-Trip Briefing

Last week, several dozen US-based mentors and program staff gathered at the Institute of International Education offices in San Francisco for a pre-trip briefing for TechWomen Rwanda delegation members. Others phoned into the crowded room. The delegation’s enthusiasm and energy level are high! TechWomen 2013 Emerging Leader delegates from Rwanda, Cameroon, and Kenya will join us in Kigali.

TechWomen’s 2014 Emerging Leader application is now open! The deadline to apply is 23:59 Cairo time, Monday, February 10, 2014. The delegation will be in Rwanda during the application period. So, while we are making presentations at girls’ schools and technical events, we will encourage women working in STEM to apply to TechWomen.

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Tagged as Africa, Mentoring, Rwanda, San Francisco, technical women, TechWomen

January 16, 2014 · 2:33 pm

Katy’s 2013 Book List

I am in the process of switching from an iPad to an iPad Mini for my upcoming TechWomen mentoring program delegation trip to Rwanda, so I have been sorting what Kindle ebooks and iBooks I will take along… I am a big reader, finishing one to two books most weeks. When I was ten years old, the librarian in our local public library mentioned that I averaged a book a day (shorter books, back then!). In 2013, I started reading books online, so now I can track my titles. Below are some of the books I read in 2013 that I liked best, meaning I will probably read them again.

* means a re-read (because it was too good to read just once!)

Bryan, Christopher, And God Spoke / The Authority of the Bible for the Church Today (2002)
* Bull, Emma, Bone Dance (1991)
* Bull, Emma, War for the Oaks (1987)
De Quincey, Thomas, Miscellaneous Essays (1859)
* Dickens, Charles, The Complete Works of Charles Dickens (2011) – 2013 focus was on The Christmas Carol
* Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sherlock Holmes, Volumes I and II (1986)
* Dumas, Alexandre, The Three Musketeers (2010)
Flint, Eric 1632 (2000)
* Gaiman, Neil, Anansi Boys (2005)
* Gaiman, Neil, and Terry Pratchett, Good Omens / The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch (1990)
Holy Bible – New Revised Standard Version (1989)
Hunt, Linda Lawrence, Bold Spirit / Helga Estby’s Forgotten Walk Across Victorian America (2003)
Ilibagiza, Immaculee, Left to Tell / Discovering God Admist the Rwandan Holocaust (2006)
MacCulloch, Diarmaid, Christianity / The First Three Thousand Years (2009)
* Melville, Herman, Moby Dick / Or, The Whale (1891)
* Modesitt, L.E., The Magic of Recluce (1991)
* Nix, Garth, The Abhorsen Trilogy (2003)
* Pierce, Tamora Beka Cooper: The Hunt Records (2006)
* Pratchett, Terry, Small Gods (1992)
* Pratchett, Terry, The Wee Free Men (2003)
Sandberg, Sheryl, Lean In / Women, Work, and the Will to Lead (2013)
Sansom, C.J., Dissolution (2003)
* Sayers, Dorothy, Lord Peter Views the Body (1928)
* Sayers, Dorothy, The Nine Tailors (1934)
* Shakespeare, William, The Compete Plays of Shakespeare (2011) – in 2013, focus was on Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Richard II, Henry IV, Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing, Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Twelfth Night
* Stephenson, Neal, Snow Crash (1992)
Verghese, Abraham, Cutting for Stone (2009)
Webb, Maynard, Rebooting Work / Transform How You Work in the Age of Entrepreneurship (2013)

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January 13, 2014 · 1:57 pm

“Old Lovers” by Eleanor Creekmore Dickinson

Eleanor Creekmore Dickinson has a new art exhibit called “Old Lovers” at the Peninsula Museum of Art (1777 California Drive, Burlingame, California), 5 January – 16 March 2014. The opening reception was yesterday – with many colleagues, friends, and family attending. Love between older people has been a favorite subject of my mother’s large-format drawings on paper over many decades, and this is her second exhibit dedicated to that theme.

This show was curated by Robert Flynn Johnson (Curator Emeritus, Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco) and created by Ruth Waters (Founder, Chair and Executive Director, Peninsula Museum of Art). My brother Pete and I worked with Ruth and Robert for many months to support their development of this interesting exhibit. In the photos below, you can see how the drawings to be included were picked last year. I was on a business trip, so John and Paul went to the reception yesterday and took many pictures.