Tag Archives: Jessica

February 10, 2013 · 10:47 pm

Friends in Beirut

The 2013 TechWomen delegation to Jordan has sadly said its goodbyes. Most of us have returned to Algeria, Palestine, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Yemen, Tunisia, Jordan, and the USA. We will continue to communicate on email, Skype, LinkedIn, Facebook, by telephone and sometimes even through precious visits to each other’s homes.

My daughter Jessica and I traveled yesterday to the lovely city of Beirut, Lebanon, to visit more TechWomen friends and to meet with Al Makassed (the Makassed Philanthropic Islamic Association of Beirut). Our dear TechWomen friends Sukaina Al-Nasrawi and Maysoun Ibrahim met us in the hotel lobby when we checked in, then took us on a walking tour of downtown. We were honored to have a driving tour and marvelous dinner with Dr. Amine Daouk, President of Makassed, and Adla Chatila, Makassed’s IT and Finance Director (my amazing and talented TechWomen 2012 mentee). We look forward to seeing even more of this fascinating place today.

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Filed under Mentoring & Other Business, News & Reviews

Tagged as Algeria, Egypt, Episcopal church, Jessica, Jordan, Lebanon, Mentoring, Middle East, Morocco, Palestine, technical women, TechWomen

February 9, 2013 · 7:36 pm

TechWomen at Petra

On our last day together, the TechWomen delegation drove by bus from our Dead Seaside hotel to the ancient city of Petra. As with many “touristic” locations, souvenir vendors and sellers of services (in Petra’s case: camel, donkey, and carriage rides) are as much a part of the site as are the ruins. I took so many photos that the poor computer service at our hotel could not handle the upload – so I will post the image of Jessica and me on camels later. The colors of the sandstone were luscious and changed as the light shifted during the hours we walked through Petra. The TechWomen said goodbye to our beloved friends as the delegation left for home. Jessica and I fly from Amman, Jordan, to Beirut, Lebanon, today.

TechWomen Tour Dead Sea Area

Yesterday, the TechWomen delegation enjoyed a day of rest and exploration. Some of us stayed at our Dead Seaside hotel to enjoy the spas and a quiet time. Jessica and I went with the group who visited the site of Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River, then Mount Nebo where Moses died. For the Christians among us, the baptism site provided a moving opportunity to pray together in a holy and historic place. In the evening, the TechWomen gathered to watched the sun set behind the mountains before we enjoyed our final dinner and dancing as a group. Today, we tour Petra then sadly go our separate ways.

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Filed under Mentoring & Other Business, News & Reviews

Tagged as Jessica, Jordan, Mentoring, Middle East, technical women, TechWomen

February 7, 2013 · 11:19 am

TechWomen Meets Princess Sumaya

Today, the TechWomen delegation visited the Princess Sumaya University for Technology to meet students and professors. We were honored also to meet Her Royal Highness, the intelligent and remarkable Princess Sumaya bint El Hassan herself, who spoke to us about her strong support for technology and entrepreneurship in Jordan. I was particularly honored to be among the members of the delegation who joined the Princess upstairs for a brief discussion about our work and the TechWomen program. I also got to speak with Professor Issa Batarseh, the capable and charming President of the university. We discussed the Plug and Play Technical Center, MentorCloud, TechWomen, and the benefits of professional mentoring. I hope that today’s meetings will result in continued and strong connections between the technical communities of Jordan and the Silicon Valley.

After the PSUT meetings, we left Amman for the Dead Sea and Petra where the TechWomen will spend a quieter time with each other before going home to our many countries.

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Tagged as Jessica, Jordan, Mentoring, Middle East, technical women, TechWomen

February 5, 2013 · 8:12 pm

Into the Mountains with TechWomen

Yesterday, the TechWomen delegation headed into the northern mountains of Jordan to visit technical women graduate students at JUST ( Jordan University of Science and Technology and their Dean, Dr. Rehab Duwairi, and the craft collective leaders in the village of Koura. The village treated us to a feast in a meadow of wildflowers and interesting rocks. We ate macmoria (chicken pie), tabbouleh, hendbe, yogurt, dolma, freekeh and other wonderful delicacies. Then, we went into town where my team and I gave a workshop on how to sell artisanal crafts though e-commerce. We finished the day with a big Italian dinner in Amman.

My daughter Jessica arrived safely after midnight and will join the delegation’s activities today.

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Tagged as Jessica, Jordan, Mentoring, Middle East, technical women, TechWomen

December 22, 2012 · 11:58 pm

Merry Christmas

Best wishes to you and your family for a happy holiday season, from all of us here in the Silicon Valley!

Between trying to get the construction workers finished enough to be out of our house by Christmas, and all of the usual holiday preparations and activities, December 2012 has been particularly busy. There has finally been sufficient progress on the new porch to allow us to have family and guests in the house. The roof and final plastering were finished just before dinner yesterday – barely in time for us to go Christmas caroling on the cable car in San Francisco. Jessica and Matthew were able to get off from work to join us for Christmas – for which we are very joyful!

I went shopping in Chinatown with Sally and Lorene (our tradition for over twenty years). We were sad to see the closed up Sam Wo restaurant where we used to eat raw fish salad for lunch during our annual walking tour of Grant Street stores.
John and I were delighted to hear our young friends Max and Beth perform as part of the Cantabile Youth Singers at the ornate St. Joseph Basilica in San Jose.
My son Paul and I picked out and walked home a Christmas tree – which sat in a bucket of water on the driveway for two weeks until the contractors left and we could move all of the furniture back. Jessica and Matthew and Paul brought the tree inside and decorated it tonight. The decorations are eclectic but cheerful. I still need to put out the nativity figures John bought in Bethlehem.
My EfM class went to see the Bethlehem Christmas story re-enactment, and then went out to dinner together and exchanged gifts.
Last Sunday was the St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church children’s pageant.
We have very much enjoyed Willow Glen’s enthusiastic Christmas light displays – which give every street its own twinkly charm as we go about our holiday business.
Today we went to the Dickens Fair at the Cow Palace in San Francisco to enjoy a Victorian Christmas, high tea, and last-minute shopping.
Tomorrow, John starts cooking for our Christmas feast on Tuesday!

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Filed under Church, Home & Family, News & Reviews

Tagged as Charles Dickens, Education for Ministry, Episcopal church, Jessica, John, Matthew, Paul, San Francisco, San Jose, St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, Willow Glen

November 30, 2012 · 2:30 pm

Hopper Conference, TechWomen Press

I have been honored to have been included in two news stories recently:

“Sharing the Hopper Conference” – a story about my daughter Jessica and me attending the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women and Computing together, on the fascinating website Anitasquilt.org
United Nations – Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia Weekly News story (Issue 45/52) “Women and ICT”, about the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women and Computing 2012 panel “Arab Women in Computing: Challenges vs. Aspirations” for which I was the moderator. The UN ESCWA story is about the participation of the impressive Sukaina Al-Nasrawi, Associate Social Affairs Officer at the ESCWA Centre for Women in Beirut, Lebanon. Sukaina was one of the amazing participants in the U.S. State Department’s 2011 TechWomen mentoring program, four of whom returned as GHC12 panelists (the others were: Reham Nasser of Egypt, Maysoun Ibrahim of Palestine, and Hania Gati of Algeria). Read more about the panel in my 4 October 2012 blog entry and in Larissa’s 7 October 2012 blog entry.

Here are screen shots of the news stories:

Tag Archives: Jessica

Friends in Beirut

TechWomen at Petra

TechWomen Tour Dead Sea Area

TechWomen Meets Princess Sumaya

Into the Mountains with TechWomen

Merry Christmas

Hopper Conference, TechWomen Press

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