Tag Archives: John

October 20, 2010 · 4:09 pm

Willow Glen Lions Projects

I am in my second year as the Secretary to the Willow Glen Lions Club in San Jose, California. A Lions Club Secretary is the administrative officer – making monthly membership and program reports to Lions Clubs International, managing the club roster, keeping minutes of meetings, serving on the Board, etc.

Our club was chartered just over a year ago and we have made good progress. Willow Glen Lions is now in our second year of community service projects which include:

Backpacks for Kids (for Grammar School – working with the Almaden Super Lions Club)
Blanket Drive (working with the Almaden Super Lions Club)
High School Speakers’ Contest
Hot San Jose Nights – Pancake Breakfast and other activities (our club’s signature charity fundraising project). In 2010, we used our charity funds to sponsor scholarships for kids going to the Diabetes Society camps.
Peace Poster Contest (for Middle School artists)
Trick or Treat Trail monitors and crossing guards (29 October, Lincoln Avenue in Willow Glen, working with the Willow Glen Business Association)
Used Eyeglasses Recycling (for distribution to the needy in Mexico and elsewhere)

Last night, the Club Board voted funding to begin a new Leos Club for teens in Willow Glen. My husband John and I just created the club’s first business card – preparing for our club’s second Fall Mixer (at Chase Bank on Lincoln Avenue at Minnesota in Willow Glen, 6:30-8 pm on 10 November), and other upcoming activities. It arrived today!

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October 15, 2010 · 10:23 pm

Facilities Task Force

John and I are members of Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Saratoga, California. In addition to participating in several other ministries, I am in my second year on the Vestry (elected lay leadership group). Our Mission:

As a community in Christ, Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church offers a spiritual home for those seeking to celebrate God’s love, participate in joyful fellowship and faithfully serve those in need, near and far.

I think it is particularly appropriate that St. Andrew’s recently had “got heart?” tshirts made up for this year’s stewardship campaign. St. Andrew’s is a generous community with welcoming hearts.

In May 2010, a St. Andrew’s Vestry Facilities Task Force was chartered to consider the changes in facilities needs for the parish since our Strategic Plan was created some years ago. Why create this Task Force? The parish continues to grow, there have been changes in staff, and the national economic downturn means that less money is available than when the original plans were created. The task force included me (Katy Dickinson – the Chair), Gerry Chartrand, Ken Cook (the liaison to St. Andrew’s Master Facilities Committee), and Harry Van Wickle. The team received generous support and advice from our Rector and Senior Warden, and from the many people who were interviewed. The Task Force was asked to focus on lasting decisions rather than short-term fixes. Saint Andrew’s Episcopal School is also developing a facilities analysis in coordination with this work.

We interviewed over fifty parishioners, clergy, and church staff, both individually and during four open forums in July 2010. In addition, the national Episcopal Church provided us with a list of Episcopal churches that are the next step larger than St. Andrew’s. Five of the churches interviewed so far are located in California, New York, Texas, Virginia, and Washington DC. These benchmarking interviews are to understand the circumstances and best practices of parishes that are the size that St. Andrew’s aspires to be. The national Episcopal Church also provided extensive reports containing demographic and community trend analysis.

Topics most mentioned in the interviews included: Accessibility (16 mentions), Acolytes (11 mentions), Bathrooms (14 mentions), The Center (50 mentions), Choir Loft (18 mentions), Kitchens (30 mentions), Library (11 mentions), Labyrinth (6 mentions), Meeting or conference spaces (60+ mentions), The Narthex (15 mentions), The Nursery (12 mentions), The Oak (10 mentions), Offices (30 mentions), Outreach (8 mentions), Parking (18 mentions), Storage (31 mentions), and Youth Room (23 mentions). The issue which seems to raise the most passion is our need for more Storage!

Some of the suggested facilities changes are expensive but many are not. The Task Force presented its findings to the Vestry in August and to the Master Facilities Committee and the parish at large this month. Our reports have been well received. We will follow up with several of the larger churches on additional questions that have been raised since the first report to the Vestry. It has been a pleasure to use some of the good management tools and business methods I learned as part of my Six Sigma training during this worthy and interesting project. It has also been an honor and joy to work with my talented team!

Images Copyright Katy Dickinson 2010

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October 15, 2010 · 8:06 pm

Two Dogs, One Cat (Taking Pet Pictures)

The animals in our family include two 8 year old birds, a 15 year old cat, a 14 year old dog, and a large wiggly 1-1/2 year old puppy. They are all rescue animals or adopted strays. The birds are cockatiels; the others are mutts. From time to time, I take photos of everybody. I recently attempted the near-impossible task of getting both dogs and the cat in one picture. A fast camera and much patience is required. I have a Canon S90 PowerShot, which is not fast enough. A dog’s tail can wag faster than almost any camera. Also, our dogs and cat like each other fine but each is watchfully jealous that someone else might get more attention than they.

I tried first to get the dogs to pose outside of the screen door of John’s office but finally had to enlist John to get everyone in one place. I ended up with several great portraits of each animal but never all three looking good in the same shot. At least everyone had fun.

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October 9, 2010 · 9:27 pm

Blessing the Animals on St. Francis’ day

Last week at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church (Saratoga, CA), we had our annual blessing of the animals for St. Francis’ day. We sang hymns appropriate to the day:

All things bright and beautiful…

For the beauty of the earth…

All creatures of our God and King…

We said the prayer attributed to St. Francis:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon:
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope
where there is darkness, light
where there is sadness, joy
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life. Amen.

We said the Collect for the Feast of St. Francis:

Most high, omnipotent, good Lord, grant your people grace to renounce gladly the vanities of this world; that, following the way of blessed Francis, we may for love of you delight in your whole creation with perfectness of joy; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

John and I brought our cockatiel birds Guapo and Sparky in their domed cage. They were very interested and flirted amiably with many children. The biggest animals to be blessed were a team of draft horses; the smallest was a red betta fish. The congregation loves to bring their dogs and cats and rabbits and other pets to church this one day. Running the service around animals’ needs and noises is challenging but it is a joyous day for all.

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Tagged as birds, cats, Dogs, John, St. Andrew's Episcopal Church

September 12, 2010 · 10:08 pm

Goodbye Simon & Garfunkel

Last month, we went on our annual vacation at the Lair of the Bear family camp. We had a wonderful time, as always, but were shocked and deeply sad to return home to find our pet birds Simon & Garfunkel dying of starvation.

We hired Home Alone Pet and Plant Care (San Jose, CA) to walk our 1-year-old dog and care for our 2 cockatiel birds while we were camping in the mountains. In addition to hiring Home Alone, we also asked a neighbor to care for our other pets and the house, but not the birds. The day we left, Home Alone’s representative called our neighbor, told him she fell and was hurt trying to walk the dog and left our neighbor in charge of everything. She left a single voice mail message on our cell phone (which we told her did not work at camp) but made no other attempt to contact us. Simon died the morning after our return. Garfunkel died in the vet’s care a few days later.

The vet did a formal necropsy and said both birds died of starvation and dehydration. We left written instructions which included the camp office number plus a contact list, which the Home Alone representative recorded on her company’s customer intake form when she visited our home. The representative even asked to take our dog for a walk the day before we left. She said the first walk went well and she would take care of everything. Home Alone Pet and Plant Care and our neighbor share responsibility for the death of our birds. However, since Home Alone Pet and Plant Care is a professional animal care service with 17 years of experience, we expected more.

We named our boy birds Simon & Garfunkel because they were great duet singers and inventors of new songs. We only adopted them a year ago from Mickaboo Companion Bird Rescue and we loved them very much, grumpy little featherheads that they were. Simon had cinnamon-gray feathers with a yellow crest and pink feet. Garfunkel had a gray crest and gray feet. Both had the yellow heads and orange cheeks typical of male cockatiels. Mickaboo had rescued them from the Martinez animal shelter where they had been abandoned. They hated to be apart. Garfunkel was sometimes very crabby about coming out of the cage or “stepping up” onto a hand – he would often try to bite and sometimes succeeded. However, if Simon went out first, Garfunkel was happy to follow. Garfunkel also liked to dominate and would sometimes fly up to sit on John’s head to prove who was the top bird. Both of them had damaged wings when we got them so they did not fly well. Simon & Garfunkel were very curious and sometimes got into trouble for nibbling the curtains or furniture.

We told Mickaboo about the sad death of our birds and we shared the necropsy report with them. We were able to adopt a new pair of Mickaboo cockatiels today. Paul and John and I met Guapo and Sparky, two gray male cockatiels, at their foster home. They are the same size and look almost identical except that Guapo has two yellow spots on the back of his neck. Sparky is more outgoing. They both have gray feet and yellow-gray crests. We just brought them to our home to be our new bird companions.

Simon and Garfunkel’s last pictures

Guapo and Sparky today

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September 4, 2010 · 7:19 pm

Home from China

I flew into San Francisco late last night from Hong Kong, after ten days working in China. Our takeoff was delayed two hours because of a typhoon – as the cycling winds changed direction, we had to change runways four times. Finally, the jet had to return to the hub to top off fuel before take off. I did not sleep much, so I watched movies: Prince of Persia, The Last Airbender, The A-Team, Letters to Juliet, Nanny McPhee and others, courtesy of Singapore Air. In Singapore Air Economy Class, movies are unlimited, the seats are big, there is a foot rest and a place to put my glasses, and the food is good but fourteen hours on a plane is still not much fun.

This year is the 30th anniversary of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, with much honoring of Deng Xiaoping. There were balloons, flags, and illuminated red lanterns on the main streets in celebration. I think my Huawei business trip went well but I am glad to have this long weekend to rejoin my home time zone before starting work again.

I was happy to eat western breakfast food today – the food in Shenzhen is excellent and interesting but I would rather have food I am used to when I wake up. We went to Bill’s Cafe in Willow Glen – our favorite brunch spot. I am even happier to be with my family (John and Paul met me at the airport) and able to drink water from the tap. “Boiled-bottled-or-alcoholic” is the requirement for drinking in China.

I gave John and Paul some of their presents last night. Paul got some carved jade charms and I gave John a small bottle delightfully painted inside with two scenes of birds. The Chinese art of painting a tiny image on the inside of a bottle is delightful. I bought John’s bottle at a store called “Chinese Arts and Craft” in Hong Kong, which offered better quality artists than other locations. I also brought home tea (of course), sesame candy, and moon cakes. I was assured by my Chinese friends that the simple red bean moon cakes I prefer are not as good as those with an egg inside; however, when I came through SFO customs last night and saw the FDA agents confiscating all moon cakes with egg, I was even happier with my choice.

Here are some photos from my trip to Shenzhen and Hong Kong:

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August 1, 2010 · 11:52 pm

Lightening Our Footprints – New Cars

This week, we sold our 15-year-old Toyota Camry 4-door Sedan and our 10-year-old Ford Expedition 8-passenger SUV, and we bought two new cars: a Smartcar Passion Coupe Cabriolet (2-seater convertable), and a Mercedes GL350 BlueTEC SUV (which seats 7). We traded in the Toyota on the Smartcar and sold the Ford on Craigslist. After so long nursing along old (very old) cars, it was a wild week.

We spent last weekend visiting car dealerships, mostly along Stevens Creek in Santa Clara, California. It was surprising how few offered cars that would fit my tall husband in comfort. We told salesmen that we wanted to test sit the cars before we test drove them. We visited Mercedes, Toyota, Cadillac, Ford, Lexus, Chevrolet, Smart, and Porsche. After sitting in 20 cars, we found that only four really fit John: the Mercedes GL (SUV), the Toyota Sienna (minivan), the Ford Flex (SUV), and the Chevrolet Traverse (SUV).

Besides wanting cars that were not falling apart bit by bit (I think the Camry’s door handle breaking off in my hand told me that the time had come…), we wanted cars that were not so wasteful. The Smartcar has an EPA estimated fuel consumption of 33 city/41 highway (compared to the Camry at about 20 mpg). It is for me to run errands and commute to work when my husband John and I are not driving together. For such a tiny car, the Passion has a surprising amount of headroom for John.

The ultra-low-emissions diesel Mercedes has an EPA estimated fuel consumption of 17 city/23 highway miles per gallon (compared to the Expedition with 13 mpg at best). This will be our family car, used in hauling yard and building supplies for house and caboose work, taking our big dogs to the vet, driving groups of children on field trips, and taking the family on our annual camping trip into the mountains. Our hope is that the Mercedes will last us much much longer than the Ford, so we will save the energy of creating materials for a new vehicle every ten years.

Many years ago, when our friend Max was a very little boy, he stared at our Ford Expedition and christened it the “Too Big”. We now have both a “Too Big” and a “Too Small”.