Tag Archives: Matthew

June 29, 2014 · 9:59 pm

Paul’s Graduation

My son Paul has graduated from Foothill College! Hooray! We are so proud!

On Friday evening, he walked with his fellow Studio Art graduates, then we celebrated with a wonderful late dinner at Sienna Bistro in Willow Glen. On Saturday, Paul enjoyed a day of video and board games and BarBQ with friends and family at home. Paul starts his studies again in August at San Jose State University where he wants to earn a degree in studio art with a teaching credential.

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Filed under Home & Family, News & Reviews

Tagged as Eleanor, Foothill College, Jessica, John, Matthew, Paul, San Jose, San Jose State University

May 11, 2014 · 3:44 pm

Happy Mother’s Day

Today is America’s official celebration of motherhood – when flowers, candy, greeting cards, and brunch are practically required. John and Paul and I took my mother with her bouquet of roses to St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, followed by Indian buffet at The Mynt Restaurant in Saratoga, CA. We squabbled over who got to eat the caramels out of the box of chocolates she gave me. We missed Jessica and her husband Matthew but hope to talk with them by phone later today.

One of the benefits of my being the keeper of the photo repository is that I have a pictorial record from birth for almost every member of the family, including those below. This is a beautiful day to celebrate my wonderful family, of whom I am very proud!

Eleanor Creekmore Dickinson and baby Katy Dickinson, 1958

Katy Dickinson and baby Jessica Dickinson Goodman, by Jeffrey Davila, 1988

Grandpa Wade Dickinson, Grandma Eleanor Creekmore Dickinson, and baby Paul Dickinson Goodman, 1992

Katy Dickinson and Jessica Dickinson Goodman, at Petra Jordan, 2013

Matthew Holmes and Jessica Dickinson Goodman, at the Lair of the Golden Bear, Pinecrest CA, 2013

Katy Dickinson and Paul Dickinson Goodman 2014

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Filed under Home & Family, News & Reviews

Tagged as Eleanor, Jessica, John, Jordan, Matthew, Middle East, Paul, Wade

February 17, 2014 · 4:50 pm

What’s the difference between copies, backups and archives?

While I was traveling in Rwanda, my husband John published a blog entry on the eVault website: “What’s the difference between copies, backups and archives?” John used the 2011 picture of our daughter Jessica as a bride to “…step back for a bit and ask ourselves what needs to be done to ensure that this precious digitally born image is still available in the future, for our (still hypothetical at this point) granddaughter’s wedding?”

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Filed under Home & Family, News & Reviews

Tagged as Jessica, John, marriage, Matthew

December 28, 2013 · 11:08 am

After Christmas

Only a few Christmas presents are left to be distributed. We sadly bid farewell to Jessica and Matthew, who have traveled back to their jobs. John and Paul and I are still happily investigating our own presents here at home. For me, this means watching the Joss Whedon’s “Much Ado About Nothing” and the four movie set of The Hollow Crown (Shakespeare’s “Richard II”, “Henry IV” i and ii, and “Henry V”). Yesterday, John posted his code and instructions on how to program a Christmas tree, on: http://www.spcoast.com/wiki/index.php/Christmas2013. Paul is enjoying post-final-exams, pre-quarter-start downtime. John and I went out on a movie date to see “Ender’s Game”, which was a good representation of that disturbing and superb book. It is pleasant to have some quiet days together.

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Filed under Church, Home & Family

Tagged as Eleanor, Jessica, John, Matthew, Paul, Shakespeare, St. Andrew's Episcopal Church

December 23, 2013 · 11:33 am

Dickens Christmas Fair, 25th Birthday

Twelve of us gathered at the Dickens Christmas Fair at the San Francisco Cow Palace yesterday to celebrate the holiday with music, high tea, and shopping. John spent the day quietly at home, happily programming our Christmas tree lights with an Arduino.* After the fair, we met Jessica’s lifelong buddies (“The Uns”) in Mountain View to celebrate her 25th birthday.

* 12/27/2013: John posted how to program a Christmas tree on his website: http://www.spcoast.com/wiki/index.php/Christmas2013.

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Filed under Home & Family

Tagged as Charles Dickens, Eleanor, Jessica, John, Matthew, Paul, San Francisco

December 10, 2013 · 4:53 pm

Caboose Clinic: The Adventures of WP668

I presented a “Caboose Clinic” to the Coast Division of the National Model Railroad Association on 8 December 2013 in San Leandro, California. The title of my talk was “The Adventures of WP668 1916-2013: Buying and Restoring a Western Pacific Caboose”. You can see additional information about the backyard caboose in which I have my office on WP668’s web page: http://wp668.org. About forty guys and one woman attended my clinic. I was glad that they asked so many questions and seemed to have a good time.

As always, my thanks and appreciation to all who have made WP668’s long adventures possible, especially:

My family (“the crew”): John Plocher, Jessica Dickinson Goodman, Paul D. Goodman, Matthew Holmes, Eleanor Dickinson
Silicon Valley Lines Model Railroad Club and South Bay Historical Railroad Society members for ongoing support and crew backup
Railfans and photographers who have recorded WP668’s long travels, especially: Peter Arnold, E. Chambers, Danek Duvall, Sam Fineberg, Don Marenzi, Jacqueline Ramsayer, Ken Rattenne, John Ryczkowski, Jim Shackleton, Stephen Sloan, Dave Stanley, Vicki Thompson…
Don Marenzi who patiently searched his archives and located so many old WP668 photos for this presentation.

WP668 today:

WP668 in active service, 1971:
Used with permission of Don Marenzi

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Filed under Caboose Project and Other Trains, Home & Family, News & Reviews

Tagged as Eleanor, John, Matthew, Mentoring, Paul, teaching, WP668

August 13, 2013 · 1:28 pm

Lair of the Golden Bear, 9th Week

School start dates keep moving earlier, so over our 21 summers at the University of California at Berkeley family camp, the Lair of the Golden Bear, we have moved in Camp Blue from 12th week to 11th to 10th and this year, to 9th week. The transition to 9th week meant a new location for our three tents: we are now creekside. Creekside is farther from the bathrooms but has a prettier view.

9th week is both the same and different from 10th. We were too early to see the annual Perseid Meteor Shower and we missed Ed’s 10th week Margarita Party but 9th week features a Pirate Party and there is more water in the rivers. This year, we went rafting on the Stanislaus River. The rapids were no rougher than Class 2 but we enjoyed our day out of camp. We also drove to the Trail of the Gargoyles to see the sunset – made very colorful by a forest fire about twenty miles away.

We attended one of the talks (Dr. Larry Michalak on “Tunisia and the Arab Spring”), danced during Disco Bingo, celebrated Jessica and Matthew’s 2nd wedding anniversary and Paul’s 21st birthday with a Lair Cake, enjoyed arts and crafts, and played board games for many hours in the lodge. My brother Pete and his wife Julie went running to Pinecrest Lake early every morning but most of us slept in until the first breakfast bell.