I was delighted with these photos of the 20 May 2012 lunar eclipse taken by our friend Laura from the San Francisco Bay Area. We missed seeing the event because my son and I were in a jet, coming home from Jessica’s CMU graduation. Paul was particularly disappointed since he has been taking astronomy classes from the inspiring Professor Andrew Fraknoi at Foothill College. Notice that Laura even caught sun spots in her pictures!
Images Copyright 2012 Laura Holmes
Filed under News & Reviews
My daughter Jessica graduated from Carnegie Mellon University yesterday in Pittsburgh PA, with college and university honors, Phi Beta Kappa. My son Paul and I flew in from San Jose CA and her husband Matt flew in from Seattle WA for the big event. Here is some of what I saw in our joyous three day visit:
Jessica and Paul
CMU
Phi Beta Kappa
Congratulations to the Honors Students
Three Wonderful Kids
Going to Graduation
Jessica and Proud Mom
Carnegie Tech – Class of 1948 Her Grandfather’s Medallion
Processing into the Stadium
Honors Regalia
Relaxing After All the Fuss
Pictures by Katy Dickinson 2012 Copyright
Filed under Home & Family, News & Reviews
One of the interesting parts of owning an older house is discovering how it is built. Our 1930 Spanish Mission Revival home in Willow Glen has delightful arts and crafts style details, including oak parquet floors downstairs and on the upstairs landing. When my husband John first bought the house in 1998, many of the floors were covered with icky dark pink carpet. We ripped most of that out and refinished the upper floors and stairs ten years ago.
There was one room downstairs that still had the pink carpet. This is the only downstairs bedroom, so person using it does not have to share a bathroom. Our son Paul had the room until his sister Jessica moved out last summer, just before she got married. In 2002, Paul and his grandmother painted a mural of the Pokemon fire chicken Moltres on the wall. Late last year, Paul moved into Jessica’s old room upstairs so that my mother could move in after my father died. She and her cats recently moved into a senior community nearby, so we have finally gotten rid of the last of the pink carpet.
Under the horrible cat-stinky carpet, we discovered an equally smelly rug pad. Under that was amazingly ugly linoleum. Today, the linoleum came off and we discovered that we have a potentially-lovely wooden floor of Douglas Fir wood. We are delighted – Doug fir is not as good as oak parquet but it is much better than pink carpet. We will get the boards refinished and the room will become John’s new office.
Pink Carpet:
Linoleum:
Douglas Fir boards:
Images by Katy Dickinson 2012 Copyright
Filed under Home & Family, News & Reviews
We had more than a dozen children over with their families and friends for our annual backyard Easter Egg Hunt and potluck brunch in Willow Glen (San Jose, California). Among the kids, our son Paul was the oldest egg hunter at 19 and Howard was the youngest, at age 3. The devious Bunny and his helpers came up with the following poem hints about hiding places for the coveted Gold and Silver eggs:
GOLD:
My roost once used to roll and pitch
My halo exists at other men’s whims
In finding me please don’t twitch
The creek where you’d fall, nobody swimsSILVER:
I creep at the edge of an –ito
Don’t over-step or you will cheat-o
Chameleon-like I hide
Hurry quick! I won’t abide.
The Gold egg was found quickly (on top of the electrical box behind the light on the porch of WP 668, our caboose), but the Silver egg eluded all hunters until late afternoon. It was wrapped in tape and painted to look like a stone in the arroyito. The rules of the hunt are the same year after year:
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Images Copyright 2012 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher
Saturday, John, my mother, and I spent another day of sorting and packing my parents’ San Francisco home. As my daughter Jessica wrote, this is about Dirt, Dust, and Duty. I shipped five boxes of my father’s clothes to my older brother, put five more boxes of family quilts, lace, and linens into the car, then packed in two small tables, two mirrors, some art, and a shower chair. Everything but the shower chair goes into storage. My uncle came over to pack some of his stuff. Then I did a walk through with the mover in preparation for his crew returning next weekend.
Today was my day off. After church, I worked in my poor neglected and dog-pounded garden. Then, John and Paul and I spent several hours reviewing the construction proposal for the new addition to our home in Willow Glen. Comparing the proposal to the architect’s drawings, we discussed flooring, counter tops, lighting, electrical outlets, TV cables, and all of the other minutiae which are so expensive if you don’t get them right the first time.
Our house addition will initially be for my 80-year-old mother, so we are making it wheelchair accessible, just in case. This means more than just a roll-in shower and wider doorways. Can she get into the pantry? Should the doors open in or out? So much to consider!
Image Copyright 2012 by Katy Dickinson
Filed under Church, Home & Family, News & Reviews
My father passed away suddenly this morning at home in San Francisco. He had been declining for the last year. We were getting ready to move him closer to our home in Willow Glen but he did not want to go. Wade Dickinson died as he had lived, on his own terms and where he wanted to be. We have been putting together his obituary. Here is what we have so far:
Ben Wade Oakes Dickinson was born 29 October 1926 in Hickory Township (Sharon), Pennsylvania, to Ben Wade Orr Dickinson, Junior, and Gladys Grace Oakes Dickinson. Wade’s one sibling, Robert Wayne, was born eight years later. Wade and Wayne were creative inventing partners for fifty years, starting between seven and twenty-five companies together (depending on how you count) and being granted more than forty patents for a broad variety of technical inventions. Of his 39, Wade’s most recent patent was granted in 2011 (US Patent 7,914,749).
Wade attended Carnegie Institute of Technology, then United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, starting at the end of World War II and graduating in 1949. He studied as a nuclear physicist at the Oak Ridge School of Reactor Technology, worked on the United States Air Force Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion Program, and was a researcher at RAND Corporation, in Santa Monica, California. Wade was honorably discharged from the US Air Force with the rank of Captain. He joined Bechtel Corporation, during which time he was Technical Advisor on Atomic Energy to the US Congress. Wade and Wayne went into business in San Francisco, founding W.W. Dickinson Corporation, Agrophysics, Petrolphysics, and other businesses, applying their knowledge of physics and engineering to solve problems as varied as cardiology, cattle reproduction, and directional oil drilling.
Wade and Wayne and a team of other lecturers taught “Venture Design: The Start Up Company” (Engineering-110) for 19 years at the University of California at Berkeley. Wade was a Mason (West Point, New York, Lodge) for over 60 years. He was a founder and honorary Board member of the California Medical Clinic for Psychotherapy. Wade was a member of the parish of Saint Mary the Virgin Episcopal Church for over 50 years. At St.Mary’s, he served in several church leadership roles (Vestry, Treasurer) and was a dedicated crucifer and chalice bearer. Wade helped the parish to start community outreach ministries to support the hungry and homeless.
Wade married artist Eleanor Evelyn Vaughan Creekmore in 1952 with whom he had three children: Mark, Katy, and Peter. His grandchildren are: Jessica (and her husband Matthew) and Paul, Corey and Forrest, Lynda and Daniel. Wade died at the age of 85 on 16 November 2011 at his home in San Francisco, California.
Wade’s funeral will be held at Saint Mary the Virgin Episcopal Church in San Francisco, at 3 pm on Sunday, 4 December 2011, reception to follow at the church. If you plan to attend the funeral, please arrive early to allow extra time for parking.
Memorial donations are requested instead of flowers, to: Episcopal Church of St. Mary the Virgin Community Outreach: 2325 Union St., San Francisco, CA 94123. Phone: 415-921-3665 (checks made out to: “St.Mary’s Community Outreach” and include “Donation in Memory of Wade Dickinson” on the memo line), or to the charity of your choice.
Goodbye Grandpa – we love you!
Wade Dickinson’s US Patents (1965-2011)
7,914,749 Clathrate hydrate modular storage, applications and utilization processes 6,206,112 Multiple lateral hydraulic drilling apparatus and method 6,142,246 Multiple lateral hydraulic drilling apparatus and method 5,035,285 Gravel packing system for a production radial tube 4,991,667 Hydraulic drilling apparatus and method 4,974,672 Gravel packing system for a production radial tube 4,872,509 Oil well production system using a hollow tube liner 4,865,128 Gravel packing system for a production radial tube 4,852,668 Hydraulic drilling apparatus and method 4,790,394 Hydraulic drilling apparatus and method 4,787,465 Hydraulic drilling apparatus and method 4,763,734 Earth drilling method and apparatus using multiple hydraulic forces 4,750,561 Gravel packing system for a production radial tube 4,715,128 Curvature probe and method 4,693,327 Mechanically actuated whipstock assembly 4,560,934 Method of transporting a payload in a borehole 4,527,639 Hydraulic piston-effect method and apparatus for forming a bore hole 4,524,324 Downhole instrument including a flexible probe which can travel freely around bends in a borehole 4,501,337 Apparatus for forming and using a bore hole 4,497,381 Earth drilling apparatus and method 4,431,069 Method and apparatus for forming and using a bore hole 4,091,807 Intra-vaginal device and method of use 3,938,504 Method for measuring vagina dimensions 3,854,476 INTRA-VAGINAL DEVICE AND METHOD 3,811,443 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION 3,811,424 ARTIFICIAL METHOD FOR MODIFYING THE REPRODUCTIVE CYCLE IN ANIMALS 3,811,423 DEVICE FOR INSERTION INTO THE REPRODUCTIVE TRACT AND METHOD OF USING SAME 3,546,927 ULTRASONIC TESTING APPARATUS 3,460,492 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DISPENSING SEEDS COATED WITH A MAGNETIC MATERIAL 3,407,650 Ultrasonic apparatus for detecting flaws 3,407,649 Method and apparatus for generating a high power ultrasonic burst pulse signal 3,407,122 Solar still with a cassegranian optical system 3,299,696 Apparatus for generating, directing and receiving ultrasonic wave trains 3,299,695 Ultrasonic testing apparatus 3,299,694 Method and apparatus for detecting flaws using ultrasonic helical waves 3,282,087 Apparatus for generating ultrasonic waves 3,250,120 Method and apparatus for determining flaw locations 3,186,216 Method and apparatus for generating and receiving ultrasonic helical waves One more from the 1950s... Still looking
Photo Images Copyright 2011 by Katy Dickinson
Wade Dickinson original portrait Copyright 2008 Eleanor Dickinson
Filed under Church, Home & Family, News & Reviews
The TechWomen mentors from the Silicon Valley are keeping in good communication with their mentees in the Middle East and North Africa. We have seen about a dozen new projects, including non-profits and business start-ups, initiated so far by our 37 talented and energetic colleagues since they returned to MENA from working with us here in California. Many of the mentors continue to serve as individual and group advisors, despite being half a world away.
One of the last official phases of the 2011 U.S. State Department’s mentoring program will happen next month when a few of us go to visit the technical women in Morocco for a week. We had hoped to go to Lebanon as well but regrettably that trip had to be cancelled. Six of the mentees have recently won scholarships to return to the USA for a week to attend the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, to be held 9-12 November 2011 in Portland, Oregon. We look forward to seeing them there!
Yesterday in the hot autumn afternoon, 17 of the technical and cultural mentors met at my house in Willow Glen (San Jose, CA) for a potluck dinner, to catch up and enjoy each others’ company. Mentors from Huawei, Intel, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, Likelist, NetApp, Northgate Environmental Management, SF Public Press, and Symantec and other companies and organizations brought lovely dishes to share. My son Paul took a picture of us on the steps of my backyard caboose (WP668).
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Images Copyright 2011 by Katy Dickinson and Paul D. Goodman
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