Tag Archives: Paul

Why I Blog

ZapCar . Burning Man Car

Right now, someone is particularly angry at me for not communicating through the means she prefers. She wrote me an email saying that she wants letters on paper and will read email but thinks blogs are impersonal and not worth her time.

So, why write blogs?

  • I work two jobs (for TechWomen and Huawei), each of which is interesting and worthwhile
  • I love a distractingly wonderful husband, two remarkable kids in college, two dogs, a cat, and two birds, each of whom would like and deserves more of my attention
  • Our daughter is getting married in six weeks, with over a hundred guests
  • I am working with my brothers to advise and support two interesting parents (both over 80) whose health is failing
  • I am on several volunteer Boards and I teach a group of twenty adorable kids three hours a week in an after-school program, all of whom have justified expectations of my time and nurturing
  • I have plants that expected better when they came into my garden, and weeds that are much happier than they should be
  • I have a stack of well-written and highly-recommended books that leak guilt at me when I look in their direction

I am over-committed and over-scheduled doing work I love and do well.  When my daughter went to college, she made a wise decision. She could either try to keep in touch with her large circle of friends and relations individually, and do nothing else. Or, she could blog and hope that her admirers would follow her news in a less-direct but more complete way.

Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man.
Sir Francis Bacon (1561 – 1626)

When I don’t blog, I find that I drop out of touch and actually spend more time communicating to worse effect. I love writing and taking pictures and I think sharing what I see with my readers benefits both. I am frequently contacted by interesting people who ask to use one of my pictures or want to continue a discussion started on my blog.  For example, I was on the local TV news last week because of my blog entries last year about FEMA.  I have included recent pictures of strange local cars and old metal signs for you today – just for fun! Publishing here makes me consider more deeply and starts many of my conversations with my family and friends in the middle of current experience, instead of spending half of each meeting catching each other up.

Orchard Supply Hardware old sign . Western Hotel old sign

Images Copyright 2011 by Katy Dickinson

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Fun Fanime Shirts

Fanime Doctor Who tshirts

My kids love to dress up and go to the Japanese and anime culture event called Fanime here in San Jose, California. This year, my daughter Jessica, her fiance Matthew, his sister, and my son Paul went together. Fanime is as much about people watching as anything else. Jessica came home with stories about great costumes, vendors, and tshirts.

Today, three Doctor Who shirts she ordered at Fanime arrived:

  1. Tardis Express – When It Absolutely Has to Be There Before You Sent It
  2. I ♥♥ The Doctor
  3. Gallifrean Institute of Technology

She also told me about a shirt she saw at Fanime which I want to buy for myself:

English doesn’t borrow from other languages. English follows other languages down dark alleys, knocks them over and goes through their pockets for loose grammer.

According to Pegasus Publishing
This shirt has a paraphrase of a quotation made by James Nicoll. “The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don’t just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.”

Images Copyright 2011 by Katy Dickinson

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Wedding cake, flowers, catering

Flower Flower Mimi Jessica Matthew

My daughter Jessica just paid the deposit on her wedding catering. Mimi Chiang-Brown at Flower Flour in Willow Glen is providing both the flowers and the food for August’s big event. Costco is providing the cake (Bride’s choice!).

Jessica and Matthew (The Couple) and Paul (Groomsman) and I (Mother of the Bride) went last Saturday to Flower Flour to look at pictures and discuss plans.  The same day, Jessica and I also visited the deliriously colorful Britex Fabrics in San Francisco to buy 2-1/2 yards of pink-violet raw silk for a sash for her dress for the reception.

Tomorrow, the Mother of the Groom, the Bride, the Maid of Honor, and I are going shopping to buy the Mothers of the Couple their dresses. I am torturing Jessica by saying that we will be looking for matching polkadot miniskirts…

Jessica at Britex Fabrics San Francisco . Britex Fabrics San Francisco

Costco cake
Images Copyright 2011 by Katy Dickinson

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Paul’s Ceramics

My son Paul is in his 3rd quarter at Foothill College here in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is very interested in art and design and has become fascinated with ceramics in particular. Paul recently made a remarkable set of 3 cups on the wheel, decorated with Kanji characters, as presents for his sister Jessica and her fiance Matthew to celebrate their graduations from college this week.  Paul said that he does his best pots when he lets his hands work without thinking too much about it.

Here are some of Paul’s recent creations:
ceramics by Paul D Goodman

ceramics by Paul D Goodman

ceramics by Paul D Goodman . 2010 Paul with his owl

ceramics by Paul D Goodman

Images by Katy Dickinson Copyright 2010-2011

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Jessica Graduated from CMU with Honors!

Jessica Graduation CMU . Jessica Graduation CMU

My daughter Jessica was graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with honors last weekend. Ten of her proud family flew to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from Boston, Pasadena, San Francisco, and San Jose to celebrate the occasion. My father, Wade Dickinson, who attended Carnegie Tech before graduating from West Point was particularly proud to see his granddaughter graduate from his alma mater.

Jessica majored in Ethics, History, and Public Policy (that’s one major offered by CMU in Humanities and Social Sciences). You can see a video of her advisor talking about Jessica’s accomplishments. Jessica was presented with a blank diploma folder because she will return to CMU as a 5th Year Scholar next year, to work on a special project and also complete her Minor in Vocal Music and concentration in Arabic. Jessica got to wear what she calls “commencement flare” in addition to her simple black robes:

  • A red stole for being an Andrew Carnegie Scholar
  • A maroon stole for spending a semester studying at CMU-Q in Doha, Qatar
  • A purple cord with tassels for being an honors student

Unfortunately, Jessica’s fiance Matthew was graduating at the same time from William and Mary hundreds of miles away, so we did not get to attend his commencement. The family did get to spend an afternoon visiting Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpiece of architecture, Fallingwater, which is like touring an lovely modern sculpture. This is the 75th anniversary for the house built on a waterfall.

Jessica is packing up her house this week to return home to the San Francisco Bay Area for the summer. She is getting married in August, then she and Matt will live in Pittsburgh next year.

Jessica and Paul at Fallingwater Frank Lloyd Wright

Jessica and Paul at Fallingwater

Images Copyright 2011 by Katy Dickinson

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80th Birthday Celebration – Eleanor Creekmore Dickinson

1962.Eleanor.portrait 2 1989.Eleanor.BelcherSt 2

My mother Eleanor Dickinson will celebrate her 80th birthday next month. My brothers and I are planning a big party featuring a video with pictures from her family life and accomplishments as an artist. For the last month, I have spent every spare moment going through all of the family photos: of people, of cats, of places and houses that are meaningful in her life. The family has been sending me scans of old pictures and digital images to add to the collection. My daughter Jessica and brother Peter have picked out songs to go with the images.

Working with these pictures has given me a new understanding of my mother and her life. When I look at pictures from many years ago, I can sometimes remember how that sweater felt or what was happening when the camera snapped. Some of the people have died and all have changed in one way or another. It is a rewarding if very time consuming experience.

1994.Paul.Cassandra

Images Copyright 1962-1994 Katy Dickinson

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“Unstoppable” Improbable

IMG_6238

John and Paul and I went to the movies tonight with San Jose’s Silicon Valley Lines Model Railroad Club to the opening showing of “Unstoppable” with Denzel Washington and Chris Pine as a Railroad Engineer and Conductor trying to stop a runaway train. This movie is fun and very pretty – especially if you love fast trains and handsome men. However, the large number of unreasonable behaviors and professional errors in the story is highly improbable.

Here is the original story: “Pennsylvania man lived the drama that inspired ‘Unstoppable'”. Somewhat incensed by the reckless and bumbling behavior of the train handling personnel who caused the runaway in the movie, John came home and read to me from the “General Code of Operating Rules” of West Coast US railways:

1.0 General Responsibilities

1.1 Safety
Safety is the most important element in performing duties. Obeying the rules is essential to job safety and continued employment.

1.1.1 Maintaining a Safe Course
In case of doubt or uncertainty, take the safe course.

I think the club was rooting for the train to win.

Images Copyright 2010 by Katy Dickinson

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