Tag Archives: Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley Women & Girls Leadership Summit

IMG_7968

Huawei was again a sponsor of today’s 8th Silicon Valley Women & Girls Leadership Summit – held at LeyVa Middle School in San Jose. I was one of a group of women leaders who joined the 7th and 8th grade girls to listen to speakers and panels, and to learn more about each other. The inspiring keynote talks were by Santa Clara Judge Katherine Lucero (who encouraged the girls to find a mentor and the women to be a mentor), and entrepreneur Shelly Kapoor Collins (who asked us to be a door opener for each other, not a gate keeper barring the way).

After the big event, some of us went on a tour of the impressive new Bulldog Tech campus within the larger campus. I promised our able Bulldog Tech guides that I would post their photo tonight… good job girls!

IMG_7885

IMG_7930

IMG_7947

Images Copyright 2012 by Katy Dickinson

1 Comment

Filed under News & Reviews

Silicon Valley Leaves and Sky

IMG_7847

The Silicon Valley is famous as geek-central but can also be a beautiful place. Our annual rains have started and it is getting cold at night. My husband likes to say that the Midwest has two seasons: road removal and snow repair. California’s two seasons are mudslide and wildfire. We are now in autumn, that lovely interim when the land is too wet to burn but not damp enough to slide.

More pictures on: Silicon Valley Autumn 2012 Pinterest page.

IMG_7864

IMG_7849

IMG_7854

Images Copyright 2012 by Katy Dickinson

2 Comments

Filed under Home & Family, News & Reviews

TechWomen: Last Week in Silicon Valley

IMG_5129

The 42 TechWomen Mentees from eight countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA region) have been in California’s Silicon Valley for almost three weeks. Next week, we move on to the Grace Hopper Celebration (Baltimore MD) and to visit the US State Department in Washington DC.

This week, my Mentee and I visited a grade school computer club (thanks to the invitation from Suzanne Andrews of ABI). Last night, we went to a big party at Twitter in San Francisco. Sending tweets directly from Twitter’s headquarters was fun. We also continue to work diligently on her project. This has been a special and productive time for mutual learning.

IMG_5192 . IMG_5225 copy

IMG_5215
Images Copyright 2012 by Katy Dickinson

1 Comment

Filed under Hopper - Anita Borg Institute, Mentoring & Other Business, News & Reviews

Silicon Valley at Your Feet

My Godmother was Margot Patterson Doss who wrote about walking in San Francisco and the SF Bay Area. Her most famous book was called San Francisco at Your Feet: Best Walks in a Walkers City.

I was thinking of Aunt Margot on my way to lunch today in Santa Clara. Walking from my Huawei office to the Bamboo Leaf Vietnamese Restaurant is not far, but I pass by dozens of small Silicon Valley companies. They are nested together in the San Tomas Business Park, one of probably hundreds of such company parks throughout our high-tech valley.

Humanitarian organizations, medical research, telecom, technical research and support companies, and companies whose products are a mystery are all mixed in together.  Each is in an office space that is maybe twenty feet from the door of the next such space.  All that differentiates them is the sign on a series of identical glass doors.

This particular office park has been around long enough to boast large redwoods and other mature trees among its plantings (which make it a pleasant lunchtime walk). I wonder how many of the tightly packed companies have been around long enough to see those trees grow?

IMG_0060 . IMG_0061 . IMG_0065
IMG_0088 . IMG_0076 . IMG_0075
IMG_0083 . IMG_0078 . IMG_0090
IMG_0066 . IMG_0074 . IMG_0079

IMG_0050

IMG_0085
Copyright Images 2012 by Katy Dickinson

Leave a comment

Filed under News & Reviews

Silicon Valley Cactus Flowers

IMG_8983 . IMG_9107

The Silicon Valley is more famous for computers and high technology than for cactus.  Nonetheless, the high dry summer heat makes where I live to the south of San Francisco wonderful for dessert gardening. My cactus are far too generous in sharing their spines (particularly the soft looking Bunny Ears  – Opuntia microdasys – that sheds hundreds of tiny spines at the lightest touch) but their elegant shapes and lovely summer flowers make up for puncture wounds all year. The short-lived feathery flowers are as delicate as the surrounding spines are nasty.  Today, my garden on the Guadalupe River features cactus blooms measuring 1/2 inch (on Bunny Ears) to 4 inches (on the giant Prickly Pear). This is a good year because my Electrode Cactus (Ferocactus histrix) is blooming for the first time since I planted it in 1998.

IMG_9097

IMG_9100 . IMG_9101

IMG_9103
Images Copyright 2012 by Katy Dickinson

Leave a comment

Filed under Home & Family, News & Reviews

Silicon Valley Supports Technical Women

IMG_5854

In the last week, I have been to three interesting events supporting technical women and girls here in the Silicon Valley:

It feels good to have strong support from such a wide variety of organizations for women in technology.

IMG_6273

IMG_6407

Images by Katy Dickinson 2012 Copyright

Leave a comment

Filed under Hopper - Anita Borg Institute, Mentoring & Other Business, News & Reviews

Christmas in Silicon Valley

San Francisco Christmas Tree

We are working our way through our annual Christmas activities and traditions:

  • Jessica and Sally and Lorene and I went shopping for Christmas presents in San Francisco’s Chinatown
  • John and I hosted the Silicon Valley Lines model train club holiday party at our home – and let the littlest geeks build a train line around our living room
  • We visited the Living Nativity in Santa Clara
  • We admired the holiday decorations going up all over the Bay Area

This weekend, we join family and friends at the Dickens Fair at the Cow Palace.  Next week we sing Christmas carols on the cable car in San Francisco.  It sometimes feels strange following our usual paths through the holiday season so soon after my father’s death.

Chinatown in San Francisco

Christmas train

Living Nativity Santa Clara CA

Willow Glen Christmas Tree . Chinese Christmas tree

Images Copyright 2011 by Katy Dickinson

Leave a comment

Filed under Home & Family, News & Reviews