Kodak Has A Howard Dean Moment

This was uploaded to YouTube last year, but I only just saw it today. Awesome.

Christmas Cookie Decorating '06

Matt and I headed up to Rochester this past weekend for the annual Christmas Cookie Decoration night.

My mom made more cut-out cookies this year than last, and it seemed to take forever to get them done. Still, when we assessed the trays at the end of the night, we couldn't believe there weren't more.

For all the shots of the cookies, visit my Kodak Gallery (registration required).

Pierogi Party 2006

This Saturday was the annual pierogi party at my grandparent's house. This is where some of the women in our family get together to make about 300 pierogi for Christmas Eve dinner.

My cousin, Rachel, joined us for the first time. I was literally up to my elbows in flour for a good chunk of yesterday.

For all the pictures, visit my Kodak Gallery (registration may be required).

Holiday Run Down

It's been busy since we got back from the SMA Convention in Madison, Indiana. I hope to write up the full dilly-o over the next couple of days. I also have over a hundred pictures to edit and upload to several Kodak Galleries. Links will be provided when that happens.

In the meantime, enjoy this truly stupendous picture of Matt and me as we rode The Beast at Kings Island on Saturday.

Orangeville

Matt and I spent a lovely weekend in Orangeville, Ontario visiting our friends, Christa & Stewart. Since Kodak has done some fancy upgrading of EasyShare, I was able to easily upload all our pictures from the trip. No captions yet, but still worth looking at the fantastic scenery and downtown areas. The picture to the left was taken from the top of Mono Cliffs. We had hiked several kilometers before reaching the pond below, and then we hiked up to the outlook where this picture was taken.

Photo Album Here.

Another Note on "Home"

The weather rocked my socks this weekend. I can't tell you how happy it made me to see sunlight and feel nice warm winds. There's also something about having such nice weather when you're home (in terms of the childhood home). Even driving by Kodak Park and smelling the chemicals made me so happy that I could have spent my savings on Kodak stock. Crazy stuff.

Kodak & Hometown Loyalty

A few days ago I said I would provide some musings about Kodak. Growing up in Rochester, especially during the late 70's, 80's and 90's, just about everyone knew someone who worked for Kodak. In fact, my schoolmates thought it was weird that my dad didn't work for Kodak or Xerox. On top of that, I didn't know how to explain what he did (a computer programmer). Either way, Kodak was almost omnipresent. It got into daily life whether through the actual products (film, cameras, movies), employment, or general phrases like "A Kodak moment." There was a pride about this great company that employed thousands of people, thus making it possible for a lot of people to have a good life.

The 1980's began to change all that with cut backs and lay-offs. I know salaried people that took full advantage of overtime pay, who suddenly were finding themselves in financial quandries when Kodak stopped that overtime pay. I know of marriages that suffered during this time. But we were all told that this would help stabilize the company and that we needed to stay loyal to the brand. Then stories of chemicle leaks at School 41 (otherwise known as Kodak Park School since it's right next to Kodak Park) started to surface, literally, in areas near the school. There were questions of whether people who lived on Rand Street were affected by possible groundwater contamination. Then "rumours" of dead spots in the Genesee River downstream from Kings Landing (a wastewater treatment plant for Kodak) were heard. I had done a project in early 1993 on dead spots in the river that Kodak claimed did not exist. Several years later, scientists refuted that claim with scientific evidence. For information on these past three environmental items, visit this site.

The 1990's brought continued lay-offs at Kodak. The Democrat & Chronicle ran several series on Kodak, China, and Fugi-film. We all wondered where we were going next. We started to hear about this move to digital cameras. We also heard about Kodak pushing its film to moviemakers. There was a new CEO, George Fisher, who seemed great early on but later reports made us unsure. He's gone now. More layoffs. A new website was developed in a time when not a lot of companies had sites on the Internet. There was a partnership with AOL that developed into "You've Got Pictures".

2000 and beyond could just be reflective of the past. Plants are being closed down or moved to China. The large Elmgrove (Thanks Ryan for the correction) complex was closed down. More layoffs. There's another set of layoffs I'm waiting to hear more about. Visit the blogs of Jenny, Matt, or Tina and read older entries (from the past couple of weeks) that refer to this.

I lay this all out for background. I have always been loyal to the Kodak brand. That goes from buying film, where and how I process my film, and even cheering quietly at the end of films that are printed on Kodak film. While I acknowledged the company had its faults, I always thought they had a good product and were a decent place to work. Occassionally, I think the business model gets in the way of the human model. Lately, I question my loyalty. Does it make sense to be loyal to a company that's pushing more of its business out the United States? Is it foolhardy to be loyal to a company that keeps reducing its employment rolls? Maybe it's foolhardy to think they can survive otherwise. That's one thing I remember from those Democrat & Chronicle articles from years ago. I guess we'll have to wait and see like everything else.

Christmas & Work Rush

You'll have to pardon me if you don't hear from me much these next two weeks. The rush is on in terms of the season and work. The work part has me typing up mounds of news articles for a massive project. That will be done (or at least due) soon, so maybe later this week you'll hear from me. Topics on the hot plate include musings about Kodak, the holiday season, and general every day yammer. In the meantime, hop on over to Meg's site and read her hilarious section called Tis The Season. You'll laugh your mittens off.

Bad News on the Kodak Front

Kodak had some pretty bad news today about job cuts in Rochester, NY. These are the kind of cuts and plant closings that will hurt a lot of people. I know people, had not some retired this past year, that would have been affected. I'm still loyal when it comes to Kodak and buying Kodak film/services, but it's tough at times.

Some Wine with Your Cheese

I got to experience chatting on-line with a slightly tipsy Matt last night. I’ve rarely been on that side of coin. Usually, it’s me being a little silly and drunk. So I had to grin a little while I watched Matt mis-type words and frequently having to apologize for mistakes. I’m not saying it was bad of him to be tipsy. I would be too after a wine tasting like he went to.

My favourite recollection of being intoxicated on-line would be my 21st birthday. I was stuck at Buffalo State College because my boyfriend had to work late and there was no point in me going home to visit him. I also had class. I decided to skip it and go have a glass of wine at the College Coffee shop. Once the servers at the coffee shop realized I was of legal drinking age for the first time, they refused to charge me for the wine. They also made me do a tequila shooter with them. I rather enjoyed that as made apparent by the perma-grin that spread across my face for the next couple of hours. Ahh.. such is the life of a lightweight. After drinking, I went to the computer lab and sat down to join the Kodak PhotoChat that had begun. Some of you who read this may even remember these glorious nights of pictures, scribblings, and chatting. It got quite interesting at times! I found immense joy in connecting with all these Kodak folk I had never met. Back to the story though, I think I was sober by the time Matt B. (aforementioned boyfriend who had to work late) logged on to moderate the chat. Fortunately, a friend dropped by the computer lab and rescued me from a night of chatting. We went to Club Marcella’s in downtown Buffalo (I had to drive) and I had a “yard” of Killians (which I gave most of to some other friends at the club). Good times.. um.. I think.

More on Kosova

I decided to do a little Internet surfing to learn more about Kosova and Gjakova yesterday. What I found was this report detailing what happened before the U.S. and other countries stepped in to try to resolve the conflict. It's not reading for those with a weak stomach. You'd think you were reading a report of something from World War II detailing German atrocities towards the Jews. But this was just a few years ago. In some ways, it makes the attacks on September 11th pale in comparison. I know that won't sit well with some people.

Matt and I talked about it during dinner last night. He said that Sam (Jamestown's mayor) was talking about how there were some turnovers in this past election and the city council was going to re-organize the first of the year. The Mayor of Gjakova said they went through something similar several years ago except they had to re-organize a city council because all the council members had been killed. All this information is still taking awhile to sink in. The crazy thing is when you look at pictures on-line of Gjakova or other cities in Kosova, you wouldn't know that bombings had caused wide destruction. The people in those communities worked very hard the past two years to re-build their homes and businesses. Currently, the government is parliamentary even though the Mayor of Gjakova would eventually like to see a democracy. It just wouldn't work right now. The other scary thing is this: if President Bush pulls U.S. Troops out of the Balkans to fight in Afghanistan, the chances that all the work done to rebuild Kosova in terms of structure of government going backwards is great. Pretty grim in fact.

Drive Out Today

The weather forecast improved for my journey home for the holidays. I'm pumped up about going back to Rochester. I'm going to miss seeing Anne and Sean Thanksgiving evening since they will be out of town, but I'm hoping to see some friends tonight. It's one of the biggest bar nights all year (unfortunately), but I'll put up with that to hang out.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, you have to go look at pictures from Matt B.'s Red Neck/White Trash Thanksgiving Party. I laughed my ass off at some of them, mostly because of what people were wearing. Ok, specifically, what Matt and Aaron S. were wearing. I wrote comments under those pictures if you can find them *grins* Oh, note: you'll have to sign up to Ofoto to look at the pictures, but it's cool and all. Especially since it's affiliated with Kodak.

Quiet Day at Work

Ok, so I'm using company time to write for my blog. I would normally feel guilty about that if it weren't for the fact that it's been so quiet this week. Yesterday we received probably about 5 phone calls. Nothing really work related either. It's days like this that I actually attempt to do the crossword in the paper.

BACK TO THE GRIND

I'm back at work now after a few days off. The weekend was really nice although I could have stood for a few more days off. Here's the breakdown:

Friday

Matt and I left just after 10 AM and headed out on I-86. The weather improved quite a bit as we drove East. Sunny skies is a joyous thing to see in November. We stopped in Corning to eat lunch at the Market Street Brewing Company. I had the MSBC Cream Soup. It had artichokes in it and the cream base was flavoured with lemon and rosemary. Very delicious and not overly heavy like some creamed soups can be. Matt had a hamburger of some sort *rolls eyes* I bought two gifts from The Lost Angel for my Aunts Carol and Ginny there.

When we arrived at the Seneca Lake Watch Bed & Breakfast, no one was there but a key was taped to the door. We let ourselves in and checked out the place. Very nice! It was the perfect Victorian house and just about what you dream a bed and breakfast should be. My only complaint is that I would prefer a tub in the bathroom rather than a shower stall.

After dropping off our stuff, we headed out to some of the wineries. In a quick two hours we hit Atwater, Liedenfrost, the Red Newt and Wagner. Needless to say, I was quite tipsy by the final tasting. I'm just a horrible lightweight and the fact that most places were filling the wine glass one-third of the way up didn't help! Fortunately, I was still able to enjoy our dinner at the Red Newt. I had pork medalions with cranberries, garlic smashed potatoes and a broccoli/cauliflower mix. Dessert was pumpkin mousse wrapped in a crepe with a sweet sauce on top. That was incredibly light and wonderful :-) We collapsed at the B&B after that.. watching tv and reading. That night I didn't feel all too well, but it passed.

Saturday

Saturday's breakfast was warmed pears and rasberries stewed in their own juices, homemade pumpkin bread, and homemade cinnamin swirled French toast with two sausage links. I know I'm getting a little much with the food, but since I don't cook for myself too much.. I love it when other people cook for me! We decided to forego the wineries for the day and instead hit the Watkins Glen Gorge trail. I hadn't been there since 1989, but still found it utterly breath-taking. Lots of Kodak film was used up there.

Lunch was served at The StoneCat Cafe. Both Matt and I had the smoked pulled pork sandwich with dill coleslaw. Our waittress suggested a little known spot to see a nice waterfall, so we took off for there. You have to go down a winding road, almost into Seneca Lake, and then park in a gravel parking lot to the side. After you follow a trail, you end up hopping from stone to stone in this creek bed. After you turn a corner, a 20-foot waterfall comes into view. I guess when it's warmer, people climb one side of it and follow the creek to another, larger waterfall. Since it was still a bit cool out, we decided against it. Plus, we were having more fun watching this couple play fetch with their dog Sarah.

Our third waterfall for the day was the Taughannock Falls (I think that's how it's spelled). This is closer to Ithaca and these falls, while not impressive in volume, are 30 some feet taller than Niagara Falls. Well, blow me down! I've seen them before, but Matt hadn't. Still cool.

Saturday is a long day. If you can believe this, we then went to Ithaca and wandered around the Commons. Ithaca isn't one of my favourite places anymore. I decided the area had too much attitude and was not quite as open-minded as it likes to think it is. Believe me, the vibe was very judgemental. We had hot chocolate at some cafe and I decided that the only way I was going to make it to the evening was to take a nap. We returned to the b&b and did just that! Dinner was at DeClemente's in Corning. A kind of a hole-in-the-wall Italian restaurant that was actually nice and cozy inside. I had an overflowing plate of rigatoni (of which another meal still sits in my refrigerator even after eating some more yesterday) and Matt had Chicken Parm. Good stuff! We walked around for a tic and then got coffee at the Soul-Full Cup. Happiness!

Sunday

Breakfast was a brown sugar baked grapefruit, banana/walnut bread and a baked egg/bacon thing with salsa on top. A side of toast and 2 tomato slices accompanied this. Next came packing and checking out. We made a last winery stop at Fox Run Vineyards and actually tasted some wine (at 11am) and bought some as well. We then drove up to Waterloo and hit the Outlets. I bought a new teapot and a black woolen pea coat from London Fog. I can't explain the happiness there! I've always wanted a pea coat, but they're so expensive. The outlet price (and actually earning a living wage) helped make this purchase possible. *sighs happily*

We had coffee and danish with my parents as we talked about our trip at their/my home. Dinner was pulled pork (again) and creme brulee. My dad has a small blow torch and had fun trying to caramalize the brown sugar on top of the pudding *heh* After watching some television and talking on the phone with Matt B., we went to Cibon (new coffeehouse in Rochester on Park Ave. where Tivoli's used to be). It's a really nice place! I like it a lot more than Tivoli's and part of that is partly due to the decor. You can tell that the current owner of Java's also owns this place. They also have sit-down service. Quite a rarity in coffeehouses.. at least in Rochester. Matt thought it was a bit close (crowded feeling), but I think that's some of its charm. It was also nice to spend time with my parents.

Monday

My dad made his famous blueberry pancakes and we all lounged around that morning. Lunch was at Bill Gray's. Man.. I miss their hamburgers! Matt and I then took off. I crashed hard when we got home, but at least that helped facilitate watching the new season of Absolutely Fabulous! It doesn't seem as funny as it used to be. Maybe I just have been away from it for too long. We'll see how it goes in coming episodes.

Today

That's about all! Super long post, but that's what I've been up to!

Warmth of Autumn

We're heading into my favourite time of the year: Autumn. I even went by Autumn for awhile on Kodak.com's photochats way back in 1998. I probably can still log in as such if I tried *grins*

There are several days that stick in my head that distinctly remind me of autumn. Some of them were at the end of August/beginning of September and another was in November. The November memory is an unusual one. I was a Junior in High School at the time. My friends (Karen, Kelley, Sarah and someone else.. I can't remember at the moment) and I were playing "contact tennis" during gym class. It was quite warm out for an autumn day (I think it got into the 70s) and the sun made the changing leaves glow. The orange, reds and yellows were absolutely stunning. I remember thinking at the time that this was pure heaven and how I wished we could have stayed out there all day... savoring every bit. I knew it couldn't last and I have to quote something from 9th grade English: "Nothing Gold can Stay." *cringes* Yeah... I had to.

Contact Tennis

This sport still remains one of my all-time favourite ways to blow off gym class, but not really. See.. you had to go to gym class in order to play since the gym teachers had the equipment. Here's how the game went: You have 5 players, 8 tennis balls and a tennis court. Put 2 people on one side of the net and 3 on the other (placing the third close to the net). The object (if you want to call it that) is to hit as many tennis balls over the net.. at the same time making sure you keep as many tennis balls in your possession. The other thing is to try to hit the third person close to the net (or either of the 2 people on either side) with the tennis balls. Now, one of the ways to keep as many tennis balls as you can is to "charge the net" whenever you or your opponents fail to hit the ball over the net. This involves a mad scramble and clashing of tennis rackets. The other thing to do is to hit the ball so hard that it goes over the fence and your opponent has to go chasing after it (this happened quite a bit on my side). Another part of the game which really had nothing to do with anything else was to run around the net repeatedly chanting things like "It's my birthday/It's fill-in-the-blank's birthday" or other nonsense stuff. That basically is "contact tennis." We had a damn fine time playing it too. I think our gym teachers yelled a couple times about having too many people on the court or too many tennis balls, but we usually ignored them. I think that's when we found two tennis courts side-by-side and played our game over two courts. I think that only happened once or twice though. Ah.. the fun of being 16/17 years old.

*shakes off depressing mood*

I took a short road trip this past Sunday with Matt. I was in a mood to get out of the house and told him I was taking off. He said "Where you going?" I replied "East."

We drove, listening to Beck's "Mutations" and stopped in Salamanca at an overlook in the Allegany State Park. Mist clouds were hovering around the hills. The weather had turned sharply colder that afternoon from the morning. I don't think it was even 70-degrees (had been in the high 80's the day before). We drove on to Olean in search of food. It's so sad to see how these cities in Western New York just seem to be closing down. We continued up a hill past some remote towns. Stopped at another overlook for a Kodak moment and drove on. We ended up eating at a Perkins in Bradford, Pennsylvania. The place is almost a literal ghost town minus the huge Super K-Mart and Food Barn. It made me feel lonely.

We drove back, listening to Counting Crows' "This Desert Life," and watching the sun begin to break out from behind autumn-like clouds. The sky was unbearably blue underneath. I felt like I was in a Sunday in the middle of September, already missing the hot days of summer. It doesn't look like it's going to warm up much this week. We joke that if you don't like the weather in WNY to wait 15 minutes and it'll change. Well, we're stuck right now in the same grey pattern that seemed to haunt us all winter long.

Matt laughed and said the only reason we took that road trip was to give me something to write about in this blog. *grins* Ok, so it was somewhat true, but at the same time.. I really needed to be out amongst the ever-flowing hills of Cattaraugus County. They're just so much bigger and greener there.