I'm looking forward to blogging here, not only to share fun and touching moments with pics, but as a challenge to boost my creativity. Before joining Kodak, I was lucky if I could tell what was in my pics. Now, working with such creative people on cool programs has me venturing further. That's been especially apparent, to me anyway, the past 10 months...
My fiancé and I have been a couple 12-½ years. We had talked about marriage off and on - more so of late, but I still had the feeling that we were not yet ready ...
... until he totally surprised me by getting down on one knee on December 30th, in a restaurant full of people. He had had the ring for several weeks, waiting for just the right moment. He thought of asking while we were with my family, but a family movie night presented little opportunity outside of a dark, dank parking lot.
Throughout dinner we talked about our relationship and our feelings for each other, and still I had no clue. When he asked, I uttered a breathless "yes" and pulled him up for a kiss. He hadn't heard my response and hesitated a bit! Diners in the restaurant "oohed" and "aahed", some clapped, and one lady gave us hugs.
After a ride home chatting about the wedding and being happy together the rest of our lives, we both got out our cells, notifying immediate family and closest friends - and bracing against loud outbursts. A few days later, I sent this in a note via Gallery to a broader group. A picture said it all - the moment is here (and the ring is beautiful!).
The subject line I used: Had to share!
And I got to spend the next few days enjoying screaming email replies of "Congratulations!!!!!".
Love and fruit flies... huh?! Let me explain...
At this time of year, Rochester's area orchards are full of ripe fruit and the population of bees and fruit flies increase. A swarm of these fruit flies have found their way into the kodak.com area at Kodak HQ! Jill Bird, a member of the Site Operations team, explained the situation to her husband Jim. Jim is a clever and resourceful engineer who works at Kodak Park, our manufacturing center here in Rochester, NY.
As Jill describes it, she heard strange noises coming from her basement last night while Jim was tinkering around. Later he came up the stairs with an invention to help with the fruit fly situation. Using a clunky rotary thing-a-ma-bob from an old Kodak prototype, he crafted a machine he dubbed "The Fruit Fly Flattener." After 32 years of marriage if that isn't love I don't know what is!
We are unsure if patents will be pursued at this time but will keep you posted. Certainly someone in Business Research has a spreadsheet tracking the results by now - Thwack!!
Rather than lug around a large photo album, I discovered that a great way to share my travel tales is to create an online album at the EasyShare Gallery. I write the captions as if I were telling the story, and then send the link to my family, friends, even coworkers. I don't have to reiterate the same stories ad nauseam and I can write really long captions to tell my story. I’m not cut off at 120 or 248 characters like I’ve found on some websites.
One summer, my family of five drove cross-country from Rochester, New York to the Grand Canyon in two weeks. Since we will probably never take another trip like that again, I wanted to preserve every moment. I didn't just photograph the grand vistas and the family lined up in front of famous landmarks; I also took pictures of the little things that made up the trip -- the kids playing in the car, our breakdown, the campsites, even signs along the way. I documented the little moments of the trip -- our countless picnic lunches, rest stops, even pumping gasoline. Come to think of it, I should have photographed the price of gasoline back then. That price is just a happy memory now. So are all the precious moments of that trip.
I was happy to be able to tell the story, the WHOLE story, in my album. You can check out our Trip West here.
Later on, I will share some of my extreme international travels through the pictures I take.
