For the eighth year in a row, we set up an April Fools prank for our brand. This year we are offering a new product, the Kodak Picture Kiosk, Robokiosk Edition. Wouldn't it be great to have a robokiosk follow you around and print pictures for you?
We had our traditional office kitty litter cake too. It's really almost too gross to eat. Almost.
Today will go down in history for one of the best office birthday schemes ever. I have a coworker who is known for borrowing other people's reading glasses because she always forgets her own. For her birthday it was decided we would all get her a pair of reading glasses.
Throughout the day, each hour another person would gift her a pair of glasses.I even found this perfect card of a prairie dog wearing glasses. Classic!
I was very excited to be included in this group of 25 Marketing Leaders You Need to Know from iMedia. There are other brands like Taco Bell, Coca Cola, Alex & Ani and Truffle PIg. I don't know what Truffle Pig is, but I will certainly be looking into it!
I was scrolling through Twitter when much to my surprise, I discovered a tweet announcing that I was #69 on a list. A list of 100 Top Influential Women Leaders! It is measured by social media klout score.
The top of the list had ladies like Oprah. Oprah!
And there I was at #69.
The list regenerates each week and it now has 250 Influencial Women Leaders... and I have moved on down to #144 but it's still pretty cool.
I'm so glad I took screenshots while I was #69! So I can look back fondly on it. ; )
How many times does someone have to tell you something is killing you before you do something about it?
Over the last year I have seen these articles.
Sitting will kill you, even if you exercise - CNN.com
Why Sitting is Killing You - Lifehack.org
Is Sitting Killing Me? - Time
Your Desk Job Is Killing You: The Truth About Sitting Down - diygenius.com
7 Ways Sitting Will Kill You - Popular Science
Why sitting will kill you (and what to do about it) - Engadget
See a trend? "Sitting is KILLING you" - I thought the wording in these articles seemed a little overboard (or overkill... haw haw). My chair is out to murder me! All I can think of is a chair stabbing me repeatedly with a knife. It does get your attention though.
In fact that was the approach this infographic took. Sitting personified as a villainous, deadly monster.
More facts pulled from the articles above...
"Prolonged sitting, meaning sitting for eight to 12 hours or more a day, increased your risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 90%."
"A recent review of 43 studies analyzing daily activity and cancer rates found that people who reported sitting for more hours of the day had a 24% greater risk of developing colon cancer, a 32% higher risk of endometrial cancer and a 21% higher risk of lung cancer—regardless of how much they exercised."
"...we sit an average of 9.3 hours a day, more than we spend sleeping. Scientists believe that anyone sitting more than 6 hours a day is at a heighten risk of developers problems and this much sitting may be as bad as smoking a pack of cigarettes everyday."
"By reducing "excessive sitting" to less than three hours a day, the U.S. life expectancy could increase by two years, according to a July 2012 study in BMJ Open. Reducing TV time to less than two hours a day would bump it up by 1.4 years."
" 6,379 people between the ages of 40 and 75 -- found that even controlling for physical activity and body mass index, those who sat less had lower risk of having chronic kidney disease."
"People who sat more than 11 hours a day had a 40 percent higher risk of dying within three years."
"Even if you stand stock-still, standing burns about 50 more calories per hour than sitting in front of your computer."
"A 2012 study suggests that excessive inactivity is responsible for 6 percent of all cardiac disease, but also 7 percent of all type 2 diabetes, 10 percent of breast and colon cancers and 9 percent of all premature mortality."
"Mayo researchers found that every hour you sit reduces the gains of your daily workout by eight percent. "
Kinda makes me want to bungee cord my laptop to a Bowflex. All these warnings sound like another thing we are told not to do as seen in this article...
Sitting Is the Smoking of Our Generation - Harvard Business Review
Yes, sitting is being compared to smoking!
Again with the skull graphics.
So what am I getting at here? I started thinking about this about a year ago. There is a die hard stander in my office and he got me thinking about giving it a try. I half heartedly stacked some paper reams and a foot rest on my desk and occasionally used my laptop on it.
One by one, more people in my office started getting official standing desks in their cubicles. Suddenly my cobbled together standing desk looked inadequate. After months of my makeshift standing desk, I caved and requested a real standing desk.
I was a little worried that I couldn't stand all day. Would I be able to concentrate? Would my back hurt? My standing desk collapses back to a sitting position but that looked like a pain to do. And from what I read, I needed to be all in.
It's been a couple days, and I have to say it's not as hard as I thought it would be. The cushy floor mat is key, I think. I've never met anyone that got a standing desk that went back to sitting so that is encouraging. Who knows? Maybe next you will see me in one of these!
Hamster Wheel Standing Desk from instructables.com
If you are thinking about standing here are some sites to help:
notsitting.com - tips and reviews of standing desks
juststand.org - a website committed to converting you to standing
Of course there is always this (hilarious) option to achieve optimal health with standing and the office.
It was just a couple weeks after I moved offices from the downtown State Street Kodak headquarters to Building 205 in Kodak Park, when the food trucks started parking on State Street. Knowing how I love food trucks, you can imagine how that irked me.
This week we had food trucks at Building 205! I went out each day. The first day there was one of my favorite trucks, The Bento Box. Mmmm Panko Chicken & Siracha Sauce Bao - NOMNOMNOM.
Lobster roll from Brick 'n Motor.
I hope we have another food truck week.
We had a team building experience at the new Pole Position in Rochester tonight. Let me just say I don't drive fast in a regular car so who thought I would be good at this? My goal was to not come in last which thankfully I achieved. I have other skillz to fall back on.
We enjoy a good holiday celebration (aka food) in my office so instead of just one day, we had two days of Halloween treats. This was part of the spread on Day One.
And this was a fresh spread for Day Two. Seriously we love to eat at work and sometimes I wonder what would happen if we had a situation like this... "Cake Left Out In Break Room With No Instructions" Hah hah - that article cracks me up.
"At press time, the sight of the company’s IT technician walking down the hallway with a slice of cake had reportedly triggered a mass scramble toward the kitchen."
Anyhoo - on Day One I brought in my old standby party food - artichoke dip (recipe). I added a twist though... Skelly here was crawling out of the dip.
On Day Two I didn't have time to make something because there was also a jack-o-lantern carving contest at work. I combined my snack food with my entry into this presentation - guacamole puking pumpkin!
There were some great pumpkins around the office!
Wouldn't it be great if you could print pictures whenever and wherever you want? Luckily Kodak Alaris has just launched the Kodak Picture Kiosk Drone.
The Kodak Picture Kiosk Drone locates you via GPS and you can print pictures from a memory card or from your phone. I can't wait to request one to come to my house! Learn more about this awesome new innovation --> http://kodak.ly/1pGYIEb
When I moved my office from State Street to Building 205, there were two or three people that had standing desks. I thought it was intriguing.
After reading article after article about how sitting all day could be killing me, I boosted my laptop with a monitor stand so when I want to use it I have to stand. I'm short enough that it was all I needed... no special standing desk.
When I use my iMac however, I sit down. I have stood all day before... at tradeshows especially and my lower back starts to hurt from my college waitressing days. I read another article that suggests that part standing and part sitting might be the better way to go anyhow. It's only been one week, but so far so good!
Just weeks after I marked my 15 year anniversary at Eastman Kodak, our group has been sold to a new owner and we are now Kodak Alaris. Eastman Kodak will continue on as a B to B company selling commercial printers and we will go on selling film, paper, and the services at Kodak Picture Kiosk.
I'm still in the same office working on the same products with the same people. Our name even has Kodak in it, so it doesn't feel that different. I'll always be a little bit Kodak anyhow.
(clockwise) Part of the dot.com crew my first year at Kodak • the office events committee at Frontier Field • at a concert in NYC for So Kodak • the social media team at photography week at Chautauqua
Today marks an anniversary for me. It doesn't seem like it since it's a Saturday, but 15 years ago July 6th was my first day at Eastman Kodak. I had just graduated from RIT with my Masters degree in May, interviewed at Kodak shortly after and next thing I knew I had my first real job.
(clockwise) In the pits at a Nascar race with the Kodak car • at the 2008 Beijing Olympics • on the Oscar's Red Carpet at The Academy Awards • at the top of Kodak Tower watching the falcons that nested there
This job has been such a huge part of my life for 15 years. I have traveled the world, been to amazing events, spoke in front of crowds and cameras, learned so much and made friendships that will last a lifetime.
(clockwise) posing with the world's first digital camera • meeting Martha Stewart • on the roof of The Kodak Theatre in Hollywood • in Donald Trump's office on the set of Celebrity Apprentice
Some people are amazed that I have stayed with one company for 15 years, almost unheard of in today's job market. But I have had so many different roles and challenges, my job has never been the same two years in a row.
(clockwise) kodak.com team on site at the opening of Disney's Haunted Mansion movie premiere in Hollywood • meeting Ann Curry on stage at the 140 Conference • working a Kodak Challenge photo experience at the LPGA golf tournament • on set of the Celebrity Apprentice
Even as I type this, my group is heading toward a new adventure as we are being sold. We will separate from the Kodak "mothership" yet carry on the brand, something we don't take lightly.
The Kodak I started off at as a visual interaction designer and the Kodak I work at today as a social media manager is a very different one. I have watched other groups be sold and some shut down. Much of it has been hard and I count myself very lucky to be part of a group that will be carrying the Kodak name on and we are all very excited about where we are heading.
(clockwise) PMA in Anaheim • IPEX in Birmingham, UK • CES in Las Vegas • Photokina in Cologne, Germany
Recently the Kodak CEO said something that, regardless of whether you agree with his leadership in the past years or not, struck a cord with me. He said Kodak is one of the last companies in the US where the employees don't think they work for Kodak. They believe they ARE Kodak.
I am thankful for everything Kodak has done for me and I hope that I can continue to do what I do for the brand for some time to come.
I am moving to a new building at work so I've been packin up my office. The Poppin' Fresh boys were the first to go in a box.
Oh, yeah the 200+ PEZ dispensers. I'll miss my old office - especially being able to ride my scooter or carpool with Aaron, being a stones throw away from Pizza Stop, but I"ll still be there once a week, and I'm excited for a change of scenery and new folks to work with.
Yesterday we had Dress Like Steve Jobs Day at work. Black mock turtlneck, jeans and white running sneakers - the outfit he was known for. Makes it easy to get ready in the morning.
I am in Vegas for work 'cause we have a booth at BlogWorld. We are doing something fun in our booth. Ford loaned Kodak a wrapped Focus, so we invited booth visitors to sign it with Sharpies. It is so much fun to draw on a car!
This one caught my eye - kimchi!
Here is my mark.
We were so busy in the booth, we were all tuckered out by the end of the day! Great show.
Since I made it to Birmingham safe and sound I am working hard at the tradeshow with my European colleague Madlen. This time we got our own social media desk! Sweet! I want to take it back with me.
While I'm at CES I am doing social media coverage. I am also sitting on some panels in the Kodak booth called K-Zone.
I love any chance to talk about photos, sharing and social media. You can watch the videos here.
Yesterday and today I am at the 140 Conference in NYC. This afternoon I spoke on a panel about brands and Twitter. Always a little nervewracking to speak to a crowd but I love to talk about social media!
I took a few pictures while I was on stage and here is a pic of the crowd. Look at all those Mac laptops!
For one of my most interesting assignments for my job, I got to go Hollywood to sit in the Oscar's red carpet bleachers.
I was what is referred to as a "bleacher fan".
There were so many stars, I was constantly snapping away with my camera.
I was able to zoom in really close. Tina this one is for you.
I did get to step onto the red carpet for a moment, when we were herded across the street to the El Capitan to watch the awards ceremony on the big screen.
What an amazing experience! You can read and see more pictures over on 1000Words blog.
My coworkers and I baked several different Betty Crocker cookie recipes to celebrate a partnership with Betty Crocker. You can read about it on 1000 Words blog.
I made the Mexican Chocolate Cookies, which was convienent because I had Mexican chocolate tablets leftover from the baked apples I made for my Halloween dinner.
image from wikipedia
I love using this Mexican chocolate... it's called Abuelita and is made by Nestle. Abuelita means "little grandmother" and there is picture of one on the packaging. I like it for hot chocoate, but it can be used for many things.
It was very good in these cookies! Note the super cool carried Aaron made me to carry the cookies in. He made it out of two used clementine boxes. Crafty!