Kodak; part 1

Brisbane's winter has ended. It was only here for 10 weeks and not one of the days was cold enough to need a jacket! We have cool nights, between 2- 8 degrees Celsius (about 35-42F) but the days are glorious, jeans and a Tshirt is all you need.
The humidity hasn't arrived yet so it is wonderful weather at the moment. That will all change within 3-4 weeks and it will be STINKIN HOT until the end of April 2007.
I am looking forward to having 4 distinct seasons in China, stinkin hot summer and a bitterly cold winter.
We have started the outdoor entertainment season. This Sunday we had our friends from Kodak over for an alfresco lunch.
Yes KODAK; I was an employee for 19 years (I started when I was 12 years old LOL), GJ for 15 yrs. We BOTH received the redundancy news on GJ birthday when Ben was 2 weeks old.
I was a contractor (I was made to resign and create a business and contract back to them a few years previously) and as such got nothing but a phone call. But GJ received the full redundancy package.
I am still a little bit angry at the demise of such a juggernaut of a company. At its peak Kodak had over 135 000 employees, but by next year it plans to have less than 50 000 employees world wide. I am still annoyed that the top dogs of the company, who were paid millions of dollars annually did not react quickly enough to a changing market place. The advent of digital cameras has transformed photography, leading to the demise of a once great multinational corporation.
In hind sight, we are luck that we left early, we moved on to bigger and better things and do not have to compete with new ex- employees.
As we were worried about paying mortgages and eating we both started applying for jobs. I was the first to get a new job, with Australian Red Cross. It was very hard to leave my new baby at home, but GJ had the most wonderful experience of being a stay at home Dad for 10 months. My human Hoover - Benjamin, refused bottles and would starve all day until I arrived home, inflated to 150psi. I would pull into the garage and be unbuttoning and meet a ravenous baby at the door and feel the relief as the pressure in my jersey cow like chest abated. Eventually Ben learned that bottles were a necessity and accepted then during the day while I was gone. Now we have the problem of trying to get them off him.
It was lovely to catch up with these friends, they too have left Kodak and have gone onto bigger and better things. The Queensland branch of Kodak was filled with lovely people, we all got on and socialized well together. Family outings were organized regularly and were always great fun. That is what I miss most about Kodak. I do not miss the person that the entire QLD office called "Fankenstein Butface" but that is a whole new story, maybe Kodak, part 3 or 4.