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I am now home and very happy to be so. I left the hotel in NY at 2:00AM PST, so I am very tired. Just a quick post to end my Rochester posting spree.

-Bill

Rochester, NY: Day 4

Today we had another full day of classes. It was great. We learned so many things. I got more hints and tips about upgrading to the next version of our Kodak software.

After class we went to the George Eastman House here in Rochester. It is an amazing place. I'm posting photos below. It was built between 1902 and 1905 for $300,000. Then, a few years later, he spent $750,000 to have the house sawn in two and extended from the middle 9 feet - simply amazing. There is steel between all the walls also, so that in case of a fire it would be contained.

After the Eastman House, we went to a neat NY pizza place on the outskirts of Rochester. Excellent pizza (sorry Zach, no photos of the pizza).

Our flight leaves tomorrow morning at like 3:00AM PST or something crazy like that. I'm looking forward to coming home, but I'm not looking forward to getting up that early.





And this is as close to a group photo as we have :)





Wow! A wooden safe! Very cool.



And a camera that looks like a gun, who'da thunk?

I liked the ceilings...

Rochester, NY: Day 3

Today we were in classes most of the day. I learned a lot of helpful things. Things that will save me time and headaches when upgrading to the next version of the software as well as a lot of things to pass on to others at work. We also have a lot of ideas of how we can better use the software to meet our needs. We are only half way through classes and I already think it has been very worth while for us to come out here. There is one class I am going to take again tomorrow because there is so much to absorb that I know we can use. I'm excited! If tomorrow is half as good as today I'll be even more excited :)

I took a few shots around sunset time here. Nothing special, just something to post :)

Rochester, NY: Day 2

7:30 AM EST - Even though part of my body felt like it was 4:30 AM, I did feel well rested. We got up and got ready and then went to breakfast. I had a buffet of eggs, bacon, french toast, and strawberries.

After breakfast we headed out to see Niagara Falls. It was only about an hour and a half away. The drive was great due to the AC in the car and the 88 degree with 5000% humidity weather outside we were missing by being in the car.

I was absolutely amazed by the falls. Photos don't due it justice. I took some panaromas, but those will have to wait until I get home to stitch them together.

We weren't sure if we could go to the Canada side or not, so we tried anyway. We decided to walk from the falls into Canada. The guy in the little building you walk through said, "And you guys are all Americans, right?" and then let us through. No I.D. or anything. It was kinda weird.

We walked around a bit, but it was very hot and we were starting to get hungry. We found the Hard Rock Cafe and decided to eat there. It was excellent.

After that, we went down and took pictures from the Canada side of the falls. I am really glad we did because from that side you were able to really see all of the falls. Once we took our photos and browsed a gift shop, we headed back to the U.S. side.

To leave Canada, all you need is $0.50 to deposit in the little machine and then you walk through. On the U.S. side we did have to show our driver's license and they made a record of us. That was it.

We headed back to Rochester after that and were only slightly delayed by a huge thuderstorm, complete with trees fallen in the road and everything - it was great :)

We all met in one of the hotel rooms after that and went over all of the class options one more time and finalized our choices.

That reminds me, I forgot to mention why I am here for those of you who don't know :) Excel sent myself and three of my co-workers to a Kodak DP2 users conference here in Rochester. DP2 is our print production software and this is the big, once a year, set of classes and talks about its capabilities and how it can better do what we need it to do. I think it will be a great opportunity for us to enhance our workflow at work and hopefully we can fully utilize all the information we get here.

After choosing our classes we were hungry for dinner. A big favorite place a couple years ago (I wasn't with Excel at that point) was the Dinosaur BBQ. It is a bar and grill style blues place. I got BBQ chicken and ribs and it was incredible. Dad, Zach - you would love this place.

Well, it's late now and we have class at 9:00 tomorrow morning. I'd better be signing off and heading to bed. Here are a few shots from today:

From the Canada side of Niagara Falls:

Looking down from the observation deck on the U.S. side (the blue dots are people):

And, the best view from the U.S. side of the river:

Rochester, NY: Day 1

2:45 AM PST - My alarm went off. I got up, showered, got dressed, ate some breakfast, and then waited for my ride to the airport.

6:35 AM PST - Our flight left Portland on time. It was my first time flying since 9/11. A lot of things have changed, but we made it through without any incidences. The in-flight movie was Shooter, but I watched Ghost Rider on my PSP instead.

11 or 12 something central time or something - We got to Chicago alright and only had 15 minutes to get to our connecting flight to Rochester. We ran. I am out of shape.

3:30 PM EST or something - We finally arrive in Rochester, NY. We got our bags, found our rent-a-car, and then checked into our hotel. It is quite nice. We were all tired, so we decided to eat lunch/dinner/whatever at the resturant in the hotel. I had a very tasty meat lasagna and a ceaser salad.

It's now 9:30 PM EST, 6:30 PM PST, and it feels like it's 11:00 PST. Tomorrow we are going to go sight-seeing. Not sure where we are going, but I promise I'll have more exciting pictures that just from out hotel room :)

Out the window to the right:

Out the window to the left:

Our room:

Stay tuned for more!