Tuesdays with Media: The Force Awakens

The day after Christmas, Ian and I went to the local cineplex to watch the latest entry in the Star Wars saga, The Force Awakens.  We planned to see the first showing of the film in standard format, but it was sold out for the next seven hours, so we opted for the next 3-D showing instead.  We still had to wait in line, but only for about fifteen minutes and we still got the exact seats we wanted.  (As a side note, I was running a bit late that morning and I didn't have time to shower before the movie.  In most cases, this would be embarrassing, but I guarantee that I was not the only unwashed patron in that theater.)  Before I delve into the film, I want to share a few words about 3-D.  The fact that the standard format was sold out for several hours shows that most people don't want to pay extra for 3-D.  I didn't mind that we saw the movie in 3-D, but I still would have preferred seeing it in 2-D.

The last time Star Wars was in theaters, it was for the prequels, which most fans do their best to ignore.  It's not that the prequels were terrible, it's that they weren't able to achieve the same level of quality as the original trilogy.  Plus, since we knew where the story was going, big surprises were basically impossible.  In order to succeed, the new film needed to offer some surprises while still reaching the level of quality of the first films.

Thankfully, I can say that it did.  The way that I've summed up the movie to people that I've talked to about it is that it was able to balance introducing new things while staying true to the spirit of the original.  The story starts about thirty years after the end of the last movie in the series, Return of the Jedi (which makes sense since Jedi was released in 1983).  There are characters from the first films that return again (like Han Solo, Chewbacca, and Leia Organa) who help to introduce the audience to the new characters that we follow (like Rey, Finn, and Poe Dameron).

Speaking of new characters, the two leads of the movie are Rey and Finn, a woman and black man, respectively.  All of the previous Star Wars films have struggled with including women and minorities, so it was a nice change of pace that our main protagonists are not just more white men.  Not only that, but Rey is not simply a damsel in distress as Princess Leia and Queen Amidala often were.  I have been surrounded by strong women my whole life, so it's been frustrating that so many movies include women merely mere as plot points and not complete characters.  Thankfully, Rey is able to fight her own battles, without the need of anyone else.  Just as Luke Skywalker was a good character for me to look up to as a kid, Rey is good character for my nieces to look up to.

Rey (played by Daisy Ridley), ready for a fight.

One detail in the film that I appreciated was the way that technology was depicted.  Since the first Star Wars movie was made in 1977, all the computers looked like what people in the late seventies imagined computers would look like in the future (that is, with physical buttons and lousy screen resolution).  While there are some updates to the tech we see onscreen, a lot of it is reminiscent of what we saw in the first film.  The filmmakers could have made more changes since thirty years have passed in-story, but I'm happy that they chose to keep things looking more old fashioned, as it helped to make it feel more like Star Wars.

Some important changes that were made were to the special effects shots.  The special effects themselves were mostly computer-based, but the way the camera was used in those shots was really creative.  For example, in the trailer above, you can see a brief glimpse of the Millennium Falcon being chased by TIE fighters.  The way the camera follows the ships and changes angles was really clever.

You may have noticed that I haven't really gotten into the plot of film, but instead stuck to other elements of the movie.  The reason for that is that I liked it, and I want to give my support to the movie without ruining the experience for those who have not seen it yet.  The story isn't perfect and there were definitely some mistakes that were made in the presentation, but the overall experience was still really good.  See it for yourself and I'm sure you'll agree.

With so many geeks wailing that George Lucas destroyed their childhood with the prequels, will they now say that J. J. Abrams saved it?

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

Christmas 2015

Christmas was a bit weird this year.  My past Christmases in Maryland have been spent with Ian and his family, but because of the way holidays are scheduled with him and his estranged wife, he didn't have his kids.  Since it was just the two of us, we kept things extremely low-key: I made dinner and we watched a couple of movies.

Thankfully, we also made a trip to visit the kids at their mom's house.  Oddly, Amanda's parents were extremely pleasant and I think they were genuine in their friendliness.  I don't have the highest opinion of Amanda these days, but her parents are fine.  I'm also happy that they were so nice because it made things less awkward for me -- Ian visiting his kids makes perfect sense; him bringing his little brother with him might have been seen as pushing it.  Thankfully, they welcomed us both with warm smiles.  We visited with them for about an hour before we headed home for dinner.  It was cute to see Henry continue to ask us to wait because he wanted to show us more toys that he had gotten.

On Boxing Day, Ian and I went and saw Star Wars: The Force Awakens (come back tomorrow for my review) and had the kids visit to open presents from me and their dad.  It was really nice to see for Ian because, despite all of the toys they opened the day before, the kids' favorite gift came from their dad.

Christmas this year was mostly a stag party, but it was still fun and I'm glad that it worked out how it did.

Finding a New Routine

I joined a new gym today.  It's not the nicest gym that I looked at, but it has what I need and it's close to my apartment which will make it harder to excuse myself from going.  Plus, after I used a one-day free pass to try it out, I said a quick prayer and received confirmation that this was my new gym.

Too bad it has a dumb name: Spunk Fitness.  That said, if my biggest complaint is that the name of the place is stupid, I'm doing pretty well.  Plus, by going to a gym rather than working out at home, I can push myself harder with professional-grade equipment.

The biggest benefit, of course, is that I'm already starting to feel my mood level out.  Not working out has made it easy for my anxiety and depression to return, which has made it hard to function.  With my new gym membership, I can regain control of that aspect of my life.

But seriously, Spunk?  What is this, the 1940s?

Second Verse, Same as the First

I got an email on Wednesday to inform me that Allison has been served the second time.  As you may remember, I had Allison served before, but because of mistakes I made, the service wasn't legally binding.  So, I had to do it again, and I was running out of time if I wanted to do this divorce with only one filing (I wouldn't be barred from getting divorced, I just would have to refile and pay the processing fee again).  To avoid trouble, I used a process server.  It meant that I had to pay another party to get things taken care of, but I must say it's worth it because they got the job done.

Things feel weird again, though not like last time.  I'm not sad that it's over with Allison; I've come to terms with that and I'm ready to move on.  No, it's weird because I'm ready to move on.  I want to get on with my life and start dating again, but I've got to wait through a minimum of 90 days (very likely longer) before it's all over.  Knowing that I have that long ahead of me is pretty depressing.  You don't need to worry about me -- I'm still going to work everyday and I'm managing okay.  It's just that I've been alone for so long already.  In fact, in late January (just a little over a month a way), it will be four years since we got separated.

I just want to be free from this torture that is loneliness.

Professional Review

About a month ago I found out about an upcoming change to Danfoss' policy for managers to review their subordinates annually.  This was especially a shock for me since I never knew about the original policy.  Apparently, my last boss never set up my goals with me, despite this being one of her specific responsibilities.  Instead, some time after she left and my new boss, Magda, started, the head of marketing in Denmark assigned some, I assume, arbitrary goals for me.

When I discovered that I was supposed to have goals assigned, I freaked out a little.  I talked to Ernie, a manager with whom I've collaborated on multiple projects, and he offered to help me out.  He gave me some documents to fill out and agreed to talk to Magda to help with the review process.  After a trip to the Temple where it was confirmed that I should team up with Ernie, I started to relax.

Then I went on vacation.  I still haven't completely gotten back into my normal routine yet, and I've only worked out once in the past three weeks.  As I've written about before, exercise is a way for me to control my anxiety.  The combination of not using one of my prime coping mechanisms and the fear about the future of my job meant that I've been really stressed out for the past couple of weeks: I've had a couple of panic attacks and I even had the same nightmare on two different occasions, something that I don't think has ever happened before.

Yesterday was my annual review.

I had prepared the documents that both Magda and Ernie had sent me and I felt ready, but I was still nervous.  I said a prayer that things would go well; I felt assured that it would be fine, but I couldn't calm down.  In the meeting, Magda had several questions about not only I had completed this last year, but what I had been expected to do.  Thankfully, Ernie really talked up my accomplishments and expressed his appreciation for the work I had done.  Magda kept saying that I had "exceeded expectations" while she was writing notes to herself.  Apparently, I had nothing to worry about!  And, to make sure we don't have this problem next year, Magda is planning to meet with me next month to discuss my short- and long-term goals and how we can make them work for Danfoss.  I guess that means I'll need to figure out some goals beyond "do a good job."

Looking back, I was never in danger of losing my job, but I was still nervous because I was ill-prepared, something that I do my best to avoid with regards to my job.  I'm glad that this review is behind me and all signs point to it having gone well.  Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go exercise.

Best in Beard

As many of you know, I grew a beard for a contest at work.  The Friday after we returned from Thanksgiving, we all lined up and were judged to determine who had the best beard.  Judges were to assess us based on four categories: length, fullness, manliness, and overall appearance.  Most of the judges were employees at the office, but we did have two "celebrity" judges: a local DJ and a former local news anchor, both of whose names escape me.  With the judging completed, the scores were tallied (by someone in accounting, to make sure it was done right) and the top three winners were named.

I didn't even place.  I may have been fourth or dead last, but I'll never know.  I think I lost because my beard is so light-colored these days and because the shape makes it appear less full than others.  I don't regret participating in the contest, but I doubt I'll join in next year.

One nice thing about the contest was that we raised money for the American Cancer Society (ACS), nearly $3,500 this year.  I didn't raise much, but I did get a couple of people to sponsor me, so I helped out a little.  Though again, I doubt I'll be back for more in 2016.

Left to right: Jeff, one rep from ACS, Jason, Neal, the unknown DJ, Matt (first place), Morten (second place), the unknown anchor, me, Don, the other rep from ACS.

Can't Stop Baking

For the Thanksgiving celebration at my sister's, we had fifteen pies.  Even with us cheating by buying a few pies from the store, that's still a lot of pies to make.  My sister, Margot, made three pies and her nine-year-old son, Peter, made one too.  That left me to make six pies myself.  What flavor of pies did we have?  Nearly all of them.

• 3 sugar-free, crustless pumpkin pies (Margot)
• 2 double-sweet pumpkin pies (me)
• 2 chocolate angel pies (me)
• 1 sugar-free apple pie (Peter)
• 1 pecan pie (me)
• 1 eggnog pie (me)
• 1 razzleberry pie (store)
• 1 coconut creme pie (store)
• 1 mince pie (store)
• 1 sugary cherry pie (store)
• 1 sugar-free cherry pie (store bought, but we had to put it together)

The week after I came back, I barely cooked for myself and I ate out way too much since I was worn out from all the time I spent in the kitchen.  Well, I guess I'm over it because I brought muffins to share with my coworkers on Monday, I brought some weird pseudo-brownies in today, and I have plans for more stuff for Friday and Saturday.  I guess after a long day at work, nothing relaxes me like making sugary treats.

A rare bearded baker at work in his natural habitat.

Tuesdays with Media: OED's Word of the Year, 2015

A little over a year ago, I wrote about the odd choices the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) made with new the entries they were adding for the first time.  This time around, I'll simply be focusing on the word the OED declared as the word of the year for 2015.  The word is .  For my readers that don't know, that little picture is called an emoji, and it's mostly used in text messaging.  Even when it shows up in other places, it only appears in text-based communication since it can't be spoken.

This year's word choice (excuse me, "word choice") is stupid.  According to the OED, they chose it because it "best reflect the ethos, mood, and preoccupations of 2015," but it's still really dumb.  I accept that emoji are a part of life nowadays, but that doesn't make them words.  I think of words as a form of communication that is used verbally and can be represented on page or screen with text -- that is to say, words are verbal first and visual second.  According to the OED's definition, a word can be either spoken or written, so I suppose by their standard it fits, but it doesn't make it any less stupid.

And it's especially frustrating because one of the words that made it to the shortlist was "they" to refer to an individual of unspecified gender.  I've been arguing for years that this definition should be recognized because as a culture we've been using for as long as I can remember.  "They" is not only a real word, it's been in use for much longer -- emoji were first available English speakers (adopted from the Japanese) in 2000, but only really became popular in the last few years.

As with last year, this year's recognition feels like a bunch of lexicographers that are trying hard to be relevant in word that increasingly doesn't care about them ... and it's actually working.  I just wrote an entire blog post ranting about how stupid their decision was, but would I have done so if they had chosen "they" like I wanted?  Maybe, but I'm an English nerd.  I'm betting that this year's word got a lot of people talking, though I'd guess most of it was negative.  If the OED was going by the mantra "there's no such thing as bad publicity," then I guess they accomplished their goal.

But it's still stupid.

Vacation's Vaction

Hello, faithful reader: I have returned!  I didn't mean to worry anyone with my absence; I was simply exhausted from my Thanksgiving trip -- during which time I also did not write.  Basically, I took a vacation, then I needed a little vacation to recover from said vacation.  I still had to go into work, of course, but pretty much nothing else happened.

However, with my much needed rest (and much enjoyed vacation) complete, I'm back to updating regularly.  There may be a few hiccups as I get back in the swing of things, but I don't anticipate missing any more posts.

Tried and Tested

Yesterday was the company luncheon.  As promised, I made the new recipe I posted on Monday.  So how did they turn out?

Better than the first recipe, but they're not my favorite.  That's not necessarily a bad thing, it just means that for my pallet, they don't do the trick.  Even so, the new recipe was much better than the original.  The oatmeal made the cookies chewier, the orange zest brought out the tartness of the cranberries but otherwise went unnoticed, and the reduced sugar helped the cookies to achieve a better balance.

All of the cookies were gone by the time the luncheon was over, but that doesn't necessarily mean that everyone loved them.  I've established a reputation for myself as a skilled baker and several people asked me what I brought so they could have a taste.  I only got feedback from two people (who had nothing but positive things to say), so I can't speak for the others.

Even though this recipe isn't my favorite, it was a lot of fun to make something that was created specifically for me and I hope to get the chance to help build a recipe again in the future.

See You in Court

I have a hearing to attend this morning.  It's about the divorce, but it won't be wrapping things up.  You see, when I had Allison served back in August, I didn't include one document because I had previously emailed it to her.  She had all the paperwork that I needed to deliver, but the court had no record of her receiving it, so I have to serve her a second time.  Allison already knows and I'm working with her to coordinate the delivery.

So why the hearing?  The reason I have to appear in court is because I first filed for divorce back in February and it doesn't usually take this long to finalize everything.  The court order I was issued simply says "Status Update" in the subject line.  I should be in and out in five or ten minutes, but since I filed in the county I was living in a few months ago, I have to drive about forty minutes to get to the courthouse.  If I skip the hearing, I risk having my case dismissed and I'll have to file all over again.

While it's inconvenient to need to go to court for something so trivial, it's worth it if it means that I can wrap this whole thing up.

Tuesdays with Media: Lost in the shuffle

Where are the Thanksgiving songs?  Why aren't stores overflowing with Thanksgiving-themed decorations?  What about Thanksgiving-specific clothes or Thanksgiving candy?

I'm sure you've noticed that as far as holidays go, Thanksgiving is sort of a footnote these days.  Sure, we get special time off from work and school and we have traditions associated with the holiday, but it's largely ignored by retailers.  If you follow holidays according to what displays you find at department stores and grocery stores, we go straight from Halloween to Christmas.  This has been happening for years, but this year feels particularly extreme.

Usually, the Christmas displays start getting set up before the Halloween stuff is taken down, but there's usually a little bit of attention given to Thanksgiving.  This year, I haven't seen a single display reminding shoppers to buy turkey and pie and lots of side dishes.  It's just "Buy candy and costumes for Halloween!" and straight to "Buy presents for Christmas!"  I remember as a kid there were these Reese's Peanut Butter cups sold in the shape of a turkey -- those too are absent this year.

There are even sales that start on Thanksgiving.  We're all used to "Black Friday" sales going out of control, but they're so popular that stores are starting things even earlier.  Unfortunately, they're happening earlier and earlier because they're popular.  Basic supply and demand dictates that if people didn't go to these shopping events, stores would stop having them.  We as a population have decided that we like giving up Thanksgiving for a chance to get a good deal.

This is particularly troubling for me since Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  Yes, I love to cook and bake, but that's not why I love Thanksgiving.  I love Thanksgiving because the holiday is about being with family.  Even in 2013, when I spent Thanksgiving with the Simciks, I was still spending it with family, just family that I'm not related to by blood or marriage.  Thanksgiving is just about spending time together and relaxing.  Yes, we eat a big meal, but that's just an activity we're doing together.  There's no stress about gift-giving, like with Christmas, and since it's a cultural holiday rather than a religious one, we can say "Happy Thanksgiving" to people without worrying about offending them.  And, yes, I'm excited to bake the turkey again this year, but I'm more excited about for whom I'm baking it.

Too bad for the people that are giving that up, because it truly is their loss.

New Recipe

On Saturday, I went and visited with my good friends the Simciks.  As I often do, I brought some baked goods to share.  My sister Margot had suggested cookies with white chocolate chips and dried cranberries as a fun fall flavor, so I looked for such a recipe online.  I decided to go with this one, though I left out the macadamia nuts since I think of that as more of a summer flavor.

While the Simciks were very appreciative of the cookies, I wasn't terribly happy with how they turned out.  There was too much sugar, with nothing to cut through the sweetness but some also sweetened cranberries.  Lori is a very skilled baker (her first job was working in a bakery while she was still in high school), so she asked me some questions about the recipe and what I wanted from it when I baked the cookies.  As we talked through some changes, I realized that we were making an all new cookie recipe.  While it's not exactly from scratch (we used the first one as our starting point), it's its own thing.  Here's what we came up with:

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 baking soda
1/4 salt
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp orange zest
1 egg
1 tbsp vanilla
1 tbsp milk
1 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup dried cranberries
3/4 cup white chocolate chips
3/4 cup chopped pecans

Preheat the oven to 350.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt and set aside. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugars. Mix in the zest, egg, vanilla, and milk. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and combine. Stir in the oats. Add the cranberries, white chocolate chips, and pecans and stir to combine.

Line cookie sheets with parchment paper and, using a cookie dough scoop, drop the dough on the sheets. Bake for 15-17 minutes or until golden brown. Let the cookies cool on the cookies sheet for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an air tight container.

I haven't had a chance to try the recipe yet, but I'm really excited to.  I've got an office luncheon on Thursday, so I'll let you know on Friday how things turned out.

A Lousy Situation

The office where I work regularly has holiday themed activities: luncheons near holidays, an ice cream buffet in the summer, and a beard-growing contest during November.  However, the biggest activity of the year is the Holiday Party, which happens sometime in December.  Unlike the other activities, the Holiday Party takes place outside of work.  Last year, I didn't attend because I had only been with the company for a few weeks and I didn't really know anybody.  This year, I'm not attending for a completely different reason: I won't have a date.

The invitations that were sent out have encouraged everyone that attends to bring their significant other.  That's a nice way to include the spouses and girl/boyfriends of employees, but for those of us that aren't in a relationship or, even worse, are in the process of ending a previous relationship, it only serves to reminds us that we're alone.  I don't fault the party planning committee for including significant others at the Holiday Party, I'm just stuck in a lousy situation.

There's still hope for Holiday Party 2016, though!

Block

I've really been wracking my brain to come up with something to write about for today's post.  There are a few events that I've considered writing about, but the timing's not right for them yet, so they're off the table.  I've also thought about writing an essay about something that's happening in the world at large, but nothing's capturing my attention.  Instead, here I am, writing about not having anything to write about.  That's probably meta*, but not on purpose.

*I was planning on linking to the definition of this word in the way that I mean it, but because it's slang, none of the online dictionaries it's listing in are very appropriate. Instead, I'll just define it: "a term, especially in art, used to characterize something that is characteristically self-referential."

Tuesdays with Media: In-flight Entertainment

When I traveled to Denmark a few weeks ago, the longest leg of the trip was definitely from Newark, New Jersey to Frankfurt, Germany (and vice versa on the way home).  Luckily, the airline on which I traveled had an assortment of movies to watch from the comfort of my seat.  I stuck to stuff that was mostly mindless -- I was looking for a distraction to pass the time, not a life-changing art house piece -- and I was able to get through two movies going east and two movies going west.

 

Ant-Man

 

 

I know there were problems with production for this movie (the director dropped out right before filming started due to the producers being too controlling), so that may explain why this movie feels so "phoned-in."  The characters are bland, the jokes are formulaic, and the final reveal of who the villain is obvious in the first five minutes.  Paul Rudd is as charming as always, but his charisma is not enough to carry the movie.  I've generally enjoyed the Marvel films, but this just didn't do it for me.

 

Terminator Genisys

 

 

This one was surprising.  As soon as the movie began, there were plot holes.  The time travel aspects make no sense (plus, the scenes that take place in the 1980s don't have the characters wearing period clothing).  The movie can't decide if Sarah Conner is supposed to be a strong female character or if she needs the male protagonist to save her.  And yet, I ended up liking this movie.  It's really dumb, but the actors do the best with what they have and you end up rooting for them in the end.  This is a movie that you really have to turn your brain off for, but once you do, it's a fun ride.

 

San Andreas

 

 

This movie should have been called Beautiful People Running from Things, because that's the plot of the movie.  Beautiful people Dwayne Johnson, Carla Gugino, Alexandria Daddario, and Hugo Johnstone-Burt spend most of the run time running and rescuing each from earthquake-related danger.  Character actor (i.e., non-beautiful person) Paul Giamatti makes an appearance, though he knows what kind of movie he's in so he just overacts the heck out of his role.  If you need a movie with spectacle and nothing else, this should do just fine.

 

Self/less

 

 

Finally, a legitimately good movie.  The trailer gives you the basic premise; all I'll add is that the filmmakers execute the film very well.  It's not a perfect movie, but it's thought-provoking, easy to follow, and wonderfully entertaining.  This is what a good sci-fi thriller looks like.  So, my recommendation is: watch this movie.

 

As you can see, each trip I got one dud and one good movie.  Considering that the goal was just to pass the time, a 1:1 ratio isn't too bad.

 

Ant-Man is distributed by Walt Disney Motion Pictures. Terminator Genisys is distributed by Paramount Pictures. San Andreas is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. Self/Less is distributed by Focus Features.

Clear Sign of Improvement

Remember last year when I had a panic attack at church that was triggered by rowdy children?  That was certainly a low point for me, but it's a good reference point for what happened yesterday.

Stake Conference was held this weekend.  Anticipating all of the people that would be there Sunday morning, I arrived twenty minutes early so as to get a good seat.  I hadn't taken into account all of the people saving seats in the pews, so I was relegated to the overflow, though I was still near the front.  Once the meeting began, the family in front of me started having trouble with their young child.  I did think a few times that either the mother or father needed to take the kid to one of the two "crying rooms" that had be designated, but I was only ever mildly annoyed, never anxious.  Plus, there was someone sitting behind me that kept bumping my seat.  I shot a half-glance behind a couple of times, but I never said anything or even made eye contact with the seat-bumper.  I just sat there, listening to the talks.

While the experience wasn't as enjoyable as it could have been, I'm glad to recognize that I'm now much more in control of my emotional state than I was eighteen months ago.  "Not breaking down into a panicking mess" may not be the biggest victory, but it's one of which I'm proud.

Building a Team

On Wednesday, the new girl, Chelsea, asked why several people referred to our coworker, Michael, by his full name.  I suggested that it was probably to differentiate him from one of the managers who is also named Michael.  Michael our coworker agreed with my posit, but also agreed with Chelsea that it was a little distracting sometimes.  Then, as a joke, I said, "That's why I call him B-Man" (Michael's last name starts with B).  He laughed and said we should actually call him that.  It was a simple joke.

At least, it was intended to be.

Later on, I asked my coworkers if they smelled something weird -- they didn't -- but Chelsea said she would ask around.  Making another joke, I called her Detective [her last name].  She then said that I needed a nickname since everyone else in the department had one.  I said that I've never had a nickname before and I didn't intend to start now.  Chelsea said that giving each other nicknames would help with team-building.  After I returned from a bathroom break, I was told that I was now "JLa."  For those of you who don't know, actress Jennifer Lawrence is often referred to by the media as "J-Law" -- so I said they'd have to do better than stealing a nickname from someone else.  Chelsea protested that I don't have a say in the matter, but I pointed out that both she and Michael accepted their nicknames (which weren't intended to stick), and I was simply asking them to be more original.  After talking to Michael, they came up with "L-Dawg," probably because I'm so obviously the opposite of a rapper or a gangster.  I still didn't really like it, but it was more original than their first attempt, so I acquiesced.

This whole thing was rather silly and, if I'm being honest, a little annoying.  But I guess I only have myself to blame.  After all, I was the one that first started calling my coworkers silly names; who would have guessed that joking around would have had such an impact?

Thrust into Leadership

On Monday, External Marketing -- the department in which I work -- got another addition to the team.  Chelsea is the new Digital Marketing Specialist.  As we're still awaiting the arrival of the new department head, Magda, next month, I've been thrown into the role of pseudo-manager.  Now, I'm not giving Chelsea assignments or anything, I've just been the person whom she turns to when she has a question.

There are a couple of reasons for this happening.  First, Magda emailed Michael (the other person in our department) and I and asked us to introduce Chelsea to the team by taking her to lunch on her first day.  The same thing happened with the two of us, so that's just business as usual.  The difference here is that I picked up the check.  I put it on my corporate card as the meal counted as a business expense, but I was still the one that was responsible for the cost of the food.  Second, I have seniority in the department.  I've only been with Danfoss since last December (looking forward to my one year anniversary!), but Michael has only been with the company since late June.  We're all pretty new, but I'm the least new.  I noticed yesterday that when Chelsea had a question, she came to me.  Michael sits right next to me, so he's just as close as I am, but it was me to whom she turned for help.

It's odd to be the one with the most experience since I still haven't made it to an entire year with Danfoss, but being in a leadership role is one with which I'm familiar.  I wonder if/when I'll make it to being an actual manager...

Tuesdays with Media: Danish Art

One thing that stood out to me about Denmark was that there was art all over the place.  The hotel where I stayed had walls covered in original paintings.  The restaurant where I ate lunch on my first day was similarly be-arted.  The building where we met had paintings that predate the Renaissance.  Plus there were sculptures scattered around town.  Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures of too many of them, but the pictures I do have, I'd like to share.

These first two pictures were not taken by me, as they are in the center of a couple of roundabouts on the way from Nordborg to Sønderborg (pronounced soon-dur-bore) and it's hard to take good pictures from a moving vehicle.

I like how both of these sculptures are basic shapes with a funky twist.

The rest of the pictures are Jordan originals.

This sculpture was in the center of the downtown area of Nordborg.

The plaque at the base of the statue translates to "This statue symbolizes Nordborg Castle builder Svend Grathe."

This sculpture was right across the street from the hotel at which I stayed.

"Donated by the Nordborg municipality art fund." The town places such importance on art that it has an art fund.

A bust of Mads Clausen, Danfoss' founder.

Looking back, I wish I would have taken more pictures of the art that was available.  A lot of it was terrible, but I appreciate that the Danes place such weight on works of art.

Without Burden

After church on Sunday, I was headed for the door when I was stopped by a brother I had met before but whose name I couldn't remember.  He asked if I had some time to spare to help him take the sacrament to a member who was in the hospital.  I was surprised that he would ask me specifically, but I agreed to assist him.  He was very happy I accepted the challenge and we went to the kitchen so he could pick up the slice of bread that he had stashed there.

As he drove us to the hospital, he explained that he had asked several priesthood brothers in the ward for help, but everyone was busy with their families (the assignment to take the sacrament to the member in the hospital had been delivered during the second hour of church) -- so my assumption that I was being sought out specifically was incorrect.  I was simply the first person he had asked without familial obligations, so I could actually lend a hand.

We administered the sacrament to a sister who was receiving help for complications with her diabetes (she was in high spirits) and we left.  We chatted for a few minutes, but it wasn't a long, drawn out thing: we had fulfilled our priesthood duty and soon were on our way.

While I do look forward to being burdened with familial responsibilities, I'm glad that I'm able to be an asset during the time while I'm on my own.

Headquarters

My final day in Denmark was more relaxed than the two previous days had been.  While there was one more meeting to attend, not everyone was present and our agenda wasn't very strict.  The meeting was also short, at least for Ritt and I, because we went on a tour of the main Danfoss office.

 

Danfoss is the second largest company in all of Denmark and is recognized through out the country.  I mention this as set up for the fact that there are multiple employees whose sole responsibility is to give guided tours.  Summertime is the busy season, but they have guest year-round.

 

Our tour began in the Mads Clausen museum, which is also the childhood home of Danfoss' founder.  The walls were covered with pictures and other interesting things.

 

Mads and his wife Bitten.



 

This ceiling was custom built by Russian POWs as part of a work-release program.

 

 



A cool looking clock.

 

After we walked around the house for a bit, we walked outside through the gardens.  Danfoss grows food and flowers that are available to all guests, free of charge.

 

The tour guide told us that this herb was a "Coca-Cola" plant. I don't know what it really is, but it did taste like Coke.

 

We then went into the original production facility, built in 1935, which focused less on the Clausen family and more on Danfoss.  (By the way, "Dan" means Danish and "foss" means river, because the first product made by the company, an expansion valve, sounded like running water.)

 

The original work clock.

 

A young Mads Clausen.

 

An original schematic for an expansion valve.

 

After quite a bit of history, we moved onto the main office, which is still use today.

 

 

While pretty to look at, the water feature and wall of living, growing plants help to regulate the building's temperature and filter the air, as well as block the smell from the fully-staffed kitchen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was one of the scariest things I've ever seen: a constantly moving elevator with no doors. You step on when the car is lined up and step off when you arrive at your floor. It's been in the building since 1955 and there have never been any accidents, but I was still nervous taking it up.

 

At the top floor is Mads Clausen's original office.  It's currently being used by his Son, Jorge, but since he wasn't using the office when we were there, we got to go inside.  There is only one way to describe it: opulent.  While the rest of the building is clearly fancy and expensive, it's to be used by everyone.  This office was built for one man.  I didn't take a picture, but the desk was made out of green, Italian marble and was heated.  Also, there was a second, smaller desk that had a chair upholstered with Zebra fur.

 

This leopard was shot by Bitten while on safari. 

 

This baby giraffe died of natural causes. 

 

 

This lion was shot by Mads while on safari.

 

After looking at what is probably the most expensive room I've ever seen, we go to look down from the top floor.

 

Don't worry: the glass I'm standing on is strong enough to support over 50 tons.

 

 

Danfoss has an impressive solar farm. 

 

As we walked down the fifteen flights of stairs, we saw several pieces of original art. This was one of them. 

 



I didn't take that many pictures of the art, but I liked this one. 

 

 Looking back up.



 

 The tour of the main office and the museum at Danfoss was really interesting.  I got to learn a lot about the company and I saw some things that really surprised me.  It was a lovely cap to the trip and enlightening experience.

The Big Meeting

So as you probably already know, the purpose of my trip to Denmark was work related.  I've been writing a document to help standardize all of the company's installation guides since the beginning of the year and this trip was my chance to present it to the rest of the Technical Communications (or TechCom) team.  Speaking of the team, let me introduce them:

Back row (L-R): Me, Brian, Dan (who is mostly hidden), and Steen.

Middle row (L-R): Henning, Joanna, Berit, and Marianne.

Front row (L-R): Irene, Ritt, Angela, and Mia.

Brian is from the UK and lives in Stratford-upon-Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare.  Dan (which is not short for anything) and Steen are in an organization that builds and sails viking replica ships.  I didn't learn much about Henning, but he offered more helpful feedback than anyone else.  Joanna is from Poland and lives there with her German husband.  Berit has traveled all over the world and loves to talk about her experiences.  Marianne smokes electronic cigarettes (she and I didn't interact a lot, but she seemed nice enough).  Irene likes Danish-style licorice candy, which she claims is stronger than any other kind of licorice -- based on what she shared with the group, she may be right.  Ritt likes to go for runs on the beach with her husband when the weather permits.  Angela is from Italy and had the poorest English skills of anyone in the group, but she was the only one to point out to me that a dessert we were eating contained alcohol, which I really appreciated.  Mia, the manager that coordinated the meeting, told me that when she and her family visited the US a couple of years ago, they enjoyed the National Parks and "all the nature" more than anything else.

In addition to different personalities, everyone has different roles within the company --  I believe I'm the only one with a background in writing.  So when we went over the Installation Guide Standard, there were a lot of opinions about what to keep, what to remove, and what to change.  In fact, I was genuinely surprised the first time everyone agreed with what I had written and had no comments to make.  The document that I presented is only twenty pages long, but it took us over four hours to finish reviewing it.  One thing I can say for this team is that they're thorough.  I took meticulous notes and I'm in the process of editing the Standard to send out for everyone's approval.  Ultimately, most of the Standard survived without any change: I'd estimate that only about a third of the text will be changed from the first draft.

This was my first important meeting with people that do the same kind of work for Danfoss as I do and I think it went well.  While we took a long time to review what I had written, the impression I had was that everyone respected what I had done and was taking it seriously.  I felt intimidated when I found out that I was going to Denmark, but it all worked out as well and I'm really glad I got to go.

Traveling

For my trip to Denmark, I flew out of Baltimore, Maryland, had one layover in Newark, New Jersey, another in Frankfurt, Germany, arrived in Hamburg, Germany, before taking a two hour shuttle ride north to Nordborg, Denmark.  I knew it would be a long trip, so I planned to sleep while we flew over the Atlantic.

That was the plan, anyway.

For whatever reason, I was unable to sleep the whole flight.  Once I arrived in Hamburg, it was morning (Denmark and Germany are in the same time zone), so to avoid having my jet-lag be exacerbated, I stayed awake until about 8:30 that evening.  Taking into account that I had to wake up early to so Ian could drop me off before he had to be at work, I was awake for 35 hours straight.  That's a record for me, and one that I hope I never break.

The hotel I stayed at offered minimal accommodations.  This was the bed I slept on:

Two twin beds, which I was expecting from the description on the hotel's website.  What you can't see from the picture is that the blanket that's laid across the top is not folded over, it's laid sideways.  The blankets that were provided were barely as wide as the bed.  That means that if you roll over in the night, you'll end up uncovered.  Luckily there was another source of heat:

For the uninitiated, that's a radiator, a device that pumps hot water into a zigzag of pipes.  The heat from the pipes radiates into the room, hence the name.  This is a common source of heat in Denmark, despite being inefficient and outdated.

A closer look at the controls. Something looks familiar...

The bathroom was also not what I expected:

In case it's not clear from the picture, the shower was just a drain in the floor.  To be fair, the floor on the shower side of the curtain drops down by about an inch, but it was still weird not having more of a barrier.

Even with the strangeness of the hotel, it was still a nice enough place to stay, though the wifi was spotty.

Going back to the beginning of the trip, while I was waiting for my first plane in Baltimore, I mostly spent my time reading a book.  Once it was time to line up to board the plane, I noticed that the woman who had been sitting next to me gathered up her stuff at the same time I did.  I looked at her and politely asked, "Going to Newark?"  She was, and we ended up having a very nice conversation for the ten minutes it took for us to board the plane.  She was headed home to Los Angeles after visiting friends in Baltimore.  When I told her where I was going and what I did for a living, she was genuinely interested and asked a lot of questions.  I hadn't expected to have such a nice exchange with a stranger, but I'm glad that I spoke up.

Once I found my seat, I asked the older woman sitting next to me if Newark was her final destination.  It wasn't; she was headed to Oslo, Norway to visit her daughter.  I thought that it was kind of amazing that we, two random people, were both headed to Scandinavia.  We ended up talking the whole of the admittedly short flight.  She was worried that she would miss her connecting flight due to a delay from Baltimore; when we arrived I wished her luck and went to find the gate I needed for my connecting flight.  When I sat down after finding the right gate, my flight neighbor walked up to me to let me know that her connecting flight had been delayed as well and she wasn't going to miss it.  Apparently I had made enough of an impression that she sought me out so that I wouldn't worry.

The trip was long, but I got to visit Europe for the first time and I brightened the day of two strangers that I'll probably never see again.  I'd say that's worth the fatigue.

Tuesdays with Media: A Whole Mess of Pictures

I was able to borrow the office camera, so I made sure that I took full advantage of it and took lots of pictures.

Flying over the Chesapeake.

I don't know what kind of berries these are, I was just trying to be artistic.

I saw many houses that had thatch roofs.

A closer look.

About a third of what passed for the "downtown" of the town in which I stayed.

"Apotek" translates to "drugstore," though I think "apothecary" is probably closer.

According to the sign, this boarding school has four main emphases: science, art, extreme, and performance.

I liked the look of the flower in focus in the foreground and the spire out of focus in the background.

A closer look at the school's spire.

A plaque just inside the school -- I didn't know that it was a high school up to this point. After reading this, I left.

"Bibliotekshaven" translates to "library garden." Must be some Latin influence on the language...

The hotel at which I stayed.

The only "selfie" I took.

While I was there for business, my colleagues and I did go on a walk through the woods.

"Vej" (pronounced "vay") means "road" or "way."

This variety of rose was created specifically for Bitten Clausen, the wife of the founder of Danfoss, who recently celebrated her 103rd birthday.

There are more pictures that I took, but I want to sprinkle some of them into other posts, so you'll have to wait before you get to see some more.

I mostly took pictures of stuff that I thought was cool or pretty, but there were a few that I tried to experiment a little.  I hope you enjoyed the first look of Denmark; come back tomorrow for more.