Number Three

I have a long history of getting hand-me-down furniture.  My desk and office chair were saved from being thrown away at work, my dresser and couch were given to me from a family that was moving out of Ellicott City, my loveseat was given to me by Ian (who had gotten it secondhand), my TV cabinet was included with a TV which I no longer own, and I picked up my living room end table next to a dumpster.  Only my bed and kitchen set are brand new.

At least they were.

That, dear reader, is my brand new TV cabinet.  I picked it out months ago on Amazon, but never completed the order.  Getting a new cabinet wasn't a priory since I already had one, plus I wanted some time to recover from my big purchase of a new TV.  Well, I decided to finally order it and it came last Friday.  I spent the evening assembling it, which was pretty straightforward if time-consuming.  Now, I have a sharp -looking cabinet and my third piece of brand new furniture.

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.

Repurposed

I am writing this post from the same computer that I've used for the past couple of years, but I'm using it from a new position: seated at a desk.  This weekend, Ian helped me pick up a desk that was being discarded from my office and take it back to my apartment.

A few months ago, I noticed that a lot of desk chairs had accumulated in one corner of the warehouse that's near my pseudo photography studio.  I jokingly referred to that part of the warehouse as the "office chair graveyard."  More recently, an unwanted desk, a couple of whiteboards, and a few pieces of abstract art were added to the collection.  I asked about what was going on with all of the stuff and was told that these were items that were no longer needed in the office and were being collected to make it easier to get rid of when a disposal service came to get them.  I was also told that if I wanted anything, I was welcome to it.

This last Friday, I visited the Larsens after work and ended up staying over until Saturday.  I helped Ian do some work to get rid of some cat odors from his carpet and I mentioned offhandedly that I could get a free desk if I arranged the pick-up with someone with a truck.  He immediately asked if I wanted to go pick it up that day.  I was surprised, not at his willingness to help me (as he has proven that several times over already), but I didn't expect him to jump at the chance to help so soon.  The kids were with their mom, so we finished the work on the carpet and drove to the office.

When we arrived, I showed Ian what was available and made it clear that if he wanted anything in the pile, he should take it.  I already knew what I was taking (the one desk and a particular desk chair), but Ian tested out several chairs before finding one with which he was happy.  With the furniture firmly strapped down, we drove to my apartment.

I honestly can't think of a time that I've had a personal desk of my own since high school.  Even if I'm forgetting of some time since then that I was properly desk'd, I certainly haven't had a desk since I was married.  Having a laptop has meant that a desk was a luxury, so I've been doing fine without one.  Still, it feels nice having an official place to sit and do computer stuff in my home.

Second-hand

As you may or may not be aware, every piece of furniture that I own (with the exception of my mattress set) had a previous owner.  Perhaps since I was often the recipient of "hand-me-downs" as a child, doing it as an adult seems natural; or maybe it's just because getting used furniture is better than having no furniture, since that's basically my only other option at this point.

Well, as I was returning home from my run on Saturday, I passed by one of my apartment complex's dumpsters.  Sitting next to it was an end table.  I paused to examine it.  The table was perfectly fine, save for a missing buttress at the base (the table has a single leg that flares out into a cross at the bottom).  The table is made out of solid wood and was remarkably clean.  I decided that it would be a shame to pass it up, so I hefted it onto my shoulder and walked the rest of the way home.

There are opportunities in our lives that are there to bless us, but only if take hold of them.  It may be something as small as a nice new end table or it may be a new job or an opportunity to serve.  While the blessing of a new piece of furniture is not terribly important, it is nice to be reminded that we need to be ready to recognize when we are offered a blessing from the Lord and when we are offered trash.

Shorties 2

Once again, instead of one big post, I'm collecting a bunch of smaller ones.

Guest Bed
I recently acquired a free sofa-bed from a family that is moving out of the ward.  It's definitely used, but not overly so.  There's some fraying of the seams here and there, but nothing that threatens the structural integrity of the sofa.  I bring this up, because it looks like I'll be sleeping on it tonight.  The air mattress that the Larsens lent me won't stay inflated anymore (looks like I'll be buy them a replacement soon) and I woke up nearly touching the floor.  Nice to have a back-up plan.

Have [TV], Will Travel
Speaking of free furniture, Ian found me a free TV and small entertainment center online.  I only needed to go pick it up.  The problem with that is that the TV is an old-style tube-driven one and it's really, really heavy.  The previous owner helped me get it into the car, but then I couldn't get it inside unassisted.  Luckily, my Elder's Quorum President, along with his teenaged daughter, was willing to lend a hand.  Even with three of us moving it, it was still really, really heavy (it's a 32").  We were all breathing heavily by the time we made it to the third floor.  (I think the funniest thing about the situation is that I haven't bothered to plug it in yet, since I haven't had time for TV.  Heh.)

One Ring to Rule Them
At work yesterday, a bunch of us married men were discussing our wedding bands: how they fit (or fail to, in some cases), why we chose the styles we did, how often we wear them, etc.  I was surprised to learn that one of my coworkers barely wears his outside of when he's at the office.  I only take mine off when I run because I'm afraid it may come off (I've experienced enough weight-loss since I picked it out that it's a bit loose), but otherwise it's always on.

Run Like the Wind
Speaking of running, I've changed things up recently by doing hill-sprints.  I was talking to a coworker (the same one that barely wears his ring) about how I was frustrated that no matter what I did, I couldn't complete my run any faster than at an eight-minute-per-mile pace.  He suggested that I trying sprinting up hills for a couple of weeks, then go back to see how I improve.  I know that Ian does hill-sprints sometimes as a part of his PT training, so I gave it a go this week.  It's amazing how difficult it was just to get the form down.  I've been doing fairly long-distance runs for about over a year now and switching to sprinting, which has a completely different feel to it, isn't as easy as I thought.  Still, nice to have a change up.

[-]ate
Did anyone notice all of the hyphens in today's post?  I don't know, it seemed like an unusually high volume.

I hope you enjoyed another round of Shorties.  I'll have to do this again soon.

Couch on a budget.

This is me taking a nap. On our couch.

Y'see, we have no real couch. We have an area rug and with a couple of blankets. And, of course, pillows. When Allison sits on the rug and wants the pillows, she'll ask for the couch. If I join her after she's already there, I'll complain that she's hogging all the couch. It's funny, but it's still the floor.

But think of all the money we saved!