Ergomaniac

As I write this installment of NTD, I am doing so in a more ergonomic fashion; one that I will adopt through my time here in Denmark. According to the world's most accurate encyclopedia (Wikipedia), ergonomics is the "study of designing the job, equipment and work place to fit the worker." Very often are people cramped, bent, twisted, slouched or otherwise made uncomfortable in their places of business and I too have fallen victim to this since moving into my apartment. Unable to find a suitable office-type chair at Ikea, I have been sitting at my desk to write a post or watch two hours of music on Youtube at a time in a rather hard and lumbar-unfriendly dining room chair for the better part of six weeks now. The issue seemingly passed me by for the longest time until about two weeks ago when I really noticed some discomfort setting in. With a package being prepared at home to make the Intercontinental journey, I requested an item be included that I saw at a store back in NH not long before I left.

The store was 5 Below and until walking in there one day, I was convinced it was an outdoorsy supply shop. I also thought it would be very cold inside. I soon learned otherwise on both accounts, as the name of the place was rather telling, as it was featured only items priced five dollars and below. Very clever, but also very deceiving. While searching for whatever it was I was looking for (sunglasses on that day, I believe, more on that to follow), I came across a shelf filled to capacity with PhysioBalls, more commonly known as Swiss Balls. A handy tool to the excersizer interested in challenging his or her stabilizing muscles, the PB actually makes a great seat as it promotes a naturally ergonomic posture:



Okay, so this isn't exaclty what I was getting at, but I think this picture is hilarious; I believe it was originally drawn by Leonardo DaVinci. Long story short, I had my Dad explore this matter and sure enough, he was able to procure a sixty-five centimetre PB for five bucks. Last week I received the parcel and Customs was kind enough to ignore the deflated hot pink rubber ball inside. Unable to fill the darn thing with a needle the club normally uses to inflate our footballs, I was without it until today, when Peter and I picked up a dual action hand pump used for air mattresses. And so, I now type as the woman drawn above does (minus the footrest and monitor height, those will be next on the list). Ergonomy never felt so good; I really hope this ball holds up (the color ties the room together nicely).

Moving on, my U16 dropped our second game yesterday, though we showed much improvement from our first outing. Offense, defense and special teams all scored in the contest and I was once again pleased with our attitudes on the field. At the end of the day, all the kids were still smiling. We don't play again for about three weeks, so we will have plenty of opportunities to work on still-maturing fundamentals of the game.

I mentioned earlier that I had been looking for sunglasses before I left. Last fall, I found a great pair at Marshall's (terrific place for shades) for ten dollars that I wore everyday on the gridiron coaching the MHS Tomahawk Freshmen. That was until one day when I set them down in the school's lockerroom and never saw them again. I could never find the same ones again until right before I left and could not have been happier. Well, those broke in two places since Ive been here, as is the replacement pair I got at TIGER (awesome store, post coming soon about it) last week. This is why I never rationalize paying a lot of money for a so-called "nice pair" of sunglasses. I'm always convinced they will either get lost or broken. However, given my bad luck recently (or more likely, my fat melon of a head), I'm seriously reconsidering my philosophy on this subject. I'm open to suggestions on either brands or ideas here, folks.

Before going for the night, I'd like to share with you an example of the ravages Danish American Football can have on one's body. Following a win by our Developmental Team last Friday, runningback Lasse Schriver (Less-AH SCREE-voah) inflicted plenty of punishment on the Thrashers of Odense. He ripped through their defense for a rushing TD and also laid some blows on the defensive side of the ball. I can honestly attest to the fact that Lasse's one tough dude and this picture should help you see why:

Although this Jack Lambert-esque visage (look him up if you've never heard of him) appears to have come as the result of his efforts on the field, Lasse informed me that he'd broken that tooth a few years ago off the field. I was sad to learn this, but still think it looks hard as all get-up. Thanks to Lasse for very reluctantly letting me use his mug. I assured him that Internet stardom is around the corner.

Thanks to you for visiting tonight, I'll be back soon enough.