This morning I finished putting together my extended desktop. I have an inexpensive Ikea Micke desk (about 41" wide and 20" deep) with a matching set of rolling drawers. I also have my wife's Micke desk used as a return of sorts. My problem was that 20" just isn't deep enough for someone of my height. So we bought some angle brackets and cut a piece of matching melamine at Leroy Merlin to extend the back by about 10". It goes across the desk and the drawers and locks them together. I now have enough leg room, as well as some extra depth which is much nicer for holding my stuff. I'm very pleased with how it turned out.
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| Front views |
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| View from above, extension on the left |
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| Support brackets underneath the back |
Our stake priesthood meeting was from 4-6pm, so the senior couple Anziani drove over early, and the sisters came together later for the evening session from 6-8pm. I saw Marco DiCaro there. He lived in the Monza branch in 1976 as (roughly) a ten-year-old kid when I was there, and we have run into him several times over the years on our trips. Marco and his family just moved to Rome from Pavia, one of our usual haunts when we visit Italy. Our paths seem to cross a lot. His parents were amazing, and his dad in particular is one of the finest men I have ever known. Unfortunately, his dad passed away a few years ago, but his mom is still doing well.
There were some really good talks and a great spirit there. For example, Brother Cosimo told a story about when he had just returned from serving in combat and was pretty messed up. His bishop took him to visit a struggling family and told Brother Cosimo to take care of this family, to which he replied, "but I'm the one who needs help here!" His wise bishop said to just help them, and it turned out that serving that family helped him get over his challenges.
President Melone talked about some timely service given to him. He was heavily involved in coordinating church relief efforts after the Aquila earthquake. One of the members in the stake quietly added 50 euros to President Melone's cell phone account so he could make all the calls/texts needed during that trying time.
Brother Fenn, who served in the Milan mission from 1976-1978 (we never crossed paths) and is now here working on the temple construction, gave a great talk. He mentioned that the other day they were putting in trees of all different kinds at the temple lot. A crane would lift up a big tree off the truck and plop it into a big hole in the ground -- instant tree! He contrasted this with Alma's teaching about growing faith starting with a seed and observed that, in our lives, we prefer to start with trees and not seeds, but there is value in growing faith by ourselves -- there is no shortcut. He quoted Alma 5:45-46, where Alma explained that he received his testimony after long prayer and fasting, not from having seen an angel!
Great stuff. We're looking forward to the morning session tomorrow.