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Writing tables/desks were traditionally desks or tables used for writing (as opposed to, say … kitchen tables). Writing desks were normally found in the studies (today we would call them a home office) of old-time aristocrats as well as the rich and wealthy, and also company offices, even the battlefield! Today, writing tables and desks are no longer restricted to the use of companies and people with more money than they know what to do with. It is now possible to find cheap writing desks to fit the budget of even middle-income families looking for study tables for their children. It is possible to find discount writing desks made of cheaper wood like pine or wood composites for use by professionals who work from home or telecommute. Today, there are specialized laptop writing desks to fit the miniscule spaces of cubicles – desks meant for you to type on your laptop but not do any real writing with your pen and paper. Writing/computer desks like these have special holes meant for cables. They may even have accessories like computer keyboard drawers and built-in power points.

What types of writing tables/desks are there?

The bulk of the market for writing desks are of course cheap discount writing desks. They are usually made from cheap wood, plastics and/or wood composites (also known as MDF). Many of these desks come as kits requiring assembly and can be bought from online stores like Amazon. You can also pick them up from your local Walmart or Home Depot. Most of these will not last for more than a few years, but then that’s more than good enough for many children and poor college students.

Whereas the most number of writing desks/tables sold are the cheap DIY-assembled types, the ones bringing the highest margins to manufacturers are executive writing desks. You can find these heavy large writing desks in the CEO’s office of many larger companies. There are massive solid oak writing desks, antique mahogany writing desks and fragrant cherry wood writing desks. While many of these executive writing desks look elegant, they are really designed to look imposing and intimidating.

The most profitable market, though, are probably elegant writing desks for middle-class families. You will find the greatest range of designs here, inspired by antiques from the 17th, 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries.

Victorian writing desks

The original Victorian-style writing desks were made from 1840-1910, named after Queen Victoria who reigned in England from 1837 to 1901. Even though it was the first mass-produced style of furniture, the design was extremely ornate with many elaborate carvings and ornaments. The legs of Victorian-style furniture usually had a small round coiled ball feet or ball-and-claw feet. Victorian writing desks and furniture tend to have a heavy, ponderous dark feeling.

Sauder writing desks

Sauder isn’t so much a style of furniture as it is a manufacturer of furniture. They actually make many different styles of furniture. What distinguishes them is the fact that their furniture is what they call “ready-to-assemble”, and that they are one of North America’s largest furniture companies. They have a long history of making practical, functional, sturdy and affordable furniture. Sauder’s writing desks are more of the same.

Mission style writing desks

Mission-style furniture were a reaction against the ornate heavy Victorian style. Mission-style writing desks are often handmade and free of ornamentation – what we would call minimalist in design. They give a light-feeling and look simple, natural and functional.

Country writing desks

Country-style furniture has an old-fashioned rustic village look. Country writing desks have an rural, unsophisticated casual charm about them. The mission-style of furniture is, in a sense, a type of country-style furniture.

Queen Anne writing desks

The Queen Anne furniture style came into being when Anne was Queen of England in 1702. Whereas Anne only reigned until 1714, the style of furniture that bore her name continued to be made for another 40 years. Queen Anne writing desks, like other furniture of this style, had moderate proportions and looked very graceful. This type of furniture was built with dovetail joints and usually had cabriole legs and batwing drawer pulls. The feet of Queen Anne furniture typically terminated in ball-and-claw or drake feet.

Modern/Contemporary writing desks

What is the modern or contemporary style? Growing up, I remembered three distinct styles of contemporary-style furniture – stark black and white with harsh lines; lots of glass and steel; and bright colors and a plastic look and feel.

Choosing your writing tables/desks

The first thing you need to do when choosing a writing desk is to think about who will be using it. For example, no matter how well-supervised they are, kids and teenagers tend to be pretty rough on furniture. If you are going to have to buy a new table or desk every few years no matter how much you spend, maybe you should think about buying cheap writing desks. Find an unpainted/unfinished wood writing desk to shave a few more dollars off the cost. One nice bonus is that it’s harder to see scratches on an unpainted table top.

You will also want to take a good look at where you want to place your writing table and decide on the size. Do you want a small wood writing desk or a large writing desk? Large writing desks give you more space to work, with over 5 feet in width and two-and-a-half to over three feet in depth. But they also take up a lot more room. And don’t forget that they may be too large to fit through your door – you may need to disassemble them and then re-assemble them yourself where you want to finally place them.

Do you have a separate computer table or will you need your new writing desk to do double-duty? If it needs to also hold your computer, does it need additional holes for running and organizing your various cables (power, network, monitor, etc)? Does the writing desk need to be sturdy enough to put your desktop CPU and monitor?

If the new writing table/desk is for your own use, you will also want to measure the heights of the tables you currently use. Are your current writing tables or computer desks at a comfortable height? If yes, then that is the height you want for your new writing desk. If not, decide if it is too high or too low and adjust accordingly when you go shopping.

The Madison Large Trestle Desk is a large (height: 29 inches; width: 64 inches; depth: 30 inches) and solidly built writing desk. While there may be better large writing desks in the market, or cheaper writing desks, or more elegant writing desks, there are none that combine all three strengths in the same desk.

Advantages

The Madison Large Trestle Desk looks good. Its lines are clean and simple. There are no fancy details or over-complicated decorations. Its functional simplicity gives it a certain elegance.

This is actually one of those DIY kit writing tables/desks. You have to assemble it yourself. Now, don’t panic – the assembly instructions are simple and clear. The instruction sheet uses large 64-point type and pictures spread out over three pages. There is even an 800 number for you to call if you run into any problems. Many customers say that they can put everything together within 30 minutes.

Unlike normal writing tables/desks, there are no drawers. However, it is a trestle design, with a large table top resting on top of a pair of trestles. Each of the trestles is actually a shelf in its own right, giving you plenty of storage space. These trestles/shelves are solidly built and can easily be filled with heavy reference books and computer peripherals (if you use the Madison Large Trestle Desk as a laptop writing desk.)

This large writing desk is very solidly built and very stable. This fact is reflected in its heavy weight – around 100 pounds. Of course, this is fairly light when compared to old-fashioned oak writing desks, but considering that it is really a discount writing desk … In any case, if you are worried about the table being flimsy because it is cheap, don’t be. You can prove it yourself – if you climb up on the table you will notice that it does not wobble at all … at least not if you assembled it correctly. It is certainly sturdy enough for you to put both your desktop CPU and two monitors on the table top without any worries.

University and college students will really appreciate the large working area offered by this table. At 64 inches by 30 inches, you can certainly work on quite a number of projects at the same time. This is really great for all those end-of-semester projects that the professors like to toss at their students. This large writing table will also be appreciated by parents who want to do their own work while keeping an eye on their kids to make sure they complete their homework.

Disadvantages

The Madison Large Trestle Desk is a good writing desk. However, its very strengths also lead to some obvious problems. The first is its solidity and heavy weight. At around 100 pounds, it is not easy to transport. Couple this with the fact that it is a discount writing desk, and you will realize that the store will probably skimp on its packaging and transportation. A number of customers have complained about receiving damaged goods.

The second issue is that this writing desk is not made from real wood. Mind you, it feels very solid, so solid that most people can’t tell that it is not made of real wood. This large trestle table is actually made from wood composite (or MDF). This material is made from softwood, broken down into powder and then mixed with resin. The mixture is then molded into boards and finished by baking it in a high pressure, high temperature oven. Mind you, if you keep in view the price you pay for this table, you should realize that it couldn’t possibly be made of real wood.

Yet another issue with the Madison Large Trestle Desk is that assembly is required. This could be a problem if you are an invalid. Otherwise, it should not be a problem if you are sound of body and mind. Female customers say they have no trouble assembling the desk by following the attached instructions. Male customers who go by instinct complain that they need to drill their own holes for the screws.

Now, sometimes it is not the customer’s fault. Sometimes the store which sold this writing desk failed to provide the correct instruction sheet. For this case, take note of the following points during assembly:

• You never need to drill holes. If a hole is missing, flip the piece over – the hole is on the other side.
• The trestles come as a pair – the right trestle and the left trestle. Mix up or interchange the pieces to these and you may find that the screw holes are missing.
• Make sure you are alert and sober when assembling the desk. Too many people like to grab a drink or two before they start work.

The original paintwork for this writing desk is easily scratched. This is especially obvious if you buy the Madison Large Trestle Desk with the black-colored finish. Being a budget large writing desk, the finish is also sometimes inconsistent. Some areas may have thicker paint while others have thinner paint.

Some customers who use this large writing desk as a computer table commented that there is not enough room in between the left and right trestles to fit a pull-out keyboard tray. Another point to keep in mind is that this is a large table – many people have said that it is larger than it looks in the catalogues. If you do not measure your available space carefully, it may not fit in your room. If you live in a small apartment or your study room is small, you may be better off buying a small wood writing desk instead of this giant.

Miscellaneous

This tip will make your life easier – ask the deliveryman to leave the crate outside. The crate is big, bulky and heavy. You do not want to struggle removing it from your house once you are done assembling the writing desk. Anyway, once you open the crate, carry each part to where you want to put the table and assemble it there. Remember that this large desk not only weighs around 100 pounds but is very big – you do not want the assembly point to be far from the final placement.

The Madison Large Trestle Desk is solid and will last you a good many years. So if you want it to look good and keep looking good, you should think about stripping away the original paint job and refinishing it yourself. You should also consider reinforcing it to make it last even longer. Go to your local hardware store, pick up some brackets and screws then reinforce those places where the table top joins to the trestles. You may also want to go the extra step for overkill and brace the back edge of the table top with a 64 inch long 2″ x 2″.

This Madison Large Trestle Desk gives you a lot of bang for the buck. It is cheap considering its solidity and durability. It is large and gives you a lot of space to work with. And its clean simple lines looks really good (at least to those who go for minimalism).

If you are looking for elegant writing desks, you may want to take a look at the Oxford Standard Writing Desk. It is a small wood writing desk (4 ft x 2 ft top; 30 inches high) with two drawers and a lower shelf. The shelf is good for normal-sized hardcover and paperback books. However, having said that, I would not feel comfortable trying to overload the lower shelf with too many thick reference books or encyclopedias. You might also wonder if there is enough room to store your miscellaneous stuff with only two drawers. In general, they are spacious enough to store most writing implements and materials. The advantage, unlike some writing desks with more drawers, is that this design offers plenty of leg-room all around.

While you can probably find cheaper writing desks, there are none that look as elegant while feeling as solidly-built as the Oxford Standard Writing Desk. The merlot-colored desk is brown with a reddish tinge. Overall, it leans towards the color of red wine (which is why it is called merlot-colored), and looks fine near other dark brown furniture. Customers have commented that the warm colors make them feel more comfortable using this elegant writing desk.

If you merely look at the specification, you might think that the writing surface of 4 feet by 2 feet may be a little small. Nevertheless, you can comfortably place your laptop in the middle, an open reference book on one side and a writing pad on the other side. And because there is so much leg room (unlike most office desks with that thick column of drawers down one side), you can just scoot your chair from side to side to achieve a more comfortable posture when reading, typing on your laptop or jotting down your notes by hand. It is definitely an ideal table for one person to study at or do his/her research and brainstorming. It is also an ideal design for a parent to help his or her child with homework.

Although the Oxford Standard Writing Desk is spacious, it is still a small wood writing desk. If you expect to host a group study (or brainstorming) session regularly, this is probably not your best choice. In that case you should be looking at large writing desks.

One other point worth mentioning is the 30-inch height. This is perhaps an inch or two higher than more common writing desks. If you are tall, you will probably appreciate the extra inches. It definitely makes for a more comfortable experience when typing on your laptop. On the other hand, if you are short-statured, you might find that the extra inch puts you at the border between comfort and discomfort.

Overall, the Oxford Standard Writing Desk is good value for money. It is minimal in design but spacious. It is sturdy. It offers plenty of leg room. The small size makes it easy to fit into small cluttered rooms.

Singapore is the most advanced country in South East Asia, generally considered one of the First World nations. In Asia, it is on par with Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea in terms of living standards, trade and industrialization. However, unlike its Asian peers, many Singaporean residents are able to communicate in English. This factor, together with its geographic location between the Western world and the booming economies of Asia makes Singapore the Gateway between East and West. Singapore’s fate, despite many decades of industrialization, is still intimately chained to the rise and fall of global trade. The top jobs in Singapore are mainly related to the global trading economy. Foreigners earning the most money mainly work in finance, shipping and other fields tied to global trade. That is not to say there are no other jobs for foreigners in Singapore.

White collar management jobs

There are many foreigners working in various managerial jobs in Singapore. Some are posted to Singapore by foreign companies, working under expatriate terms and conditions. These management posts are normally filled up by Caucasians, Japanese or South Koreans sent by the headquarters of their companies. Many more were students in Singapore who worked in IT and engineering jobs before their promotions to management. Most of these foreign managers are permanent residents. Many of them are from Singapore’s neighbors – Malaysia and Indonesia, although there are a few from India and China as well.

White collar IT and engineering jobs

There are many white collar jobs in Singapore, especially in IT and engineering. A great many technical jobs in Singapore are done by foreigners who studied in Singapore’s universities and polytechnics. Traditionally, most of these students came from Malaysia and Indonesia, with a sprinkling from India. Nowadays, there are also many foreign students from China and Indochina (Cambodia, Burma/Myanmar, Vietnam). Once they graduate from higher education, these students then apply for jobs from Singaporean companies, which will sponsor them for an Employment Pass. A number of these Employment Pass holders will also apply for Permanent Residence after working in Singapore for a few years.

Biotech and pharmaceutical jobs

There are a significant biotech and pharmaceutical jobs in Singapore. Senior (doctorate) positions are frequently held by foreign-born and trained scientists, recruited and lured to Singapore by government-led initiatives. While this sector does not reliably produce jobs and income for Singapore, it is still an important part of Singapore’s economy. Whenever there is a boom in this sector, it provides for a healthy chunk of Singapore’s economic growth. However, foreign PhD holders who receive job offers to work in Singapore’s biotech sector should note that the Singapore Government has a very short-term outlook with respect to this field – unlike other countries which think and plan in terms of 15 to 25 years, Singapore makes plans based on a 5 year cycle. In other words, projects which cannot produce significant results within 5 years are likely to be canned.

Blue collar factory jobs

As part of Singapore’s long-standing policy of industrialization, there are many factories and many manufacturing jobs. Too many jobs to be filled by native Singaporeans. Even though Singapore’s manufacturing industry is moving up the value chain, there are still many so-called semi-skilled jobs being held by workers imported from Malaysia, especially the southern Malaysian state of Johore. Early every morning, these workers will ride their motor scooters and busses from their homes in Malaysia to their factories in Singapore, and every evening they will make the reverse journey home. In this manner, they enjoy the lower living cost of Malaysia while earning the higher pay of Singapore.

Domestic workers (maids) and construction laborers

At the lower end, both Singaporean and foreign families hire maids (the Singapore government officially calls them foreign domestic workers and charges a levy on the employer) to clean their homes and take care of their children. Normally, these are families where both the husband and wife work full-time in white collar positions and do not have much time to spend with their children. The maids are from either Indonesia or Phillipines. Filipino maids are preferred because they speak English, however the Indonesian maids work cheaper.

The construction and sanitation sector in Singapore also employ many foreign workers – this time mainly Bangaladeshis and the nationals of countries from the Indian sub-continent. Local construction companies like these men because they work hard for low pay. These construction laborers typically work for a few years, saving most of their salaries until they have enough to return home and start their own businesses or retire. Despite their great contribution to Singapore’s growth, there is an unjustified local perception that these workers contribute to crime.

Stepping stone to China

Except for the above-mentioned cases, Singapore is too highly regulated to make it easy to find jobs. Nevertheless, the effort may be worthwhile. For example, during the dotcom boom in the early 2000s, many Indian IT professionals used Singapore as a proving ground and stepping stone to the US. The best of them worked a year or two in Singapore before securing much better paying jobs in America.

For westerners, the reverse path can be used to gain a foothold to jobs in China. Get a decent job in Singapore while taking lessons in the Mandarin/Chinese language. At the same time, keep your eyes open and make contacts. For example, many companies that have links with the Singapore government (GLCs) have subsidiaries, branches and operations in Hong Kong and China. One of these would be the Development Bank of Singapore (DBS), another would be the large IT company, NCS. One of the top online job sites for Singapore is JobsDB.

Auditors from headquarters are dropping in for an inspection. A client’s representatives are coming over to do their due diligence. The sales team from a major supplier is heading over to settle terms. Your engineers from the satellite offices are due soon for one week of training. Your branch office can find the meeting rooms for all these events … or rather you can borrow, rent or beg for them from the building manager. Where necessary, tables can be temporarily appropriated from less critical staff. But where will you find so many seats, fast and without blowing your budget?

At times like these, resin stacking chairs are a godsend. Modern plastic chairs like these are strong, lightweight and presentable. Being stackable, they occupy minimal space in storage. A stack of twenty plastic stacking chairs would cost your office less than $300, if sourced directly from plastic chair manufacturers. You just have to buy in bulk and make a formal request for a quotation under the company name.

In the old days, stackable chairs were not meant for serious use, and hence came brightly colored for parties and other informal events. But nowadays, plastic furniture have made inroads into every facet of our lives. You can now find resin office furniture chairs in subdued colors like beige or black. They are made from modern plastics and are robust enough that you can lean your back against them without feeling any flimsiness.

Of course, resin stacking chairs are not your only choice for emergency office furniture. There are also plastic folding chairs. They have a lightweight tubular steel frame with a plastic seat and back. Cheaper chairs of this type have a hard seat and back. For a little more, you could buy folding chairs with cushioned seats and backs. Usually, these would use plywood backing a thin foam cushion.

Like resin stacking chairs, they can be bought in more subdued colors for office use. The cushioned folding chairs are slightly more comfortable, especially for long meetings and training sessions. In small numbers like 5 or 10, they take up the same amount of storage space as stackable chairs. But for bigger quantities, you will need more room to store them when not in use.

Yet another alternative would be to get storage seats. These are a combination of a small cabinet and a chair. The storage space lets you store miscellaneous office supplies, and when needed the entire unit can be used as a seat. Depending on which brand you get, there might be a cushion, and there might or might not be a back. Plastic storage seats like the Suncast SS1000 are both sturdy and presentable enough to be used for extra seating in a small company’s reception area. Unlike resin stacking chairs or plastic folding chairs, they always take up space even when not in use. On the other hand, they also provide extra space for putting stuff out of the way.

When you need to find lots of emergency seating for visitors to your office, resin stacking chairs and other types of plastic chairs can really save your skin. They are robust, take up little storage space and easy to clean – which means that you can buy a score of them today and still use them for office functions for the next umpteen years. Not only that, but you can score some points by lending them to other office managers in your building when they are in need. After all, you never know when you might need a friend in another company, do you?

Are you looking for whole house water filters? Have you had the chance to look at reverse osmosis water purification for the whole house? A multi-stage RO drinking water filter is one of the most powerful and complete means of decontaminating your family’s water supply. Unfortunately, there are many lies being told about RO filtration, especially by salesmen who do not carry these units. The following three lies are the most commonly told pieces of misinformation meant to mislead the consumer.

1. A reverse osmosis drinking water filter is ineffective against chlorine despite its high cost.

The fact is that a reverse osmosis home water filter can remove chlorine if it uses a filter membrane that is rated for that task. However, it is true that many reverse osmosis filtration systems for the home actually use cheaper polymer filters that degrade or rot in the presence of chlorine. On the other hand, that is why many multi-stage RO whole house water filtration systems add a carbon pre-filter to remove chlorine from the incoming water supply. In the end, the consumer gains a more complete protection for his drinking water while paying a lower price.

2. Reverse osmosis whole house water filters cannot purify water that has been contaminated by industrial or agricultural accidents, e.g. the case of Pavillion, Wyoming residents whose underground water supply was contaminated by oil and gas drilling.

This is a bald-faced lie. This is actually the kind of situation where home water filtration using RO shines. Multi-stage carbon whole house water filters work well and economically when you know what kind of contaminants you are facing. Unfortunately, a pure carbon water filter cannot remove inorganic chemicals on its own. It needs the help of ion exchange resins. But these resins must be specifically formulated to decontaminate a particular chemical, e.g. nitrites. The more chemicals you need to remove, the more expensive that resin becomes. But a multi-stage RO filter, on the other hand, removes everything. It does not care what is inside your water – it will remove everything, just like distillation. That is actually both its greatest strength and greatest weakness.

3. Reverse osmosis drinking water filter cannot remove pharmaceutical drugs and toxins from cases of accident or terrorism because these chemicals have smaller molecules compared to water – they will just pass through the porous membrane of the RO filter.

This is another bald-faced lie. If you have ever studied chemistry (and physics), you will know that water has the smallest molecules of any room temperature liquid. On the other hand, pharmaceutical drugs and toxins contain long-chain organic compounds. There is no possible way those large carbon compound molecules are going to squeeze through the pores of the RO membrane.

There are many types of whole house water filtration systems. The best whole house water filters always have more than one stage of filtration. The first level is always the removal of sediment. This is often a cheap polyester fiber or ceramic sediment filter. The second level is usually the carbon filter which will remove chlorine, some organic chemicals and some of the finer sediment. The last level could either be reverse osmosis filtration or resin ion exchange to decontaminate everything else. The more sophisticated and complete the whole house water filter is, the more levels of filtration that will be employed and the higher the price tag.

Do you have trouble sleeping? Would you like to sleep better? I think that there is no one who would answer “No” to those questions. Some people have trouble falling asleep. Others have trouble staying asleep. For example, I used to wake up after just two to five hours. What helped me the most were a combination of mental relaxation techniques and physical stretching exercises. When I could do this, sleeping for five hours at a stretch was no longer a problem. The trouble was, this was still not good enough. I found that sleeping in a better bed with better pillows helped a lot. I could sleep longer, better. And the best beds and best pillows were made from memory foam. So, sleep problem solved, right? Unfortunately, not quite …

You see, memory foam adjustable beds are the best of the best, and priced accordingly. If you can afford one, good for you! But for me, even now that I have been working so many years, they remain out of my reach … family to feed, bills to pay, retirement account to fund … all those troublesome and not so little tasks that fall into your lap once you grow up.

How about plain old visco elastic memory foam mattresses? You know, just the mattress without the adjustable bed. Does it sound like I was getting just a little bit desperate? Heck, yes! For one brief moment, it was almost within my grasp. Then the dotcom crash happened. Then 9/11. And now the recent mortgage bust.

Some of you may wonder why I did not just go for a cheaper latex memory foam mattress. Besides the lower price, it does have some safety advantages over a mattress made from the visco elastic polyurethane foam developed by NASA and used by Tempurpedic and Serta. Well, the thing is, ever since I was a student I have been using a Tempurpedic memory foam pillow. I had to save up for it, and it was worth all the hardship I went through, too. But nothing lasts forever, not even memory foam (even though the Tempur salesman said otherwise). Fortunately, by that time, there were other brands of memory foam contour pillows that were cheaper. Some were a lot cheaper. I should have known better – they did not work! Maybe the pillow I bought was not really made from real memory foam (i.e. visco elastic polyurethane foam). After all, it’s not like these things are regulated. So after one week of waking up with a stiff neck, I saved up for an original Tempur memory foam pillow and tossed the fake.

So what’s my point? While I have heard good things about mattresses made from latex memory foam, I have also learned my lesson. Tempur Pedic memory foam works for me, so I am going to stick with Tempur Pedic memory foam products from now on. Even if natural latex memory foam is cheaper. Even if Serta Ultimate memory foam is cheaper. But you know what? My luck isn’t all bad. There was a memory foam clearance sale recently. I got myself a Tempurpedic memory foam topper. It’s nowhere nearly as good as a real memory foam mattress, but placed on top of my regular mattress, it still helps me to sleep a whole lot better. Together with some stretching exercises to loosen my body, together with some autogenics to relax my mind, my new (sorta) Tempur memory foam mattress topper helps me sleep deeper, sleep better and sleep longer. Will doing the same things as me also help you to sleep better? Probably.

Must it be a Tempurpedic memory foam mattress pad? For me, the answer is yes. I can’t help it – I have an emotional attachment to the Tempur Pedic brand. But I have been told that the Serta memory foam mattress pad is just as good while being more affordable. If you feel that a memory foam topper is a memory foam topper, then any (real) memory foam mattress pad will do.