Mark your calendars for this one!

Here's a short video trailer "tease" for something great that will appear here at Pierini Fitness in a couple days:  

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Happy birthday my love!

Today, 36 years ago, I said “I do” and received my wife’s hand in our sacramental marriage.  

I professed Roman Catholic vows of matrimony to her 36 years ago at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church. 

These were my vows:    

“I take you Elizabeth to be my wife.  I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health.  I will love you and honor you all the days of my life.”

I have much work to do to perfectly live these vows I professed and promised.

Happy anniversary my love!

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Sensei Kenny Kuch

Kenneth W. Kuch
9/7/1949 - 2/25/2010

Four years ago tomorrow my dear friend and karate Sensei Kenny Kuch passed away at a too-young age of 61 years.  

Today I'll honor his spirit by sharing a poem I wrote and read to him on his 55^th birthday at the end of a hard dojo workout.

Sensei Kenny Kuch was a tough guy of sorts and one to not show his soft and tender side.  To this day I swear I saw a tear in his eye as I gave him a copy of this poem after reading it to him.  I’ll never know for sure and, quite frankly, it really doesn’t matter.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KUCH SENSEI

　

Happy Birthday Kuch Sensei, it's another year,

Hope you have a great day, full of cheer,

We appreciate and admire your Gosoku-ryu,

And a unique way of instruction only you can do,

Training always begins with dojo kun,

We meditate knowing warm-ups will be soon,

Then you guide us with some basic kihon,

Perfecting our techniques as if they were your own,

Often after kihon we'll have kata training,

The intensity will have us sweating as if it was raining,

Your instruction always includes kumite,

Hard & fast techniques in the Gosoku-ryu way,

Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, day in and day out,

Always present to instruct us, we never have doubt,

Our training with you has made us well prepared,

To seek perfection of character and never be scared,

You are a karateka guided by principle,

Your years of training have made you invincible.

We'll continue training, until we are smooth and old,

Maybe a little slower, but still strong and bold,

For your 55th birthday, we wish you well,

An invite to your 56th would sure be swell.

We'd like to thank you for letting us be your friend,

It’s something that we will be right to the very end.

A young Kenny Kuch center with International Karate Association (IKA) legend Val Mijailovic left and Dr. Tom Grubbs right after a hard dojo workout at the IKA Hollywood/Sunset dojo circa 1983-1985.  

Yes today I'm fondly remembering my departed dear friend Sensei Kenny Kuch.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Taking the stairs

A modest 17 stair steps to the top

I’m fortunate that the office building where I work has two stories and no elevator.  My office where I spend most of my day is downstairs but the men’s room and some other areas are upstairs. 

So every work day I make several trips upstairs and back down when using the men’s room or retrieving an old file in storage.  The exact number of daily trips depends on how strong is my morning cup of coffee, how many buckets of water I drink during the day, and how well-behaved is my bladder. 

Regardless of how these three forces clash or interact, I’m up and down the stairs often enough to call each day “cardio light” on non-gym training days.  I enjoy taking the stairs and my frequent trips regardless of how brief they are. 

My take-the-stairs preference is not limited to while at work because I always strive to take the stairs wherever I am.  I prefer them to an elevator or escalator if for no other reason than the air is fresher taking stairs than being in a packed elevator and at risk that the Avon lady might be present drenched in her favorite perfume.

Every now and then, perhaps while in the company of someone who’s not stair-conditioned or for some other special reason, I’ll take the slow and sterile elevator.  It gives me a chance to catch up on the latest elevator music and see if it’s changed much over the years.

The original owners of my office built it as their personal residence in 1905 and resided there until their deaths in the mid-1940’s.  They were in their early 80’s when they died and still taking the same flight of stairs up and down then that I do today.  I’m sure doing so gave them some guaranteed and minimum cardiovascular benefit that may have contributed to their long lives.  I’ll never know.

But I do know this - I’ll be like them in my middle-aged man gracefully aging journey to the kingdom of old-man land by taking the stairs.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

For a hamburger today

A recent Wall Street Journal article reported how federal government regulators and lawmakers are scrutinizing businesses who capture data profiles of troubled consumers from social media and other sources and then sell this information to other businesses.

One U.S. Senator recently sent letters to six companies asking for information on their sale of products that indentify consumers based on financial vulnerability or health status.  He’s apparently concerned that these data profile products are tailor-made for sale to other businesses seeking to take advantage of consumers.

He recently introduced legislation designed to “fix” this problem and protect us, or at least that’s what he’d like us to believe. 

The Wall Street Journal article noted how data brokers use profiling and predictive scores of data gathered from social media accounts and other cyberspace and public sources that provide leads about us and our hobbies, financial problems and even if we suffer from depression or athlete’s foot.

There’s one data broker business offering a list of African American pay day loan responders for sale to payday loan and sub-prime lender companies.

Personally, I don’t believe another federal law is how we go about protecting our data profiles from being exploited and sold to businesses, regardless if they have benign or predatory intentions. 

Real protection can’t be had from the government but rather must be cultivated from our own “be on guard practices” in how we go about our lives and the discretion we exercise when participating in dog and pony show and tell sessions in social media and other in-the-public environments. 

Our mythical friend Wimpy might like to be known to and contacted by a predatory lender for a quick and easy payday loan that he’ll gladly pay on Tuesday for a hamburger today.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

One year ago today

Last year my father died a horrific and painful death from angiosarcoma; it’s a rare type of cancer of the inner lining of blood vessels.

One year and one day ago in the evening as I was ready to call it a night after having been up since 5:00 a.m. that morning, my Dad called me on the telephone asking if I would talk to his oncologist the following morning.  He shared his pain had become unbearable and how he wasn’t sure if he could wait another week for his next scheduled appointment.  I told him I was coming to get him and we were going to the hospital emergency room. 

When I arrived, I saw a beaten and fallen man with a very defeated and sad look on his face.  He had obviously gone to a higher level of reality that all was not well with him in a big and serious way.  I assisted him into the car and off we drove to the hospital for an all-night emergency room experience.  I had no idea how it would unfold.

The ensuing events of spending an all-nighter in the hospital emergency room was very exhausting and traumatic  as I watched my now frail dear Dad laying on a hospital bed waiting to be seen and given a series of examinations and tests that would last until the wee hours of the following morning.  There was more gut-wrenching drama the following day.  

This entire episode kept me awake for 36-hours over two days in what was one of many traumatic experiences to follow for the remainder of my Dad’s life until he got called home to his Heavenly Father on May 24, 2013.

Earlier in the hospital emergency room at about 1:30 a.m. in the morning – one year ago today - with my dear Dad laying on a hospital bed waiting to be seen, I held his hand and assured him I would stay with him all night for as long as necessary.  He suggested I go home and get some rest because he would be OK but that wasn’t anything I was about to do.  I held his hand and gently touched his shoulder while feeling grateful to be in his company.

Then he looked at me - ever so beaten but strong enough for a moment - and told me “Happy Birthday Eddie!” for the very last time one year ago today.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

How about Adrian Anonymous?

Some people are very private in cyberspace going to great lengths to protect their real identity.  

They use clever internet names and avatar photos when participating in internet discussion forums.

Then there are people like me who are open books.  You know who we are and how to track us down if needed.

Some people live in fear of the latter and I can understand why.  For me, this fear is reciprocal because for every “nut” who might want to track me down and do this or that to me is a “nut” on the receiving end that might be harboring similar thoughts. 

Reciprocal fear keeps us honest and that’s the way it should be.

But every now and then I do ponder if it’s time for me to go under cloak and dagger and disappear from cyberspace as the Pierini character I’ve branded and flaunted to those few souls knowing of me.

Maybe I’ll change my cyberspace name and avatar and join the secret brigade of cyberspace folks.  This would allow me to mouth off more about stuff I dare not say otherwise.  I could freely share my private thoughts and opinions with all their rough edges.  

Maybe one day I’ll do that.  What would be a good name and avatar for me to use?

How about Adrian Anonymous?

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Will have to improvise

I’ve designed this great twice-a-week gym workout to do the next couple months during my busy work season.  

It's well thought out and has the strength and conditioning emphasis I want.  But now a left bicep strain has put the pullups and chinups component of these workouts on hold.

In addition, last week I had to make other adjustments because I wasn't mentally or physically at my best.

But I continue making good progress with a single set of bar dips done during one of these workouts.  Last Saturday, I banged out a 20-rep maximum effort set.  I was pleased because those 20 reps, for this 200-lb. middle-aged man, represent two tons of bodyweight moved up and down using only upper body strength.

The high-intensity interval training part of my workout is also going well.  It's high-intensity and short duration running on a treadmill for a 20-minute torture session in my anaerobic heart rate zone.  The plan is for me to work harder each workout than the previous one until I eventually hit my anaerobic zone brick wall.

Something is better than nothing and at this middle-aged man point in my life, there’ll be training days where I won’t be able to do as prescribed and, therefore, will have to improvise.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

No flu shot for me!

Every which way you listen, read or go is constant bombardment about getting your flu shot.  

There's a conspiracy of sorts going on by powers-to-be who are more damaging to our well-being than an occasional good-old fashioned case of the flu.

After all, it’s not the bubonic plague, AIDS, hepatitis C or something scarier.  Over a long and healthy life, healthy and unhealthy people alike will catch the flu bug, convalesce, get well and then jump back on the saddle in their life journey.  It’s a cost of doing business with the business being living life to its fullest. 

Well I’m not a conspiracy-thinking person like some but this concerted effort about the flu and flu shots doesn’t pass my smell test. 

My current thoughts and opinions were initially formed when my wife and I were at ground zero in Mexico City during the first week of its 2009 swine flu pandemic.  The Mexican government closed most of Mexico City’s public and private facilities in an attempt to contain the spread of this flu virus.

I witnessed first-hand how a large and vibrant metropolitan city came to a screeching halt due to the flu and how government was able to control its people in ways I never thought imaginable in a “free society”.  The fear and obedience it creates is too powerful for any of the powers-to-be to exclude a good health scare from their bag of tricks.

The media likes to report about flu-related deaths yet their accounts seldom provide any useful facts about whether deaths on any given flu-season day are any greater than other days.  Let’s face it, people are dying day in and day out and statistically there’s a normal range of deaths on any given day.

Are we really dropping dead during flu season at an alarming rate like flies that have been bombed with a can of insect spray?  Or might the flu season death rate be within normal range due to the normal reasons people die like from old age, accidents, cancer and the like?  I’m too busy to research an answer.

Do as you may this flu season which is the way it ought to be but know that this middle-aged man has decided there’s no flu shot for me!

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Drug of choice called debt

On Monday we were once again warned how the federal government could run out of money later this month.

Citing the unpredictable rate of tax refund payments, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew warned Congress that the federal government could run out of money as early as February 27. 2014.

On Tuesday, in what was called the “clean” debt ceiling vote, legislation passed in the House of Representatives allowing the federal government to borrow more money with no strings attached.  This legislation, which suspends the debt ceiling until March 2015, passed with 221 yes votes and 201 no votes.  

Yesterday, the U.S. Senate voted 67-31 to advance this bill to President Obama who will certainly sign it into law well before the February 27th deadline warning by Treasury Secretary Lew.

So we’re not running out of money yet thanks to the power of debt to solve financial problems brought about by never-ending federal government deficit spending.

More federal debt with no strings attached and a debt ceiling suspension until March 2015 are giving our elected leaders happy, inebriated and under-the-influence feelings like a good drug.

Addicts like the feeling coming from drinking alcohol, smoking marijuana or taking other hard-core drugs like heroin.  Our elected officials have their own addiction with their drug of choice called debt.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

I ate the whole rack

Middle-aged man food!

Last Saturday I suddenly, and without warning, got a middle-aged man attack for BBQ baby back ribs.

I get these furious attacks every once in a while.  Rather than let it subside, I decided to order a large rack of 12 ribs with an understanding that my wife would join me for a Saturday-evening rib feast delight.

So I called a local restaurant, known for its stellar reputation of cooking the best BBQ baby back ribs known to mankind, and placed an order to go.  I brought them home with thoughts of having a romantic candlelight dinner with my wife of ribs only until she revealed how she really preferred eating something else. 

I can’t really say I was heartbroken because this meant the entire rack was mine to destroy and enjoy.

I didn’t ruin my appetite with side dishes knowing I can eat side dish food anytime.  I either have a BBQ baby back rib attack or I don’t and side dishes do nothing to tame my beast.

Well hungry as I was, I couldn’t put down the entire rack in one sitting so I regretfully put the leftovers in the refrigerator for next day. 

Guess what I had for breakfast the following Sunday morning?  More ribs; but I still couldn’t put them all away so I had one more serving remaining and something to look forward to on Monday. 

Guess what I had for breakfast Monday morning?

Since there were only a few ribs remaining sitting in a cold refrigerator begging for attention, I decided to put them out of their cold misery.  About ten minutes later, there was no evidence of their prior existence.

So in about a 36-hour hour period, I ate a whole rack of BBQ baby back ribs.  Those Paleo Diet characters would have been proud of me.

Later Monday afternoon, it seemed like my body was emitting powerful and pheromone-like aroma from my three-day rib feast, similar to what someone experiences who has eaten a garlic-laced meal.  

It was a very pleasant scent to me and a reminder, as I shook my head in disbelief, that I ate the whole rack.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Progressive anaerobic cardio conditioning

Short-duration and high-intensity!

I’ve previously shared how I’m currently doing two gym workouts a week during my busy work season. Both training days end with short-duration and high-intensity (anaerobic) cardio conditioning.

I’ve also previously shared the details but here they are again:

Anaerobic cardio conditioning workout #1

Currently I’m completing 10 rounds of kettlebell one-hand snatch work using a 35-lb. kettlebell.  One round consists of 10 reps with my right hand and then 10 reps with my left hand.  I complete these 10 rounds as quickly as possible. 

Anaerobic cardio conditioning workout #2

Basically what I do on this day is high-intensity interval training running on a treadmill.  After a two-minute walking warm-up, I’ll perform 8 rounds of running work lasting 60 seconds and then recover by walking for 60 seconds.  I run each round faster than the previous one. 

I'm an analytical fitness dude who measures each workout's performance to determine if I'm getting better. Better must be measured rather than perceived because there’s deception in my perception.

There are several ways to measure better; let me explain how I measure mine.

I measure a better kettlebell workout by completing it in less time.  I measure a better high-intensity interval running treadmill workout by increasing the work time and decreasing the recovery time of each round. 

For example, currently I start a new round of kettlebell snatch work every 90 seconds.  It takes about 50-55 seconds to complete the work part (20 total snatches) so that leaves 35 to 40 seconds of rest.  If the work part remains relatively constant for each workout, improvement will be made by reducing rest time such as, for example, by 2-5 seconds each workout if all goes well.

It took me 14:01 to complete 10 rounds during my last workout.  As my conditioning improves, for example, it may only take 50 seconds on average to complete the work part and 20 seconds of recovery for each round.  This would calculate to a total time to complete of about 11:20 or a 20 percent improvement.  

I've used this same approach in the past with a 35-lb. dumbbell instead of a kettlebell and was able to complete 10 rounds in under 9 minutes.  I was in better condition then than now and it takes me longer to complete this workout when using a kettlebell.  

Here's a video demonstration using a 40-lb. dumbbell.

Now let’s look at the high-intensity interval training running workout.  Currently I’m running for 60 seconds and walking for 60 seconds with each round of running being at a faster pace than the previous one.  Last Saturday my running speeds were 7.0, 7.5, 8.0, 8.5, 9.0, 9.5, 10.0 and 10.0 (all in miles per hour).

I’ll gradually start the first round speed higher with a goal of completing more rounds at the highest speed of 10.0 mph.  Eventually I might be able to complete all 8 rounds at 10.0 mph.  If and when I do that then the next progression plan would be to maintain the 10.0 mph speed for, say, 70 seconds and only have a walking recovery duration of 50 seconds.

Planned progression may be calibrated any number of ways but for best results, it should be done in very small increments so that my brain and body “believes” it can complete the work at a higher-level of performance.

This measured coaxing approach works best for me because it fools my body and brain into believing it can work at a higher level.  It cultivates a mindset that shouts to me while I huff and puff with an internal message of Yes I can do it and I will!” 

My proof is in the improvements I’ve made in the past and will make again.  Give it a try for three months.  For best success, select two different cardio conditioning exercises you enjoy.

Be diligent and map out a progression plan that’s challenging and then watch your fitness improve by leaps and bounds from doing progressive anaerobic cardio conditioning.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Relaxing after a hard day’s work

I work hard during this time of the year and have little time to relax and enjoy the finer things of life.

My working days start early, end late and it’s sometimes hard to unwind at the end of a day.

I’ve discovered a new way to relax after a hard day at my office.  This new way is spending a few minutes reading one of the fifty middle-aged man reflections included in my new book.

Is this a photo of a middle-aged man who knows how to relax or what?

Chief Executive Blogger Pierini relaxes after a hard day of
work serving as ambassador of all middle-aged men of the world.

Reading a few pages each night is a good middle-aged man prescription for relaxing after a hard day’s work.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Smell like a spicy bean burrito

Moustached with a spicy
bean burrito in his hip pocket?

An internet article I recently read got me thinking.

It was about how some people make “they all look alike” comments in response to experiences or observations about people of races different than their own.

Apparently, we’re notorious for this psychological shortcoming, and may be honest when making these statements.

Known in psychological circles as “The Other-Race Effect”, it has been frequently studied by researchers after first being recognized over a century ago at the beginning of mass immigration to America by foreigners searching for a better life.  

While there are several hypotheses for our behavior, one suggests that people think more categorically about members of other races than their own.  We notice differences in racial categories of people while failing to see how they may be similar to us in many ways.  

In a breath of fresh air relief, this article points out how the Other-Race Effect is not necessarily fueled by racist thinking.

So this means you don’t have to feel guilty when commenting how all Asians smell like fish.

And my American gringo friend is really being honest when he says how all Mexicans have moustaches and smell like a spicy bean burrito.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

To be a middle-aged man

The Beach Boys circa 1960's

From this middle-aged man who professes of seeing a 16-year-old kid when looking in a mirror, I never recall when I was one looking the other way and seeing a middle-aged man. 

Growing up as a young teenager, I listened to a lot of music of The Beach Boys.  When others were listening to their Beatle or Rolling Stone tunes, this middle-aged man preferred Beach Boy songs with their unique vocal harmonies and lyrics reflecting a California youth culture of surfing, cars and romance. 

I remember being in my bedroom listening to Beach Boy music on my little record player while holding an album cover in hand looking at its front and back sides.  I was on a first-name basis with Brian, Dennis, Carl, Mike and Al.

When I Grow Up (To Be A Man) is one Beach Boy song I fondly recall listening to over and over.  

I’m not sure I spent much time actually allowing the lyrics to sink into my head of what my future life would be like as a middle-aged man. 

Now, looking in a mirror in search of my yesteryear youth, I have a real appreciation for this innocent time in my life when I didn’t reflectively ponder about the stuff I now do.

Enjoy this classic song’s lyrics below:

When I grow up to be a man
Will I dig the same things that turn me on as a kid?
Will I look back and say that I wish I hadn't done what I did?
Will I joke around and still dig those sounds
(Will I still joke around and still dig those sounds?)
When I grow up to be a man?

Will I look for the same things in a woman that I dig in a girl?
(Fourteen, fifteen)
Will I settle down fast or will I first wanna travel the world?
(Sixteen, seventeen)
Now I'm young and free but how will it be
(I'm young and free, how will it be?)
When I grow up to be a man?

Ooh, ooh, ooh
Will my kids be proud or think their old man is really a square?
(Eighteen, nineteen)
When they're out having fun yeah, will I still wanna have my share?
(Twenty, twenty-one)
Will I love my wife for the rest of my life
(Will I love my wife rest of my life)
When I grow up to be a man?

What will I be when I grow up to be a man?
(Twenty-two, twenty-three)
Won't last forever
(Twenty-four, twenty-five)
It's kind of sad
(Twenty-six, twenty-seven)
Won't last forever
(Twenty-eight, twenty-nine)
It's kind of sad
(Thirty, thirty-one)
Won't last forever
(Thirty-two)

Life was simple and innocent in those days when I didn’t give much thought about when I grow up to be a middle-aged man.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Weak streak

Tuesday’s early morning gym workout this week was another reminder of how short is my middle-aged man strength shelf-life.  

Here today and gone tomorrow best describes about what I’m talking. 

I’ve settled in on the following twice a week workout plan for the next couple months.  I might modify it occasionally but believe it’ll continue being my strength and conditioning blueprint.

Day #1

Barbell overhead press – 3 to 5 sets of varying reps and progressive loads for about 15 total working reps.  Then  I’ll do an additional closing set with a barbell weight of about 70 percent of my one-rep max for as many reps as possible – usually 10 to 12 reps but always striving for 15 reps.

Weighted standard-grip pull-ups – about 5 sets with progressive loads for about 15 to 20 total working reps.  Then I’ll do an additional closing bodyweight-only set for a near maximum rep effort – currently 10 to 12 reps but always striving for more.

Box jumps – about 5 sets of 5 reps with two inch progression in jump heights.  Currently I’m starting my box jumps at a 24-inch height and ending with a 32-inch height.    

Anaerobic cardio conditioning – Currently I’m doing ten rounds of kettlebell one-hand snatch work using a 35-lb. kettlebell.  One round consists of 10 reps with my right hand and then 10 reps with my left hand.  I generally try to complete these 10 rounds as quickly as possible.  My conditioning progression plan is to slowly reduce the rest time between rounds each workout.

Day #2

Dumbbell bench press – 3 to 5 sets of varying reps and progressive loads for about 15 to 25 working reps.  The next workout I’ll do barbell incline bench press work instead for similar reps and progressions.   I’ll alternate between these two exercises for each day #2 workout.

Bar dips – A single set for a maximum rep effort.

Barbell squats – I do mine of the full-squat vintage focusing on trying to maintain good upper-body uprightness; in other words, they’re not done power-lifting style.  I’m recovering from an injury so right now I’m doing 6 sets of 3 reps with a constant and light barbell weight.

Pullups/chin-ups – I do my “patented” 6-grip pullup/chinup medley for between 6 and 10 reps each set.  Lately, I’ve been doing them with a dead-hang pause between reps so this decreases my rep count per set.

Anaerobic cardio conditioning – I’ve come out of running retirement again now that I’m feeling better after healing from an injury but I’m still being cautious. 

Basically what I do on this day is high-intensity interval training running on a treadmill.  After a two-minute walking warm-up, I’ll perform 8 to 10 rounds of running work lasting 60 seconds currently after which I’ll walk for 60 seconds.  Each running round is faster than the previous round.

As I get more running conditioned, I’ll  increasing the running workout time and decrease the walking recover time while keeping the total rounds about the same. 

That’s what I’m currently doing and it’ll get the fitness job done for me until I’m ready to make a change and do something else.  It’s all good so I just have to show up and do it.

But every now and then and sometimes more in my strength and conditioning journey, like last Tuesday’s workout, I’ll have a weak streak.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

The door is always open

The chief executive blogger of Pierini Fitness is generally the only mule in the barn here but we’ve had guest bloggers in the past and their contributions have made it a better and more balanced cyberspace for all to enjoy.

If you have a middle-aged man message deserving to be shared with the cyberspace world, we invite you to let us know and, perhaps, you can serve as blogger of the day here. 

Are you interested? 

Please reply with a comment below that only we’ll be able to view.  Give us your name, contact e-mail address and a little detail about a middle-aged man reflection you’d like to share.  We'll contact you and perhaps we can seal a deal.

At Pierini Fitness, the door is always open.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Somebody has got to do it

For the longest time I've had fun referring to myself as my wife's young and handsome bodyguard.

Not only do I get a laugh out of it but so do most other men because we know our truth.

I'm not sure my wife always understands the humor of it, particularly when my behavior is lacking in the chivalry department.  So that means I have more work to do if I'm to keep and rightfully deserve another of my self-proclaimed titles.

As a constant reminder of it, I recently designed a t-shirt with the following lettering appearing on both the front and back.  

It's a black short-sleeve t-shirt I'll start wearing shortly in the months ahead once the weather gets warmer.  Tell me what you think.

It's a job with low pay, long hours and a demanding boss but somebody has got to do it.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum