People hear that mantra and think �Gee, that�s right. All I gotta do is apply some brain power and I won�t have to do all this nasty physical stuff that�s causing my spleen to rupture so predictably�.

Construction guys have been saying this for ages. Smarter, not harder. Save your back.

I guess you could carry this idea all the way to the extreme left and say, �Let�s be really smart and not work at all�. Which I�ve done on occasion and my spleen did thank me for it.

I�ve worked smarter for a long time. I know stuff. I know carpenter shortcuts and labor saving tricks like you wouldn�t believe. Why cut one board at a time when you can gang-cut 12? Why drag materials all over a site when you can bring a lightweight, high tech machine right to the pile and do all sorts of things with less wasted motion?

Then I went and had to mess with the equation. I did so while working on the new deck for Big Daddy�s rehab project yesterday.

I figured, since I know all this stuff to make life easier while working, maybe I could just accelerate the process. You know, double up the labor saving stuff, compress the schedule, fire all cylinders, toting every barge and lifting every bale. Start a new labor paradigm, a new catch phrase. �Compress smart labor into impossible schedules!�

Odd that I�d do this. I�ve been ranting about office bound project managers and their idiotic construction schedules for years. Never figured I�d do it to myself.

I laid out, cut and framed an L-shaped deck in 8 hours yesterday. 250 square feet. Hell I even cut the first half dozen pieces of decking, just to show off.

All done in a very smart manner. At warp speed.

I�ll be 47 years old next month. This morning my body feels just exactly like one of those poor unfortunate 2 x 8�s I was cutting and banging on yesterday.

I was doing okay until 3 pm, when I was two joists from completion and just felt all the bones in my body seize up, the 99 octane gas dropped to a teaspoon full and the 18 oz. hammer started feeling more like a 25 pound maul. I got those last two joists in, but it was a matter of sheer will. Or sheer stupidity, one of the two.

So let�s see. Work smarter, not harder. Check.

Work faster, using your native born smarts. Check.

Work twice as fast, using your smarts and upping the physical ante?

I don�t think I�ll be doing that formula again for a while. It looks mighty impressive at the end of the day, but all you want to do is crawl off to a bush somewhere and die.

Today, we cap the deck. I say we, because future son-in-law Bob is gonna help. Younger knees and legs. I�ll be the one leaning on a walker with an IV, cutting the stuff and pitching it over to him. Sounds reasonable. He needs the experience and I need a break..

Besides, he�s got a brand new tool bag, and I don�t think he knows that you never, I mean ever show up at a jobsite with a brand new bag. And it�s blue, which is doubly wrong.

First thing I�ll do is spill coffee on it. Then I�ll roll it in the mud. Chaining to the back of the truck and dragging it around the neighborhood isn�t out of the question. Smearing a big finger full of caulk residue on it is de rigueur. When I�m done, he�ll have something to be proud of.

I�ll have plenty of time for all this. After all, I�m way ahead of schedule.

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