Building a Better Jay

German work laws are amazing when you come from the US.  The rules where I work are fairly simple.  If you work more than 8 hours, that time goes into an account and you can withdraw from that account as needed to take time off another day.  Of course, the Germans also have 6 weeks of vacation.  There is another rule that you can’t work more than 10 hours in any day because you might be too tired to drive home.  These laws protect the worker, but they also seem to protect the family unit by forcing the employer to allow enough time for one to spend with their family.  To me, this is great.  In the US, as a salaried employee, I am expected to work more than 8 hours each day.  Heck, we are often chided as "part-time" for working less than 9 hours each day.  So, surely you can see that the German way of doing business can be rewarding.

Anyway, this also means that I have more time to spend lifting!  Honestly, because of the different opening times here in Germany, I wouldn’t be able to get to the gym without sacrificing family time if it weren’t for these types of rules.  This way, I can see my son in the morning and have dinner & tuck him in at night before heading to the gym.  It is a beautiful thing and I really wish more US companies would adopt such things.  …perhaps this is asking too much at a difficult time in the US economy, but I can still dream!

Well, I felt good enough today to go to the gym.  Did some chest & back.  I love that workout.  I was totally feeling it and the gym was really hopping.  There were some real bodybuilders there today, which made me feel more at home and happy with my choice of gyms.  I was worried because previously I had mostly seen skinny old men and young punks with 8" biceps.  However, today I even saw a guy with a bb.com shaker!!  I asked him how much he paid for shipping and he explained he got it in Essen at FIBO.  As you can imagine, I had to ask about that and it appears there is a large trade show only a few hours from me next weekend.  Check it out at fibo.de!  (Yes, it is in English.)  It looks like a lot of fun.  I just have to get my wife to let me go for the day….