Read somewhere that hand grinding coffee burns like 20 calories a cup, so you're basically getting a workout AND caffeine at the same time. Sounds like a WIN to me.

Learned this the hard way last summer when I dumped a whole load too fast and blew out the forms on a driveway pour. Ray sounds like every old finisher I've ever met, they got a sixth sense for mud that us younger guys just don't have yet. Watching the driver's hand on that lever is smart because you can see him feather it before the slump even changes. My uncle used to say the chute lies but the mud don't, and I laughed at him until I wrecked a set of steps in front of a customer. Took me about ten bad joints to figure out the clock in my head means nothing compared to how the mix stacks up. Now I just stand there watching hands like a creep and my edges finally look like I know what I'm doing.