No, never.
No, never.
DiscoGary wrote:
People ask me all the time "how did you know how to do that?".
My standard response is "I didn't, but now I do.". So you just have to start doing things until you figure it out. I wouldn't choose a kitchen remodeling job as your first handy man task though.
A big problem for beginners is the tools. You know all those tools you see at Home Depot, the ones where you have no idea what they do... well you need ALL of those. I have a basement full of tools but every project I'm buying more. Lack of the right tool will make many home repair projects impossible.
That is good advice about the tools. If it is an incredibly unique tool that you will only need once, borrow it, and if you're lucky, the tool owner will help you use it, and when I say "help you", I mean he (or she) will do it for you. If it is a tool you will use more than once, buy it.
The late, great Mitch Hedberg had a nice quote regarding fixing things. "If my car breaks down I get my toolbox, aka checkbook."
Judge Dredd wrote:
Deliberence from evil wrote:The ability to fix things would be sexy, masculine ability to have, but regrettably testing confirms that I possess low spatial intelligence and therefore have no business getting my hands dirty. My only chance to acquire enough resources to be able to trade for the needed repairs.
Sometimes. But I feel better about my ability to pay someone else to when needed.
This post is full of win.
My dad showed me how to get the phone book, look up a pro and then make the call. "That's how we fix things son". My wife's father could fix anything. Therefore we agree to disagree about our approaches.
I am NOT a fix-it guy, and have anxiety pretty much every time I try. Once in a great while I try something that is as difficult as I feared (or more difficult), but a vast majority of the time, I fix something, and afterward think "Wow, that was way easier than I thought.". Like someone said earlier, having the right tools is a biggie (AND knowing HOW to use them properly).
Perfect example...try replacing your own brake pads on disc brakes in your vehicle some time. I was stunned at how simple (and quick) it was the first time I did it. It is literally harder to remove the wheel than to replace the pads on most cars I've owned.
Dude... YouTube.
thejeff wrote:
Dude... YouTube.
I agree, what's the point anyway , robots well be able to do that job soon. Also soon AI well take everyone job , and every ambition, dream will be completed by AI.We'll be left one question before we're all wiped out by AI, "Where did it all go wrong?"
I went to a BBQ a couple weeks ago and the hosts asked me what I had been doing that day. I told them fixing the brakes on my daughter's car and they acted all impressed.
New pads, rotors, backing plates, carrier clips (that pads sit in) and then I bled the brakes.
To the OP.. I am similar, my dad was also.. yes at times I get frustrated and usually tell myself its my dads fault for not teaching me to be handy and then call him and laugh about it!!! But honestly I have no interest. I am impressed by those who do and understand their sense of accomplishment but its not for me. The few things I actually do around the house (lawn mow,snow blow) do give me that sense of accomplishment.
I hear people that have someone help them with a home improvement project, (shingles, decks, etc) say that they like helping/watching because they want to learn. I usually couldn't care less. Actually when I hire someone I prefer to go away and come home and have it done!! I know it has cost me some money over my lifetime, but it has saved me time and aggravation.
Another thing my dad told me was thats why you go to college so you can afford to pay someone to do stuff you don't want to!!
No. I would feel like "less of a man" if I relied on spatial testing to tell what I can and can't do.
Deliberence from evil wrote:
The ability to fix things would be sexy, masculine ability to have, but regrettably testing confirms that I possess low spatial intelligence and therefore have no business getting my hands dirty. My only chance to acquire enough resources to be able to trade for the needed repairs.
Of course learning how and when to swear is just as important as all the other advice. There are some very good YouTube videos on that as well.
The swearing protocol for drawing blood is one area where you can NOT afford to make any mistakes. Immediately after drawing blood you are allowed one swear word only, but after that you must MAN UP and pretend that it's "only a flesh wound". Bandage it up, preferably with a something that allows a little blood to leak through so that others can see how bad it is, and then get back to work as if it doesn't bother you at all.
Any excessive bitching, moaning, screaming, and swearing after drawing blood is unmanly.
it's a simple fact: if you don't/won't fix things, then you ARE less of a man. I'm not talking about something big like overhauling an engine, but there's nothing more pathetic than when a "man" needs to call a plumber to replace a leaky toilet flapper.
fixer, I don't even know her! wrote:
it's a simple fact: if you don't/won't fix things, then you ARE less of a man. I'm not talking about something big like overhauling an engine, but there's nothing more pathetic than when a "man" needs to call a plumber to replace a leaky toilet flapper.
Thats a bad example. I mean, ive never not been able to fix one, but those things can be finicky sometimes
3hr-marathoner wrote:
In addition to needing tools, you need space. Car repair isn't a game for apartment dwellers, nor is woodworking.
once you have basic tools and space, fixing stuff is more about leaning and practicing a bunch of specific tricks than it is about spatial reasoning.
You also need time, which is what I lack. Fixing stuff would take time away from work, running, or sleep, or worst of all, trolling.
"But I do feel poorly about my inability to write a sentence that makes sense"
Actually, it's "I do feel poor about my inability to write a sentence that makes sense"
The verb feel is equivalent to "is" and therefore requires an adjective
You would feel poorly if your sense of touch was inadequate.
What Is Intelligence, Anyway?
By Isaac Asimov
What is intelligence, anyway?
When I was in the army, I received the kind of aptitude test that all soldiers took and, against a normal of 100, scored 160. No one at the base had ever seen a figure like that, and for two hours they made a big fuss over me.
(It didn't mean anything. The next day I was still a buck private with KP - kitchen police - as my highest duty.)
All my life I've been registering scores like that, so that I have the complacent feeling that I'm highly intelligent, and I expect other people to think so too.
Actually, though, don't such scores simply mean that I am very good at answering the type of academic questions that are considered worthy of answers by people who make up the intelligence tests - people with intellectual bents similar to mine?
For instance, I had an auto-repair man once, who, on these intelligence tests, could not possibly have scored more than 80, by my estimate. I always took it for granted that I was far more intelligent than he was.
Yet, when anything went wrong with my car I hastened to him with it, watched him anxiously as he explored its vitals, and listened to his pronouncements as though they were divine oracles - and he always fixed my car.
Well, then, suppose my auto-repair man devised questions for an intelligence test.
Or suppose a carpenter did, or a farmer, or, indeed, almost anyone but an academician. By every one of those tests, I'd prove myself a moron, and I'd be a moron, too.
In a world where I could not use my academic training and my verbal talents but had to do something intricate or hard, working with my hands, I would do poorly.
My intelligence, then, is not absolute but is a function of the society I live in and of the fact that a small subsection of that society has managed to foist itself on the rest as an arbiter of such matters.
Consider my auto-repair man, again.
He had a habit of telling me jokes whenever he saw me.
One time he raised his head from under the automobile hood to say: "Doc, a deaf-and-mute guy went into a hardware store to ask for some nails. He put two fingers together on the counter and made hammering motions with the other hand.
"The clerk brought him a hammer. He shook his head and pointed to the two fingers he was hammering. The clerk brought him nails. He picked out the sizes he wanted, and left. Well, doc, the next guy who came in was a blind man. He wanted scissors. How do you suppose he asked for them?"
Indulgently, I lifted by right hand and made scissoring motions with my first two fingers.
Whereupon my auto-repair man laughed raucously and said, "Why, you dumb jerk, He used his voice and asked for them."
Then he said smugly, "I've been trying that on all my customers today." "Did you catch many?" I asked. "Quite a few," he said, "but I knew for sure I'd catch you."
"Why is that?" I asked. "Because you're so goddamned educated, doc, I knew you couldn't be very smart."
And I have an uneasy feeling he had something there.
~ ~ ~
Autobiography by Dr. Isaac Asimov (1920–1992):
It's Been a Good Life
Never been one to do a lot of stuff, but I'll give myself a sold 6 on the scale of DYI stuff.
I will say this. I recently built a few pieces of furniture and the reaction of the wife was noticeable. Women like to see their men do manly stuff. No matter how feminist or independent, they like to see a guy saw some wood, or fix a leaking sink etc..
I used to.
But now I just pay people to fix things I'm not so good at fixing.
And I live in a better house than the men that come here to fix things for me.
That doesn't make me feel less of a man.
Deliberence from evil wrote:
The ability to fix things would be sexy, masculine ability to have, but regrettably testing confirms that I possess low spatial intelligence and therefore have no business getting my hands dirty. My only chance to acquire enough resources to be able to trade for the needed repairs.
I had a well paying job and had no inclination to spend my time off fixing things. I was glad to just pay someone to do it.
I am retired now, and still have plenty of money to pay to have things done, but now I have the time to do it myself. Sure there are plenty of you tube videos explaining how to do things. I still don't have the patience for that stuff so I hire out. Sometimes when I do take on a job, it always seems to be more difficult and time consuming than I thought. I don't usually enjoy it although I can feel pride when I complete it.
But sometimes it does seem weird to hire somebody to do something I should be able to figure out and do. But it is easier and doesn't interfere with my fun stuff.
Tools and a "clean well-lighted place" is all you need, and you dont even have to be male.