41–50 of 65 posts
- Starting and cultivating friendships
- DIY, I used to be a bit confident with that stuff, but had a dip, now starting to try and get more confident in my 40s. Simple stuff like basic wiring, plumbing, woodwork, painting, car maintenance. My dad is awesome with this stuff which always put me off
- being bored, and finding enjoyable things to do in your spare time
Not in any order of importance: 1. Basic mechanical drawing and perspective drawing 2. Jogging a mile without stopping 3. Using abdominal muscles when lifting heavy things 4. Stomach breathing 5. Waking a half hour early to journal, meditate, take a walk, enjoy the morning, etc. 6. Being mindful of the moment 7. Basic kinematics 8. Basic electrical concepts and skills 9. Basic plumbing skills 10. Basic photography an…
Do you have tips on how to improve or even learn #12?
Learning basic plumbing, carpentry, and wiring can save you from expensive contractors. Things I've learned to do over the years: re-plumb sink after new countertops were installed, install a dishwasher, a garbage disposal, deck repairs, finish a basement including wiring, etc.
DIY things I've stayed away from: gas lines, major repairs/jobs like roofing, HVAC, and flooring/tiling. Basic wiring can be intimidating but if you are doing simple stuff like adding an outlet, installing a ceiling light/fan, replacing a switch, etc. they are do-able, safety first.
Tangent: People are noticing rent costs going up a lot across the US. A naive view is "it's the same apartment why is rent 20% higher?!?" Part of this is the cost of maintenance has gone up. If an apartment complex was planning to re-roof a building next year - their costs probably have doubled.
This sort of thing is very specific to personality types. For my personality type I've found the following list to save me huge amounts of money. I'm in South Africa, though, so depending on your circumstances some of these may not make sense to you. 1. Automobile diagnosis and repair: A repair (water-pump, thermostat, cambelt and everything in that work-path) was quoted at R19k (ZAR) from the dealership, I bought th…
I would add sewing to this list. Pretty simple to learn how to use a sewing machine in an afternoon or so, and will pay dividends for the rest of your life. I've been able to repair or alter my clothes in a pinch when needed.
Learning how a car works turned out to be a seminal moment in life. Suddenly, lots of machinery, from guns to lawnmowers, seems simple and straightforward.
do you have a good starting source?
How a differential works: https://youtu.be/yYAw79386WI
There are a number of videos of transparent engines: https://youtu.be/nvMcFQqhbpM But if that doesn’t work, searching YouTube for “how an engine works” should give lots of content. Once you’ve figured out how the engine turns the flywheel, you can investigate how the flywheel applies different speeds to the wheels via a transmission. Manual transmissions are simpler, so I would start there: https://youtu.be/wCu9W9xNwtI then figure out how the clutch fits in. After that, you can move on to torque converters (coolest component imo, basically a fluid coupling) and automatic transmissions, which can be a mind-bender.
Feel free to reach out to me at pc.peterso at Mail of g dot common TLD, happy to share what I learned and save you some time.
Lastly, there is a wealth of tidbits on Engineering Explained and howacarworks.com, although the latter goes into far more detail than you probably need.
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyse a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects. — Robert Heinlein, Ti…
I'm a jack of all trades and new people I meet tend to be surprised by the various activities that I can perform. Yet I'm a near useless, underpaid (for the position, not performance), mid-level dev with no professional future.
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyse a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects. — Robert Heinlein, Ti…
I mean, I sort of agree, but the real world doesn't reward people like that. Society is all about conforming and those of us that don't fit the mold are held in high regards by a small number of friends but not rewarded by society. Those who highly specialize are the winners. I'm a jack of all trades and new people I meet tend to be surprised by the various activities that I can perform. Yet I'm a near useless, under…
Sharpening knives