How many do-it-yourself tasks can you do?

[Wanderer]

36. Speak conversational Swahili.

I can curse some in Swahili...

[MagicSailor]

Hi

1. Patch a radiator hose.
I used to have vintage cars, but usually had more trouble with my modern ones. Now I don't have a car at all, but there are hoses on my boat engine too.

2. Protect your computer [from viruses and spyware].
(Yup. I am protected. Fended off an attack via MSN just the other day.)

3. Rescue a boater who as capsized.
I live on the water. I have rescued an idiot who managed to capsize my dinghy when he was borrowing it. I've also rescued an idiot on a holed and sinking jetski. I'll never know what possessed me to also rescue the bloody jetski.

4. Frame a wall.
Yes

5. Retouch digital photos.
I was a photographer in a former life. I used to have a darkroom, now I do the same on the computer.

6. Back up a trailer.
My father borrowed a trailer a long time ago and I also had some stuff to get rid off, so I hitched it to my car. My Dad could not manage to back it up. I made it perfectly at the first attempt. Just go slowly and think through what is going to happen and why.

7. Build a campfire.
Haven't done this in a long time now. Brings back fond memories.

8. Fix a dead outlet.
I've made a living as an electrician at times.

9. Navigate with a map and compass.
I live on a sailboat and cross oceans when the fancy takes me.

10. Use a torque wrench.
Yes. I also overhaul my on engines when needed and a long time ago I did motorcycle repairs.

11. Sharpen a knife.
Yes. A honing stone is standard equipment in my galley (boat kitchen).

12. Perform CPR.
I've learned to do this, but thankfully I've never had to do it in anger.

13. Fillet a fish.
Some of the best are Mackrill caught in my home waters in Norway in June - July wrapped in tin foil and barbecued. I also caught a beautiful Mackrill like fish with blue fins between Antigua and St Martin. It tasted wonderful.

14. Maneuver a car out of a skid.
You kidding? I learned to drive in northern Norway in the winter.

15. Get a car unstuck.
Had to do that a few times. In the winter in Norway you don't drive anywhere without a shovel and a bag of sand in the car.

16. Back up data.
That's only half the secret. The other half is keeping the backups at a different location from your computer. Otherwise you may still end up loosing all.

17. Paint a room.
Done that. Also painted the inside of my old yacht.

18. Mix concrete.
Yes, I've mixed more than I care to think about. Whenever I have a really bad day, I always remember the day I was on a roof in northern Norway building a chimney in a snowstorm.

19. Clean a bolt-action rifle.
Yes. I owned a rifle for a little while.

20. Change oil and filter.
Hmmm. That reminds me. I think the engine in the boat is about due.

21. Hook up an HDTV.
Plug it in. Plug the antenna in (or cable or whatever). How difficult can that be?

22. Bleed brakes.
Been there, done that.

23. Paddle a canoe.
Yes, I can even J-stroke. (Paddle on one side only and keep going in a straight line.)

24. Fix a bike flat.
Haven't done that since I was a teenager.

25. Extend your wireless network.
I built my own directional wifi antenna to get better reception on the boat. (And it works)

And then to Dale's extended list:


Regards,

Owen Morgan

Yacht Magic
Anchored in the lagoon, St Maarten

My new blog.
Click here for my latest reported position. (Use the satellite view.)

[Cynth]

I can do... four? Maybe five?

I feel inadequate.

Here, I can make you feel better. I'm 57 and have only done five or six, depending on how good the job needs to be. You are like, what, nineteen or twenty and have done five? You have a lot more time to get adequate than I do .

[fearfaoin]

40. Apply flea killer to Schrodinger's cat.

That's easy. Before the box is opened, the fleas are both dead and
not-dead. Since the probability curve will collapse according to
the expectation of the experimenter, all you have to do is assume
that the fleas are dead, and when you open the box, they will be.

43. Open up a chain of Transubstantiation Shoppes.

I think Will B. Dunn has already cornered the McSteeples market...

[mutepointe]

i thought the list was a bit slanted towards traditionally male activities. some of the women on this list could expand this list better than me, but here's a few more:

1. teach a child to blow their nose.
2. feed a family interesting & healthy foods on a tight budget.
3. locate the scissors in the home.
4. keep track of every relative's and in-law relative's birthdays and anniversaries and send a card ahead of time.
5. fix a run.
6. get a man to think it was his idea.
7. drop clothes IN a hamper.

[fearfaoin]

i thought the list was a bit slanted towards traditionally male activities.

Well, the original article linked in the first post was titled
"25 Skills Every Man Should Know", so... yeah.

[sbfluter]

3. locate the scissors in the home.

Oh come on! NOBODY can do that.


These I know I can do:
5. Retouch digital photos.
7. Build a campfire.
12. Perform CPR.
20. Change oil and filter. (Depends on the car/motorcycle of course)
24. Fix a bike flat. (Do it all the time)

This I think I could do but haven't tried:
2. Protect your computer [from viruses and spyware]. (I know for sure I could protect this forum from spammers because I've mastered it on my own forum.)
11. Sharpen a knife.
16. Back up data. (But I can't see a good reason why. I like the feeling of starting over!)
23. Paddle a canoe. (How hard could this possibly be. I've paddled a kayak no problem, except for coming in for a landing through the surf in the ocean. I always tip over.)

These I have done but not for a long time so I might be rusty:
9. Navigate with a map and compass.
13. Fillet a fish.

[emmline]

ok,ok.

Dale extends the list:

26. Write a sonnet.
forsooth. but of course.
27. Recognize a sonnet.
same answer.
28. Broil asparagus.
not over-broiling it is more to the point
29. Make a basic Béchamel (white) sauce
is it cheating to use a cookbook?
30. Recognize that Lou Dobbs is a pompous blow-hard.
no sweat.
31. Throw the basic Bechamel sauce you made at Lou Dobbs.
only if it sucks.
32. Name a lemur.
Frank the Stripe
33. Look a man in the eye and apologize for doing him wrong.
Do I look like Frankie?...(or Johnny, to put things in the right perspective.)
34. Keep an open mind.
easy, I hope
35. Confront injustice.
I could be better.
36. Speak conversational Swahili.
My brother knows a bit...but conversational?
37. Marry well.
did it.
38. Raise a child to have a good heart.
did it four times.
39. Forgive.
yes.
40. Apply flea killer to Schrodinger's cat.
I don't see how the condition of the cat is relevant. Open canister. Sprinkle.
41. Write "Daily Affirmations for the Small Appliance Repairman."
It's short. "I WILL get another job. I DO like peanut butter."
42. Sell the movie options for "Daily Affirmations for the Small Appliance Repairman" to Billy Bob Thorton.
He's a pushover. Billy Bob Thornton could be tricky.
43. Open up a chain of Transubstantiation Shoppes.
Are you forgetting that they would be roughly the size of a medicine cabinet? Easy.
44. Call your mother (if she's alive.)
I do.
45. Call your mother (if she's passed away.)
I will.
46. Instead of edging closer to your grave, back away from it.
I'm planning to be cremated.
47. Deny something undeniable. Affirm something unknowable.
I don't think Dale is all that indisputable. Bloomfield's reading this.
48. Identify the source of turpentine.
a can. A rectangular can.
49. Be nice to a woman who works in a store who the previous customer has been unkind to.
Are people unkind to stores in your parts? Weird.
50. Sit and do nothing.
Well, duh. Typing doesn't count.

[Aanvil]

Of the first list I have done them all save having to actually do CPR and save boaters.

[Cynth]

3. locate the scissors in the home.

Oh come on! NOBODY can do that.

Yay! I found one I can do, and do very well!!!!

23. Paddle a canoe. (How hard could this possibly be. I've paddled a kayak no problem, except for coming in for a landing through the surf in the ocean. I always tip over.)

Weeeell, if you're in a one-person canoe, no problem. But if you're in a two-person canoe, there can be ISSUES .

[djm]

I am struck by the similarity to most peoples' response to this list of tasks: threatened. The original post did not specify that it was for men, or for manly men, or that any of the listed activities should be considered as gender-specific at all. Yet everyone is responding as if they had been challenged, as if the list was a valid set of expected abilities that one should have. Did it not occur to you that you are capable of questioning the list's authority or validity?

Rather than try to defend or obfiscate your perceived inadequacies per the original list, I would like to hear your thoughts on why you didn't see the original list as being simply irrelevent to your life.

djm

[ketida]

It's irrelevant to me, mostly cause I don't read Popular Mechanics, probably.

Way more important stuff on Dale's list that I'm happy to have accomplished.

[Congratulations]

I am struck by the similarity to most peoples' response to this list of tasks: threatened. The original post did not specify that it was for men, or for manly men, or that any of the listed activities should be considered as gender-specific at all. Yet everyone is responding as if they had been challenged, as if the list was a valid set of expected abilities that one should have. Did it not occur to you that you are capable of questioning the list's authority or validity?

Rather than try to defend or obfiscate your perceived inadequacies per the original list, I would like to hear your thoughts on why you didn't see the original list as being simply irrelevent to your life.

djm

My post was supposed to be tongue-in-cheek. I tend not to believe magazines when they tell me my life is insubstantial.

[BillChin]

Like almost everything else in the magazine, the list is to sell more magazines. It is Popular Mechanics. Folks that subscribe, tend to like to build things, tinker with things, fix things, do projects. A high percentage own one or more cars, one or more computers, a good number of subscribers like to fish and/or hunt.

I'm sure a different magazine might pose a different question and have a different list, again to sell magazines. That's a good idea for another thread, think of a magazine and what list you would put in, as editor.

[MagicSailor]

I am struck by the similarity to most peoples' response to this list of tasks: threatened

Whaddayamean? Threatened? I'm not feeling Threatened!
What an absurd idea! How dare you? You want a piece of me, huh?



Sorry, I just need another cup of tea...

Regards,

Owen Morgan

Yacht Magic
Anchored in the lagoon, St Maarten

My new blog.
Click here for my latest reported position. (Use the satellite view.)