Today will be a GOOD day. I actually fixed something!

[JM]

I am a programmer. I am not good with appliances and other household matters. I have a rule. If something has a risk of flood, electrocution, or is publicly viewable, call a contractor.

Perhaps this is just an allergy to anything mechanical, or perhaps it is the secret portion of the Torah that forbids the mixture of Jews and tools. I am not sure.

At any rate, last week the kids told me both bulbs in the fridge were out. I found it odd they would both blow on the same day and time, and I was worried there was something seriously wrong with the fridge. I asked my wife $ (pronounced Ka-Ching) to pick up new bulbs at the store.

She came home with new bulbs and I replaced the old ones. Nothing. Today I discovered that they were not in all the way. For some reason they bound so tight halfway in that I though they were inall the way. Once they got cold and contracted a little, in they went.

Another lesson learned. Next stops? The furnace and shower...Toe to call in the pros.

JM

[demnan]

1. I am a programmer

I'm buying this condo and I have some improvements I want to make also I want to get routine things done like service the air conditioning, etc. Lucky I have a phone or stuff just wouldn't get done.

And I'm not even Jewish!!! My mother gave me a toolbox full of tools as a present one year. I can assemble furniture but it takes me twice as long as the not-mechanically challenged.

Nancy

[JM]

2. Perhaps it is

a programmer thing and not a religion/ethnic/cultural thing.

Good luck with the condo. Where/for whom are you programming?

JM

[denverbill]

3. I'm a programmer too, but I did myself proud earlier this year.

A value in our sprinkler system had actually cracked and was leaking. I actually went out and bought a blowtorch, took it apart, cut the pipe, put it back together and soldered the joints. And it's still holding together (so far).

That was a real accomplishment for me. That damned sprinkler system is going to turn me into a full-blown plumber yet.

[radwriter0555]

4. I fixed my sprinkler system this week and the last head this morning! Now

it's working PERFECTLY.

I had to do some digging and regluing and resetting of a couple of heads.

Now if I could just find the manual so I could get it back to running on automatic...

**sigh**

[midnight armadillo]

5. Handiness is a born-in trait

There was a funny article in the Boston Globe a little while back on the This Old House guys and what it means to be handy.

The main builder on the show (whose name escapes me) notes that you're either handy or not when it comes to fixing and building things. At the end of the article he has the article author take a little hammering lumber test and while the author had done a bunch of home renovations was dubbed un-handy and he recommended a contractor.

It is possible that you're handy but inexperienced. If you get better at repairing things with time then that's probably the case :-)