[Sooth]

(09-14-2015 05:58 AM)The Beast1 Wrote:  

(09-14-2015 04:10 AM)CrashBangWallop Wrote:  

(09-14-2015 03:55 AM)The Beast1 Wrote:  

A man should know how to do basic car repair, fix his computer, and be savvy enough around basic tools. It's hilarious seeing how many clueless folks there are.

Why though and to what extent?

I don't care how my computer works. I certainly am not going to spend days/weeks learning about it on the off chance it goes wrong and I have to fix it.

Do I have to retrain myself every few years for the changes in technology? I've had my Macbook for 4 years and not a single thing has gone wrong with it.

Training myself to repair it would just be a complete waste of time I could spend doing other things that either actually interest me or could make me money.

My car is massively complicated and always under warranty. Aside from changing a tyre at the roadside, what benefit is there to me to learn anything about it whatsoever? If something goes wrong, the assist folk will be there within an hour. I'd rather gamble that hour of my life that might happen for the hours learning how it works.

Basic tools yeah, putting a screw in a wall or something, sure. Anything more complicated? No thanks. My time is worth more than a random handy man's so it makes no sense to swap my labour for his economically.

Well, the self satisfaction of being able to do it yourself anytime anyplace. Even been stranded on the side of the road or had something catastrophic happen to your car but you felt completely helpless because you didn't know what was going on? When a mechanic sees a guy who looks completely bewildered he sees dollars or in your case pound signs in his eyes.

You can also get the added benefit of not getting screwed over by a mechanic because you know exactly what's wrong and can tell him what to do. I've had dealers try to up-sell me many many times on repairs that were at best unnecessary and at worst frivolous.

I don't buy new cars or any cars on credit. Why foolishly spend $20-30k on something that will depreciate in value? Even worse, open a line of credit for such a beast. I pay cash for my vehicles, fix them as they fall apart, and send it to a mechanic when I need something like a press or weld done.

I even went so far as to remove a quarter panel that was dented and gave it to my auto body guy for repair. A $1200 repair became $250 because he didn't have to sit around trying to figure out how to remove it.

Technology wise, there aren't many critical differences as well. The fundamentals you learn on say a mid 80s diesel Merc aren't that critically different than a 2005 Saab. Internal combustion engines haven't changed much beyond added electronics for efficiency which once you get the proper tools make troubleshooting vehicles significantly easier. There's a learning curve with everything, but nothing is ever radically re-designed from the past. Once you get the factory service manual for your vehicle any repair becomes as simple as following step by step directions.

Changing your oil also gives you the opportunity to crawl under your car to really see the belly of the beast. You can catch things like rust, ailing suspension, and steering linkage problems before they leave you stranded or worse kill you.

Your Macbook Pro while it may be 4 years old, should at least be running the latest version of OSX (10.10). You should be comfortable knowing how to back up, install programs, and if something happens wipe the sucker and reinstall everything. Taking it to the Geeksquad is a great way to have some nitwit lock you out of your system ensuring you have to come back. I hope you have a tech savvy relative. If you do, make sure you reimburse him for his time.

Protip: If you know how to use Google, you can fix pretty much anything. I got my start fixing computers because I knew to put an error message in "quotations" into google. When my car started having problems, I searched Google and came to an automotive enthusiasts site that helped explain pretty much any question and more for my particular vehicle.

Agree.

Part of being a man is having dominion over the natural world. This includes current and past technology.

Buy a bag of nails and a length of 2x4 then hammer the nails in straight.

Don't be like this guy (NZs current prime minister).
He's a good PM though.

edit: My old man can't cut down any trees at home as they're all full of 6 inch nails