When men were real men

[MiM]

Does it count if I fixed a toilet that started spraying on the floor (when filling up) by applying a plastic jug on top of the part that sprayed, so that the spray now stays inside the bowl

I am no good with plumbing and cars (I do change my tyres, twice a year). Can do some coarse woodwork and electrical installations if needed. Trying to teach the girls, at least how to take care of their bikes.

[tattuchu]

Did they eat quiche?

I do, and I find any DIY beyond my abilities.

Can you at least make your own quiche?

[piscator]

I fixed a busted rocker arm and pushrods, and resealed 2 injectors in a 7.3 Powerstroke in a WalMart parking lot in the rain, after I went inside and bought a $21 tool set to do it and a $5 bucket to stand on. About 3 hours later, I went in and bought some Gojo and shop rags to clean up. It wouldn't have taken so long, except I had to wait for a cab to deliver my parts from the Navistar dealer across town. I would have returned the tools, except they were on sale and the WalMart parking lot security guy was a sport about the whole thing.
Compare to going to a shop in a strange town at 4:40 in the afternoon and telling them you just dropped at least 2 cylinders in your turbo-fkn Powerstroke and you need to get rolling again ASAP...

[Hermit]

Why is it only men should be able to do this stuff??

Luckily the all things pink and cute for girls, all things tough and active for boys is slowly but surely going the way of the dodo. Unfortunately DaveDodo007 isn't quite dead yet. His sexism sucks, but what other attitude can you expect from an MRA?

My ex-partner is very good at home renovation and vintage furniture restoration. She has done plenty of both.

[piscator]

My girlfriend got caught in a Class II avi skiing in the bc with a big group. I wasn't there. They dug her out, put her shoulder back in place, and helped her out on 1 ski, about an hour ordeal of people working up massive post-trauma adrenaline spikes. By the time 21 or so of them got her home to the house, they were ready to party. So 3lbs of cream cheese, 6 1/2 pint jars of smoked salmon, 6 bags of salad, 10 lbs of spot shrimp, and about 8 of frozen halibut later, we all had smoked salmon amuse bouche with cream cheese, onions, and capers, curried shrimp and rice, and grilled halibut tacos with salmonberry and peach/mango chutney. At least two cases of wine got gone before I finally got smart and decided to use at least 1/2 gallon of fresh strawberries and about 1/2 pint of honey in the homemade ice cream.
Within an hour, at least 19 people were asleep on whatever horizontal space they could find. The rest promised to stay quiet and help clean up after we went to bed, but they mostly watched TV and smoked dope before they faded too.

[MrJonno]

What's the obsession with machismo ,ego and independence.

There are professionals who did these tasks regularly and are going to be a lot better at it than you. Become good at profession yourself and earn enough to pay them to do it properly

[cronus]

If you can stash a four pack in fridge for Saturday night then you qualify as a man today. The rest is easy.

[FBM]

I fixed a busted rocker arm and pushrods, and resealed 2 injectors in a 7.3 Powerstroke in a WalMart parking lot in the rain, after I went inside and bought a $21 tool set to do it and a $5 bucket to stand on. About 3 hours later, I went in and bought some Gojo and shop rags to clean up. It wouldn't have taken so long, except I had to wait for a cab to deliver my parts from the Navistar dealer across town. I would have returned the tools, except they were on sale and the WalMart parking lot security guy was a sport about the whole thing.
Compare to going to a shop in a strange town at 4:40 in the afternoon and telling them you just dropped at least 2 cylinders in your turbo-fkn Powerstroke and you need to get rolling again ASAP...

Yeah, you wouldn't get it back for 2 weeks, probably. And the bill? I wouldn't even want to think about it.

[Hermit]

What's the obsession with machismo ,ego and independence.

The examples I gave have nothing to do with machismo or ego. They were mostly connected with either necessity or saving money. No professional seemed all that competent at servicing my truck and in at least one case I was actually being defrauded. And what is wrong with doing a job for 120 dollars that a plumber would add an additional charge of 100? Come to think of it, what exactly is wrong with a bit of independence?

I don't think Piscator's DIY story had anything to do with machismo either. He needed to get mobile again pronto. Furthermore, there's nothing wrong with being totally pleased about oneself with how that worked out.

[FBM]

The pleasure gained from a degree of self-sufficiency need not be machismo.

[MrJonno]

The pleasure gained from a degree of self-sufficiency need not be machismo.

Not as much as the pleasure lost from flooding the kitchen or fusing all the electrics

[FBM]

The pleasure gained from a degree of self-sufficiency need not be machismo.

Not as much as the pleasure lost from flooding the kitchen or fusing all the electrics

I wouldn't know.

[Hermit]

The pleasure gained from a degree of self-sufficiency need not be machismo.

Not as much as the pleasure lost from flooding the kitchen or fusing all the electrics

Since when are such mishaps exclusive to non-professionals?

While I was doing a delivery to a construction site of a multi storey office block one day the plumbers opened the valve of the main water supply. The water pipes had somehow been connected to conduits for electrical wiring. By the time the mistake was discovered and someone was sent down to shut the valve off again, 12 of the 27 floors had been flooded via the lighting system in the false ceilings. The foreman told me to take the 40 foot container containing rolls of carpet away and await amended instructions for delivery. Also, I personally know of one formally accredited electricians who fatally electrocuted himself, and another whose wiring error finished up burning down a supermarket that was being refurbished. My plumbing and electrical projects, while not numerous, resulted in a 100% success rate.

I did flood almost all of an entire home one day, but that had nothing to do with plumbing or wiring. I was repainting a bathroom. As I applied some paint behind the stub end of an exposed galvanised pipe, it broke. Though out of use, it was never actually disconnected by the plumber who installed the new water supply. Over the years the corrosion inside the pipe weakened a joint sufficiently for a slight touch with the brush broke the fucker. I rushed to the valve lever, turned it, and it too broke. Rusted as well. By the time I had found a wrench and returned with it to shut the valve down at its stem, many hundreds of litres had inundated the floor wrecking most of the carpet in the house.

[Robert_S]

What's the obsession with machismo ,ego and independence.

Why are these things linked in your mind and the mind of DaveDodo007?

You have both just insulted and denied the existence of all the strong, independent, capable women out there. I can understand it in MrJonno because he seems to be in love with the idea of being a little worker bee in a giant government/corporate hive.

But Dave, how about this quote:
"Real men don't bitch and moan like some girly man because it ain't fair you gotta change your own oil or deal with societies changing gender expectations."

[pErvinalia]

The pleasure gained from a degree of self-sufficiency need not be machismo.

Not as much as the pleasure lost from flooding the kitchen or fusing all the electrics

Oh Jonno, you live such a sheltered existence.