Handyman

Owning a home obviously comes with a lot of responsibility. Some of the responsibilities are a bit easier to handle than others. I have very little (ok not really any) handyman skills. I guess a lot of people learn how to do these types of things from their dads, but not me. My dad taught me how to make pizza but we skipped the lessons on changing tires, power tools, and other things of this nature.

Even though I don't have the handyman skills, I feel like I need to learn how to be able to do things around the house. I don't want to have to pay a butt load of money every time I need something little done. Over the past few days I have been trying to handle some plumbing issues at the house. I had a leaky shower faucet and what should have entailed replacing one washer ended up involving two busted valves and 7 trips to Home Depot and Robertson Plumbing in a 12 hour period.

I was finally able to take care of the issue today. There were certainly times over the past few days when I wished I would have hired someone else to come out and do it, but in the end I am glad I didn't. I got a deep sense of satisfaction from knowing that I had conquered the dripping shower head. I fixed it all by myself!

I think that often I am pretty hesitant to try new things. I generally do not like taking risks and avoid situations that I am not comfortable in. I saw this quote the other day by oil tycoon Boone Pickens he said, "Don't fall victim to what I call the ready-aim-aim-aim-aim syndrome. You must be willing to fire.” I think I generally stay in aim-aim-aim mood. It felt good that in this situation I just fired. I didn't do everything right, but I was able to learn as I went a long.

I'm ready to fire more often.