DIY

"Do It Yourself" (DIY) is probably good advice for "normal" people.  On the other hand, I don't know that many normal people.  Among those fine folks, I do not consider myself a member of that unique and much to be envied confederation.

I don't "DO"  DIY.  I once fell in love with a woman who admired me for my sensitivity.  She explained that for her entire adult life, every time she mentioned that there was a "problem", the men in her life rushed to fix it for her.  She said that I was the first man she ever met who didn't automatically assume that a casual mention of a problem was a challenge to my masculine expertise in fixing her problems for her.

In a rare moment of sanity, I didn't bother to explain that the reason I didn't feel congenitally obligated to "fix things" was because I was incompetent.

Much later in our relationship, I related this story to her:

Once I had a problem with my toilet.  The rod from the flush-handle to the float bowl had corroded to the point where it broke.  It was a two-dollar part, so I bought the replacement part and attempted to remove the flush-handle from the toilet tank.

I turned the nut the wrong way, and thinking it was just stuck I applied a little extra Masculine Muscle to it.

The ceramic tank cracked.  I couldn't replace the tank, because the toilet in the rental house was too old, and no parts were available.  I ended up spending $250 for a new toilet, plus another $*** to hire a plumber to replace it.

(The woman who I was then sharing the house with chided me, saying "why didn't you tell me?  I could have fixed it for you.")

I have never attempted to 'repair' anything more expensive than a kitchen timer since then.  Come to think of it, that repair consisted of tearing apart the old kitchen timer, then throwing away the parts and buying a new kitchen timer.

So for those well-meaning readers who suggest (or think) that I should have applied the DIY solution to my broken car:  thanks, but no thanks.  Experience has proven to my satisfaction that it is ultimately MUCH cheaper for me to hire competent labor, than to break a mechanical object far beyond the original damage and ultimately hire the same person to not only fix the original 'broken-ness'  AND also to repair the damage which I incurred in a misguided attempt to "save money".

I spent 30 years fixing computer software;  but when it comes to mechanical stuff ... I've learned my lesson.