jim wrote:

couple of months back i was replacing a gate.. cedar 1 by 6 in. 6 ft
tall. i had some hardware on there that was about 30 yrs. old. it was
good quality stuff but the rust kinda messed up the threads on the
bolts and nuts.. i got out the taps and dies and told my wife that it
was goona be a bitch to get all this rust off... she then said.. how old
is the stuff: about 30 yrs.. she then said: well how many times do you
think you gonna have to do this again??? i realized that for the time
and energy that i was gonna put into this job that i could have just as
easily walked to the hardware store and for a few bucks got new stuff,
which i did.... i just have it in my mind that something needs fixing
and i can do it, so why buy new if the old stuff still works.........
kinda hard to get off of this way of thinking......
kinda like the time a ceiling fan switch lost its chain pull... i
figured i would get a new switch... went to three local hardware stores
and none thad them... i then drilled out the rivets to take the switch
apart.. then had to make some screws long enough to put the switch back
together..... took a long time do do with the screws(finally used the
shafts of the rivets that i put in the die to put on some threads.....
took all this time and one day out at home depot find a wall of these
switches for fans for about $3.00 each.... kinda made me feel bad
after messing with the old switch.... is anyone out there feels like
this???? sometimes does too much to fix junk that it only seems right to
them????
thanks for all the replies about being cheap/fixing stuff.. i posted
this on the honda automobile newsgroup by mistake and just about every
answer i got was why waste your time, some said old people would do this
but not them??? i guess they are younger??? me in my late 50's.. but
would like to be in my 20's again so i can refer to someone as old
people.....

friend who is a doctor said his dad was a mechanic and had his own
shop/business. he said that he can thank his dad for being a doctor
today as when he was a kid he worked in the shop and he was always given
the crap jobs like cleaning something or taking it apart but he never
would get to assemble something and get it working again..he did not
ever get the satisfaction of fixing anything....and hated every minute
that he was in that shop...