Hi,
Like most others who read this newsgroup I try to do my own repairs on
major and minor appliances, and equipment such as the dishwasher,
dryer, clothes washer, sump pump, cars, etc. The good new is that
usually the repairs are fairly far apart, but the bad news is that I
find myself having to relearn how to get at the guts and further
remember the specifics of the repairs each time.

Several years ago I got fed up with the waste of time staring at the
item trying to remember disassembly details. So I began to write up my
repairs into individual help files. Basically, now I do the repair,
sit down afterward, and write the job up. In a few cases, I have gone
as far as using a digital camera for a particularly complicated
repair.

Sure some items just end up being tossed and the work of documenting
then may be useless, but I find that the documenting really does shave
time off a task.

Lately I have been considering using MS OneNote as a free form
database to hold the info instead of individual files. That got me
wondering. What do othes do, if anything?
Gary Dyrkacz

Radio Control Aircraft/Paintball Physics/Paintball for 40+
http://home.comcast.net/~dyrgcmn/

It's a smart thing to do. I use the digital camera trick whenever i
need to take apart something so I know how to put it back - did my car
brakes like this.

"Gary Dyrkacz" wrote in message
...
Hi,
Like most others who read this newsgroup I try to do my own repairs on
major and minor appliances, and equipment such as the dishwasher,
dryer, clothes washer, sump pump, cars, etc. The good new is that
usually the repairs are fairly far apart, but the bad news is that I
find myself having to relearn how to get at the guts and further
remember the specifics of the repairs each time.

Several years ago I got fed up with the waste of time staring at the
item trying to remember disassembly details. So I began to write up my
repairs into individual help files. Basically, now I do the repair,
sit down afterward, and write the job up. In a few cases, I have gone
as far as using a digital camera for a particularly complicated
repair.

Sure some items just end up being tossed and the work of documenting
then may be useless, but I find that the documenting really does shave
time off a task.

Lately I have been considering using MS OneNote as a free form
database to hold the info instead of individual files. That got me
wondering. What do othes do, if anything?
Gary Dyrkacz

Radio Control Aircraft/Paintball Physics/Paintball for 40+
http://home.comcast.net/~dyrgcmn/

I just use text or doc files sorted by property. The windows search
function is almost as good as most text database searches. No experience
with OneNote.

For pictures I try a more descriptive name.

Colbyt

I have ONE file on my computer simply called House. It lists which
paint is on what walls, if I had to mix stain to match wood baseboard
colors what the mixture was, whether the polyurethane is satin,
semi-gloss or gloss (and how many coats), when I installed motion
detector lights, what color and brand of tiles I used, etc. I also
figured out which circuit breakers control which outlets and switches--
making it a lot easier if I need to turn the power off for something--
and I posted the list on the breaker box (since nobody who actually
wires a house seems to see the need for this despite a blank list on
the back of the box door).

It takes all of ten seconds to do this-- and could come in very handy
should I need the info in the future (or should a future owner need
it).

Shaun Eli
http://www.BrainChampagne.com
Brain Champagne: Clever Comedy for the Smarter Audience (sm)