What urban skills do you need, other than driving?
Well, you should know how to maintain and fix basic issues with your car, for starters.
I know how to do very simple stuff to get a car back on its tires and running, about 95% of the time. I wish I knew the other 5% but that takes years to learn. Also, modern cars are completely computerized, so you can't pound on them and duct-tape them like the old days. I learned most of what I know by owning a beautiful 1970 BMW 2002 for more than a decade. Honestly, don't you want to know more about how to drive better (e.g. emergency collision avoidance) and how to get a stuck car going again?
Have you ever had to cut a padlock off because you lost the key? Have you ever locked yourself out? We did. The first week we were here, we locked ourselves out. It took from midnight until 5 am until we could get a locksmith. He didn't know how to pick a lock well, but he tried for more than half an hour. Then he drilled the lock and re-keyed it. I know how to do the latter, from years as a landlord. I don't know how to pick a lock, so I'm learning. Locksmith skills, like plumbing, are very important when you can't get someone to come and help you. Also, I don't like the feeling of helplessness waiting for an "expert" to show up, only to watch him do it incorrectly! Enough of that. Seriously. It's not brain surgery. My brother agrees with me on that.
Look, I'm all for paying experts to fix stuff. I'll always pay extra and tip generously for a good job too. But sometimes, even in a city, help just doesn't come in time; and they can't save the day when they do. Out in the woods, where I grew up, power would go out for 2 weeks at a time, in the winter ice storms. We had a pump which supplied water to the house which would fail at the worst possible times. My mom and dad would heat and cook with wood and my dad would fix the pump himself. What heroes they were! I want to be a hero too.
Basic automobile repair, plumbing, electrical work, locksmithing, and computer hacking are all essential urban skills. It's time to fill the gaps in my urban hacking resume. Each time I fix any of those, my wife adores me more. Maybe that's the best reason of all.
The strangest skill is lock picking. It's more an art than a science. All of the others are hard science, and you either know them or you don't. Black or white. Even lock building, repair, and installation are all hard science. As a result, I'm going to post some lock picking experiments. I'm not inherently coordinated. If I can learn it, you can too. What you won't see are all the failed attempts and fumbling. There's a lot of that. My hope is that the thrill of seeing it work in video will inspire you to try.
I know how to do very simple stuff to get a car back on its tires and running, about 95% of the time. I wish I knew the other 5% but that takes years to learn. Also, modern cars are completely computerized, so you can't pound on them and duct-tape them like the old days. I learned most of what I know by owning a beautiful 1970 BMW 2002 for more than a decade. Honestly, don't you want to know more about how to drive better (e.g. emergency collision avoidance) and how to get a stuck car going again?
Have you ever had to cut a padlock off because you lost the key? Have you ever locked yourself out? We did. The first week we were here, we locked ourselves out. It took from midnight until 5 am until we could get a locksmith. He didn't know how to pick a lock well, but he tried for more than half an hour. Then he drilled the lock and re-keyed it. I know how to do the latter, from years as a landlord. I don't know how to pick a lock, so I'm learning. Locksmith skills, like plumbing, are very important when you can't get someone to come and help you. Also, I don't like the feeling of helplessness waiting for an "expert" to show up, only to watch him do it incorrectly! Enough of that. Seriously. It's not brain surgery. My brother agrees with me on that.
Look, I'm all for paying experts to fix stuff. I'll always pay extra and tip generously for a good job too. But sometimes, even in a city, help just doesn't come in time; and they can't save the day when they do. Out in the woods, where I grew up, power would go out for 2 weeks at a time, in the winter ice storms. We had a pump which supplied water to the house which would fail at the worst possible times. My mom and dad would heat and cook with wood and my dad would fix the pump himself. What heroes they were! I want to be a hero too.
Basic automobile repair, plumbing, electrical work, locksmithing, and computer hacking are all essential urban skills. It's time to fill the gaps in my urban hacking resume. Each time I fix any of those, my wife adores me more. Maybe that's the best reason of all.
The strangest skill is lock picking. It's more an art than a science. All of the others are hard science, and you either know them or you don't. Black or white. Even lock building, repair, and installation are all hard science. As a result, I'm going to post some lock picking experiments. I'm not inherently coordinated. If I can learn it, you can too. What you won't see are all the failed attempts and fumbling. There's a lot of that. My hope is that the thrill of seeing it work in video will inspire you to try.
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