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2013-09-15 9:54 PM
in reply to: switch

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Subject: RE: What's your special talent, Breakfast Club style?
Originally posted by switch
Originally posted by moondawg14
Originally posted by switch

I think that's a really cool special talent to have, and one I'm pretty jealous of as I can't fix a damn thing.  Actually, I would really just like to learn wrenching skillz for my bike.  I would be pretty happy to hold there.  It's on my to-do list...

How'd you learn how to fix stuff?  Why do you have the patience for that? 

When something is broken, take it apart.    Seriously.  Do not EVER throw something away before taking it apart.  I've been doing this since I was eight.

Get it all the way down to all of its little pieces.   Make sure every screw is out.  Make sure every connector is unplugged.  Gears come off of shafts, etc.  This rarely-if-ever takes more than 10 minutes. 

Now, if you can't figure out why it was broken, put it back together and throw it away.  Better yet... put all of the similar non-broken pieces in little containers in the garage.  Screws.  Motors. Gears. Wires.  all in little containers.

Next time something breaks... do the same thing.  Many times, you see something broken and say: "Hey, I have one of those in the garage!   Sometimes it fits, sometimes it don't. You're learning how things are assembled, what they use to assemble them, how they make parts move, etc.

I admit that I had a huge "leg up" in that I had a grandfather that had already been taking stuff apart for 50 years before I got old enough to take stuff apart.  How much stuff?   A two-car garage that could not fit any cars.  one 20foot section of wall, from floor to ceiling, with 50 years of Maxwell House coffee cans full to the brim and labelled with things like "3/8 bolts"  "1/4-20 nuts"  etc.    Lathes? 3 of them.  A milling machine.  Drill press.  etc.

So, even if *I* couldn't fix things, I had a good resource who probably could. 

I have the patience to fix stuff because I'm a huge tight-wad, or rather, I like to spend on things that are a good value, even if they're expensive.   Also, I can't stand paying someone to do something that I can do.   And I hate it when something that I've bought breaks.  I don't want to buy another one.  So I always try to fix it.  

With "hobbies" I don't have any real drive to be good at it, I just want to learn it.  I like the learning better than the doing, usually.

For your bike, when something breaks, by God, take it apart!  Your bike mechanic will almost always be able to fix it.  If you take something to your bike mechanic and he gives you gruff for taking something apart, find a new one.   A good mechanic will ALWAYS understand when someone wants to figure out how something works... because good mechanics feel the same way!

I bent the "downshift" lever on my X9 mountain bike shifter.   Rather than buy a new one, I took it apart.   I put the lever in the vise and bent it back mostly into shape.   Then, I figured out how the shifter worked, and put it back together.   Took me about an hour, AND I learned how the shifter worked.  REALLY cool design, internally.  And I saved a few bucks over a new shifter.

Start with little projects.  Change the oil in your truck.  Once you figure out how to do easy things, the hard things seem more possible.

THIS IS AWESOME.

We should all be so lucky to have a grandfather like that. 

OK, I'm doing it.  I think I may even print this out and tape it to my wall or something. 

Thanks Ryan.

Indeed.  He kicked-off just before we came to China, at the age of 92.  He'd just spent a full day volunteering that our local school (had been volunteering there for 50 years!) helping maintain the buildings and grounds.  10 kids, 18 grand kids 18 great-grands (and counting) ... we all learned a LOT.  I still miss him almost daily.  He really left a legacy, beyond our family.

Send me a picture of something all taken-apart!!



2013-09-15 9:55 PM
in reply to: switch

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Subject: RE: What's your special talent, Breakfast Club style?

Hmm... interesting to think about...

1) Being a former gymnast (both artistic and rhythmic) I can do a whole bunch of stupid human tricks with hula hoops, juggling clubs, and I can still do flips, handstands, etc. 

2) I turn on a fake French accent at the drop of a hat - and be pretty convincing until someone tries to talk to me in French using vocabulary/grammar that is anything more than my Grade 12 French will take me. 

3) Even though I've got pretty good balance... I can trip over nothing.  Which has led me to develop excellent recovery skillz. 

2013-09-15 10:02 PM
in reply to: blueyedbikergirl

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Subject: RE: What's your special talent, Breakfast Club style?
Originally posted by blueyedbikergirl

Hmm... interesting to think about...

1) Being a former gymnast (both artistic and rhythmic) I can do a whole bunch of stupid human tricks with hula hoops, juggling clubs, and I can still do flips, handstands, etc. 

2) I turn on a fake French accent at the drop of a hat - and be pretty convincing until someone tries to talk to me in French using vocabulary/grammar that is anything more than my Grade 12 French will take me. 

3) Even though I've got pretty good balance... I can trip over nothing.  Which has led me to develop excellent recovery skillz. 

Your post in the fail thread reminded me of a "special skill"

If you tell me to go to a place in a new city... I can usually find it after about 4 turns, without any special knowledge of where it's at.  Not much wandering around at all.

I'm from the midwest, so my definition of city is <100,000 people.    I've done this more times than I can remember.  "Oh, here it is!!"   I admit that I now just use navigation or google maps.

2013-09-16 8:12 AM
in reply to: moondawg14

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Subject: RE: What's your special talent, Breakfast Club style?
1) Witty repartee
2) Sarcasm
3) Arithmetic, solving algebraic problems in my head and estimation
4) Multiple choice tests
5) Making 3 into 5
2013-09-16 10:30 AM
in reply to: pga_mike

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Subject: RE: What's your special talent, Breakfast Club style?
I can play most show tunes and Holiday songs on my hands. 
2013-09-16 12:35 PM
in reply to: jeffnboise

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Subject: RE: What's your special talent, Breakfast Club style?

I can flip a crepe without use of any utensil.

I have a near photographic memory for things I have read.  I can still recite a poem I had to memorize for a high school class in 1991.

I was on a jump rope team in elementary school, and can still jump rope with one leg hooked over my arm.



2013-09-16 12:52 PM
in reply to: swgtri

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Subject: RE: What's your special talent, Breakfast Club style?
Juggling. Not useful in any occasion in real life, yet fun none the less.
2013-09-16 3:34 PM
in reply to: cdban66

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Subject: RE: What's your special talent, Breakfast Club style?

I can do the worm.  As I get older, this becomes much funnier and more unexpected at parties. 

I am told there is a video of me doing this on the street in Cozumel, but I've never gotten my hands on it.

2013-09-19 10:01 PM
in reply to: moondawg14

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Subject: RE: What's your special talent, Breakfast Club style?
I can roll my tongue into 3 loops.
2013-09-19 11:25 PM
in reply to: switch

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Subject: RE: What's your special talent, Breakfast Club style?
Originally posted by switch
Originally posted by Asalzwed
Originally posted by switch

OK, like Salty, I'm trying to see how disparate I can make my three points:

1) I bake by feel--pie crusts, pizza dough, bread, cookies, quickbreads--handfulls and pinches style, and in the winter I cook that stuff in an Amish wood cookstove.

2) I've read the Iliad and the Odyssey in the original Attic Greek, though each one took a year.

3) I was taught self-hypnosis as a kid, and use it regularly as an adult--learning a new technique in something, public speaking, training/competing, child birth etc.

 

Woah. Like woah! Read to me in Greek before bed? Pullllease?
Of course, but I'll change every "swift-footed Achilles" to "swift-footed Adrienne."

I can speak fluent greek....

2013-09-20 1:19 PM
in reply to: jobaxas

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Subject: RE: What's your special talent, Breakfast Club style?

"Wait a minute - what's happening to my special purpose!?"

"My dear family, guess what. Today I found out what my special purpose is for. Gosh what a great time I had. I wish my whole family could have been here with me. Maybe some other time as I intend to do this a lot. Every chance I get. I think next week I'll be able to send some more money as I may have extra work. My friend Patty promised me a bl*w job. Your loving son, Navin."

 

I'm pretty good at remembering random movie quotes... they just kinda pop into my head, it seems.

I have one double-jointed thumb that I can pop out of joint at a 90-degree angle, laterally.

I'm handy with tools, and in the kitchen.



2013-09-21 9:11 AM
in reply to: moondawg14

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Subject: RE: What's your special talent, Breakfast Club style?
Originally posted by moondawg14

If you tell me to go to a place in a new city... I can usually find it after about 4 turns, without any special knowledge of where it's at.  Not much wandering around at all. I'm from the midwest, so my definition of city is <100,000 people.    I've done this more times than I can remember.  "Oh, here it is!!"   I admit that I now just use navigation or google maps.


I'd say that's mine too. I went to a wedding with an old GF before in NY (I'm from MA) and we were outside NYC where I've never been and she got us lost, within 3 turns I was going in the right direction and actually got to the reception before most of the family that was from the area. I think I'm like Jason Bourne with the map, I glance at it, look at the general direction, check out where the sun is at and then just go. I also just trust google maps more now but I'm always upset when it hits any kind of glitch because I know I could have got there faster.
2013-09-23 12:56 PM
in reply to: jonD81

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Subject: RE: What's your special talent, Breakfast Club style?
I can make a popping noise with my fingers that is VERY loud.  Kids are amazed and love it and the adults seem to find it intriguingly odd. 
2013-09-29 11:55 PM
in reply to: switch

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Subject: RE: What's your special talent, Breakfast Club style?
It is a bit of a childish Frat House trick, but I can guess women's bra size within one of what they really are, regardless of what they are wearing.

On a more serious side, I can run up to a 5K backwards. I have never tried a longer race, but I did do this a few times for fundraiser races. I can also ride a wheelie on my Mt Bike for about 400 yrds, but I don't do this since the last time resulted in a couple broken fingers and a seriously dinged up bike.
2013-09-30 6:12 PM
in reply to: charles-goff

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Subject: RE: What's your special talent, Breakfast Club style?

1) Talking with any foreign accent fairly convincingly in a VERY short time (listen a couple times, and I'm good).  The kids love this one...

2) Convincing others that what I'm saying is factual.  Even when it is VERY much NOT so.  The kids love this one, too.  Wink  It's actually great fun.

3) Listening to several other conversations while I'm having one, without affecting the current conversation.  The kids most decidedly do NOT love this one (BUSTED), and it just perplexes my better half.

Other than these, I have no special talents of which I am aware.  Sadly.  Cry

Well, I suppose one more that Elesa reminded me of:  when I was a kid, I taught myself how to hypnotize others (see #2 above).  This led, most memorably, to some cra-cra events at hockey camp as a kid.  Haven't done it in decades...

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