Why I hate Norm Abrams

On 8/23/2009 1:25 PM David Nebenzahl spake thus:

Heh; got some junk mail from /Popular Woodworking/ today (don't think I'll subscribe, as I got spoiled from reading /Fine Woodworking/). The pitch features the cover from their August 2005 issue, with a photo of Norm in his shop. The article title is "In the Shop with Norm Abram: We Debunk 7 Myths About TV's Frugal Yankee".

Wonder what the myths are. Anyone have this issue lying around?

Smart move...There ain't no hiding a bad drywall job...It is right out there in plain view and the first thing seen....First impressions are everything.....

The reason for hiring it out is what I call the "Benefit: Bull$h!t Ratio." It's the amount of crap one has to deal with in doing a task himself compared to the benefit attained from the same.

The B:B ratio is simply to low to be worth it. Like I said before, you have to do drywall and keep doing it to be good at it. Framing, and most of the rest, is like riding a bike to me.

I put roofing in the "too low B:B ratio" category, as well, and not because it takes any real skill. In my experience, roofing is one of the cheapest things to hire out. Plus they're in and out in a day and I'm dry. Or I can be up there for a three days in 98 degree heat. Hmmm. :-)

Been there done that, lost the screwdriver.

I worked at a computer manufacturer under contract. I finally put a stop to tool theft by buying each of the engineers a small tool kit with all the essentials for servicing 'our' model of computer.

That was the smartest 500 bucks I ever spent because It stopped the chronic interruptions and freed up the time I spent looking for tools that had gone walkabout.

--Winston

Winston wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@news6.newsguy.com:

After a visit to an auto repair shop I found a screwdriver inside the engine compartment. It was on a small ledge/lip in front of the radiator. There was no way to get it out. I drove around with it and it never fell out in the years I had that truck.

Yes, for me, cosmetic items like taping drywall and painting have a poor B:B ratio since they both require technique that needs constant practice to get a flawless finish. Framing, wiring and plumbing aren't cosmetic and require knowledge to do properly, not much in the way of technique per se.

BTDT, bought the 10 screwdrivers, whatched 8 go missing next day.

Theft of workplace tools is a plague, second only to being ripped-off by tool vendors. I had a viable plan to stop tool theft in the work place, but since the US no long has any workplaces.... :|

nb

Paint stripper greatly speeds that process.

Andy

My view is that I only do the stuff that's fun or that I can't trust others to do right. The rest, I hire someone. Drywall is no longer fun. Roofing is for people who don't have vertigo.

Luigi

I have a certain level of respect for roofers, especially here in Texas. Being on the roof in the hot Texas sun (which I have done) is one of the LAST places I'd want to spend my every working day.

I used to giggle as I drove past the Berkeley city limits signs that said "A nuclear free zone." to eat lunch on top of a nuclear reactor. The reactor is gone now, replaced by the new CS department building.

The giggle on the government is that ARPA funded a network that could survive a nuclear exchange as well as attempts by any government to control it.

A minor nit pick is that TCP/IP predated BSD Unix by a few years. BSD Unix certainly helped with TCP/IP domination of computer communication.

-- Doug

I've probably shared this story on here before- one summer, as a kid, I was stuck with the duty of being the key-keeper for the tool crib on a apartment complex construction site. 'Borrowed' tools never seemed to come back. After about the 3rd time replacing missing shovels, chains,

I may be a lazy slob of questionable ethics, but I always return borrowed tools, and if I lose it or break it, I replace it. Too bad my office mates aren't like that. I only take cheap tools in there, to keep in the briefcase under the cubicle 'desk'.

-- aem sends...

I put a circle of red and a circle of green on the handle of my tools. People on the job got used to seeing those colors, and I would get tools back from the honest people.

People from other trades even knew who they belonged to.

I worked for Watts Bar nuclear plant back in the 80s. A common saying on the job was........The government pays TVA to build the plant, and pays the NRC to make sure they can't do it.

Red and Green, huh? Did they cover them with duct tape? :^/

-- aem sends...

The thing that scared the crap outta me was an episode on 60 Minutes investigating NRC inspections of powerplant construction, specifically the containment vessels for the nuclear material, the heart of the plant. They interviewed more than one inspector who, years after the fact, admitted to passing sub-standard construction under not so genteel persuasion by shady unions. The ol' "we know where your family lives" kinda thing. No telling how many currently operating plants (do we still have any?) are iffy. A good example of the shaky nuclear power plant industry in this country is Rancho Seco in N CA. The China Syndrome was not bogus science fiction.

Funny we should make fun of France, for they have an excellent nuclear energy record and actually export energy to other countries. "Freedom Fries", my ass.

nb

I had a similar system. If I loaned a tool out and didn't get it back, I'd turn over heaven and earth to hunt 'em down and reclaim it. If I caught someone absconding with a tool w/o my permission, I read 'em the riot act at full volume in front of the whole production floor. People soon learned my rollaway was not worth it. ;)

nb

Different context, but one day many moons ago, folk in my office were horrified when I deliberately use a coin to destroy the paint on a stapler I had recieved that day. I kept it in use in the office until it broke about

Remember Tippex? I used that to similar good effect.

... snip

The hot tar roofers get my vote. Texas or Arizona. In the middle of summer.