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Wilkins Law of Modern Life  |  (2008/09/22 17:11)

Some of the renovations I've been doing around the house have lead me to believe this: If what you're doing sucks and isn't in a field invented this decade, then someone has invented a better technique or a tool to make it easier. If the tool is really expensive or the technique is hard to learn there are 2 corollaries: Corollary 1: If what you're doing is common, you can usually find someone with the appropriate tool or training to do it cheaply. If what you're doing is obscure, it'll cost you a lot. Corollary 2: If it's obscure and you have any interest or limited funds, learning it or building your own equivalent of the tool is a good approach. Corollary 3: Not having a clue how it's supposed to be done leads to novel solutions, some of which are better than any you'd be taught. I refinished my kitchen floors. They were cement underneath linoleum. Initially I used a solvent to get rid of the bulk of the glue and then sander to remove the rest. Then I discovered angle grinders and an area that had taken an hour, took me 5 minutes. Along the way, I also learned how to match cement colors, something that everyone I talked to said wasn't possible, but I've learned they probably meant not worth bothering with. I've also been messing around with video. Building a good steadycam can be done for $30 (or a passable one for almost free) or you can dish out $800 for one made by Steadicam.

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