I'm feeling rather handy today, because I got a small natural gas grill for my birthday present (from my brother and his partner) and I was able to connect it to the natural gas line on the exterior of my house all by myself. Here's a picture of the work I did:
What you are looking at is a 1/2 inch brass nipple connected to a brass reducer which is connected to a 3/8 inch brass nipple which is then connected to a quick connect valve and hose. All of it is wound with yellow natural gas Teflon tape and tightened using two wrenches. I wet the outside with water and dish soap to look for leaks (bubbles) and didn't see any. I was able to light the grill and feel heat, so at this point, I'm thinking I did the whole thing correctly. So how did I know to do this?
The internet.
I started to look back on how much I use the internet to train myself how to do things, and I realized it's probably the most useful tool I have access to, and I'm thankful for that. I've taught myself how to do the following (and these are only things that I can remember):
1) Install a gas grill to an outside (capped) gas line and what pieces to buy from the hardware store.
2) Replace a damaged refrigerator door gasket with a brand new one that I bought direct from Kitchenaid online.
3) Figured out what components were required to begin wiring a system capable of supporting a 4K signal.
4) Figured out how to make IKEA "box" furniture look "built-in."
5) Taught myself to remove and fix siding on my house.
6) Figured out how to sharpen a lawnmower blade.
7) Figured out how to remove windows from the inside so that I could clean them.
8) Figured out how to hang cabinets on drywall.
9) Learned how to kill wasp nests effectively.
10) Learned how to change out a sprinkler head on a lawn sprinkling system.
11) Learned how to fix a backflow preventer.
12) Learned how to reseed grass.
13) Learned how to use a thatch rake and where to buy it from.
14) Learned how to fill my own wiper fluid in my car (and how to mix it properly buying concentrate online).
15) I taught myself how to paint cabinets so that the paint was smooth.
16) I learned how to repair holes in drywall.
Anyway, this is a short list of things that the internet has taught me. I'm thankful for its existence, because I honestly feel like life would be much more expensive and harder without it being around. And I freely admit that I would know none of the things above were it not so easy for me to just click and watch an instructional video of an expert doing the job. It has saved me so much time and money.
The internet.
I started to look back on how much I use the internet to train myself how to do things, and I realized it's probably the most useful tool I have access to, and I'm thankful for that. I've taught myself how to do the following (and these are only things that I can remember):
1) Install a gas grill to an outside (capped) gas line and what pieces to buy from the hardware store.
2) Replace a damaged refrigerator door gasket with a brand new one that I bought direct from Kitchenaid online.
3) Figured out what components were required to begin wiring a system capable of supporting a 4K signal.
4) Figured out how to make IKEA "box" furniture look "built-in."
5) Taught myself to remove and fix siding on my house.
6) Figured out how to sharpen a lawnmower blade.
7) Figured out how to remove windows from the inside so that I could clean them.
8) Figured out how to hang cabinets on drywall.
9) Learned how to kill wasp nests effectively.
10) Learned how to change out a sprinkler head on a lawn sprinkling system.
11) Learned how to fix a backflow preventer.
12) Learned how to reseed grass.
13) Learned how to use a thatch rake and where to buy it from.
14) Learned how to fill my own wiper fluid in my car (and how to mix it properly buying concentrate online).
15) I taught myself how to paint cabinets so that the paint was smooth.
16) I learned how to repair holes in drywall.
Anyway, this is a short list of things that the internet has taught me. I'm thankful for its existence, because I honestly feel like life would be much more expensive and harder without it being around. And I freely admit that I would know none of the things above were it not so easy for me to just click and watch an instructional video of an expert doing the job. It has saved me so much time and money.
Exactly! YouTube has an instructional video for just about everything. I think my list would be just as long.
ReplyDeleteI learned how to tie a tie from the Internet. There is of course the downside of people who look up making bombs and so forth.
ReplyDeleteA similar thing happened when books became plentiful. Suddenly people could learn things about anything, and they did. This is the upside of technology. (Oh, and the knitting videos. So many great techniques shown.)
ReplyDelete