Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Changing a Lightbulb is Hard

Before you get too far into this, you should know that I'm well aware that I'm not handy.

But the following story possibly takes it to a new level.

Robyn's brake light on her car went out.  This means that she needed a light bulb replaced.  One would think that replacing a light bulb would be a fairly simple process.  It probably is fairly simple for most people.  But Robyn didn't enlist most people to assist her.  Robyn enlisted me.

Taking a light bulb out and replacing it with a different light bulb is fairly simple.  The problem with this particular light bulb is that you have to take apart the whole light assembly in order to access the light bulb.  Then you have to put it back together again.  Do you see where some level of handiness is necessary?

It started out fairly simple, I unscrewed one screw and that totally worked.

The second screw was where the whole process fell apart.  The head of the screw was stripped so that the screwdriver couldn't grip it.

My knowledge of taking stuff apart consists of 1)Insert screwdriver into screw head and 2) turn screwdriver counter clockwise.  When those 2 steps failed, I was at a loss.  I then spent the next hour trying larger screwdrivers, trying to grip it with a wrench, and other such useless tactics.

Then it occurred to me that being handy is no different from the rest of life's endeavors.  Anything life throws at us can be solved by Google.  (Feel free to cross stitch that last sentence and hang it on your wall.)  Google said to put duct tape on the screw head, and the tape would fill in the gaps.  It totally worked!

In the end, we successfully changed a light bulb.  It only took about an hour.  It was not a success that made me feel confident in my handiness, but it sure increased my confidence in Google.

Aren't you so proud of us?

2 comments:

  1. Graham and I were just musing the other day on how different our lives would have been before the internet took over the world. It's amazing all the things we can quickly learn/access because of Google. Glad you found your answer. :)

    ReplyDelete

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