Does doing something you hate build character?

Roger Tulk

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St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada
Because I hate doing construction. It's boring. Also, the screws in the deck wouldn't unscrew, so I had to rip the planks off the deck to replace them, which is bad for my heart.

I wanted to see if anyone ever had one of the tools in the first photo, a B&D Mitremate. My mother gave me this, along with a Workmate, about 40 years ago. For the number of angled cuts I need to make in large planks, this serves me as a Mitre saw. It's not perfectly accurate, but with care you can do a good job.

001 Mitremate.jpg 002 Porch.jpg
 
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I don't find it so much boring, as exasperating. Repair jobs like that never seem to go smoothly. There's nearly always an "Uh Oh" involved.

At least you didn't find rotted framing under the deck boards...
 
I dunno about character, but it's always good for my cuss word collection. I always seem to make up some new ones when I'm doing plumbing or working on cars. :pullhair::tantrum:
 
I will swear it does. I do all sorts of things for my friends and loved ones that I don't want to do and I am told I'm quite the character :thumb:
 
That's when you call one of the younger guys in the family, 14 or 15 years old or so on the phone

and ask him if he'd like to learn how to fix a deck, and make a few dollars in the process.

:)
 
Nope. That's just something dads say to their teenage boys when trying to get them to do a crappy job so dad doesn't have to do it. But don't tell my boy I said so. ;)
 
Any repair job means at least 4 trips to the big box store. It never
Fails that the part won't fit or not enough of the pieces. That's what a
repair does for me.
 
Nope. That's just something dads say to their teenage boys when trying to get them to do a crappy job so dad doesn't have to do it. But don't tell my boy I said so. ;)

My dad always claimed it did! Ditches - builds character! Post Holes - builds character! A new hole for the privy - builds character.

The thing that always gets me about "simple" jobs like this is that the simple parts never are.
 
I had to paint the attic bathroom this morning.
speaking about doing things you HATE to do. Painting for me is equivalent to root canal.
And this is the second time Im painting it in 3 years, since we had some work done recently.
Its hot, cramped, and Ive been putting it off for weeks, ugh......ugh.....ugh.........ugh..........its over. got up early, taped, slapped on one coat of paint, and that's that. ugh.....did I say that.
 
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