I wouldn't say that, while growing up, I was exposed to a lot of mechanical training from my dad. He was more into wood-work. He made small house furniture and grandfather clocks. Something few people probably know. He hasn't done it for over 20 years.
Anyway, having received no formal mechanical training, I find great personal satisfaction in completing vehicle tasks that most people would find mundane. In college, I changed the engine thermostat on a Jeep Wrangler. I changed the break pads on my Silverado before I sold it. I felt like those were milestones on my journey to master shade-tree mechanic.
This past weekend I dialed back my overwhelming masculinity to simply change a fog light on my Camry. I'd say that I was looking forward to it, but Jillian had to persuade me to stop putting it off. Most of my hesitation came from the fact that I had to put the car on jack stands to even get to the light.
Jack stands in place, I crawled under to take out the plastic under-car shield. A few screws and it was off revealing the rear of the fog light. I took a look at it's housing and became immediately depressed. It looked like it couldn't be taken off from the inside and the bumper would actually have to be removed. Before I started cursing uncontrollably, I took another look to review. Turned out I was wrong. Old light assembly out, new one in. Job done. What I expected to take half a day turned out to be an hour job. Still, I was pretty proud of it.






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