As anyone who knows me understands, I’m a big fan of doing things myself instead. It’s actually how I got into computers – I couldn’t afford for someone else to repair them for me when something went wrong.

My level of skill in particular areas can be great or little, but I usually try. I’m not much of a mechanic, I’m a decent carpenter, and I can logic my way through electricity and plumbing. I’m not about to give someone a home appendectomy (mine’s already done, so I can’t do it to myself) but I know how to give injections to livestock and slap a bandage on a wound.

But there’s a critical fact that I often fail to account for: major projects always take longer than the time budgeted.

My house expansion (original house: 500 square feet, single-stall garage with rotten roof; new house: 1000 square feet, two-stall tuck-under garage) has been an ongoing project since 2012. In part it’s taken so long because I’ve never really committed fully to it. I had a 60-70 hour per week job; then I was writing novels. Last fall I really threw myself into it and got it 90% done, with the remaining 10% consisting of heat and plumbing (including the new bathroom which never got further than framed and insulated).

I had originally planned on forced-air heat for my expansion, but I hate my old furnace and really didn’t want to replace it. (I need to sell more books.) Also, drilling big enough holes through 6″ concrete walls to bring heat ducting over wasn’t appealing at all. So, my search for alternate ideas eventually landed on a radiant system designed around 1/2″ Pex tubing and aluminum heat spreaders strung through my floor joists.

On paper, it’s actually a really elegant and simple design. The holes I needed to drill through my wall are much smaller, for one. So after drawing up a materials list, I closed my eyes and ordered all the Pex, the pump, and everything else I needed to make it work.

I aimed to actually get the system built over Thanksgiving weekend. While I knew we had plans for Thanksgiving Day proper and the Saturday following, I had nothing on Friday and all of Sunday afternoon. I figured even if I didn’t get the system done (which was likely), I’d have the vast majority of it done and all I’d need is a quick trip to Menards to pick up the last of the fittings I’d need to complete the project.

As I write this on Monday morning, I can say that I’m far less than 50% on the project. Now, some of that had to do with butchering a deer on Friday evening that eliminated a big chunk of my work time, as well as a trip to the church last night to fix the sound system after a disastrous service on Sunday morning. (All audio and visual upgrades should be tested well in advance of a service, regardless of how well past upgrades have gone.) But even with that time back, I wouldn’t be anywhere near where I thought I’d be by this time.

As my father wisely pointed out to me last night on the phone, “It always takes longer than you think.”

I guess that means I won’t be getting bored in the evening any time soon.

With the outside temps approaching -20 this morning, though, it would have been nice to have some heat.

This post was actually written yesterday. I’m spending the day with family, not sitting in front of a computer.

Thanksgiving isn’t my favorite holiday. (Neither is Christmas, the usual popular choice.) I don’t feel the need to criticize it for historical connotations, as many do every year. But as a Christian, I find it an important holiday – it’s a day to reflect on what blessings I’ve received and how fortunate I am.

I’m thankful I’ve walked this Earth for thirty years (next week, that is; close enough). The Lord has given me an appointed time, and I don’t know what it is. I’ve wasted so much of it on things that didn’t and don’t matter, but every year I’m given is a blessing.

I’m thankful for my wife of five years. She has blessed me in ways I never anticipated, calls me out when I need to be taken down a notch, and builds me up when I’m low. She’s my first reader, my editor, and one of the few people that can tell me what she really thinks of an idea. She’s encouraged me on my many endeavors, and without her I couldn’t do what I do.

I’m thankful for my son. As I write this, he brings a smile to my face as he’s sitting in his high chair chomping on his favorite food: an apple. He drives me nuts sometimes, but he’s brought joy and laughter to our home that I didn’t know was missing. And he’s so stinkin’ cute it’s ridiculous.

I’m thankful for my family. Though we sometimes fight, we disagree, we argue, I also know that I can call at any time from anywhere and have all the help I could ever need. My father in particular has made many things in my life possible – advice and willing hands whenever I need to fix a car or swing a hammer or drive a screw.

I’m grateful for the ability to provide for my family. I have a sound mind and body, and I’m able to hunt to put venison on the table or spend days cutting up and processing beef. I’m able to work to provide money or repair our home or do any of a hundred things to ensure my wife and son are warm, sheltered, and fed.

I’m thankful for independent publishing. New technology like print-on-demand, Kindle, and Nook allow me to put books out even if I can’t find a regular publisher – and make more money off them than I would under a standard contract.

I’m thankful for a church that is closer than many families.  They, too, will come at a moment’s notice and provide an ear when I need to talk. Though there are only a handful of people in the church close to my age, they are valuable friends and brothers and sisters in Christ.

Finally, I’m thankful for Jesus Christ. His Word provides hope and guidance and sustains me spiritually. The words I have are insufficient to describe the importance of his grace, and how that affects me each and every day, consciously and unconsciously.

So today, I’m thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

It’s been a busy week here.

Aside from slow progress on writing projects, I’ve had a stack of side work and house improvement projects to work on. I’ve repaired a half dozen computers this week (the last one is on my bench right now); my wife’s car is currently sitting torn-down in my father’s shop out on the farm; our backup car is now, fittingly, back up and running; and I have the rest of the gear coming to finish my heating project for the house expansion. Also on the to-do list is shoot a deer this weekend (closing weekend for deer season, so I’m getting short on time), and maybe get some plumbing and wiring done.

There’s actually a common theme running through all my projects (aside from deer hunting – that’s an outlier): the information age.

“Erm, Neumiller? You’re talking about mechanics and home improvement. That’s not exactly information age stuff.”

Surprisingly enough, it is.

Not many people I know offline would think of me as a real hands-on type guy. I grew up on a ranch, so hard work and working with my hands aren’t earth-shattering prospects for me, but I’m no one’s first choice when it comes to carpentry, or plumbing, or wiring, or working on a car. I’m pretty sharp at computers, but they’re a different breed than the basic hands-on skills that build and maintain our modern world.

With that said, the Information Age has made these fields far more accessible.

Looking at my various projects, in order: the wife’s car currently has the head stripped off (we thought a blown head gasket, but it was a burned valve and we still don’t know where the coolant’s going) due to plenty of informational videos about the 2.2 engine that’s shared between plenty of vehicles (Sunfire, Cavalier, S-10 pickup). The backup car was a pretty easy job that didn’t require extraneous information (a battery change along with the ends on both leads). The new heating system was designed by reading extensively online on the radiant floor heating I wanted to put in, including both drawbacks and strengths. Electrical and plumbing are both fairly straightforward projects, but there’s plenty of information for consulting (which I need to do on occasion) when I’m not sure about best practices.

That is the world we live in – a world where we can find all the information we need to do so many projects with our own two hands.

Never in the history of the human race has so much information been so readily available at our fingertips.

And we use it to 1.) look at pictures of funny cats or 2.) look at porn.

Kind of a sad commentary on the human condition, isn’t it?

The knowledge is only as useful as our willingness to put it to work. All those Youtube videos of practical skills and projects (which I’ve been consulting heavily for automotive work; between the cracked head on the Jeep and the work I’ve done on the Sunfire, I’ve probably watched four to five hours of instructional videos along this year) are useless if we don’t do it ourselves.

It must be four years ago already when I had a conversation with an overseas friend. He was caught in the same trap many people my age put themselves in: overspent, in debt, and stuck where he was because he couldn’t afford to do anything else.

We spoke at length about the way we had chosen to structure our lives: we purchased used vehicles, not new; we didn’t spring for the latest and greatest electronics; we regularly were paying down our student debt; we forewent eating out regularly and cooked meals at home; we purchased an old house in tough shape and put in hours to fix it up ourselves. And so forth – we didn’t have the fanciest toys, nor the biggest house, nor the newest phones – but we were working to make our lives better.

At the time, I didn’t think it had made a difference – my experience was that most people didn’t want to hear phrases like “Do it yourself instead of hiring it” and “Sacrifice now to make things better later”.

A year back, the same friend reached out to me and thanked me for the advice I’d given. He told me it was some of the best advice he’d ever gotten, and after following it he found options opening up for him that he’d never had available before.

I’ve gotten a bit far afield from where I started, but remember this, if nothing else: You have access to more knowledge than any generation before you. Use it, and you can make your life better.