Last September I inherited my Grandfathers 1993 Geo Metro convertible. Since then I've been teaching myself the womanly art of auto mechanics and care. Yesterday I changed out the distributor cap, rotor, spark plugs and wires. I felt like a badassed mechanic! It took me less time than an oil change, and it fired right up due to my carefull attention to put plugs where they belonged on the cap.
Change your own oil! Not because it's cheaper, but because it is a "gateway" repair. I was hooked since my first oil change. Now that I know that I can easily do something that seems so complicated, I'm eyeballing the other stuff in the engine that looks wonky, I want to replace and tinker with everything!
Being able to bike to work really takes the fear out of messing something up and having to take time to fix the car.