Author Topic: Know your limits!!!  (Read 4108 times)

kisserofsinners

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Know your limits!!!
« on: February 12, 2013, 12:15:39 PM »
So i'm pretty butch... I also weight in at around 135lbs and have trouble remembering I'm actually a small person. Not tiny mind you, but i'm the shortest of my generation in my family. I was also a fat kid and have a full disconnect about my current body size. This has a way of fucking up my day while doing things like drinking or lifting heavy things. I also have a big mouth and wear baggy clothes so even standing in front of me it's hard to tell i'm a very petite person.

I've been more than happy to rip open my sink, car, bike, or just about any electronic unit. This weekend i was faced with something where i was clearly outdone.

My birthday was last week and we had a bangin' ass party Friday night. I arrived home at 330am to find my garage door broken. I'm hella drunk, so i'm pretty broken, too. It took far too long to get that door closed. I felt very badly for our poor neighbor who has the unfortunate location for his bed right above the garage door. Good times. I was not exactly receptive to his help either... We wrote them a nice note of apology the next morning. :)

The next day i really dig in to sort this door situation. The pad is broken. I need to grab the door opener and thank god there is actually one not inside the garage. The likelihood being very low as the only one we have is in my car and my car isn't at my house much these days. I watch the door go up and down countless times and never staying down. I notice that the brackets holding the garage opener to the door itself is some chunky stuff. Over time it's torn through a little and where they may have once met, they now overlap causing both ends to curl outward.

I try to imagine what it would be like to actually install such a thing should that be necessary. Um, no. At 34 i have a wrist injury from too much video gaming and a rotatorcuff injury from just a couple months ago. I already know my upper body strength can't drive in a screw above my shoulder with a power drill as i've never been able to even for light easy stuff. To assume i would be capable of such a feat as garage door opener installation would be to ensure further injury.

I say this not to discourage my fellow Mustacians, but to remind you how important listening to your body is. We get really caught up in numbers around here. Your brain likes to count and calculate. Make sure it's calculating with the real potential to hurt yourself on any given project. Scraps and bruises are one thing. Broken things are expensive and timely to repair, especially when they're people.

Peace

TomTX

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Re: Know your limits!!!
« Reply #1 on: February 12, 2013, 07:48:04 PM »
The spring (coil) on a garage has a hell of a lot of kinetic energy stored up - enough to maim or kill you. Be careful with garage doors.

Self-employed-swami

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Re: Know your limits!!!
« Reply #2 on: February 13, 2013, 07:36:10 AM »
Oh yes! Don't mess around with the garage door springs!  We had a spring snap, and I called someone to come replace it.

TheDude

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Re: Know your limits!!!
« Reply #3 on: February 13, 2013, 08:36:53 AM »
I've never really fixed a garage door but my wife and I put a couple in our last house. It was a nice design where you could wind the spring with a drill and then unwind doing it in reverse. It was the best 600 bucks we spent.

Bakari

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Re: Know your limits!!!
« Reply #4 on: February 13, 2013, 12:21:48 PM »
So i'm pretty butch... I also weight in at around 135lbs and have trouble remembering I'm actually a small person.

Meh...
I am 130, and I work as a hauler/mover.  (Used to be a security guard too)
Its just a matter of learning about leverage and body mechanics.  Braziliian Jui-Jitsu for inanimate objects.  Well, staying strong and healthy and flexible are a part of it too, but I find tiny Guatemalan day laborers to have a much easier time moving furniture up stairs then burly looking gym rats.

As to the garage door situation...  I know a guy who fixes stuff for a very reasonable rate in your area: www.biodieselhauling.org
(disclaimer: its me ;)

anastrophe

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Re: Know your limits!!!
« Reply #5 on: February 13, 2013, 01:10:17 PM »
I think the moral of this story is 'don't fix stuff when drunk or hung over' not 'small people can't fix stuff.' ;)

My side hustle, combined with my day job, led to a debilitating RSI a couple of years ago. No way was I making enough to cover the excruciating pain of not being able to tie my own shoes, and physical therapy ain't cheap either. But a good balance of strength training with the work has made me way better than I started off. Now I can do all that and more. So yeah, it's good to know your limits--and work smart to increase them.

kisserofsinners

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Re: Know your limits!!!
« Reply #6 on: February 13, 2013, 03:11:45 PM »
So i'm pretty butch... I also weight in at around 135lbs and have trouble remembering I'm actually a small person.

Meh...
I am 130, and I work as a hauler/mover.  (Used to be a security guard too)
Its just a matter of learning about leverage and body mechanics.  Braziliian Jui-Jitsu for inanimate objects.  Well, staying strong and healthy and flexible are a part of it too, but I find tiny Guatemalan day laborers to have a much easier time moving furniture up stairs then burly looking gym rats.

As to the garage door situation...  I know a guy who fixes stuff for a very reasonable rate in your area: www.biodieselhauling.org
(disclaimer: its me ;)

You're right, I'm very strong with good technique. It's really the wrist injury. I have trouble opening pop bottles and jars due to weak hands. I've seen improvement with martial arts training, but it's expensive. ;o)

Imagining myself attempting to bolt in the brackets was intimidating enough...I didn't even look at the Spring! LOL

As is it was the touch pad. We still have a land lord and they had Sears out within a few days. All is well again!!! \o/

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!