“If the women don’t find you handsome, they should at least find you handy,” I quote to my wife, channeling my inner Red Green. I’ve never considered myself particularly handy, perhaps because I’ve never owned a home. In my mind, I guess, home ownership (and perhaps, a toolbelt) is the definition of handiness, although there is always plenty to do around our small apartment. Not to brag, but I’ve replaced a few vaccuum belts in my day.

Perhaps “handiness” is actually more of a personality trait than a measure of skill. In that sense, I have it in spades. Others might identify this condition as “thriftiness” or “masochism;” in the corporate world I’ve heard it described as “scrappiness.” The truth of the matter is that I’ve just never liked the idea that I should have to spend money to fix a problem when I have the tools available to me to fix it myself. If I’m honest, this quality is something that I really love about myself, because it reminds me of my grandpa, and my dad. Growing up, our house was filled with improvised fixes to ordinary household problems. The joy is in the fixing.

I work in “tech” which is to say that my normal problems don’t usually involve duct tape. Still, there is often a need for healthy pragmatism, especially as more and more development happens in the cloud and becomes increasingly complicated. As much as possible I try to orient myself towards solutions to problems that aren’t just throwing money around.

Tomorrow is my birthday! I’m not going to make one of those Facebook fundraiser things, but if you want somewhere to direct your money, some causes I regularly donate to are:

Or one that I have not donated to specifically, but think is a great one nonetheless: