Yer_Blues Posted December 31, 2010 Posted December 31, 2010 Personally I find a guy with great computer skills to be a big turn on, but I can't say I look for handyman skills in any partner. I get that it's useful (I currently have 2 leaky taps that need new washers), but I would rather enjoy the company of the person I'm with then have them spending hours building or fixing something around the house. Just as an aside, a few years back (when I had my last boyfriend) there was a major plumbing issue, and we could save $1000 by digging the trench ourselves. Both of us spent the time digging the trench. Obviously his digging was more effective than mine (with his natural muscles), but we both spent the time working on it together. I didn't mind that, because it was still quality time, and it was imperative to save the money. What!? I usually hide this from females
january2010 Posted December 31, 2010 Posted December 31, 2010 What!? I usually hide this from females Don't. I agree with Titania. Deep knowledge and highly developed skills are attractive in general, I think.
colliejoanie Posted December 31, 2010 Posted December 31, 2010 Since the dead battery incident I have gotten my own set of jumper cables (in case any poor soul out there is lucky enough to have a dead battery and I'm in the vicinity). I also know how to change a tire, replace spark plugs, distributor caps, etc. I work on my computer, just fixed a short in my stereo, and fixed the door on my dryer. I also LOVE to cook. Hate to clean, but do it begrudgingly. Love kids, makeup, sexy clothes, getting my hair and nails done... the whole female bit.... For me, I'm capable and willing to do any historically "male" task out there, but it is SO attractive when a man WANTS to do these things for a woman. It makes me feel feminine, and for me (and for him) that's a good thing.....it leads to other good things. Personal preference. I once sanded mold out of one of our rental houses for four hours while my pansy a## ex husband was on the phone trying to find a "professional" to do it. He didn't get la*d that night;) And, having these skills is not because I'm a "loser" as someone suggested. I'm educated, I'm successful. I just prefer being self sufficient, and it's a turn on if a guy can do so as well.
PerpetualMotion Posted December 31, 2010 Posted December 31, 2010 What!? I usually hide this from females There's no harm in disclosing your computer proficiency, as long as you don't start babbling about how great Linux distro x is or freaking out because the browser y has finally implemented support for HTML5 Canvas... that sort of things.
zengirl Posted December 31, 2010 Posted December 31, 2010 There's no harm in disclosing your computer proficiency, as long as you don't start babbling about how great Linux distro x is or freaking out because the browser y has finally implemented support for HTML5 Canvas... that sort of things. Aw, in my book, computer nerds are adorable. A guy nerding out about that stuff every once and awhile is awesome.
Yer_Blues Posted December 31, 2010 Posted December 31, 2010 Don't. I agree with Titania. Deep knowledge and highly developed skills are attractive in general, I think. Yeah but it's so traditionally classified as "nerdy" and "geeky". Neither of which I thought were attractive. I do think I'll avoid discussing linux distros though
Author tincanman99 Posted December 31, 2010 Author Posted December 31, 2010 Not "can't" -- "don't want to". While you are busy fixing some woman's car, I will take her home and show her what a real man can do with his hands . . . . Sure you will. You mean like my neighbor asking me to help him change a tire while his wife looked on with disgust the he couldnt do it. I bet he didnt get trim that night .
Titania22 Posted December 31, 2010 Posted December 31, 2010 What!? I usually hide this from females Well for me it is awesome to meet a man who knows more about computers than me. The guy I am seeing is so awesome, he does things with them I have no idea are possible, and it is the biggest turn on. It's like I get to be the noob. My last boyfriend didn't know you could click on a link until i explained it to him. It is so refreshing. (But then again I get turned on by maths, so I am not the average girl)
january2010 Posted December 31, 2010 Posted December 31, 2010 Yeah but it's so traditionally classified as "nerdy" and "geeky". Neither of which I thought were attractive. In the world of technology, the nerdy geek is king.
Titania22 Posted December 31, 2010 Posted December 31, 2010 Yeah but it's so traditionally classified as "nerdy" and "geeky". Neither of which I thought were attractive. I do think I'll avoid discussing linux distros though I was looking for a nerdy/geeky guy, and now I have found one I am so smitten. Nerdy/Geeky guys was computer skillz are awesome.
paleblue Posted December 31, 2010 Posted December 31, 2010 I know several women’s husbands who can’t read a tape measure. One woman’s husband in particular is extra helpless. His hands are soft and smooth like a woman’s. His finger nails are long. It completely skeeves me out. I want to step on his new sneakers so he has a mark on them because he is too neat and clean. As a guy who is naturally inclined to handy man work, it seems strange that lots of guys don’t. I am not even in the construction business and I know how to do this stuff. Ive spent the last 3 years gutting an entire house and renovating it. All the electric, plumbing, carpentry, whatever. The kicker part is I drink most of the time I do this crap and it comes out good. Don’t even get me started on using my chain saw. I am a mad man. Another chick at the office, her man is completely useless. She does it all. Cleans gutters, fixes soffits, plumbing, while he plays video games and performs magic tricks. I don’t get it. But to each their own. Personally, I think a guy kinda is a puss if he doesn’t at least make an attempt and his woman does it all. But yet, these guys have a girlfriend? Maybe because they are kinda like girls, that’s why girls can identify better with them? Not sure.
Mme. Chaucer Posted December 31, 2010 Posted December 31, 2010 Haha. This topic makes me laugh! My ex husband was a complete wastrel when it came to doing any kind of "manly" tasks. He was an artist! I have a picture of him wielding an axe to (try to) split kindling - our family, including him, have had many moments of amusement looking at it. It's a miracle that no traumatic amputations resulted from that effort. Or a head injury. I was just as useless with tools, etc., as he was. We had a business and needed a partition in our showroom. We thought we could do it ourselves. We bought what we thought we needed. Tools? Wouldn't that multi-implemented Swiss Army Knife be sufficient? I mean, it had a screw driver ... a cork screw, a little tweezer ... We ended up calling in a professional manly man. Now, I am fortunate enough to share my life on a big farm with a man who has every tool known, and knows how to use them. He is also masterful with a tractor, and he thinks it is a romantic gesture to tune up a vehicle that I use. I agree!
EasyHeart Posted December 31, 2010 Posted December 31, 2010 Sure you will. You mean like my neighbor asking me to help him change a tire while his wife looked on with disgust the he couldnt do it. I bet he didnt get trim that night .He would have if he just called AAA!!! Sheesh.
PegNosePete Posted December 31, 2010 Posted December 31, 2010 I am nerdy/geeky and I can change a tyre, tile a kitchen, and plumb in a toilet! Do I win?
AD1980 Posted December 31, 2010 Posted December 31, 2010 I can change a tire but im not the most handy person in the world by any stretch Saying a Mans a less of a Man because he cant fix numeorus things is as tired and corny as the hacky "Man's Man" cliche garbage and what a real man should be able to do blah blah blah..
unstuck Posted December 31, 2010 Posted December 31, 2010 I resent paying someone to do something that I can learn to do myself. I am a carpenter and a mechanic, I can cook, sew, wash clothes and anything that is considered a womens job. I even learned cut my own hair after a girl at "Better Cuts" screwed it up when i was a teenager and had a date that night. Yes, a man should be able to do basic things and know his way around a tool box. And to answer the OP's question, put it this way...in the early days of mankind, if you couldn't hunt or build a fire, i dont think you got many babes.
TaurusTerp Posted December 31, 2010 Posted December 31, 2010 Please, it sounds like you are making excuses. I am busy - I have a 60 hour a week job (so who doesnt today), blah, blah... Get over it. Do you really want to pay someone else to do everything? I doubt it. I have 2 college degrees, neither of which has deterred me from working with my hands. As for the woman in the city with the dead batter that no one would help her - thats because these men are metrosexual bumps on a log. This thread is not about women doing things and frankly I think its quite healthy for women to know how to do things. Why not? And I am not talking about cooking and sewing. If she knows how to use a drill, saw, put in screws, etc... thats great. Nothing wrong with that. This is about women's perceptions of men WHO CANT DO IT. As a woman friend of mine said to a guy jokingly - what good are you? You cant do anything except move your jaw justifying why you cant. Sounds to me like you just came here looking for women to tell you how manly and awesome you are, and that you're a dying breed. Newsflash: Those guys you're ragging on are better than you at a bunch of other things. Which are probably more useful in the long run.
dreamingoftigers Posted December 31, 2010 Posted December 31, 2010 I can do some of the old manly stuff....I can change a tire, twirl a screwdriver, and saw lumber. I can do limited electrical wiring. Jumping starting cars is a skill for losers that drive wrecks that need jumps every week. I've never needed a jump and don't carry cables. A few times a loser has asked me for a jump, I tell them I've never done it B4, so they'll have to hook it up. I especially hate losers who claim my newer (than their car) car is a waste of money, then they ask me for a jump. I've changed a couple of tires for others, but if you use good tires for reasonable miles, you're unlikely to get a flat. The AAA (or similar) is a low cost way of dealing with these situations. I can a change a tire, but I'm not a loser, I have coverage so someone else can do it, if it happens.I state very clearly that a professional earning money to change tires is a worker, not a loser. I've done some plumbing and electrical, but am not adverse to hiring people for the job. Women who want full equality in all things (as well they should), shouldn't wash their hands of such tasks. Much of it does not require brawn. Modern man has as much reason as modern women to know/not know these things. LOL, I had a 2008 Kia Spectra 5 and I kept leaving the lights on. My husband did too. Something about that car. I tried reminders (even a little sign on the steering wheel to remind me) to no avail. I started bringing cables with me. I killed two batteries! I was pretty hopeless before ADD meds. In my family my H and I both cook, clean and keep house. His father abandoned him at 6 months old and his grandmother who raised him was so overbearing that he had no skill sset besides cleaning. (I can relate, my parents discouraged me learning anything that can lead to independence). He has learned bits and pieces of "manly" stuff over the years, mostly by looking it up on the computer. He installed a new battery in our car last week (different car, not the Kia, (not because I leave the lights on anymore) ). He has pretty good computer/website proficiency because he was part of a government program for at risk kids when he was younger. He was on the team that designed the jobbank here in Canada. Then he was homeless for 10 years and there aren't many cars to work on or sink washers that need changing under various bridges. Sometimes I find it annoying that I have to do the mechanical stuff. I had to put together all of my daughter's baby things (stroller, bassinet, toys, walker, carrier). He is terrible with paper instructions. He reads things how he think they "should" go, not as they do. What I like about us is that we are both willing to learn.
EasyHeart Posted December 31, 2010 Posted December 31, 2010 This whole thread seems to be about building up the OP's self-esteem that he is a better man for being a handyman and able to change a tire. This doesn't necessarily mean he is more attractive to women. Let's appreciate the differences in people. No one is any better or worse.That's just crazy-talk. I am waaaay better than most men. My mom says so. ARE YOU CALLING MY MOM A LIAR????
Distant78 Posted December 31, 2010 Posted December 31, 2010 That's just crazy-talk. I am waaaay better than most men. My mom says so. ARE YOU CALLING MY MOM A LIAR???? I think we are.:laugh:
carhill Posted December 31, 2010 Posted December 31, 2010 What do women think of men that are like this? Is it generally viewed in a negative way? IME, it's a non-issue. My dad was like 'this' and it didn't preclude my mom from being married to him for life or they both being reproductively successful. IMO, the operative issue wrt attraction is a man who handles challenges with confidence and pro-active actions. That action could be, for a man like myself, pulling out my tool kit or, for a man like my father, knowing exactly who to call and what to ask for when something needs attention. It's not the 'what', it's the 'how'. This presumes the woman finds the man otherwise to be attractive. No quality stands alone. That said, IMO, roles and attractive qualities appear to be a bit more, or substantially more, ambiguous now than during my parent's generation, hence the wide variety of opinion and perspective offered. Great information
Els Posted December 31, 2010 Posted December 31, 2010 The computer was not designed very well for access. It was an HP Media Center PC and you'd expect an HP desktop to have some accessibility but the hard drive, CD writer and other stuff were all covering the memory slots. I was tring to hook up a music device for guitar which needed twice as much RAM as I had. The whole thing was a master abortion from start to finish. The salesman for the device sold it hard without knowing that it was a little ahead of the curve in its demands--assuring me hat it would run fine with my computer. Then they refused to take it back wehn it didn't claiming some kind of "software policy" as if I could use the software without the effects hardware. Anyway, I tried for hours to get SIMMs in without taking out all the other guts but I couldn't do it. I had to take everything out. Then I ran into that age old problem--having too many screws and connections left over--obviously leaving something undone. Since I didn't have that much on the hard drive that wasn't backed up on CD or on an Internet drive, I just bought a new computer with all the RAM and processor speed I needed. I just treated myself to a new box instead of trying to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. I won't screw with that again though--computers aren't the easy access bus boxes I'm familair with any more. Oh dear me. Fair enough... I would've expected anything that uses a SIMM to be relatively old and large (thus easily accessible) though. I did mine in the DIMM era - pretty easy to get in once you take out the wide bus cables (nowadays they have tiny wires instead! ) but I'd wager my hands are a good bit smaller.
Feelin Frisky Posted December 31, 2010 Posted December 31, 2010 ...but I'd wager my hands are a good bit smaller. Yes, and I bet they're nice too.
lino Posted January 1, 2011 Posted January 1, 2011 From what I've seen, it doesn't matter much these days. I know of many guys who are hopeless with handywork and that have no problem getting women. I could never imagine being near useless with my hands but then again it use to be a massive part of my job and still is somewhat significant in what I do now.
musemaj11 Posted January 1, 2011 Posted January 1, 2011 Since the dead battery incident I have gotten my own set of jumper cables (in case any poor soul out there is lucky enough to have a dead battery and I'm in the vicinity). I also know how to change a tire, replace spark plugs, distributor caps, etc. I work on my computer, just fixed a short in my stereo, and fixed the door on my dryer. I also LOVE to cook. Hate to clean, but do it begrudgingly. Love kids, makeup, sexy clothes, getting my hair and nails done... the whole female bit.... For me, I'm capable and willing to do any historically "male" task out there, but it is SO attractive when a man WANTS to do these things for a woman. It makes me feel feminine, and for me (and for him) that's a good thing.....it leads to other good things. Personal preference. I once sanded mold out of one of our rental houses for four hours while my pansy a## ex husband was on the phone trying to find a "professional" to do it. He didn't get la*d that night;) And, having these skills is not because I'm a "loser" as someone suggested. I'm educated, I'm successful. I just prefer being self sufficient, and it's a turn on if a guy can do so as well. Yea maybe marry a plumber or something then. You sound like you have some fetish toward men with certain specialties.
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