I shoulda been a mechanic

I often say I should have been a mechanic or a carpenter.  Probably mechanic.  Our front door lock mechanism has been acting up.  It has a typical entry from the front where you push down with your thumb to turn the cylinder to open the door.  The back of the door door knob fell off because it had gotten loose and stripped out the holes.  Turns it out it was much more than that - I had to figure out how to get the entire front pull door handle off to fix it because the latch mechanism fell apart.  I learned this after replacing the door knob and it was still not working properly.  I figured out how to get the pull door handle off and it hit the ground and fell apart into like a dozen different pieces.  I had never seen the mechanism together....  with some trial and error I figured out how it works and was able to time the mechanism and put it back together.  I rebuilt it!!  All the plates, gears, levers, pins, springs and gears.  I got it back together and still wasn't happy with the way it was operating.  I took it apart again and reversed a part in the mechanism and put it back together.  I still wasn't happy with it.  So, I took the entire thing apart again and changed the latch part that goes in the door that goes against the striker plate.  With the spring.... Put it back together and viola - I fixed it and it is now working as good as new.  It works as good as the day we bought the house.  I did the entire project for 22 dollars because I had to purchase a new door knob for the inside part that goes in the house.  I figure I saved myself about 300 bucks including labor doing the work myself.  It probably took 2 hours.

I get a huge amount of self fulfillment taking these little projects on.  I may not be smart in a lot of ways, but I am smart in some.  I am a machine.