In Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert Pirsig describes the concept of a “gumption trap”:
But there’s another kind of detail that no shop manual goes into but that is common to all machines and can be given here. This is the detail of the Quality relationship, the gumption relationship, between the machine and the mechanic, which is just as intricate as the machine itself. Throughout the process of fixing the machine things always come up, low-quality things, from a dusted knuckle to an accidentally ruined “irreplaceable” assembly. These drain off gumption, destroy enthusiasm and leave you so discouraged you want to forget the whole business. I call these things “gumption traps.”
This blog is sort of a distraction from that. The idea is that it gives me something constructive to do when I’m derailed by one of life’s many gumption traps. And, hopefully, some of this content can help to get other people out of the gumption traps they might find themselves in. Either directly, through the help of a how-to guide I’ve written. Or indirectly, by giving you something to kill a bit of time.
The themes here are self reliance, DIY, personal liberty/responsibility, and finally Quality. Another Pirsig concept. (For more on Quality, I suggest starting here.)
While I expect much of what I post here to be woefully inadequate, I do hope some of it is useful or entertaining. I know some of the more specific–seemingly too specific–DIY guides will be useful to people of are specifically looking for them. I just hope you enjoy the rest of the stuff.
Anyway, thanks for stopping by.
-Edver Ruprecht (…not my real name)
THE GUMPTION TRAP • 