# Things you prefer to do the hard way... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 12, 2016, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-prefer-to-do-the-hard-way/754607 "2016-05-12T14:55:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2016, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-prefer-to-do-the-hard-way/754607/61 "2016-05-14T11:39:33Z")
…IF you know what I mean. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2016, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-prefer-to-do-the-hard-way/754607/62 "2016-05-14T12:45:53Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > Manual transmission. Driving is so much more fun when you get to shift. Agree. When you are driving an automatic, you aren’t driving, you are just steering. However, I’m not sure that manual is the “hard” way. I just got a new car, and it’s an automatic, because I couldn’t find a manual in anything but a Corvette or a Mustang, and it’s really difficult to get used to the damn thing. I keep putting it in neutral at stop lights. It’s also harder to parallel park a manual. I could parallel park my old Falcon in two moves. This tiny Chevy Spark is tough, and my uncle’s 72 Chevelle I couldn’t parallel park at all. I got lucky on my drivers test that she had me park it behind a single car, and not between two cars, or I wouldn’t have been able to do it. FWIW, my old car was 22 years old, and very reliable, but getting creaky. I needed a new one. ---
**Author:** ![Mrs\_Ducky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrs_ducky/32/6227_2.png) [@Mrs\_Ducky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs_Ducky)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2016, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-prefer-to-do-the-hard-way/754607/63 "2016-05-14T13:11:31Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > I pay my bills by check, and then mail them in. The only bills I pay electronically are the onesthat don’t allow it any other way. > > I also do my own taxes, on paper. This is me, too. I also write checks for cash and take them to a teller at the bank. I do not have an ATM card or a debit card and don’t want one. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Gay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ab097/32.png) [@Enola\_Gay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Gay)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2016, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-prefer-to-do-the-hard-way/754607/64 "2016-05-14T15:48:27Z")
I must be the laziest person on earth, as there is nothing that I do the hard way. Even when I cook from scratch, I buy prechopped onions & put all the pots and pans in the dishwasher. And manual transmission? You’ve got to be kidding me. I wouldn’t even know how to drive it. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2016, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-prefer-to-do-the-hard-way/754607/65 "2016-05-14T17:59:14Z")
I make my quilts entirely by hand but for me it’s not harder, and it’s more enjoyable that way. But I get the comments about how long does that take?! and oh, I would never have the patience for that! Meh, using the machine frustrates me more, and hand work has a different look, that I like. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2016, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-prefer-to-do-the-hard-way/754607/66 "2016-05-14T20:04:55Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > p.s. Whenever I give directions to my house, I tell them not to use the GPS directions because they’re wrong. Whichever service is generating the wrong directions, you may be able to notify them and get them to correct it. I’ve done that once. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2016, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-prefer-to-do-the-hard-way/754607/67 "2016-05-14T21:37:30Z")
I, like others, bake by hand. I make bread twice a week, but after all this time I don’t see a machine saving me much time, and I’d rather have the counter space than yet another appliance. The kicker is donuts - we seem to have raised a generation that has no idea you can **make** donuts; everyone in my family under 30 that has seen this is like “wha?” Then they discover that donuts are fried, not just baked, and get whoozy. Another big shocker is candy. You _buy_ candy, you don’t _make_ it, I’m told. These people are also why I keep a hand-crank mixer around. I typically just use a spoon, but kids see it in the drawer, pull it out, turn the handle and watch the beaters turn and are just fascinated. You can see on their faces that they’re thinking “you can do this without electricity?” My pickup has a manual transmission **and** crank windows! When I was a kid, they had to stop us playing with power windows. Now, kids are winding them up and down, awed by the sheer crudeness. The truck is just plain Flintstone tech to them. I have to manually unlock the doors, open the windows, shift the gears - they’re amazed the wipers work on their own. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2016, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-prefer-to-do-the-hard-way/754607/68 "2016-05-15T14:58:35Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > p.s. Whenever I give directions to my house, I tell them not to use the GPS directions because they’re wrong. When GPS first became a thing, directions to our place were incorrect, wanting people to drive on the original construction access road which now goes through a house and into the woods on a barely still recognizable trail. I contacted Garmin but got no response. I later contacted Google and Waze (and tossed my old Garmin) and they fixed the issue promptly! ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2016, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-prefer-to-do-the-hard-way/754607/69 "2016-05-15T23:23:04Z")
\*\*Things you prefer to do the hard way… \*\* Yeah. We REAL PROGRAMMERS code is ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE and nothing but! (ETA: On our lazier days, that is. Otherwise it’s bare hexadecimal machine code!) True story: My first job was at a university computing center, and a large part of it was doing the local maintenance on the Control Data 6400 FORTRAN compiler and run-time library. We had the entire source code for the compiler – About a thousand pages of utterly unstructured assembly code. Most of the statement labels went like AAA, AAB, AAC, AAD, etc. The text messages in the compiler (error messages, mostly) were all coded in octal. (Octal being the natural base for the CDC 6000/7000 series computers.) The compiler showed every sign of having been coded originally in bare bones machine language and later machine-translated into assembly language. ---
**Author:** ![txst16](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ed655f/32.png) [@txst16](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/txst16)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2016, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-prefer-to-do-the-hard-way/754607/70 "2016-05-16T00:02:41Z")
Just about everything is, considerably, done best the hard way. The task at hand is learned fully and the time spent on it can be considered well spent. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2016, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-prefer-to-do-the-hard-way/754607/71 "2016-05-16T00:38:03Z")
Pay bills by check and mail them in. I enjoy doing them that way. Use a 30 year old schick injector razor and shaving cream. Could care less about electric. Prefer old fashioned oatmeal and cream of wheat. Not the instant stuff where you just add hot water. We have a vintage rotary wall phone in the kitchen. I still use it to answer calls. Yes I have a smart phone too. ---
**Author:** ![somepumpkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@somepumpkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/somepumpkin)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2016, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-prefer-to-do-the-hard-way/754607/72 "2016-05-16T00:49:40Z")
I prefer the back-roads to the interstate. Sure, sometimes the options don’t work-out and the interstate’s the only reasonable route. But I try to get off them when I can. It might take a little longer, i agree. But that’s only if there’s not a crash/traffic jam on the super-slab. And the stress level is so much lower that it’s worth any extra time spent. Not-to-mention that I get to see more of the area when I plan a route _sans interstate._ I used to be one of you paper map guys, and I sorta still am. But I’m starting to appreciate the value of electronic maps, even if i’ve not fully signed-up to the GPS scene, yet. But I’m headed there. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2016, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-prefer-to-do-the-hard-way/754607/73 "2016-05-16T01:05:26Z")
\*Some things are best done the hard way…\*© …would make a great advertising slogan for Viagra™. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2016, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-prefer-to-do-the-hard-way/754607/74 "2016-05-16T13:52:20Z")
> [@epbrown01](#): > > The kicker is donuts - we seem to have raised a generation that has no idea you can **make** donuts; everyone in my family under 30 that has seen this is like “wha?” Then they discover that donuts are fried, not just baked, and get whoozy. I spell doughnuts the hard way. Also, through. ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2016, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-prefer-to-do-the-hard-way/754607/75 "2016-05-16T15:49:07Z")
In spite of owning and using numerous high tech electronic devices that would be perfectly capable of maintaining my schedule and appointments, I still use my Franklin Planner, the same leather binder in the Classic size that I’ve utilized since the 1990s. I’m so accustomed to looking there for everything that I simply don’t want to (if I even could) change. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2016, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-prefer-to-do-the-hard-way/754607/76 "2016-05-16T16:49:55Z")
I have cable instead of satellite. ---
**Author:** ![quiltguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e47774/32.png) [@quiltguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quiltguy)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2016, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-prefer-to-do-the-hard-way/754607/77 "2016-05-16T21:25:39Z")
> [@epbrown01](#): > > I, like others, bake by hand. I make bread twice a week, but after all this time I don’t see a machine saving me much time, and I’d rather have the counter space than yet another appliance. The kicker is donuts - we seem to have raised a generation that has no idea you can **make** donuts; everyone in my family under 30 that has seen this is like “wha?” Then they discover that donuts are fried, not just baked, and get whoozy. And remember…, donuts spelled backwards is STUNOD. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2016, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-prefer-to-do-the-hard-way/754607/78 "2016-05-16T23:18:35Z")
I’d rather mince ginger than grate it.I make thin slices, which I then dice. The grater just makes a mooshy mess, and leaves a lot of stringy stuff on the remaining piece. I still spell out “by the way,” and such. I know most of the internet slang acronyms, but I still occasionally run into one I have to puzzle out. Just how many seconds would it take to spell words? ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-prefer-to-do-the-hard-way/754607/79 "2016-05-17T01:20:38Z")
I hand-mount all my truck, jeep and lots of my car tires. Saves a ton of money. ---
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-prefer-to-do-the-hard-way/754607/80 "2016-05-18T16:29:23Z")
For me it has to be building a fire. When I build a fire, I don’t use paper, lighter fluid, or any other quick ways to start a fire. I shave off my own wood shavings and use whatever twigs and branches I can find. I carefully build up the tinder, twigs, small and large branches, then the larger wood. Then I light it (and this is a point of pride with me) with one and ONLY ONE match. For me this is the ONLY way to start a fire, whether it is in the fireplace, outside, or in the burn barrel. I know there are easier ways to do it, but I prefer this way, just to be able to say, “Hey! I can start a one-match fire with no paper or lighter fluid.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-prefer-to-do-the-hard-way/754607.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-prefer-to-do-the-hard-way/754607.md?page=5)