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Neatorama.com recently linked to an article by Popular Mechanics about how Americans are out of touch with practical DIY skills.

It would seem that many of us are losing the ability to actually perform DIY skills such as changing a tire, fixing the bathtub or installing a ceiling fan and yes, sometimes, changing a light bulb.

The article quotes sci-fi author Robert A. Heinlein as saying:

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

I’m not sure about you, but I can on a good day maybe task myself with one or two of the above (planning an invasion and cooking a tasty meal if you’re curious). Ask me to build a wall? I’d just point you in the direction of a great masonry. Balance accounts? Talk to my wife, the accountant. Butcher a hog? Well, you get the picture.

Granted, Heinlein’s task list is ambitious. It’s like asking a kindergartner to walk on stilts in the middle of a sandbox. It probably won’t happen. The kid might be smart enough to call his friend, the circus performer, who will not only gladly put on the stilts but he’ll hold a fishbowl as well. In this day and age, we’ve got contacts, professionals, who will do these things for a whole lot or a whole little greenback.

That said, it would seem impractical or more technical DIY is on the rise. Just to name a few DIY resources: Make Magazine, Readymade, Lifehacker, DIY Life, DIY Network and one of my favorites, Instructables, just about anyone can learn how to build a solar-powered kite or superpower an appliance.

The question is then, has the DIY skill set atrophied or has it evolved into something else entirely?

It’s no real secret to my family that out of every unsolved mystery/crime case in history, the one that I’ve become quietly obsessed with over the years is that of the “Zodiac Killer”.

Which is why when the media recently reported of a man revealing the actual Zodiac killer to be his stepfather, let’s just say my interest finally peaked. To the point where I blew the dust off my mind’s shelving of this obsession and now with this re-examining of the case I hope to file it away for good. Of course I said that the last time and if this trails off to nowhere I’ll be doing this again.

For those without any knowledge of the Zodiac case, the oracle of digital insight and magic Wikipedia says this:

The Zodiac Killer is a serial killer who operated in Northern California in the late 1960s. His identity remains unknown. The Zodiac coined his name in a series of taunting letters he sent to the press. His letters included four cryptograms (or ciphers), three of which have yet to be solved.

Creepy? Check. Despite the fact it’s unsolved it still remains an open case, unlike the stockpile of cold cases that may never see the light of day. As Hank Hill would say, “That ain’t right.”

I’ve even rented the movie, Zodiac, with Mark Ruffalo and Robert Downey, Jr. just to reacquaint myself with a fascinating (and yes, morbid) crime with a deranged man responsible for several deaths sending letters and greeting cards to authorities. It was all very Jack the Ripper but in modern times.

There’s also another thread to this that hits close to home. Her name was Cheri Jo Bates, a student at Riverside Community College and a purported victim of the Zodiac killer. Even though he claimed to be responsible for the murder, Riverside police were convinced his confession to be false.

I believe my obsession with this case has more to do with the air of mystery surrounding it rather than the gritty details, I’ll leave that to Hollywood and the media. Yet I do want to see it solved once and for all, if anything to provide some resolve for the victims and their families.

To meet my cute quota for the month, there’s nothing better than a video with my 4-year-old, head strong, toe-headed daughter named Zoe.

For the sake of actually writing something and to experiment a bit with Flickr Video here’s a short clip of my daughter, Zoe, practicing sign language with her Aunt Erin (Nina). Bonus: My son shows up in the last few seconds.

It’s been several months since I’ve written on here, since August of last year in fact, which equals to roughly 5 years in Internet time.

What have I been up to since I last mashed my fingers across the keyboard and published something of worth? Well, I was offered and accepted a position with AOL/Weblogs, Inc. as a designer for their network of sites. My first thought was; they pay people to design blogs? It’s become more than a dream job for me and I couldn’t be more thankful for the friendships I’ve formed and lessons learned.

There’s that, on the job end of things, and as a far as my personal life is concerned we’re plugging along quite nicely. My daughter Zoe just turned 4. For those of you who’ve followed this site for the 4+ years I’ve been maintaining it this is a huge milestone. My son, Quinn, is now 2 and between the two they manage to keep us busy, thanks in part to how often they annoy each other. We are expecting another child as well so there are more adventures to look forward to.

Speaking of which, this site, my favorite pet project has become more stagnant than ever. You could search the archives… oh wait, no you can’t because that’s yet to be fixed, but hey, if you could you’d find plenty of posts describing some sort of post-mortem. Moving on from here I’ve finally decided to use Expression Engine to use as the engine of this site. One reason for settling on EE is because I’ve used it sparingly in the past for projects and the road map of feature additions & interface enhancements (as showcased at SXSW ‘08) looks pretty fantastic.

The other reason is I had dinner with Michael Boyink, recent hire of Ellis Labs (the team behind EE), and through his own articulation and excitement I myself became utterly convinced this was for me. He’s also the man behind Train-EE which is both an incredible and informative resource on all that is Expression Engine, oh, and he offers training course ware on it. How cool is that?

It’s been awhile and I realize that and it bothers me, but, it’s clear to me that the progression of this site is to become something more than a blog, but also it needs to be fun again for me.