Dadvice Weekly #42 / A Closing Knowledge Gap
Dadvice Weekly - #42
Three months ago, I would have called a shop for an oil change without a second thought. $120 out the door, problem solved. But this past weekend I got under a vehicle for the first time in my life and changed my own oil. My materials ran about $20. I also replaced the rotors and brakes on both cars while I was at it. For each of these tasks I watched some YouTube videos, followed along carefully, and got through it without much trouble. We are now living in a moment where the gap between not knowing something and being able to do it has never been smaller. The internet and AI have made knowledge accessible in a way that would have been hard to imagine even ten years ago. What remains is simply the willingness to engage with it. This issue explores some ways I’ve engaged and found success. –KC
Consulting AI for a Second Opinion
Last month I picked up the soil test Skyler recommended a few issues back. My yard has been slow to come in this spring and I wanted to understand why. The results came back along with a set of product recommendations from the testing company, which happened to include several fertilizers they also sell. Something about that felt worth questioning, so I uploaded the full results to Gemini and asked for an independent read. The assessment came back pointing in the different direction. My soil wasn’t depleted but was showing signs of being over-fertilized, and the recommendation was to hold off on any product, focus on water saturation, and add lime as a supplement. Lime runs a few dollars. The company’s recommendations were closer to $80. The company wasn’t being dishonest, but they had a reason to sell me something. Using AI to get a second opinion cost me nothing and likely saved my lawn. –KC
YouTube for Small Appliance Repair
Before you call a repair service or start shopping for a replacement, it’s always worth spending twenty minutes on YouTube first. I’ve gone this route with our espresso machine, a sprinkler valve, and most recently a dishwasher that had stopped drying. In each case I found a video of someone working through the exact problem on a near exact model, filmed clearly and explained well. The dishwasher repair that would have cost well over $100 in labor took me about 90 minutes and a $35 part from Amazon. The approach is pretty consistent regardless of the appliance: search the make, model, and symptom together, find the video with the most views, watch it all the way through before you touch anything, and then work slowly. Pro Tip: If you’re trying to identify a specific part or track down something obscure, AI can help you get to a part number faster than digging through a manual or a parts diagram. –KC
AI as a Financial Sounding Board
I’ve found AI to be a genuinely useful thinking partner for financial questions I’d otherwise leave unanswered or have to pay someone to walk me through. Questions like how additional HSA contributions affect adjusted gross income, strategic retirement planning, or even budget questions. I tend to use it less for definitive answers and more for orientation, trying to understand a topic well enough to ask sharper questions when I sit down with someone who actually manages money for a living. –KC
AI for Curating Packing Lists
If you tell AI where you’re going, how many days you’ll be there, what you plan to do, and how old your kids are, it will generate a baseline working packing list in under a minute that would have taken me a solid hour to pull together from memory. The more valuable habit, though, is what happens after the trip. Save the list somewhere accessible, whether that’s in your phone notes, a google doc, etc. and edit it when you get home while everything is still fresh. Add what you forgot. Remove what you packed and never touched. After two or three trips the list starts to reflect how your family travels. Most important note: “do not forget the sound machine.” We have learned that lesson more than once. –KC
Dadvice Weekly is Kyle and Skyler—two friends in their thirties, living in Colorado, settling into fatherhood and trying to stay sane. Every Tuesday we share what’s working in our homes: gear we use, routines we’ve tested, ideas we’re trying. It could be a recipe, a product that solved a problem, or just what we’re thinking about as dads.
If you have a tip, tried something we mentioned, or just want to say hi, reply to this email or message us on Substack. We read everything, and we’re always looking for what works. Glad you’re here.