I can't remember a time where I wasn't interested in pocketknives, tools, and being able to fix things. As a handyman and a technologist, I'm keenly aware of needing certain tools to be able to get things done. Knowing how to do something but lacking the tools is a feeling I hate. Self-sufficiency is just something I've always tried to do.

I've read voraciously since First Grade. I read _The Hardy Boys Handbook: Seven Stories of Survival_ when it came out in 1980, and that led me into thinking about carrying tools not just to fix stuff, but to survive.