Just realized I was using thermal paste wrong for 5 years

I was at a shop in Austin last month and an old tech showed me that pea size is actually too much for LGA 1700 sockets. He said i was basically spreading it like butter when you should just let the cooler do the work. Has anyone else had a facepalm moment with something this basic?

Hot take: I actually prefer the esthetician school in my small town over the fancy big-city one in Portland

Shoutout to the guy who told me to check my ground straps first

I spent three hours last Tuesday chasing a weird intermittent no-start on a 2012 F-150. Fuel pump would prime, starter would crank, but every fifth try it just clicked once. Replaced a perfectly good starter solenoid before I remembered an old mechanic's tip about checking engine to chassis ground straps. Found the main strap corroded nearly through right where it bolted to the frame near the radiator. Cleaned it up with a wire brush, new bolt, and the truck fired right up every time since. Has anyone else chased ghosts for hours only to find it was a simple ground issue?

I finally went with the copper pans over stainless steel after 10 years of wondering

I had this choice to make back in 2016 when I was setting up my first real kitchen in a little spot in Portland. I went with stainless because it was cheaper and tougher, but last month I finally grabbed a set of copper from a restaurant supply place near the Pearl District. The heat control is so much better for sauces and fish, but man do they need constant polishing or they look terrible after one service. Has anyone else made the switch and regretted the upkeep?

I finally cracked and bought a password manager after losing $50

I lost $50 in Amazon gift card credit because someone guessed my weak password. I had the same password for like 6 years and used it on 10 different sites. Someone got into my account and bought a bunch of digital crap with my credit. Now I'm using Bitwarden and it's annoying but I feel a little less stupid. Anyone else have a wake up call like this that made them change?

Switched from butter to lard for pie crusts after my aunt in Ohio called me out

I always used cold butter for my pie dough, thought that was the only way. Then Aunt Carol watched me make a crust last Thanksgiving and pointed out that my edges kept cracking. She handed me a block of her home-rendered lard and said try this. First time I used it, the dough came together in maybe 2 minutes and the crust was flaky without falling apart. Anyone else have a go to fat that surprised them?

Grandma's handwritten recipe card said 'bake until done' with no temp or time

I finally asked my aunt about it and she said grandma just knew by feel, but I'm trying to recreate her cornbread for a family dinner next week and I keep overbaking it. Has anyone else dealt with figuring out a temp from a vague family recipe?

Rant: Stop torquing spark plugs cold on radial engines

I was helping a buddy swap cylinders on his R-985 last weekend and watched him torque all 18 spark plugs to spec with the engine ice cold. Had to stop him and explain that the manuals call for hot torque on these because the aluminum expands different than the steel. He argued with me for 10 minutes until I pulled up the Continental service bulletin on my phone. Anyone else run into mechanics who skip the hot torque step on radials?

Warning: That cheap firebrick I bought cracked on the first heat

Picked up a pallet of firebricks from a guy on Craigslist. $80 for 50 bricks seemed like a steal. First forge fire hit about 1500 degrees and three of them cracked right down the middle. Turns out they were soft insulating bricks, not the hard dense ones for forge floors. Spent another $60 on proper kiln shelf material to replace them. Wish I'd just bought from a known supplier from the start. Anybody else get burned by a bad materials deal?

Finally figured out why my 6.0 Powerstroke was puking coolant at the degas bottle

I know the 6.0 gets a bad rep but mine has been decent until last month when it started pushing coolant out after a hard pull. I chased head gaskets for weeks but then a buddy told me to check the oil cooler and the ford EGR cooler bypass on the passenger side. Turned out the oil cooler was partially plugged causing high temps. I swapped it out with an OEM cooler and a new updated standpipe and it's been solid for 3 trips now. Anyone else have that moment where you overlook the simple stuff and go straight to the nightmare scenario?