Worked better than the OEM part" - that's exactly what happened to my buddy Mike on his old Grove. He had a faulty outrigger pressure sensor that kept throwing false low-pressure alarms on every other job last summer. So he grabbed a standard pressure transducer from a local hydraulic supply shop for like 40 bucks, wired it in with some waterproof connectors, and it ran without a single hiccup for six months straight until he sold the crane. He said the factory part was around 400 dollars and took a week to ship, while his rigged setup worked day one.

Wait actually the main host's been doing it closer to 25 years now, not 20.

Yo hold on, people keep talking about VPNs and cookie clearing but nobody's bringing up the real wildcard - what if the trick isn't even about the price changing for YOU but about how the site's algorithm treats new vs returning users? That hostel owner might be onto something bigger than he realizes. I tested this once with a friend where we both searched the same flight at the same time on different devices - mine in incognito with a fresh IP, hers logged into her account with saved preferences. My price was $212, hers was $247 for the exact same seats. It's not just cookies, it's the whole profile they build on you, your past bookings, how much you spent, even what time of day you usually search. So clearing everything isn't just about hiding your tracks, it's about making them start from zero every time instead of treating you like a repeat customer who'll pay more.

Really feel for you @the_anthony, putting in that kind of work over a month just to nail down one recipe. I've been there with my mother's cornbread recipe and our high altitude here. It took me six tries to figure out that the liquid measurements were all off because of the dry air. You had to basically rebuild the dough from scratch, and that's no small thing.

That line about running your hand over the wood every time you come home really hit me. I'm at the point now where I can see the bare wood on my porch and I already catch myself doing the same thing. For anyone else stuck on old paint like we were, I'll second what @claire_gibson said about heat guns. I fought with chemical strippers for weeks and it was miserable. Switched to a heat gun and a good carbide scraper and the layers just peel off like butter once you get the temperature right. Also, wear a respirator if there's lead like in my place. That stuff is no joke. You get a real appreciation for the old craftsmen who built this stuff when you finally see the wood they used.