Tried that automatic budget tracker app for 3 weeks and it flagged my $8 coffee as 'unusual spending'

Tried a drop of lighter fluid on a sticky shutter and it actually worked

I had a Pentax K1000 in my shop last week that had a shutter stuck open at 1/1000. I was about to tear the whole thing down to clean the blades because every trick I tried - compressed air, tiny brush, even a static charge - did nothing. Then an old guy at the camera club in Tulsa mentioned he uses Ronsonol on stubborn oil residue. I was skeptical lol, but I dabbed a tiny bit on a cotton swab and touched just the edge of the blade pivot. After letting it dry 10 minutes, the shutter snapped back like new. Anyone else ever tried lighter fluid for shutter cleaning or is that just a cowboy move? I feel like it could warp something long term.

Question about the way we run coax through attics in the summer heat

I had a job last Tuesday in Madison where the attic was pushing 130 degrees easy. I was up there running a new drop for a customer who wanted their living room moved around. My foreman says we always gotta use the structured wire path they got pre-installed. But that path took me through a spot where the trusses were so tight I could barely squeeze my arm in. I snapped two RG6 cables before I finally said forget it and drilled my own hole through a top plate. The customer saw me come down drenched in sweat and asked if I was okay. My foreman chewed me out for not following the path, but I saved an hour of fighting with it. Has anyone else ever just ignored the designed route when the heat made it impossible to work?

My coworker told me my code was 'too clever' and I finally got it

She said readability matters more than showing off with one-liners, and she was right. I went back to a project from 3 months ago and couldn't even follow my own logic. Has anyone else had to unlearn bad habits from trying to look smart?

Warning about swapping butter for margarine in my grandma's pie crust

I tried margarine instead of butter in my grandma's apple pie crust last Thanksgiving because I ran out of butter and figured it would be fine. The crust came out crumbly and greasy and my aunt called it a sad biscuit disaster at the dinner table. Has anyone else ruined a family recipe by swapping one fat for another without adjusting the liquid?

Shoutout to the guy who talked me into a $15 fish spatula

I used to think a fish spatula was a gimmick. Last month I was flipping delicate sole fillets at work and they kept falling apart on me. A line cook handed me his fish spatula and said just try it. First flip was perfect, thin and flexible but sturdy enough to lift. Has anyone else had a cheap tool completely change how you prep something?

The Crunchyroll app just wiped my entire watchlist from 3 years

I logged in last Tuesday to finish up To Your Eternity and my whole list was just gone. Over 120 shows I had saved across different genres just vanished into thin air. I tried reinstalling, clearing cache, even resetting my password but nothing brought it back. Has anyone else had this happen recently, or did I just get unlucky?

Why does nobody talk about mud drying too fast in summer

Last August in Phoenix I was doing a 1500 square foot basement. Mud was crusting on my knife in 2 minutes flat. Couldn't get a smooth finish to save my life. An old timer told me to add a splash of dish soap to my mix. Worked perfect. Anyone else deal with this heat thing?

That stat about how few people finish the books they start really got me

I was scrolling through some book blog last week and saw that only about 30% of people actually finish a book once they start it. That blew my mind because I always felt guilty for putting down a novel after 50 pages. Turns out most people do the same thing but nobody talks about it in book club. Has anyone else here secretly abandoned a book and never told the group?

Weld test I took last Tuesday at the union hall in Detroit

I went down to the Local 169 hall in Detroit for a weld test on some 2 inch schedule 80 pipe. They had me do a 6G position with 6010 root and 7018 fill, which I've practiced a lot but never under a time limit. My caps looked okay but I think I burned through on the root pass near the bottom... has anyone else had trouble with the 6G on heavier wall pipe?