PSA: don't buy the cheap pre-mixed joint compound in the bucket

I wasted $40 on a five gallon bucket of that bargain brand last month and ended up with crumbly mud that wouldn't sand smooth, so has anyone else run into this with store brand compounds?

Thought double stitching on pockets was a waste of time until I had a pair of jeans blow out in 4 months

I used to skip the extra row of stitching on my pocket edges to save time, but after my favorite pair of raw denim gave up at a coffee shop in Portland, I spent an afternoon reinforcing a test pair and they've held up for over a year now. Has anyone else found a simple stitch change that actually made their clothes last longer?

Spent $200 on a fancy automatic chicken door and kinda regret it

I bought this auto door from Amazon back in March because I was tired of waking up at dawn to let my girls out. It worked fine for like two months, then the sensor got all messed up during a rainy week and it wouldn't close at night. I came out to find a raccoon had gotten inside and killed two of my hens, it was awful. Now I'm back to manually opening and closing every day, has anyone else had bad luck with those auto doors?

Finally got that seized seatpost out after three days of trying

It was a steel frame road bike from the 80s, the post was aluminum and totally stuck. I tried the usual tricks like ammonia and a bench vise, but nothing moved. Ended up making a homemade slide hammer from an old axle and a big socket, and it popped free on the fifth hard pull. What's your last resort method for a really stuck post?

Vent: I thought working from cafes was a waste of money until I tried it in Medellin

For the first six months of my nomad life, I was super strict about only working from my apartment to save cash. I told myself paying for coffee just to sit was dumb. Then last month in Medellin, I hit a major creative block on a client project. A friend literally dragged me to a spot in El Poblado called Pergamino. I got a coffee, which was about $3, and camped out for four hours. The background noise and people moving around somehow flipped a switch in my brain. I finished the proposal that had been stuck for days. Now I budget for two cafe days a week as a productivity tool, not a treat. Has anyone else found a specific city or type of spot that just makes your brain work better?

Vent: I used to cut drywall with a utility knife and a straight edge, but after a messy job in my Denver basement last spring, I switched to a $40 oscillating tool.

The oscillating tool gives me way cleaner lines and less dust, but I'm curious if anyone else has a go-to method for small patches that doesn't involve hauling out the big saw.

My old impact wrench gave up the ghost in the middle of a big brake job

So I was working on a 2012 F-150 yesterday, doing a full brake rotor and pad swap on all four corners (you know, the fun stuff). I was about halfway through, had the front passenger side caliper bracket bolts off, and went to zip off the rear ones. My trusty Milwaukee 2767, the one I've had for like five years, just made this sad little clicking noise and quit. No smoke, no smell, just dead. I had to finish the job with a breaker bar and a lot of elbow grease, which added a solid hour to the whole thing. I'm pretty sure the motor brushes finally wore out, but I haven't cracked it open yet to confirm. Has anyone had luck rebuilding these, or is it just better to bite the bullet and get a new one at this point? I'm kind of attached to this old workhorse.

My kid asked me why I keep a box of old broken radios in the garage

I mean, I was just showing him how to test a capacitor, and he points at this milk crate full of busted 90s boomboxes and clock radios. He goes, 'But you can't fix those, right? They're just junk.' I had to stop and think. I guess to him, if it's not worth money or can't run an app, it's trash. But I pulled out this one Panasonic RF-1400 that's missing half its dial cord. Told him about the time, maybe 15 years back, when a guy brought one in just like it, said it was the last thing his dad listened to ball games on. We got it working. It's not about the radio. It's about knowing you can make broken things whole again, even if it takes hours for a five dollar part. Maybe that sounds corny. Does anyone else hold onto old 'junk' projects just for the practice, or am I turning into a hoarder?

Had to choose between the food court or the old arcade for my final shot at the Sunrise Mall

The light was fading fast and I only had one roll of film left. I picked the arcade because I spotted a single, dusty 'Galaga' cabinet still plugged in under a broken skylight. Got a shot of its screen reflected in a puddle from a leaky roof, which felt right. Anyone else ever make a call like that and have it totally sum up the whole vibe of a place?

I spent two years photographing dead malls thinking it was about the decay, but a security guard in Dayton told me I was missing the whole point.