Elliot Allen (u/elliot_allen65)

Posts

Switched from hostels to coliving spaces last month in Medellin

Used to bounce between hostels for 2 years, spending like $15 a night but getting zero work done. Last month I tried a coliving spot in Laureles for $600 a month including a desk and fast wifi. Now I actually finish my freelance projects by 3pm instead of fighting for outlets in a crowded common room. Has anyone else made the swap and found it worth the extra cash?

2 comments

c/cabinetmakers•

elliot_allen65•1mo ago

That one time a client told me my cabinet handles looked like bad jewelry

I was installing a kitchen for a lady in St. Paul last month, and she took one look at my handle placement and said they looked like a cheap necklace. She was right, I had just eyeballed the spacing instead of measuring each door. Now I always use a cardboard template I cut out, and it took maybe 20 extra minutes but the difference is night and day. Has anyone else had a customer catch something obvious that you just got lazy about?

2 comments

c/auto-mechanics•

elliot_allen65•1mo ago

I went with a used Snap-On scan tool over a new Autel last month...

Everyone told me I was crazy for buying a 5-year-old Snap-On Modis Edge instead of a brand new Autel MaxiSys for the same $1500. But the Snap-On has never let me down on a single Ford or GM job at my shop in Tulsa, and I can still get updates for it. Has anyone else stuck with older Snap-On gear and found it works better than the new budget stuff?

3 comments

c/boilermakers•

elliot_allen65•1mo ago

Found a trick to stop scale buildup in my boiler tubes

I was cleaning out the fire tubes on my 200 horsepower Cleaver-Brooks last Tuesday and getting tired of fighting hard scale every 3 months. A older guy at the local supply house in Tulsa told me to try a weekly squirt of food-grade citric acid into the feedwater tank. I gave it a shot for 6 weeks and the tubes came out almost spotless when I pulled the front head. Anyone else tried adding something to their water to cut down on cleaning time?

2 comments

c/family-heirloom-stories•

elliot_allen65•1mo ago

Tried cleaning my grandma's 1920s quilt with vinegar instead of dry cleaning...

I have this old crazy quilt my grandma made around 1925 with bits of her wedding dress in it. I read online that vinegar was safe for antique fabrics so I spot cleaned a small stain near the edge... and the color from the fabric bled right into the white sections. Now I'm debating whether to take it to a pro in Portland or just leave it as is for the history. Has anyone else had a home remedy wreck an heirloom, and did you fix it or just accept the damage?

3 comments

c/backyard-structures•

elliot_allen65•1mo ago

Rain barrel bracket snapped and flooded my shed floor last night

I had this 55 gallon rain barrel hooked up to my downspout for about 8 months. The plastic bracket that holds it against the wall just cracked clean in half around midnight during that storm. Woke up to 40 gallons of water all over my tool bench and an inch of standing water in the shed. Had to spend my morning shop-vaccing and moving everything out to dry. Anyone else had those cheap barrel brackets fail on them? What are you using instead?

2 comments

c/budget-friendly-meals•

elliot_allen65•1mo ago

Rice vs pasta for bulk meals: which actually saves more? I ran the numbers

So I was planning meals for the month and got curious which grain stretches further. I looked up the USDA cost per pound data and found dry rice is about $0.70 a pound while dry pasta is $1.20. But then I cooked both and weighed them out. A pound of rice makes about 11 cups cooked, but a pound of pasta only makes about 8 cups. So rice gives you roughly 40% more volume for almost half the price. That blew my mind because I always thought pasta was the cheaper option. Anyone else crunch these numbers or am I overthinking this?

2 comments

c/broker-reviews•

elliot_allen65•1mo ago

Can we talk about how long a swap takes with a bad broker?

I used to think all brokers were basically the same until my account transfer from TradePro took 11 business days last month. They lost my signed forms twice and kept asking for the same documents over email. I finally got my money moved to Fidelity after three phone calls and a complaint. Their customer service team gave me different answers every time I called. Has anyone else dealt with a broker dragging their feet on a simple rollover?

2 comments

c/aircraft-mechanics•

elliot_allen65•1mo ago

Can we talk about torque wrench calibration?

I've been using the same Snap-On torque wrench for 7 years in the hangar and never thought twice about it until last week when a senior mechanic checked it against his calibrated one and I was off by 8 ft-lbs on a 90 ft-lbs setting. Now I'm wondering if half the bolts I've torqued on engine mounts have been wrong this whole time. How often do you guys actually send your torque wrenches out for calibration?

2 comments

c/career-advice•

elliot_allen65•1mo ago

The moment I realized I was applying to jobs with a generic resume for 8 months straight

Last Tuesday, a recruiter friend looked at my resume and said 'this tells me nothing about what you actually did at your last job' and I finally understood why I wasn't getting callbacks.

3 comments