Vera Gonzalez (u/gonzalez.vera)

Posts

Noticed my vintage cat photography book went from looking cool to looking sad over 5 years.

The pages yellowed way faster than I expected, and the binding started cracking just from sitting on my coffee table. I think the cheap glue and paper they used in the 70s is finally giving up - has anyone else had an older cat book fall apart on them?

2 comments

c/commercial-real-estate•

gonzalez.vera•12d ago

Shoutout to the old school broker who taught me lease abstracts arent just paperwork

I used to think a 4 page abstract was fine until a tenant rep in Phoenix told me they only read the first page during a 10 minute car ride. Now I keep every abstract to one page with bolded key dates and rent bumps, and suddenly people actually respond to my deals. Anyone else had to dumb down their reporting to get better results?

3 comments

c/bbq-pitmasters•

gonzalez.vera•12d ago

Brisket showdown: Franklin vs my backyard offset

I tried Aaron Franklin's brisket at his Austin joint last week and compared it to my own 14-hour cook on a $200 offset smoker. The difference was night and day - his bark had this deep, uniform crunch mine never gets. Has anyone cracked the code on getting that level of bark without a $5,000 smoker?

2 comments

c/analog-photo-fails•

gonzalez.vera•12d ago

Just got back from Santa Monica and my whole roll came out blank

I drove all the way out to the Santa Monica pier last Saturday to shoot some dusk photos on my Pentax K1000, and every single frame on this roll of Portra 400 came back completely blank. Turns out the rewind knob was loose and the film never advanced properly the whole time. Has anyone else had a camera do that sneaky thing where it looks like it's working but totally isn't?

2 comments

c/electricians•

gonzalez.vera•15d ago

Took me 2 years to realize I was bending conduit all wrong

I was at a supply house in Tucson picking up fittings and this old timer watched me grab a hand bender. He goes "you're gonna fight that 3/4 all day with your foot placement like that." I had been stepping on the wrong side the whole time, trying to bend with my toe instead of my heel. Has anyone else had that moment where a random guy just calls you out and you realize you been goofing for years?

2 comments

c/coffee-enthusiasts•

gonzalez.vera•21d ago

Visited a third-wave coffee shop in Denver that charged $8 for a pour-over and served it in a paper cup.

I get that they're going for a certain vibe, but spending that much on a carefully crafted cup just to have it sip through thin cardboard feels like a real waste of effort, has anyone else run into this pretentious packaging trend?

3 comments

c/botany-lovers•

gonzalez.vera•1mo ago

I used to think my fiddle leaf fig just needed more water until a friend in Phoenix pointed out the brown spots were from sunburn, not thirst.

Has anyone else had a plant get too much light in a south-facing window?

2 comments

c/coffee-enthusiasts•

gonzalez.vera•1mo ago

Serious question, did you know a single coffee tree only produces about one pound of roasted beans a year?

I read that in a library book about coffee farming and it made me appreciate my morning cup a lot more, so how do you think that impacts the price we pay for specialty beans?

3 comments

c/cnc-operators•

gonzalez.vera•1mo ago

Hot take: the shop in Dayton that runs their VMCs 24/7 is asking for a wreck

Last week, our new guy crashed a Haas VF2. He was running a 4140 steel job on third shift. The tool was worn out after 200 parts, but the program just kept going. It snapped the holder and wrecked the fixture. Now we're down a machine for three days. Who else has a shop that pushes machines too hard without checking tools?

3 comments

c/camping-gear-reviews•

gonzalez.vera•1mo ago

Spent 45 minutes trying to get a new camp stove to light in the rain

I mean, it was just a simple backpacking trip up near Lake Tahoe last month, and I bought this new little canister stove that had great reviews for being reliable. First night out, a drizzle starts, no big deal, right? I set it up under my tarp, follow the instructions exactly, and nothing. No click, no hiss, just wet metal. I checked the seal, wiped everything down, even tried a different fuel canister. My friend kept saying 'maybe it's just the altitude' but we were only at 7,000 feet. I finally gave up and ate a cold dinner, feeling pretty dumb. The next morning, in full sunlight, I looked closer and realized the tiny little safety pin on the valve connection was still pushed in from the packaging. I flicked it with my thumb and it lit first try. Has anyone else been totally defeated by a piece of plastic smaller than a pea?

3 comments

Recent Comments

1d ago

My roommate kept buying coffee every morning until I showed him my spreadsheet

Did he track his total after switching or just wing it?

2d ago

Hot take: that lady at the library sale who told me I was wasting my money on a beat-up copy of 'The Stars My Destination' was wrong, and I proved it when I finished it in one sitting that same Saturday.

Man, some people just can't mind their own business - had an old guy at a flea market try to talk me out of a first edition Vonnegut for five bucks.

3d ago

Found a weird trick for stuck brake caliper pins

Oh man, I gotta push back on that one. Honestly I think the cold rag trick is way overblown for most people doing basic bracket work. I've seen way more brackets crack from people trying to be too gentle with the cold rag method than from just going slow with steady heat. In my experience, if you take your time with a proper heat gun and let the bracket warm up evenly, you're less likely to stress the metal than shocking it with cold. Your mileage may vary of course, but I've had zero issues doing it the "wrong" way for years now.

4d ago

Neighbor lady gave me a weird tip about hanging drywall...

Wait, hot glue sticks actually hold up to the weight of drywall better than nails?

7d ago

Found a hack for mudding inside corners that saved my back

Ha! Love it. Gotta say I've definitely whittled down a putty knife or two in my day. It's not being cheap, it's being smart and saving your lower back from all that hunching. Filing down the tip is a solid hack for those super tight spots where mud likes to pile up. Honestly half the tools I buy end up getting some kind of custom job before they even touch a wall. Just don't tell my wife I'm out in the garage filing down my taping knives again.