Sage Lane (u/sagelane)

Posts

Last Tuesday my sourdough starter turned on me after 3 years of perfect behavior

I woke up to my starter having gone completely dormant even though I fed it like always and kept it at 78 degrees. Turns out my kitchen tap water had too much chlorine that day because the city was flushing hydrants up the street. Has anyone else had their starter suddenly act weird for no obvious reason and what did you do to fix it?

2 comments

c/camera-repairers•

sagelane•29d ago

Just figured out I was cleaning lenses with my microfiber cloth backwards

I've been repairing cameras for about 8 years now. Last week I was wiping down a Canon 50mm f1.4 that had some smudges. I always grab my microfiber cloth and do this little circular motion thing. This old timer who's been doing this since the 70s was looking over my shoulder and just goes "you know that cloth has a right side and a wrong side, right?" I thought he was messing with me. But apparently the tighter weave on one side is for the glass and the looser side is for the body. I've been using the wrong side on lenses this whole time. No wonder I always had to buff out tiny streaks. Anyone else ever miss something this basic for way too long?

2 comments

c/botany-lovers•

sagelane•1mo ago

Found a wild black walnut tree on my hike last Saturday and picked up 40 nuts

I was out on the Blue River Trail near my place when I spotted this massive black walnut tree loaded with fallen nuts. Spent like 45 minutes gathering them up, got my hands all stained brown from the husks. Now I'm trying to figure out how to cure them properly for eating, never done it before. Anyone here process their own black walnuts and got tips on getting the husks off without dyeing everything?

2 comments

c/elevator-mechanics•

sagelane•1mo ago

Warning: I ran 8 vents through a single ceiling hatch and blocked my own access

On a high rise in Chicago last month I ran 8 elevator machine room vents through a single 24x24 ceiling hatch. Looked clean from below but when I needed to get up there to fix a fan motor I could not even squeeze my arm through. The building manager called me out and I had to cut half the ducts out and re-route them. Has anyone else had a stupid layout choice bite them later?

2 comments

c/avionics-technicians•

sagelane•1mo ago

Picked up a tip from an old FAA inspector about coax cable prep

I was helping a guy troubleshoot a glideslope antenna issue last Tuesday and this older inspector walks up and watches for a minute. He pulled me aside and said my coax cable ends looked clean but I was stripping too much of the dielectric back. Apparently you only need like 1/8 inch exposed past the connector shoulder, anything more and you get signal reflection issues at higher frequencies. I've been doing it the same way for 6 years and never even thought about it. He showed me his method using just a razor blade and a piece of heat shrink as a depth stop. Tried it on a couple cables yesterday and my VSWR readings dropped by almost 0.2 on the 1090 MHz band. Anyone else run into old school tips that totally changed how you do basic stuff?

3 comments

c/drafters•

sagelane•1mo ago

Got told my CAD layer naming was 'too obsessive' last week

I was working with a new architect on a commercial build in Portland. He saw my layer names with subcategories for each MEP system and said I was wasting time. I told him I spent 2 hours last month tracking down a pipe run because someone else used a generic L-PIPE layer. He didn't have a comeback for that. Anyone else stick to strict naming standards and catch flak for it?

2 comments

c/cleveland-westshore-living•

sagelane•1mo ago

That guy at Don's Lighthouse Inn was right about the pier fishing spot

Some old timer told me last summer to fish off the west side of the pier near the rocks, not the east side where everyone goes. Caught three decent walleye there last Sunday after getting skunked for months on the other side. Anybody else got a secret spot they swear by around here?

2 comments

c/automotive-mods•

sagelane•1mo ago

Took me 2 hours to decide between a cold air intake and a short ram intake for my Civic

I picked the cold air because of a YouTube video from a guy in Texas, but then my buddy pointed out it sits too low and could suck up water from puddles, so now I'm swapping it out this weekend for the short ram anyone else dealt with that fear of hydro locking?

2 comments

c/carry-on-only-packing•

sagelane•1mo ago

Rolled my clothes for years before a hotel maid showed me a better way last month

Stayed at a Motel 6 in Nashville and the maid saw me struggling with wrinkled shirts. She showed me how to stack everything flat in a folder then wrap the whole stack in a plastic dry cleaning bag. Anyone else got a trick that replaced their old method?

3 comments

c/alarm-system-installers•

sagelane•1mo ago

My uncle said to always use a 22/4 wire for keypad runs, even on short ones.

He was a tech for 30 years and swore by it, saying the extra pair saved him on callbacks. I tried it on a job in Springfield last year where the client later added a second keypad, and it was a breeze. Anyone else have a simple rule they were given that paid off big later?

3 comments