Setup night almost ended in a table flip

We were 90 minutes into setting up Gloomhaven when my buddy knocked over the tray of monster standees. Scattered fifty little cardboard circles across the floor. Had to spend another 20 minutes re-sorting them by color code before we could even start.

Just finished a CLA on a Leica M3 and a Nikon F... the difference was wild.

Everyone says the Leica is a watchmaker's camera, but after 3 hours, the Nikon's shutter curtain mechanism was just more straightforward to adjust. Has anyone else found certain 'simple' designs to be a real pain to work on?

I thought those new composite fence posts were just a gimmick, but a job in Phoenix changed my mind

We had a client last month who insisted on composite posts for a long run of privacy fence. I figured they'd be flimsy and warp in the heat, just another overpriced trend. The supplier gave us a sample and said to try driving one with the post pounder. It went in like butter and felt solid as a rock. We did the whole 150-foot line with them, and after seeing how straight they set and knowing they won't rot, I'm a convert. Has anyone else made the switch, or are you still sticking with pressure-treated wood?

A retired mechanic in a Buffalo parts house told me he never used a level to set a rail, just a plumb bob and his eyes.

He said, 'Kid, if you can't see a sixteenth out over ten feet, you're in the wrong trade,' and I've questioned every digital level I've bought since.

My packing cubes failed me on a rainy afternoon in Edinburgh

I was trying to repack my 40L backpack at the hostel before a flight, and the zipper on my main packing cube just gave out. Everything I'd rolled so neatly spilled into the bag. I ended up using two large plastic bags from a grocery store to separate my clean and dirty clothes for the trip home. Has anyone found a specific brand of packing cube that can really handle being overstuffed?

Just changed my mind about those flexible chimney cleaning rods

I used a set of those new polypropylene rods from ChimneyFlex on a standard brick flue in a house in Tacoma. The whole thing buckled and got stuck about 8 feet up, and I spent an extra hour fishing it out. I learned that for anything but the straightest, shortest runs, you really can't beat the old steel rods for control. Has anyone else had a bad time with the flexible ones on older masonry?

Just realized I've written 'Hello, World!' in 12 different languages now. It's a weird little collection.

My old laptop died right in the middle of a deep dive on the 2001 anthrax letters

It happened last Tuesday, just as I was cross-referencing a timeline from a 2004 forum post. The screen went black and it made this awful grinding noise. I lost about three hours of open tabs and notes I hadn't saved yet. I ended up having to use my phone to finish reading, which was a huge pain. Has anyone else had tech totally fail them at the worst possible moment during a research rabbit hole?

Saw a crew in Charlotte using a garden sprayer for curing compound

They were on a big patio job and just misting it on instead of rolling. Tried it myself on a garage slab last week and it was way faster, plus you get a more even coat. Anyone else switch to spraying their sealer?

Can we talk about the time I said yes to a project way outside my skillset?