Old inspector told me to always trust the torque wrench over my gut

Felt a bolt bottom out weird on a 737 flap track last Tuesday but followed his advice anyway and the torque check caught a hairline crack in the bracket, saved me a redo and a possible write-up.

Just swept my 300th chimney this morning and barely noticed

I was counting up my jobs from this year and realized I hit 300 last week without even thinking about it. That's way more than I did in my first two years combined back when I started out of Phoenix. Anyone else keep track of their numbers and get surprised by the count?

Got a tip from a hostel owner in Vietnam that saved me $50 on laundry

Hot take: The Harry Potter movies are actually better than the books

I know everyone says the books are always better, but I hit page 500 in Order of the Phoenix and realized I was just bored. The movies cut out all the endless descriptions of homework and boring Ministry scenes. I fell asleep twice reading that one, but I've watched the film adaptations about 10 times now. Am I the only one who thinks the movies improved the story?

That dig in Sedona where my trowel handle snapped in half

I was out near Sedona last Saturday working on a small pit house excavation when my trusty trowel handle just cracked right off during a tricky scraping motion. The metal head flew into the dirt and I spent 20 minutes digging it out with my fingers because I didn't bring a backup. Has anyone else had a tool fail on them at the worst possible moment and what did you use as a replacement in the field?

That show "The OA" got canceled and people keep calling it confusing

I've seen so many posts saying it was too weird or made no sense. But I rewatched it three times and the puzzle pieces are all there, the interdimensional travel logic is consistent. How many of you actually finished season 2 before deciding it was nonsense?

After 10 years of CAD, I finally tried drawing a roof plan by hand first

I always thought hand sketches were a waste of time for new builds, but last month our office printer went down for 3 days and I had no choice. I roughed out a 40x60 foot roof layout on graph paper before starting AutoCAD, and it saved me 2 hours of revisions because I caught 3 bad intersections early. Has anyone else noticed hand planning cuts down on mistakes, or am I just getting old?

Stop putting your business address on a sign that's unreadable from the highway

I drive by that new BBQ spot on I-40 every week and their sign is tiny yellow letters on a white background. You can't read it until you're already past the exit. Why spend money on a sign if nobody can see it from 60 mph? I called the owner last month and told him, he said he liked the 'aesthetic.' Has anyone else seen businesses here shoot themselves in the foot with bad signage?

Used to hit every single coffee meetup in Austin. Now I only do 1 a month.

I was spending like $200 a month on random coffee chats that went nowhere, so I switched to just one focused meetup with people I actually vetted. Anyone else cut way back on networking events and see better results?

I finally got a lead from a networking event last month, but the contact ghosted me after two emails.

I met them at the Chamber mixer in Austin, shared my business card, and followed up the next day with a specific idea for their project, but they never replied to my second email asking to schedule a quick call.