That "boredom" dig through the bin paid off while I've been walking past mine for years.

just grabs the hose and shows me the arc again" is the most pump guy thing I've ever read. No lecture, no I told you so, just the silent hose grab. Three weeks of nodding along and doing it your way, then a slump line down bay 4 teaches you what the man couldn't. Honestly the wet mix did more training than he did.

The quitting the stirring part is what got me too. I used to stir mine the whole time because my grandma did it that way, and it always turned into this sticky mess in the pot. Once I just put the lid on and walked away for about 20 minutes on the lowest setting, it finally came out fluffy and not glued together. I do rinse mine before cooking though, not for any fancy reason, I just don't like the cloudy water and it seems to help the grains not stick to each other. So for me it's rinse, don't stir, lid on, leave it be. Sounds like you already cracked the code.