That Poor Man's Casserole was a staple in my house too.

Man, I totally feel you on this. That bit about "weird readings depending on how hard I pressed on the wood" hit home for me. I had one of those cheap meters and I swear you could get a different number just by holding it at a different angle. It drove me nuts. I ended up tossing mine in the trash after it told me a piece of pressure treated lumber was completely dry right after a heavy dew. The plastic test is slow but it doesn't lie, and at this point I'd rather wait a day than guess with a gadget that's basically a toy.

Well damn, I never thought of it that way before but you might be onto something. I've always just layered shadows on top and called it done, but flipping the whole thing would change how the depth reads completely. Gonna have to try this on my next piece and see if it breaks me out of my usual rut.

Read somewhere that the same principle applies to cheap phone chargers. You buy one for five bucks, it fries your battery in three months, then you're paying full price for a replacement anyway. My buddy had an old truck he tried to save money on with bargain bin parts. Ended up replacing the same alternator three times before just getting the decent one. It's like the universe charging a tax for cutting corners.

Man that's a good point and honestly the answer matters a lot. Easy jogging miles where you're barely breaking a sweat? Big difference from tempo runs where your legs are trashed. Either way not stretching is a bad move but I've definitely been guilty of it myself when I was younger and dumber about running.