Hey did that old timer happen to charge you for the lesson or just give you the "tuition in concrete" for free? I swear every good tip I ever got came from some crusty dude who smelled like dust and coffee, never from a manual. I still remember a random plumber yelling at me on a jobsite about how "primer ain't perfume, you gotta drown the pipe in it." Really makes you wonder how many things we all do wrong for years before some stranger sets us straight, huh?

My uncle actually tried to fix a leaky toilet by just cranking the handle tighter until it snapped off. He spent the next three hours with a bucket scooping water out of the bowl while yelling at my cousin to find the shutoff valve. They didn't have a wrench so he used a pair of pliers and stripped the nut. Plumber ended up charging him $400 to replace the whole valve assembly and the toilet handle. Still cracks me up thinking about him standing there with a wet sock on trying to stop the waterfall.

idk it kind of feels like everything is jumping on this "smart" bandwagon whether it actually makes sense or not. My buddy got a smart trash can that opens when you wave your hand at it, but the sensor stopped working after a month so now he has to kick it to get the lid open. Maybe it's just me but I think companies are slapping wifi on anything they can find and calling it an upgrade, when really it just gives you more stuff to break or forget to charge. That bird feeder story sounds exactly like that - they promise a magical experience but the basic stuff like keeping water out or holding a battery charge just falls apart. I'd rather just put out a regular feeder and watch the birds myself, way less hassle.

Blew the main fuse on my own truck doing the exact same thing. Midnight tow truck and a hundred bucks for a fuse I could have bought at AutoZone for five. Real smart move. At least you didn't arc weld your wrench to the alternator bracket like I did. That scared the crap out of me. Car repair is just expensive lessons wrapped in grease.

Wait, hold up. I used to be all about that "nuke it from orbit" approach with benzoyl and SA stacked together, but you're making me realize I've been fighting a war on my own face for no reason.