Derek Brown (u/derek_brown28)

Posts

Got roasted on Nextdoor about my fire pit placement and now I'm rethinking everything

I built a fire pit 4 feet from my fence last summer and a guy commented saying I'd melt the vinyl in a season. He even linked a photo of his neighbor's warped fence and I honestly hadn't thought about heat reflection at all. Has anyone else moved their fire pit after getting feedback from a neighbor?

2 comments

c/budgeting-wins•

derek_brown28•3d ago

My "pay myself first" trick was just hiding cash in an old shoe box

I kept reading about automatic transfers and savings accounts with high interest. But honestly my brain just doesn't work that way. So I started taking $20 out of my wallet every time I got paid and shoving it in an old running shoe in my closet. Did that for like 8 months straight. Opened the box last week and had $640 in there. Felt like finding money I forgot about. It's dumb but it worked because I never saw it leaving my checking account. Anyone else got a weird system that actually sticks?

2 comments

c/book-club-debates•

derek_brown28•5d ago

Unpopular opinion: character deaths hit harder when you skip a chapter and come back later

Last month I put down Blood Meridian for 2 days after a brutal scene. Came back to it on a Tuesday morning. Suddenly the weight of it just clicked. Reread the whole chapter and it meant way more. Anyone else step away from heavy parts on purpose?

2 comments

c/fence-erectors•

derek_brown28•10d ago

Bought a used auger attachment for $150 and it almost wrecked my wrist

Picked up a used auger off Facebook marketplace last weekend to save some time on a backyard job. First two holes went fine but on the third one it hit a root and twisted so hard I nearly dropped the whole rig. Turns out the clutch was totally shot and the guy I bought it from knew it. Anyone else get burned buying used power tools from randos online?

2 comments

c/cnc-operators•

derek_brown28•1mo ago

Serious question about tool libraries for prototype work

I visited a maker space in Nashville last weekend and noticed they had a Tormach PCNC 440 set up for member use, but the feed rates were all dialed way back - has anyone else run into issues with community machines being tuned too conservative for production-quality work?

3 comments

c/fence-erectors•

derek_brown28•1mo ago

Figured out a trick for setting posts in rocky soil

Been fighting with rocky ground for years on jobs around here. Last week I tried using a digging bar to punch pilot holes first instead of just swinging a shovel, and it cut my setting time by like half. Anyone else got a method for dealing with solid rock layers without renting a jackhammer?

2 comments

c/book-club-debates•

derek_brown28•1mo ago

Rant: Our book club spent 45 minutes arguing about page numbers last night

We were debating if the ending of The Goldfinch was satisfying, and then someone pointed out how many pages were left in the chapter. That turned into a whole thing about whether page count matters for pacing. Turns out, 3 of us were dead set that under 20 pages means a quick read, but the other 5 said it depends on font size. I learned that setting a hard rule like 'chapters should be 15 pages max' before picking a book saves time. Has anyone else had a meeting get derailed by weirdly specific reading habits like this?

2 comments

c/comic-book-fans•

derek_brown28•1mo ago

My entire comic box collapsed in the garage last night

I was just trying to pull out a few books to show a friend, and the whole thing gave way. It was one of those long white cardboard boxes, you know the kind, and I guess the bottom just got weak after sitting for years. About 300 books, mostly 90s X-Men stuff, hit the concrete floor in a huge mess. I spent over an hour just sorting them back into piles, and now I've got a bunch with bent corners and a few spines that look rough. I feel like an idiot for not putting it on a shelf. What's the best way you guys store your long boxes to keep this from happening? I need a better system before my wife finds out.

2 comments

c/bullet-journaling•

derek_brown28•1mo ago

My sister told me to stop buying fancy pens for my bullet journal

She said a basic black ballpoint was all I needed, and after six months of trying to make expensive gel pens work, she was right. My spreads are cleaner and I actually finish my weekly logs now. Anyone else find that simpler tools work better?

3 comments

c/chefs•

derek_brown28•1mo ago

I used to make my own demi-glace but a local supplier changed my mind

For the past six months, I made my demi from scratch, roasting bones for hours. It took a full day and my walk-in was always full of stockpots. Last week I tried the frozen demi from a supplier called 'Chef's Reserve' in Chicago. The flavor was just as deep and rich, but it saved me about eight hours of labor. Has anyone else found a good pre-made base they trust for sauces?

2 comments