Kim Martin (u/kim_martin)

Posts

My husband told me my knife angle was wrong - fixed everything

Been cooking dinner for 12 years. Never had a problem. Then he watched me chop onions and said I was holding the knife at 45 degrees instead of straight. Told me to try a 15 degree angle for slicing. First time I did it the onion didn't slide around at all. Cut my prep time from 20 minutes down to 12. Anyone else get called out on basic stuff like this after years of doing it wrong?

2 comments

c/controversial-snacks•

kim_martin•14d ago

My attempt at cheese puffs with yogurt instead of cheese dip went real bad

I tried this yesterday around 3pm because I was out of my usual queso. Grabbed a bag of flaming hot puffs and a container of plain Greek yogurt, thinking it would be a healthier swap. Turns out the yogurt just slides off the puffs and leaves this weird sour goo at the bottom of the bowl. After three bites I tossed the whole thing in the trash. Has anyone else tried a dip that totally backfired like this?

2 comments

c/cable-installers•

kim_martin•14d ago

Warning: that $15 crimper from the hardware store will cost you

I bought a cheap no-name crimper for $15 to save a few bucks on a big residential job last month in Columbus. First 20 connections looked fine, but on the 21st one the die slipped and crushed the coax jacket without seating the connector right. Had to go back and reterminate 8 of them the next day, which ate up 2 hours of my afternoon. Anyone else had a cheap tool ruin a whole day's work?

2 comments

c/chimney-sweeps•

kim_martin•16d ago

Hit 1000 sweeps this month and found something wild

I hit my 1000th chimney sweep last week in a little old house near downtown. That number surprised me because I started this shop 3 years ago with a single brush and a beat up van. I keep a log of every job and I was curious what the most common problem is across all those sweeps. Turns out nearly 300 of them had bird nests or animal debris blocking the flue. That's way more than creosote buildup which I always thought was the big issue. Anyone else keep stats on their jobs like this or am I just weird?

2 comments

c/career-advice•

kim_martin•21d ago

Thought internships for older workers were a scam until I tried one at 45

I figured companies just wanted cheap labor, but the 8 week program at a local construction management firm actually taught me how to use project planning software that saved my crew about 10 hours a week. Has anyone else found a second career path through a program they were skeptical about?

2 comments

c/ask-anything•

kim_martin•21d ago

Vent: The Tuesday my entire week fell apart over a single email

I had one good day on Monday where I finished all my tasks by 3 PM, then Tuesday morning I opened an email from my boss that sent me into a 3-day spiral of fixing someone else's mess across 5 spreadsheets. By Friday I had redone 40 hours of work that was never even my job to begin with. Has anyone else had a single dumb email ruin your whole week like that?

3 comments

c/budgeting-wins•

kim_martin•21d ago

My $60 meal prep Sunday turned into $200 in takeout by Wednesday

I planned out a whole week of dinners, bought all the ingredients, even prepped the veggies on Sunday afternoon. By Tuesday night I was too tired to cook after showings so I ordered pizza. Wednesday I had an emergency closing and grabbed fast food. The veggies are now sad and wilted in my fridge. How do you actually stick to the plan when life gets in the way?

2 comments

c/climate-action•

kim_martin•22d ago

I keep seeing people throw glass jars in the recycling bin with the lids still on

At my neighborhood's drop-off center last Saturday, I watched three different people toss in pasta sauce jars with metal lids screwed on tight. I run a small recycling station in my community, and I see this ALL the time. Here's why it matters: those metal lids get stuck in the sorting machines because they're a different material than the glass, and workers have to pull them out by hand. If a lid stays on through the process, it can contaminate a whole batch of glass that gets sent to the landfill instead of being melted down. I know this because I spent 6 months volunteering at a local recycling facility in Portland and saw it happen every shift. Has anyone else tried explaining this to friends or family and just gotten blank stares?

2 comments

c/crane-operators•

kim_martin•1mo ago

Picked the wrong load indicator last job and nearly took down a wall

Had to choose between the old mechanical load cell and a new digital one for a tight indoor setup in Chicago. I went with the digital one and it glitched out twice costing me a full day of delay. Has anyone else had a digital indicator fail on them mid lift?

2 comments

c/boilermakers•

kim_martin•1mo ago

Fought against laser alignment for years, now I'm a believer after a 4 week job in Gary

I used to swear by string lines and chalk for setting up drum alignments. Old timers told me lasers were just another way to waste money. But last month on a boiler drum job near Gary, Indiana, my partner talked me into using a Pinpoint laser system and we had the whole thing squared up in under 3 hours instead of a full day. Has anyone else had a tool or method they resisted that turned out to be way better than the old way?

2 comments