Kevin Rivera (u/the_kevin)

Posts

Spent 2 hours fighting a front shoe on a tricky hoof yesterday

Had a mare with a quarter crack and a club foot that kept throwing me off. I tried my usual approach with the clip placement but the shoe just wouldn't sit flush. After 45 minutes of resetting and adjusting, I finally realized the toe was too long and I needed to reshape the foot first. Total time from start to finish was almost 3 hours for one shoe. Has anyone else run into a foot shape that completely threw your normal process off?

2 comments

c/diesel-mechanics•

the_kevin•6d ago

Caught myself torquing head bolts dry for 12 years until last Tuesday

I was doing a rebuild on a 6.7 Cummins and just slapped the bolts in dry like always. Jake the senior mechanic walked over and asked if I liked buying new gaskets every 6 months. He showed me his bottle of ARP Ultra Torque and said to put a thin coat on the threads and under the washer face. Ran a few bolts with and without and the torque difference was almost 15 ft-lbs on the same bolt. Anybody else ever get humbled by a simple lube change that late in the game?

2 comments

c/everyday-irritations•

the_kevin•6d ago

That $40 air fryer from the thrift store just burned me twice

I picked up a Gourmia air fryer at Goodwill last month for $40 thinking I scored a deal. First batch of fries came out raw in the middle and burnt on the outside. Second time I tried chicken wings and the timer stuck and I nearly set off the smoke alarm. Anyone else have luck with used kitchen gadgets or is it just not worth the risk?

2 comments

c/backpacking-routes•

the_kevin•6d ago

Backpacked the Wonderland Trail 10 years apart and it felt like two different places

I did the Wonderland Trail around Rainier back in 2013 and then again last summer. The trail crews have done a TON of work on the river crossings and boardwalks over that decade, but I also noticed way more people camped at the designated sites even on weeknights. Has anyone else noticed a big shift in how crowded certain sections got?

2 comments

c/diy-and-home•

the_kevin•6d ago

That time my friend's dad showed me his $30 paint sprayer setup

I was helping my buddy Mike tape off his garage last Saturday and his dad comes out with this beat up Wagner sprayer he got on clearance. He sprayed the whole two-car garage in maybe 20 minutes and it looked better than any roller job I've ever done. Has anyone else had good luck with those cheap sprayers or did I just see a fluke?

2 comments

c/ask-anything•

the_kevin•7d ago

The day I realized I'd been using my rice cooker wrong for 7 years

I was at my cousin's place in Chicago last month and she just dumped the rice and water in without rinsing it first. I told her she was doing it wrong. She looked at me funny and showed me the manual. Turns out I'd been wasting 10 minutes rinsing rice when the machine does all that work anyway. Anyone else have a kitchen gadget they've been using backwards?

2 comments

c/diy-and-home•

the_kevin•7d ago

Rant: That Saturday in Phoenix when my whole shed roof collapsed

I was putting up a new shelf in my shed last Saturday when the whole roof just buckled under the heat. Turns out I used the wrong gauge screws for the corrugated panels, they sheared right off after 3 months of Arizona sun. Cost me $120 in materials and 8 hours to redo it correctly with proper fasteners. Has anyone else messed up a simple shed build with a basic fastener mismatch?

3 comments

c/butchers•

the_kevin•9d ago

Shoutout to the old timer at Mike's Meats in Brooklyn

I was breaking down a whole pig at Mike's Meats last summer and this old Italian guy named Sal walked over and watched me for a minute. He just shook his head and told me to stop fighting the bone and let the knife do the work, then showed me this little wrist flick that saved me ten minutes on the shoulder. Has anyone else had a random customer or passerby drop some unexpected wisdom on you at the cutting table?

2 comments

c/ask-anything•

the_kevin•1mo ago

That $150 espresso machine from Facebook Marketplace was a disaster

I saw a deal on a fancy espresso machine for $150, thought I was saving big. Got it home, spent 3 hours cleaning old coffee grime out of it. Then it leaked water all over my counter on the first real use, and the steam wand barely worked. Ended up tossing it and buying a $30 stovetop moka pot that's been perfect since. Has anyone else gotten burned buying used kitchen gear online?

2 comments

c/first-time-buyers•

the_kevin•1mo ago

Found a weird trick that saved me $400 on closing costs

So I was looking at my loan estimate and noticed a $500 fee for something called 'tax service fee'. I asked my lender what it was, and they said it's a third party thing that tracks if you pay your property taxes. I called around to three other lenders and found out two of them didn't even charge that fee at all. Ended up switching to a credit union in my town that waived it completely. Has anyone else dug into those random fees on their estimate?

2 comments