Watch out for those cheap 'universal' power adapters on eBay

Last month I had a customer bring in a vintage Roland synth from the early 90s. It wouldn't power on. I checked the board and found a blown voltage regulator and a couple of toasted caps. The owner said he'd just bought a new power supply off eBay for like $12 because the original was lost. I tested the adapter he gave me, and even though the label said 9V DC, it was putting out nearly 14 volts and the polarity was reversed. The thing was basically a fire hazard in a plastic shell. I had to explain that the repair bill was now over $200 because of that $12 part. I mean, I get wanting to save money, but those no-name adapters can wreck your gear. Has anyone else seen a spike in repairs from these things lately?

My friend in Austin swore by dried beans over canned and I thought she was nuts

She said the savings were huge, but I always thought the extra time wasn't worth it. I finally did the math after buying a 2-pound bag of black beans for $1.89, which made way more than six cans. The texture is better and it's way cheaper, even with the soak time. Anyone have good recipes for a big pot of beans besides just soup?

Rant: A guy at a coffee shop in Austin said my pour-over method was 'too slow' and it got me thinking

I was at this little spot on South Congress last month, just doing my normal thing with a V60. This older guy next to me at the bar watched for a minute and then just said, 'You know, you're wasting your time. That's way too slow for what you get.' He said he only uses a French press because it's 'honest work' and you get all the oils. I mean, I just like the clean cup from a pour-over, you know? But he was so sure of himself, like his way was the only right way. It stuck with me because it wasn't just about taste, it was about the whole idea of what makes a method 'good.' Is it just about the speed, or the taste, or the feel of making it? Has anyone else had someone question your whole routine like that?

Showerthought: I was at the old city park in Springfield and saw a cedar fence that's been up since the 80s, still standing straight.

My cousin in Denver said learning Python first was a waste of time, but after building a simple web scraper in 2 hours, I get it now.

Has anyone else found a specific project that made a language 'click' for them?

I used to think all abandoned malls were basically the same

That changed last month when I finally checked out the old Sunrise Mall in Corpus Christi. I've been to a dozen dead malls, but this one had a whole wing from the 70s that was completely untouched, with orange shag carpet still in the food court. The timeline was wild, seeing a 1999 calendar in a security office right next to a store that looked like it closed in '87. What really got me was finding a perfectly preserved payphone with a local phone book still chained to it. Has anyone else found a spot where time just stopped in two different decades like that?

The shift from hardwired panels to wireless nodes in my own garage redo

When I redid my garage, I swapped out the old hardwired panel for a wireless system. It reminded me of the early 2000s when every install meant pulling lots of wire through tight spaces. Now, the work is more about picking spots for sensors and keeping up with batteries. I do kind of miss the satisfaction of a neat, hidden wire run though.

Showerthought: Pushing back on a pressure call for a comms check

I had a job last week where we were doing a post-mod test on a radio stack. The crew chief was breathing down my neck to sign off because the bird was due for a night flight. I found an intermittent fault in the antenna coupler, but it passed the quick test. In my experience, that kind of flicker can mean a bad ground under the panel. Your mileage may vary, but I told him we needed to pull the unit for a bench check. It's a moral gray area because the book says if it passes, it's good, but my gut said otherwise. Take this with a grain of salt, but I held firm and we found a cracked solder joint. Sometimes doing the job right means annoying people, but that's aviation for you.