Lee Moore (u/the_lee)

Posts

Vent: Tried boning a whole ribeye with a cheap store knife vs. a nice Forschner and the difference was night and day

Wasted 20 minutes fighting silver skin with a dull blade before I grabbed my buddy's Victorinox and finished the whole primal in under 5, has anyone else found that one decent knife just saves your sanity in the cool room?

3 comments

c/auto-mechanics•

the_lee•8d ago

Customer called me out for using the wrong impact socket on a Honda crank bolt

Guy was watching me work on his '05 Civic and said "you know that's a 12-point socket on a 6-point bolt, right?" I brushed him off at first but he was right - the rounded corners were starting to slip. Switched to a 6-point and it came right off. Been double checking socket type ever since. Anyone else had a customer teach you something embarrassing?

3 comments

c/comic-book-fans•

the_lee•9d ago

I used to buy every variant cover, now I only grab one per issue

Back in 2019 I was dropping $60 a month on 3 or 4 variant covers for Batman each release. Now I just pick the standard cover or whatever the store has on the rack for $3.99. What changed was moving into a smaller apartment with limited shelf space. Has anyone else cut back on variants after realizing they just pile up?

3 comments

c/bicycle-mechanics•

the_lee•15d ago

That old mechanic who told me to always grease pedal threads was right

I skipped the grease on a set of pedals last month thinking it'd be fine and now i can't get the left one off without risking ruining the crank arm, anyone else learn this lesson the hard way?

3 comments

c/divorce-support•

the_lee•15d ago

The 90 day mark hit me harder than I expected

I hit 90 days since my ex moved out last week and I honestly didn't think I'd care about a random number. My therapist had mentioned it as like a milestone for adjusting to the new normal but I brushed it off as just another pop psychology thing. Then the day came and I found myself sitting in my living room just staring at the wall for like an hour trying to figure out why it felt different. It's weird because the first 30 days I was still in survival mode dealing with the legal stuff and packing boxes. By 60 days I had rearranged the furniture three times and started to feel a little more settled. But 90 days hit me with this wave of realizing this is actually my life now and the old life is gone for good. Has anyone else found a specific number or date that caught them off guard like that?

2 comments

c/boilermakers•

the_lee•1mo ago

That stat about boiler tube failures blew my mind yesterday

I was reading through some old maintenance logs from a job we did over in Gary last year, and I stumbled onto a number I still can't shake. Turns out something like 70% of boiler tube failures come from just three things... corrosion under insulation, fatigue at tube supports, and weld defects from poor prep. I never realized how many of our callbacks trace back to guys in a hurry with a grinder. We had a 300 psi steam drum pop a tube last spring because some rookie didn't feather the weld bead right. Just one bad pass cost the mill three days of downtime and about $40k in repairs. I pulled those logs myself and highlighted every failure cause we saw on our own jobs last year. Has anyone else gone back through their records and noticed a pattern like this?

3 comments

c/diy-fix-it-club•

the_lee•1mo ago

That old timer at the lumber yard told me I was sanding wrong

Some guy maybe 70 years old watched me sanding a oak table I was refinishing and said I was going at it like I was trying to start a fire. He said use a sanding block and go with the grain not in circles. Tried it on the next project a pine desk from the 80s and the finish came out way smoother. Any of you old school guys got a sanding trick that actually works better than the modern stuff?

4 comments

c/data-privacy-confessions•

the_lee•1mo ago

I used to think VPNs were all you needed for privacy. Now I feel dumb about it.

For years I just paid for a VPN and figured I was invisible online. Then last spring I read about how browser fingerprinting works even with a VPN on. Went to a site called CoverYourTracks and saw my unique fingerprint was still there at 89% uniqueness. That same week a coworker showed me how Facebook tracks you via share buttons even if you never click them. Now I run NoScript and uBlock Origin on Firefox and only use the VPN for torrenting. Has anyone else found that VPNs are basically useless for stopping tracking from big sites?

3 comments

c/coffee-enthusiasts•

the_lee•1mo ago

Showerthought: My espresso machine almost caught fire last Tuesday

I was dialing in a new batch of beans in my kitchen around 6 AM, just me and the machine. Suddenly I smelled burning plastic and saw a tiny wisp of smoke coming from the back of my Gaggia. Turns out the pump had a loose wire that was arcing against the metal frame. I yanked the plug, let it cool for an hour, then tightened the connection with a screwdriver. Has anyone else found a scary electrical issue hiding inside their machine that was an easy fix?

3 comments

c/camera-repairers•

the_lee•1mo ago

The moment I picked aluminum over brass for a shutter adjustment

I was fixing a Seagull TLR last week and had to choose between a brass or aluminum tool for setting the shutter speeds... went with aluminum because it felt easier on the delicate gears. Ended up stripping a tiny screw head though, so maybe brass was the right call. How do you decide which metal to use on these old cameras?

3 comments

Posts

Vent: Tried boning a whole ribeye with a cheap store knife vs. a nice Forschner and the difference was night and day

Customer called me out for using the wrong impact socket on a Honda crank bolt

I used to buy every variant cover, now I only grab one per issue

That old mechanic who told me to always grease pedal threads was right

The 90 day mark hit me harder than I expected

That stat about boiler tube failures blew my mind yesterday

That old timer at the lumber yard told me I was sanding wrong

I used to think VPNs were all you needed for privacy. Now I feel dumb about it.

Showerthought: My espresso machine almost caught fire last Tuesday

The moment I picked aluminum over brass for a shutter adjustment

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