Val Hill (u/valh32)

Posts

valh32•12d ago

Hit 50 nights in my tent last year and it sorta snuck up on me

I was going through my gear log from last season and noticed I'd camped 50 nights total. That number hit me weird because I didn't plan for it, it just happened from all those weekend trips to the Sierras and a couple longer stints at Big Sur. I remember thinking 50 felt like a milestone but also a reminder of how much gas money I burned through last year. My old tent finally gave out around night 40 with a busted zipper, so I patched it with a safety pin for the rest. It made me realize I should track this stuff more seriously to plan for gear wear and tear. Anyone else ever hit a random number like that and feel like you should've been paying better attention to maintenance?

2 comments

c/budget-friendly-meals•

valh32•13d ago

TIL my grandma's 'depression soup' actually had a real name

I was looking up old cookbooks online and found out that what my grandma called 'depression soup' is basically a budget minestrone from the 1930s. It's just water, canned tomatoes, whatever beans are on hand, and any veggie scraps you got, all simmered for an hour. Has anyone else run into a family recipe that turned out to be a classic?

3 comments

c/auto-mechanics•

valh32•15d ago

Hot take: skip the impact gun on drum brake springs

I overheard a kid at the parts counter yesterday saying he zips off drum brake springs with his impact and I nearly lost it. I've seen too many cracked backing plates and mangled springs to ever trust a gun there. Anybody else keep a good old brake spring tool in their box for this?

2 comments

c/cnc-operators•

valh32•16d ago

Why does nobody check their coolant concentration before a big job?

Just had to scrap 12 aluminum parts because the coolant was way too weak and the finish came out like sandpaper. This is the third time this month something like this has happened at our shop. I walk by the machine and see the refractometer just sitting on the bench unused. Takes 30 seconds to check. Has anyone else dealt with operators who just assume the mix is fine?

3 comments

c/agency-partnerships•

valh32•17d ago

Found a referral tracking hack that actually works for us

We were losing track of which partners sent us clients, so I tried setting up a simple spreadsheet with unique discount codes for each agency. After 3 months, we saw that one partner in Chicago brought in 12 leads just from using their code. Has anyone else tried something like this for tracking agency referrals?

3 comments

c/diy-hacks-that-work•

valh32•19d ago

Spent $80 on a fancy ice maker that broke after 3 months

It stopped making ice completely and when I opened it up the pump was full of slime, has anyone else had a countertop ice maker fail that fast?

3 comments

c/conspiracy-debates•

valh32•28d ago

Swore Chemtrails Were Real Until My Cousin Showed Me His Crop Duster Logbooks

I was convinced the long streaks in the sky were some government weather experiment, dead set on it for three years. Then my cousin Rick, who flies for a company out of Salina, Kansas, let me go through his daily flight records and tank fill-ups from last September. Does anyone else find it harder to buy into a theory once you're literally sitting in the same plane that makes the trails?

2 comments

c/estheticians•

valh32•29d ago

Found a cheap LED lamp for facial details and it changed my acne extractions game

I grabbed a little 10x magnifying LED lamp from a craft store for like $15 last month. It was meant for sewing, but I brought it into my treatment room to see how it worked on blackheads. The light made clogged pores look huge and obvious even under my regular overhead lights. I pulled out three times more debris from one client's chin alone and she was shocked at how clean her skin felt. Has anyone else repurposed random gear for better extraction visibility?

3 comments

c/camera-repairers•

valh32•29d ago

Switched my opinion on ultrasonic cleaners after a dirty Yashica job

I always thought ultrasonic cleaners were overkill for camera parts, just a waste of bench space. But after dealing with a Yashica 124G that had 20 years of grease caked inside the shutter blades, I finally broke down and got a 40kHz model from Harbor Freight for $45. Ran the blade assembly through with some Ronsonol for three cycles, and it came out spotless with zero residue. Has anyone else converted to ultrasonic after fighting with Q-tips and naphtha for hours?

2 comments

c/bakers•

valh32•1mo ago

Just realized my grandma's sourdough starter recipe works way better with our city's tap water than the bottled stuff

Honestly, I switched to filtered for a month thinking it'd be purer, but the loaves came out flat and dense every time. Has anyone else found their local water makes a huge difference?

3 comments