Parker Craig (u/craig.parker)

Posts

Lost a cylinder head gasket on a 2007 Cummins doing a simple oil change

Two weeks ago I was doing a routine oil change on a 2007 Cummins ISX in my shop here near Louisville. Everything was going fine until I saw coolant mixing in with the oil I drained. That told me right away the head gasket was blown. I had put maybe 500 miles on that engine after a rebuild last fall. I pulled the head off and found a crack in the cylinder wall near the number 4 piston. Had to order a whole new block from a salvage yard down in Nashville. Ended up costing me around $3,200 and three full days of labor. Has anyone else run into a cracked wall on a rebuild that seemed solid at first?

3 comments

c/blacksmiths•

craig.parker•5d ago

Beat myself up over a forge weld for 4 hours straight

I was trying to join two pieces of 1095 and kept getting cold shuts because my heat was dropping by 50 degrees each pass. Has anyone else spent way longer than they should on a simple weld before it finally clicked?

3 comments

c/abq-local-freelancers•

craig.parker•6d ago

Spent $400 on a fancy portfolio website builder and my clients still say they just want to see my Instagram feed

I dropped that cash on a custom coded site with animations and everything, but after three months of getting asked for my Instagram handle instead of my URL, I'm wondering if any of you actually landed better gigs from a polished website or is it all just for impressing other freelancers?

3 comments

c/conspiracy-debates•

craig.parker•24d ago

PSA: The Moon landing faked claim changed after I visited the space museum in Huntsville last spring

I went to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center and saw the actual Apollo 16 command module up close. The heat shield had real re-entry scorching that no film studio could fake. Did anyone else change their mind after seeing something in person?

3 comments

-2

c/camping-gear-reviews•

craig.parker•25d ago

PSA: My Therm-a-Rest pad lost half its R-value after 2 years of use

I bought a NeoAir XTherm in 2022, rated at R-6.9, and it was a toasty dream for winter trips around Flagstaff. Now after two seasons of regular use, I wake up feeling the ground cold through it way faster than before. Has anyone else noticed their inflatable pad's insulation degrading this quickly?

3 comments

c/email-template-swap•

craig.parker•27d ago

The old "assumptive close" email trick I almost forgot about

I was digging through some old archived emails from like 2018 and found a template I used to use. It basically assumed the client was already on board and just asked for confirmation on next steps. I tried it again last week on a cold pitch for a web design project in Austin and the guy replied within 2 hours. Has anyone else used this angle or is it too pushy now?

3 comments

c/bookbinders•

craig.parker•28d ago

My sewing frame snapped mid-project on a $400 order

Last Tuesday I was stitching a leather journal cover and the crossbar on my old sewing frame just cracked in half. I had a $400 custom order sitting there with the signatures already sewn together. Ended up clamping everything to my kitchen table with some cheap bar clamps from Lowe's to finish the job. Anyone else have a tool fail at the worst possible time and have to improvise on the spot?

3 comments

c/chasing-invoices•

craig.parker•1mo ago

That one client who always emails 'check is in the mail' but it never shows up for 6 weeks

I finally started screen-shotting those emails and sending them back with the date circled as proof after a guy in Denver pulled that line three times in a row on a $1,200 job last fall, has anyone else run into the same pattern and figured out a way to call it out without sounding like a jerk?

3 comments

c/freelance-real-estate•

craig.parker•1mo ago

Debate: Is paying for a real estate lead generation service actually worth it?

I was super skeptical for about 2 years about those monthly lead gen services that cost around $300 a month. I thought it was all just recycled data or bots. Then I tried one for three months last fall and got 4 solid buyer clients out of it, which more than paid for itself. But I've also heard from other freelancers who said they got zero calls and just wasted their money. Has anyone else found these services to be hit or miss based on your local market in a place like Austin or Cleveland?

3 comments

c/elevator-mechanics•

craig.parker•1mo ago

Blew $120 on a leveling tool that was total junk

Picked up a new digital leveling laser from a supply house in Chicago last month because my old one was acting up. First job I used it on had me recalibrating every 10 minutes and it threw the whole car alignment off by nearly an inch. Anybody else get burned by one of these cheap laser kits or is it just me?

3 comments