I know the purists say you gotta use a chimney starter every time. But I fired up my smoker last Saturday in about 8 minutes flat using lighter fluid on a bag of Kingsford briquettes. The ribs came out great, good smoke ring, no chemical taste. Did I miss something or is this just another snob rule that doesn't matter for a 4 hour cook?
Won a pallet of security cable for cheap on Auction Nation, but when I got it half the spools were oxidized and the other half had the wrong gauge printed on the jacket. Anyone else get burned by mystery bulk wire deals?
I bought this high-end propane stove from a shop in Boulder last month. First night it worked great, boiled water in like 5 minutes. Second morning I go to make coffee and the regulator just straight up failed, no flame at all. Had to eat cold granola and drink instant coffee mixed with creek water. Has anyone else had a pricey piece of gear fail on them right out of the box?
I shelled out $40 for a premium trail app that promised offline maps and perfect elevation data, but it guided me onto a washed-out side trail that added 5 extra miles of bushwhacking. Spent two hours backtracking and lost half my water supply scrambling over deadfall. Has anyone else had a GPS app steer them completely wrong on a familiar stretch?
Last month I dropped $600 on a bundle of design tools and project management apps from a deal site. Turned out 3 of the 5 licenses had expiration dates from last year. Contacted support and they said 'coupon bundles are final sale no refunds.' Now I'm stuck with half-working software and a bad taste in my mouth. Has anyone else gotten burned by these bundle deals from online marketplaces?
I was dead set on getting a power rake attachment for my mini skid steer to break up roots and prep soil faster. After using a rented one for a weekend, I realized it just tore up the turf way worse than my manual rake and shovel. The $400 rental cost hurt, but seeing the rutted mess taught me that elbow grease beats brute force for fine finish work on residential lawns. Has anyone else had better luck with aerator attachments instead?
I laid glue-down planks in my basement in Akron last spring and three months later a corner popped up near the sump pump where moisture sneaks in. Floating click-lock would have let me replace a single plank instead of scraping adhesive off the whole slab, so which method holds up better over time for you?
A client wanted me to fix one comma in a 50-page document and I spent the whole afternoon rewording my profile to match their niche instead of just doing the job. Has anyone else overthought a tiny task until it ate up your whole morning?
I used to charge $35 for logo gigs on Fiverr and got nothing but clients who wanted 10 revisions for that price. About 3 months ago I bumped it up to $50 and the whole vibe shifted. Suddenly people are sending me actual briefs instead of 'make it pop' requests. I'm booking fewer gigs but making the same money with way less stress. Has anyone else seen their client pool get better after a rate hike like that?
I always hated peeling ginger. Tried a regular peeler, wasted half the ginger. Tried a spoon, took forever. Then a line cook at this diner in Portland showed me this trick last month. You just scrape the skin off with the thin edge of a ceramic mug. It’s way faster and you don’t lose as much flesh. Anyone else got a weird prep hack like this?