Rant: A brick chimney in my town went from solid to cracked in under a year

I did a standard sweep and inspection on a 1920s chimney in the old part of town about 10 months ago. It was in good shape, just needed a cleaning. I got called back last week because the owner smelled a weird draft. The whole crown had a hairline crack running almost all the way across, and the mortar on the south side was starting to crumble. The only thing that changed was they had a new high-efficiency furnace installed six months ago. I'm thinking the lower flue temps from that furnace caused way more condensation than the old brick could handle, speeding up the freeze-thaw damage. But the HVAC guy swears his install had nothing to do with it. Has anyone else seen a modern heating swap wreck an old chimney this fast?

Had to choose between a miter saw or a table saw for a big deck job in Phoenix

Went with the DeWalt miter saw because the angles were crazy, but it took twice as long. Anyone got a better way to handle compound cuts on pressure treated 2x10s?

TIL my cheap harbor depth finder is basically a toy compared to a proper unit

I was running a small job on the Ogeechee River last month, clearing a boat lane. My old 'FishHunter Pro' from a sporting goods store said we had a solid 8 feet of clearance after our pass. The client's survey boat came through with a real Hydrotrac unit and showed we'd left a 3-foot hump right in the middle. The difference was night and day. The FishHunter just averages everything out over a wide cone, so it missed the pile completely. The Hydrotrac paints a real picture of the bottom, inch by inch. Cost me half a day's fuel and labor to go back and fix it. Anyone else have a story about a tool that seemed good until it really mattered?

My buddy told me to always book hostels through third party sites for the best price. He was completely wrong.

Warning: A client meeting in a Chicago coffee shop made me ditch my whole content plan.

They straight up said 'I don't care about your 2,000 word blog posts, I just need the phone to ring.' Now I only write stuff that directly answers local search questions. Anyone else get hit with a reality check like that?

My kid's kindergarten teacher said she prefers board books with sewn bindings, not glued

She told me they survive the class library bin for years, while the glued ones fall apart in a term. I've been using PVA for my personal projects, but now I'm looking at getting a proper sewing frame. Anyone have a good beginner model they'd recommend?

Warning: A client in Austin asked for 'a quick logo' and then sent 47 revision requests over email.

After the third round, he wrote 'just one more tiny change' and attached a completely different sketch he'd made in MS Paint, asking if we could 'blend the concepts' for the original price.

Shoutout to myself for ditching single-use plastic, but I feel guilty about the delivery emissions

I finally switched to a reusable water bottle to cut waste. Felt great until I realized the online order added to carbon emissions. Small win, I guess.