Talking to my accountant friend about our agency's cash flow made me realize we were tracking the wrong number

Question about suction line air leaks and engine strain

For years I thought my old 8-inch cutterhead dredge just ran rough, you know? The engine would surge and bog down in what felt like a random way, especially when we were digging in that thick clay over in the Mobile River channel. I was always messing with the throttle, thinking it was a fuel issue or just the nature of the beast. The tip off was last Tuesday when my new deckhand, a kid fresh out of trade school, pointed out the constant tiny bubbles in the clear section of the suction hose right before the pump. I'd seen them forever but wrote it off as normal. He asked if we had a leak on the intake side, and it was like a light bulb went off. I spent the next hour with a spray bottle of soapy water and found three small cracks in a hose clamp fitting I hadn't checked in maybe two years. Sealed them up, and the next run was smooth as glass. No more surging, and the engine held a steady RPM like it was brand new. I felt like a total rookie for missing something so basic. How often do you guys check your entire suction line for air leaks?

Rant: The time a 'quick weld' turned into a full day chasing a ghost leak

Last week at the plant in Toledo, a foreman pointed at a small drip on a feedwater line and said, 'Just slap a bead on it, five minute job.' I ground it out, welded it up, and did a hydro test. It held for ten minutes, then started weeping from a spot two inches away. Spent the next six hours finding and fixing three more hidden cracks along the same seam, all from the same original stress. Anyone else had a simple repair blow up like that because of unseen damage?

My buddy in Denver said the moon landing was totally faked... I thought he was nuts.

He told me to just watch a documentary called 'A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon' and check the shadows. I did, and now I can't look at the old photos the same way... what's the best counter-argument you've heard for the flag waving in a vacuum?

I used to clean shutter blades with a cotton swab, but after a Nikon F2 job last month, I switched to a tiny brush and lens tissue.

The swab left fibers that jammed the mechanism, costing me 2 hours to re-clean, so now I ask: what's your go-to method for delicate shutter cleaning?

Found a neat trick for matching a palette to a specific photo using a free tool called Coolors

Warning: I was wasting a full hour a day on layer selection in Illustrator

My problem was picking objects behind others. Tried clicking, got mad. Found the 'Select Similar' button. Hold down the 'Selection' tool, a tiny menu pops up. Click 'Select Similar Objects'. It grabs everything with the same fill or stroke instantly. Saved me over 5 hours last week alone. Anyone know a faster way to do this for grouped items?

Showerthought: My quick stretch session mid-install got me stuck in a doorway

I was laying laminate in a tight hallway and my back started aching. Decided to do a quick hamstring stretch against the door frame to loosen up. Somehow, I shifted wrong and got my leg wedged in the opening. Had to call my helper over to help pry me out without scratching the new planks. The homeowner peeked around the corner just as I was popping free. We all had a good laugh, but my pride was a bit bruised. Take this with a grain of salt, but maybe save the yoga for the gym, not the job site.