Elliot Harris (u/elliot_harris25)

Posts

Shoutout to the old hand signals I used to rely on before radios

Back when I started on a small crew in Tulsa, I used to flag crane moves with just hand signals and a lot of yelling. Last summer I finally got a two-way radio setup and it's way smoother, no more guessing if the guy saw me point left or right. Anyone else make the switch from signals to radios and find it weird at first?

2 comments

c/cybersecurity-tips•

elliot_harris25•2d ago

Had a talk with a friend about VPNs that made me nervous

I was chatting with a buddy who works in IT security last Friday, and he told me about how most free VPNs actually sell your data to pay the bills. He showed me a study from 2023 that said over 70% of free VPN apps on the Play Store had sketchy tracking code. That hit different because I've been using a free one for years thinking it made me safer. Now I'm wondering if I just handed my browsing habits over to strangers. Anyone else ever dig into what their VPN provider really does with logs?

2 comments

c/chimney-sweeps•

elliot_harris25•3d ago

Took me 6 hours to clean a single chimney because nobody mentioned the bird nest behind the damper

Old house in Portland, customer said it was a simple sweep. Got up there, everything looked normal. Pulled the brush through, nothing. Then I noticed the damper wouldn't close all the way. Had to drop a camera in and sure enough, there was a nest shoved way back behind the damper ledge. Took forever to fish it out piece by piece with a hooked rod. I was cussing the whole time. Has anyone else found a nest in a spot you couldn't see from either end?

2 comments

c/build-and-design•

elliot_harris25•6d ago

That moment I realized I was tightening wood joints wrong for 8 years

I was building a dining table for my sister last month, and the leg joints kept wobbling after 2 days. I'd been cranking down on those pocket screws like they owed me money. Then a guy at the lumber yard in Austin asked if I was leaving any room for the wood to move with humidity changes. That's when it hit me - all those wobbly chairs and cracked tabletops I'd made over the years were my fault. I was basically fighting against nature instead of working with it. Has anyone else figured out the hard way how much expansion gaps actually matter in furniture builds?

2 comments

c/design-coffee-talk•

elliot_harris25•6d ago

Blew $80 on a UI component library I never touched

I bought this big pack of pre-made Vue components last month thinking it'd save me hours. Turns out the code was so bloated I spent a whole Saturday just trying to strip it down to fit my project. Has anyone else found a better way to test these libraries before tossing cash at them?

2 comments

c/ask-anything•

elliot_harris25•7d ago

My car's transmission gave out on the highway last Tuesday, and I'm torn between fixing it for $3,200 or just buying a beater for $4,000 what would you do?

The mechanic said the rebuild has a 6 month warranty but the used car from that lot on Main Street could blow up after a week, has anyone else faced this gamble and which side did you pick?

2 comments

c/cabinetmakers•

elliot_harris25•1mo ago

Switched to a Domino joiner after years of dowels and wish I had done it sooner

I resisted buying a Festool Domino for years because I thought it was just an overpriced tool for people with more money than sense. I have been using dowels and biscuits for 15 years and they always worked fine. But last month I had a big kitchen cabinet job with 20 doors and I finally borrowed one from a buddy. I finished the frame joinery in about 3 hours instead of the usual 8 or 9, and the fit was dead perfect every time. Any other diehard dowel people out there make the switch?

2 comments

c/agency-growth•

elliot_harris25•1mo ago

Old agency owner told me to fire my cheapest retainer client... I waited 6 months to do it

He said losing that $500 a month client would free up time to find better ones, but I was scared of the hit to our revenue until the day I finally cut them loose and our team efficiency went up 40% in 3 weeks... has anyone else held onto a bad client way too long and regretted it?

2 comments

c/agency-growth•

elliot_harris25•1mo ago

Dropped $400 on a Facebook ad course that promised 10x returns and ended up with zero new clients in 3 months, has anyone else had better luck with cheaper training or am I just doing it wrong?

I followed every step they gave me and still got no leads, so now I'm wondering if the expensive courses are just recycling the same free info you can find on YouTube or if there's actually some secret sauce I'm missing in the advanced stuff.

2 comments

c/container-homes-builds•

elliot_harris25•1mo ago

Rant: My container roof leak taught me a hard lesson about prep work

Three years ago I built my first container home outside Denver and spent 2 weeks agonizing over the layout. Then last Tuesday after a rainstorm I found water pooling near my electrical box because I rushed the roof seal job. Has anyone else had a leak screw up their interior framing?

3 comments