Weighing water for mortar feels like overthinking a job that's been getting done fine for a century, but if it makes you feel better, go for it. A stiff mix just means you work a little harder, that's all.

Bled into it the same way with a pricing table, kept forcing manual spacing and getting annoyed when anything shifted. Once I set up one auto-layout column and grouped the rows under it, I realized I could drag whole sections around in like two clicks. Now I build every client file with it from the start, saves me so much back and forth headache. Still feels weird when I open an old file without it though.

Ain't it funny how the same mindset shows up everywhere? I see it at the grocery store when people grab bruised produce because they're in a hurry, or at the gas station when someone skips checking their tire pressure for months. It's that whole "it'll be fine" attitude that saves five minutes now but costs an hour later. Your F-150 story is proof that the shortcuts just move the problem down the road, literally. A $15 test and ten minutes of patience beats a pissed-off customer and a redo any day of the week.

My mate Dave found a "medieval" coin near Trim last year, paid 200 quid for it at a shop, then the National Museum told him it was from a 1980s tourist set, so he's still bitter. That clean surface in the bog photo screams the same thing to me, man.

...my buddy Dan had the exact same thing happen on his place down in Nampa. He built a 12 foot gate out of cedar and it looked perfect for about a week, then started dragging so bad it tore up his gravel. He kept blaming the wood, saying it was green or whatever. Finally his neighbor who does welding came over and just looked at the hinges and laughed. Put bigger ones on with a turnbuckle kit and it fixed everything in an afternoon. He still talks about how dumb he felt, always check the hardware first.