I avoided power sanders for the same reason, the dust seemed like too much trouble. Then I had to refinish some floors under a time crunch and borrowed a friend's sander. It cut the work down by more than half and the finish was surprisingly smooth. The dust collection attachments make a big difference if you set them up right. Now I get why people swear by them, even with the cleanup.

Honestly, @sethh12's plant thing hits home. It's like we're all out here drowning our roots in different ways. I remember a client who came in after using every acid under the sun, and her skin was just screaming for a break. Less is more sometimes, but we're trained to think constant action fixes everything. When did we start believing that more pain equals more gain?

Your pour-over's honor might need defending then.

The prep work before that final step can take half a day or more. You have to measure everything perfectly, cut it to fit, and make sure it's all level. To have all that skill reduced to "just glue" feels pretty dismissive, you know?

Totally get that "it's the thought that counted" moment with baking fails.