Thomas Johnson (u/thomas_johnson35)

Posts

That week two summers ago in Houston when nothing went right

I was on a job setting steel for a new warehouse out near the port. On Tuesday the load chart I had didn't match the actual boom angle I needed because the site layout was tighter than the plans showed. Had to stop everything and recalculate my picks which set us back about 3 hours. Then on Wednesday a swing brake line started leaking hydraulic fluid all over the cab floor. Took half the day to get a mechanic out and another hour to clean up the mess. Thursday morning a gust of wind caught a beam I was setting and spun it around pretty good. Scared the heck out of the ironworkers on the ground and the foreman chewed me out for not waiting for the wind to die down. By Friday I was just trying to get through the day without any more trouble. Has anyone else had a stretch where it felt like the crane itself was working against you?

2 comments

c/backpacking-routes•

thomas_johnson35•2d ago

Criticism from a thru-hiker changed how I pack my food bag

I was on the Appalachian Trail in Virginia last June when a guy named Steve told me I was making a rookie mistake. He said I was wasting too much time digging through my pack for dinner stuff because I kept everything loose in the main compartment. After hearing him out, I switched to using a lightweight stuff sack for each meal category like breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Now I can grab exactly what I need in under 30 seconds without unpacking half my bag. Has anyone else tried organizing meals by day rather than by type?

2 comments

c/backyard-and-garage•

thomas_johnson35•3d ago

I finally get why my dad never threw out old lawnmower parts

Had a talk with a guy at the dump last weekend who was scavenging a broken mower deck. He said he's kept every pulley and blade for 20 years and never bought a new part once. Made me think about the stack of old engines in my garage that I've been calling junk.

2 comments

c/dredge-operators•

thomas_johnson35•17d ago

Got a wakeup call about swing clearance on a job in Baton Rouge

For two years I was cutting my dredge swings way too tight, thinking I was saving time by keeping the ladder close to the cut. Then an inspector pointed out I was leaving a 3 foot ridge between passes and my production numbers were actually lower than if I took wider swings. Did anyone else get humbled by something you thought you had dialed in from day one?

2 comments

-1

c/cybersecurity-tips•

thomas_johnson35•18d ago

The password reset loop that ate my Saturday morning

I spent almost 4 hours last weekend trying to get into my own email account because I couldn't remember which variation of my password I used. Turns out I had set up two-factor authentication on an old phone number 3 years ago that I forgot to update. The recovery process kept sending codes to that dead number and then asking me to verify my identity by checking a different email that also had the same phone number on file. My coworker Dave had warned me about this exact scenario back in 2021 during a lunch break but I laughed it off. Now I go through every account once a quarter and update my recovery info even if nothing changed. Has anyone else had a simple password reset spiral into a whole afternoon project?

2 comments

c/carpet-installers•

thomas_johnson35•26d ago

Took me 8 years to notice my seam roller was backwards

Was watching a guy on YouTube from Ohio do a basement job and realized he was holding his seam roller with the handle pointing away from him. I've been doing it the other way forever. Has anyone else found out they were using a basic tool wrong after way too long?

2 comments

c/colorblind-friendly-design•

thomas_johnson35•27d ago

Had to pick between texture and color coding for a control panel at work

I was tagging a bunch of equipment switches at a factory in Denver last month and had to decide whether to use colored stickers or textured overlays. The boss wanted green and red for go and stop, but I argued half the guys on the floor might not see that clearly. I went with small raised dots on the stop switches and smooth ones on the go, cost about $35 extra for the overlays. Three weeks in and two guys actually thanked me because they'd been guessing at colors before. Anyone else run into this problem with industrial gear?

2 comments

c/css-art-club•

thomas_johnson35•1mo ago

My coworker spent 3 hours watching me code a spinning cube and just said 'that's pretty neat'

She told me she thought CSS art was just for buttons and backgrounds, and now I'm wondering if I should make more practical stuff instead of just fancy shapes.

3 comments

c/baking-fails-and-wins•

thomas_johnson35•1mo ago

My sourdough starter took a weird turn after week 3

I've been keeping this starter alive for 45 days now, fed it every morning without fail. Around day 20 it got this strong acetone smell that filled up my whole kitchen near Chicago. Turns out I was starving it by not feeding it twice a day once it got active. Has anyone else dealt with that funky smell phase?

2 comments

c/construction-management•

thomas_johnson35•1mo ago

Walked through a new apartment complex job site last week and noticed something off

I was checking out this new 4-story apartment build in Austin and saw they already framed the second floor before the foundation slab was fully cured. The concrete guys were still wet curing sections while the carpenters were nailing up walls right next to them. How are we supposed to avoid cracks when nobody coordinates the schedule anymore? Has anyone else dealt with trades jumping ahead before the concrete is even close to ready?

2 comments

Posts

That week two summers ago in Houston when nothing went right

Criticism from a thru-hiker changed how I pack my food bag

I finally get why my dad never threw out old lawnmower parts

Got a wakeup call about swing clearance on a job in Baton Rouge

The password reset loop that ate my Saturday morning

Took me 8 years to notice my seam roller was backwards

Had to pick between texture and color coding for a control panel at work

My coworker spent 3 hours watching me code a spinning cube and just said 'that's pretty neat'

My sourdough starter took a weird turn after week 3

Walked through a new apartment complex job site last week and noticed something off

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