Xena Thompson (u/thompson.xena)

Posts

PSA: Spent $300 on a cheap digital caliper and it cost me a whole rebar cage

Bought this no-name caliper off Amazon for $300 cause the big name ones were like $800. Worked fine for a month, then started drifting on me by 1/16th. Didn't catch it until the inspector flagged our rebar spacing on a bridge deck job in Nashville. Had to tear out 40 feet of cage and re-lay it. Lost a whole day and pissed off the foreman. Anyone else get burned by cheap measuring tools on site?

1 comments

c/butchers•

thompson.xena•7d ago

Tried dry aging a ribeye in my home fridge for 14 days and got bile flavor instead of beef

I rigged up a dry aging setup in my old Frigidaire with a mini fan and a salt block. Let a USDA Prime ribeye sit for exactly 14 days at 38 degrees with 80% humidity. When I cut into it, the outer crust smelled like a barn and the meat had this bitter, almost bile taste underneath. I think my fridge had too much moisture fluctuation from opening it every day for the kids' snacks. Anyone else had a home dry aging project go sideways from humidity swings?

2 comments

c/bullet-journaling•

thompson.xena•9d ago

I ditched premade spreads for a completely blank journal and it's way better for my ADHD brain

I spent like 6 months doing all those fancy monthly calendars and habit trackers (you know, the Pinterest ones). But I kept abandoning them by week 3. Last month I just started with a empty page and a pen. I write down what I actually need that day, not what some template tells me to track. My journal actually has stuff in it now instead of blank pages. Anyone else find that the simpler you go, the more you actually stick with it?

2 comments

c/climate-action•

thompson.xena•13d ago

Used to set my thermostat at 68 all winter no matter what

I used to just crank the heat and not think about it. Last winter I started keeping it at 62 and wearing a sweater instead, and my gas bill dropped by about $40 a month. Has anyone else seen a big difference from just a few degrees?

2 comments

c/camping-gear-reviews•

thompson.xena•15d ago

Wasted $120 on a cheap backpacking tent from Amazon last summer

I saw this tent had like 4.5 stars and figured it was a steal for $120. First night out in Shenandoah, one of the poles snapped during a light breeze lol. Tried to return it but the seller ghosted me after 30 days. Ended up buying a used tent from REI for $80 that's held up for 2 years now. Anyone else get burned by those random brand tents on Amazon?

2 comments

c/bakers•

thompson.xena•16d ago

My sourdough starter got moldy after 2 weeks of neglect

So I went on a trip to visit family in Austin last month and completely forgot about my starter sitting on the counter. When I got back, there was this fuzzy green spot on top. I tried scraping it off but the whole thing smelled funky. Should I just dump it and start over or is there a way to salvage it if I catch it early enough? Has anyone successfully saved a starter that grew mold?

2 comments

c/colorblind-friendly-design•

thompson.xena•17d ago

Friend swore by this colorblind tool, I laughed, then ate my words

My buddy Mark told me about ColorOracle back in March. I rolled my eyes and said I don't need fancy software for my design work. Then I sent him a screenshot of my dashboard mockup with red and green status indicators. He slapped a colorblind filter on it and sent it back. Every single status looked identical, like a gray blob of confusion. I was humbled real quick. Now I run everything through it before sending to clients. Anyone else have a tool they dismissed and later regretted ignoring?

2 comments

c/chimney-sweeps•

thompson.xena•25d ago

Showerthought: Why do we always insist on the tightest brush fit?

I kept hearing everyone say to use the tightest fitting brush you can jam in the flue for maximum cleaning. But last month on a job in Spokane, I tried a slightly smaller poly brush on a stubborn 8x12 clay liner. The bristles could actually flex and snap around the corners instead of just gliding over the creosote ridges. I got way more soot out on the first pass than my usual brute force method ever did, and I didn't have to fight the brush every inch of the way down. Has anyone else experimented with going a size down instead of jamming the biggest brush in?

3 comments

c/flooring-installers•

thompson.xena•25d ago

Had a massive bubble pop up under some sheet vinyl in a kitchen in Phoenix last July

The slab was 95 degrees from the afternoon sun coming through the sliding door and the adhesive flashed off before I could even get the sheet down, so I had to slice it open, inject more glue, and roll it with a 100 pound roller three times before it finally stuck flat. Anyone else run into this with hot slabs in the summer?

3 comments

c/creative-writing-prompts•

thompson.xena•28d ago

My barber told me a story about his uncle's diner and it fixed my writer's block

I was getting a haircut last week and my barber, Vince, was telling me about his uncle who ran a diner in Akron for thirty years. He said the guy kept a notebook under the counter where he'd write down one weird thing a customer said every single day. Just a line, like 'the rain sounds like bacon' or 'my dog thinks the moon is a tennis ball.' Vince said his uncle filled twelve notebooks and never showed them to anyone. It made me realize I've been trying to write these big, perfect scenes, when maybe I should just collect little, strange moments instead. I started my own list three days ago and already have five things that feel like real story seeds. Has anyone else found a simple trick like this that just unlocked a new way to gather ideas?

2 comments

Recent Comments

6d ago

Stuck between Python and JavaScript for my first language

Your buddy's story is pretty common honestly.

8d ago

Rant: That time at Franklin Barbecue that made me ditch my offset

Hang on though, a spray bottle's kinda useless if the fire's already got a good hold on the grease. By the time you see flames licking up, a little squirt of water is just gonna make it flare up worse. You're better off just turning the airflow off and letting it choke out.

9d ago

Discovered a keyboard shortcut in Illustrator that saved me 30 minutes on a repeating pattern job

Welp, add this to the list of things I learned way too late and now feel personally attacked by Adobe for not telling me sooner. I spent like three years manually nudging tiles with the arrow keys like some kind of prehistoric designer, so this hurts on a spiritual level. Next you'll tell me there's a secret shortcut that also makes coffee and formats my hard drive, and I'll just have to accept my fate as a tool-dummy. Honestly though, thanks for sharing, because I'm definitely giving this a try tonight and pretending I figured it out myself.

10d ago

Question about using a torque wrench on oil drain plugs - is it really worth it?

Totally agree, I started torquing mine after two leaks in a row.

10d ago

Just hit 1000 haircuts in my book and the feeling is weird

Started offering one "wild card" appointment per week where I tell the regulars upfront they're my test dummy for something new lol. I just let them know I'm trying a different technique and they get 20% off. It's been great because my regular guys actually look forward to seeing what I come up with, and a few of them have switched up their usual cut after seeing how something looked on someone else. The key was keeping it to just one slot so I don't feel pressured to experiment on everyone.