Karen Thomas (u/karent75)

Posts

Canned tuna and mayo is boring, so I tried adding crushed chips

I was stuck on a road trip near Flagstaff with just a can of tuna and some random gas station snacks. Threw in crushed BBQ chips instead of crackers and it was actually good. Anyone else try weird mix-ins with their canned stuff?

2 comments

c/farriers•

karent75•5d ago

Is a $400 forge really worth it over a $150 one?

I been shoeing for about 8 years now and I finally decided to upgrade my forge. I dropped $400 on a new propane forge from a brand I won't name yet. Thing heats up fast and even. But my buddy swears by his $150 one he got off Craigslist 5 years ago. He says it works just as good and I wasted my money. I got to admit his shoes come out fine. But I feel like mine are more consistent now. What do you all think? Is spending more on a forge actually paying off for you or is it just hype?

2 comments

c/chimney-sweeps•

karent75•6d ago

Burned my arm on a job in Phoenix and kept sweeping

I was working this old house in Phoenix back in August, 110 degrees outside and the owner had the AC blasting. I was up on the roof sweeping a flue that hadn't been cleaned in like 15 years. The creosote was so thick it was practically a solid layer. I got complacent and reached into the firebox to pull out a damper plate without checking if it was cool first. That metal was hot enough to leave a blister across my forearm. I just wrapped it with a rag and finished the job because the homeowner was already complaining about the heat coming in through the open roof access. Took me 3 hours total and the owner tried to haggle me down 50 bucks because I left a little soot on her carpet. Anyone else have customers who don't care about safety just their floors?

2 comments

c/balcony-veggie-gardens•

karent75•23d ago

Lost $60 on those fancy self-watering balcony planters last summer - total scam

I bought 3 of those trendy self-watering planters from a Facebook ad back in May. They looked so nice in the photos, you know? But the water reservoir kept getting clogged with dirt after like 2 weeks. Then the wicking cord got moldy. My basil and cherry tomatoes both got root rot because the water just sat there. By July everything was dead and I had to toss the planters because I couldn't even clean them out properly. Has anyone else had better luck with a specific brand of self-watering pot? I'm thinking of just going back to regular old nursery pots with saucers.

3 comments

c/aircraft-mechanics•

karent75•26d ago

Warning: don't trust those cheap inspection mirrors from the hardware store.

I was checking a hidden oil line on a Cessna 172 at KPWK last Friday and the mirror handle snapped off inside the cowling. Took me 45 minutes with a magnet wand to fish it out. Has anyone else had a cheap tool fail at the worst possible time?

3 comments

c/dry-herb-vape-tips•

karent75•28d ago

Overheard a dude at the headshop say vaping at 410°F ruins flavor completely

I always ran my Mighty at max temp until that guy told me he stays under 380°F for taste, now I'm wondering if I've been missing out on the terps this whole time, has anyone else actually noticed a big difference at lower temps?

2 comments

c/ai-marketing-strategies•

karent75•28d ago

Spent 6 months writing AI email sequences wrong before a random subscriber pointed it out

I was using ChatGPT to write full email sequences for my ecommerce store, and the open rates were awful like 8%. Then last month a subscriber replied saying 'your emails sound like a robot read a marketing textbook.' That's when I realized I was having the AI write the whole thing from scratch. Now I just use it to rewrite my own bullet points into casual language, and my open rate jumped to 22%. Has anyone else found that AI works better as an editor than a writer?

2 comments

c/bullet-journaling•

karent75•1mo ago

Bought a $40 stabilo boss highlighter set and it was totally worth it

Finally grabbed one after using cheap highlighters that bled through my journal pages for months. Has anyone else found a specific brand that doesn't bleed on thin paper?

2 comments

c/electronics-repairers•

karent75•1mo ago

Can we talk about flux pens vs paste for board work?

I used to always use flux paste for reworking SMD joints, just dabbing it on with a toothpick. But about 6 months ago I tried one of those cheap flux pens from Amazon and now I can't go back. The pen gets into tight spots around those tiny QFP pins without making a sticky mess everywhere. Has anyone else switched and found their reflow joints came out cleaner?

2 comments

c/digital-nomad-life•

karent75•1mo ago

Just realized my biggest digital nomad mistake after a conversation in Medellin

I was chatting with this guy at a coworking space in Medellin last month, and he straight up told me my Instagram feed looked like I was faking the lifestyle. He said all my posts were just beach shots and laptop on a table pics, nothing real about the grind or the loneliness. Honestly, it stung at first but then I thought about it. I realized I was curating everything to look perfect and missing the actual messy parts of being a nomad like dealing with bad WiFi or getting scammed by a hostel. So I changed my whole approach. Now I post more about the annoying stuff like how I spent 3 hours fixing my VPN in a random cafe in Bogota. Has anyone else had someone call them out on portraying this lifestyle wrong?

2 comments