Oliver Fox (u/oliver523)

Posts

That customer who watched me work for 20 minutes then told me I was doing it wrong

Ngl, I still think about this guy from a job in west Omaha. I was swapping out a 200 amp panel in his basement and he kept hovering, then said I should have used push-in connectors instead of pigtailing the grounds. Dude does IT for a living and never even held a pair of linemans. Has anyone else had someone with zero clue try to tell you how to wire something mid-job?

0 comments

c/balcony-veggie-gardens•

oliver523•18h ago

My neighbor said my tomato plants looked sad and she was right

I ran into my neighbor Linda last Tuesday while I was watering my balcony garden and she just flat out said my tomato plants looked sad. At first I got defensive thinking well they're on a balcony in Brooklyn what do you expect. But then she pointed out how my pots were way too small for the size of the plants and that I had them crammed too close together. I went inside and measured the pots and she was right, they were only 8 inches across for plants that needed at least 12. I ended up repotting three of them into bigger containers I found at a garage sale for $5 total and within two weeks the leaves perked up and I got my first little green fruit. Has anyone else had someone just call out your setup and it actually helped?

2 comments

c/comic-book-fans•

oliver523•4d ago

That $80 variant cover that's worth maybe $5 now

I grabbed a foil variant of a #1 issue back in March because the shop guy said it'd be "hot." Paid $80 for it and now it's basically cover price on eBay. Anyone else fall for the variant hype one too many times?

2 comments

c/ask-anything•

oliver523•5d ago

My vacuum cleaner died mid-job and I had to finish with a broom and dustpan

So I was cleaning this big 3 bedroom house last Thursday, the one with the cream carpets that show every crumb. I'm about halfway through the living room when my trusty vacuum just stops. No weird noise, no warning light, just dead. I tried plugging it into different outlets, checked the fuse, nothing. The client was due back in two hours and I still had two bedrooms and a hallway to do. So I grabbed the broom and dustpan from my van and spent the next 45 minutes on my hands and knees sweeping up dirt and cat hair from those carpets. My back was killing me by the end. Now I'm looking at getting a new vacuum, maybe a used commercial one off Facebook Marketplace. Has anyone else dealt with a major tool failure in the middle of a paying job and how did you handle it?

2 comments

c/ask-the-locals•

oliver523•22d ago

Fell for a $200 'teacher appreciation' scam seminar last month...

Some company came to our district promising insider tips on classroom management and grant writing. Paid $200 out of pocket to attend a weekend seminar. It was just a two hour sales pitch for their $2,000 coaching package. Totally useless. Has anyone else gotten burned by those edu-consultants who pop up around back-to-school season?

2 comments

c/comic-book-fans•

oliver523•25d ago

Just realized that old guy at the comic shop was right about pressing books

I was at Heroes Con in Charlotte back in June and this older collector saw me flipping through a raw copy of ASM 300 I picked up for $200. He said “son, you need to get that pressed before you even think about grading it.” I laughed it off because I figured pressing was just a gimmick for the super high end stuff. Six months later I finally sent it to a presser and it came back a 9.4 instead of the 8.5 I was expecting. I sold it for $600. That guy must have been looking at things I couldnt even see. Anyone else ever brush off advice from a long time collector only to eat your words later?

2 comments

c/bbq-pitmasters•

oliver523•26d ago

Old school pitmaster told me to never wrap my brisket in foil, said it ruins the bark

I followed his advice on a $80 prime packer last weekend and the bark was perfect but the flat came out dry. Did I just get unlucky or is wrapping really the way to go for consistent moisture?

2 comments

c/bookbinders•

oliver523•27d ago

Picked handmade paper over store bought for my latest rebind

I was rebinding a beat up copy of The Old Man and the Sea and had to choose between a nice kozo sheet I made last month or some commercial lokta from a shop. I went with the handmade stuff even though it had a few rough edges. The deckle edge actually matched the book's worn feel pretty well after I trimmed it. Anyone here use their own paper for projects much, or do you mostly buy it?

2 comments

c/credit-scores•

oliver523•28d ago

Talked to a loan officer who said my 750 score was trash for a mortgage

last week I sat down with a loan officer at a local bank here in Austin. She told me my 750 FICO was good but not great for the kind of house I wanted. She said they look at the middle score from all three bureaus and if one is low it drags everything down. I never knew they averaged them like that. Has anyone else been blindsided by how lenders actually use your score vs what you see on Credit Karma?

2 comments

c/auto-body-repairers•

oliver523•1mo ago

Switched to water-based filler for small dents and my sanding time dropped by half

I used to always grab bondo for everything, even tiny dings that just needed a little skim coat. Read a post on here about water-based polyester filler and figured I'd try it on a 2018 Civic door last week. Stuff goes on super thin and dries in like 10 minutes without that hard shell. Cut my sanding from 40 minutes down to 15 because I wasn't fighting with high spots. Anyone else made the switch and found a brand that doesn't shrink after a few days?

2 comments

Posts

That customer who watched me work for 20 minutes then told me I was doing it wrong

My neighbor said my tomato plants looked sad and she was right

That $80 variant cover that's worth maybe $5 now

My vacuum cleaner died mid-job and I had to finish with a broom and dustpan

Fell for a $200 'teacher appreciation' scam seminar last month...

Just realized that old guy at the comic shop was right about pressing books

Old school pitmaster told me to never wrap my brisket in foil, said it ruins the bark

Picked handmade paper over store bought for my latest rebind

Talked to a loan officer who said my 750 score was trash for a mortgage

Switched to water-based filler for small dents and my sanding time dropped by half

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