Vent: That one week in June when every bird just vanished from my yard

I got my feeders all set up perfect last June with black oil sunflower seed and a new water source, and for three straight days I didn't see a single finch or sparrow. Turns out a neighbor down the street had a feral cat that was scaring everything off, and it took me calling animal control and putting up a motion sprinkler to get them back. Has anyone else had a whole week ruined by a cat or predator situation that made your yard go dead silent?

Had to choose between the stair climber dolly or hand carrying a 400lb traction machine up 3 floors

So I'm at this old building in Philly last Tuesday, no freight elevator and this thing has to go up to the 4th floor. I figured the dolly would save my back but I dropped it on the second landing and the machine cracked a marble tile, cost me $200 out of pocket lol. Has anyone else been stuck between using a lift tool or just manhandling it, and which worked out better for you?

Stacked my phone shots against a cheap tracker and the difference was ridiculous

Last Saturday I went out to this dark spot near the river with my tripod and took maybe 50 stacked exposures of Orion. Thought they looked decent on the back of the camera. Then my buddy showed up with a used Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer he got for $150 and took a single 2 minute tracked shot. The detail in the nebula was like comparing a blurry photo to a clear one. Made me wonder if I should just save for a tracker instead of spending more time on stacking software. Has anyone else made the switch from untracked to a basic tracker and seen that big a jump?

Friend told me to stop wasting time on Codewars and just build stuff. He was completely right.

Been learning Python for about 4 months now. I was grinding Codewars challenges every night, thinking I was getting good. My buddy who works as a dev at a small shop in Austin told me to drop all that and just make a project. I argued with him for weeks. Finally built a dumb little script that tracks my mail route mileage. Learned more in 2 days than 2 months on Codewars. Has anyone else had a similar wake up call from someone?

Found a trick for fishing lines through pre-existing conduit that actually works

I spent 45 minutes fighting a stubborn pull line in a 2 inch conduit under a new build in Austin last Tuesday. Tried the typical vacuum and bag method but the bag kept tearing on a sharp bend. Has anyone else had luck using a shop vac with a thin plastic grocery bag tied to a string instead of the expensive kits?

Rough day: a home owner showed me my barrel connectors were garbage

Guy pointed out the voltage drop across my 3 GHz barrels. Picked up some Amphenol RF connectors and it fixed my signal issues on a 50 foot run in Portland yesterday. Anyone else had a customer teach you something about connectors?

Just hit 200 leather spines this month and I used to hate working with leather

Best cassette swap day I've had in months

Last Wednesday I traded a box of old gospel tapes for a mint condition copy of The Joshua Tree. The guy threw in a sealed Maxell XL-II for free. I also found a 1987 demo tape from a local punk band stuffed in a goodwill bin later that same afternoon. It was just one of those weird days where everything lined up. Has anyone else ever stumbled onto something like that where the whole day just clicked?

Had a collection agency call me at work and it backfired

I was at my desk last Tuesday when my work phone rang and it was a debt collector for a $300 medical bill I never got. The guy was rude from the start, told me I had 24 hours to pay or they'd garnish my wages. I didn't even know about the bill because it went to an old address. I stayed calm and asked him to mail me proof of the debt. He got mad and said they don't do that. I hung up and called the hospital billing department instead. They told me the bill was a mistake and wrote it off right there. Has anyone else had collectors try to scare you at your job like that?

Old timer at the job site told me my mortar mix was too rich

I was working a retaining wall job in Trenton last week and this guy who's been laying brick since the 80s walks up. He watched me mix a batch and just said "son, you're gonna have cracks come spring." Said I was using way too much Portland cement. I always thought more cement meant stronger joints but he explained it makes the mortar too rigid. When the ground shifts it'll crack instead of flex. He showed me his mix ratio and it was maybe 1 part cement to 4 parts sand. Has anyone else been told they're using too much cement in their mix?