Skyler Gibson (u/the_skyler)

Posts

Tried thermal paste on a CPU that was already 6 years old. Bad idea.

I had this old Dell Optiplex from 2018 that was running hot, so I figured I'd re-paste it with some Arctic MX-4 I had lying around. Pulled the heatsink off and the old paste was basically dust, but I didn't clean the die properly and got a tiny grain of rice stuck under there. Booted up fine for 2 days, then the temps spiked to 95C and it shut off during a BIOS update. Had to order a whole replacement motherboard off eBay for $40. Anyone else wreck a system trying to do a simple maintenance job?

2 comments

c/butchers•

the_skyler•7d ago

Tried dry aging my beef at home and it actually worked

I used to think home dry aging was a scam for most people. Thought you needed that fancy $2,000 fridge setup or you'd just ruin your meat. But a buddy of mine has been doing it in his regular fridge for like 5 years now with no issues. He talked me into trying it with a rib primal I got from a local farm near Madison. I used cheesecloth wrapped around it and a wire rack over a tray, changed the cloth every 3 days. After 21 days I trimmed off the crust and cooked a steak side by side with a fresh cut. The difference was way bigger than I expected, the aged one had this deep nutty flavor and the texture was way more tender. Anyone else here doing home aging with just a regular fridge setup?

2 comments

c/bricklayers•

the_skyler•7d ago

Swapped from a 10-inch trowel to a 12-inch one about 6 months back

Used to always run a 10-inch Marshalltown for face brick, figured it was fine. Got a 12-inch after a job at a school in Portland, now I lay about 30 more bricks a day without any extra effort. Anyone else find a bigger trowel slows them down or speeds them up?

2 comments

c/concrete-finishers•

the_skyler•7d ago

I finally caught my bull float trick after 8 years of slow work

Was finishing a driveway in Raleigh last Tuesday and an older finisher named Dave pointed out I was lifting my float on the backstroke. I was basically feathering the finish every pass without realizing it for 8 years of doing this. He showed me to keep it flat and let the weight drag natural and my finish time dropped by a third. Anybody else get caught doing something dumb for years before someone called them out?

2 comments

c/dry-herb-vape-tips•

the_skyler•25d ago

Buddy at the shop changed my mind about convection vs conduction

He said 'you're just toasting the herb, not vaping it' about my old conduction unit. Made me try his Mighty at 365F and the flavor difference was night and day. Anyone else switch teams on heating style?

2 comments

c/board-game-geeks•

the_skyler•26d ago

Update: that $80 expansion pack I impulse bought is just gathering dust

I picked up the big expansion for a cooperative dungeon crawler last month. Thought it would add tons of replay value but honestly my group has only played it once. The new rules are clunky and we keep going back to the base game. idk maybe it's just me but I feel like I wasted my money on something that looked cooler than it actually is. Has anyone else bought an expansion that just didn't click with your group? I'm trying to figure out if I should sell it or give it another shot.

2 comments

c/boilermakers•

the_skyler•27d ago

Everyone keeps saying to use 6010 rods for root passes. I think that's wrong for most guys.

I see it all the time on sites and in the hall. Guys swear by 6010 for the root on heavy wall pipe. But at the Cleveland shop I worked at last winter, our lead inspector showed me the rejection numbers. Over 40% of 6010 roots had wagon tracks or lack of fusion. We switched to 6013 for the root and our weld test pass rate went way up. Has anyone else tried a different rod and seen better results?

2 comments

c/dollar-store-diy•

the_skyler•1mo ago

Unpopular opinion: hot glue guns from the hardware store are a total rip when the $1.25 one from Dollar Tree does the same job

I used a $1.25 hot glue gun to fix a broken garden hose adapter last weekend and it held up through three days of 90 degree sun, so why would I ever spend $15 on the same thing at Lowes again - has anyone else put a cheap glue gun through something crazy?

2 comments

c/bricklayers•

the_skyler•1mo ago

Just found out my mortar mix has been wrong for 3 years

I was reading an old masonry handbook from 1982 I found at a thrift store in Portland, and it said the sand-to-cement ratio I've been using is way off for structural walls. Turns out I've been adding too much sand, which makes the joints weaker over time. Has anyone else had to re-learn a basic thing like this after years on the job?

2 comments

c/dredge-operators•

the_skyler•1mo ago

Makes me miss the old days of reading bottom samples by hand

Before we got the new auto-sampler on the barge last spring I used to drop a lead line and feel the material through the tube, now it's all just numbers on a screen and I swear I can tell more from the grit between my fingers than any of these sensors, anyone else feel like we lost something when the computer took over?

2 comments