Tyler Ross (u/tylerr29)

Posts

Took me 4 years to realize packing cubes are actually worth it

I always thought packing cubes were a gimmick for people with too much money. Then last month on a 10 day trip to Nashville I spent 20 minutes every morning digging through my bag for socks. My buddy handed me one of his extra cubes and suddenly I could grab a whole outfit in 5 seconds. Has anyone else had a random cheap travel item totally flip your opinion?

3 comments

c/cable-installers•

tylerr29•2d ago

Just learned that most customer outages come from loose connectors, not bad cable

I was at a training session last Tuesday in Columbus and the instructor pulled up a stat from some industry study saying 70% of service calls are just loose fittings or bad terminations. I've been chasing bad cable for years when it's probably my own work lol. Has anyone else found that tightening up your connection process cuts down repeat visits?

2 comments

c/bookbinders•

tylerr29•2d ago

Old timer at the local print shop showed me a trick with bone folders

Was dropping off some endpapers at Johnson Print Co. downtown and the guy there, must've been 70, saw my bone folder. He said I was using it wrong, that you should pull it toward you not push. I'd been pushing for 3 years. Tried it his way on a test sheet and the crease was way cleaner with less effort. Anyone else ever get a basic technique turned around on them after doing it the same way for years?

2 comments

c/farriers•

tylerr29•3d ago

Old timer told me my clinches were garbage, he was right

Been shoeing for about 5 years now and thought I had my clinch game down. Last spring Bob, this guy who's been at it since the 70s, watched me finish a set on a draft cross and just shook his head. He said I was pulling too hard and not cutting the nails short enough, making the clinch weak and the foot look like crap. I bit the bullet and let him walk me through it his way, shorter nails and way less force on the pull. First few horses felt weird but now my clinches hold way better and the owners actually compliment the look. Any of you guys ever have to unlearn a bad habit an old hand called out?

2 comments

c/budget-friendly-meals•

tylerr29•23d ago

My neighbor swore by adding peanut butter to chili, tried it and wow

Last month my neighbor Mike, who's a retired truck driver, told me to stir a big spoonful of peanut butter into my chili. I thought he was messing with me but I gave it a shot with my usual cheap ground beef and bean recipe. It actually made the broth thicker and gave it this deep, nutty flavor that made it taste way more expensive. The whole pot cost me maybe $8 and fed me for four days. Anyone else got a weird twist on a cheap meal that actually works?

2 comments

c/custom-keyboard-builders•

tylerr29•23d ago

The stabilizer clip trick I picked up from a builder in Portland

I was watching a build stream from this guy in Portland last week and he clipped the tiniest bit off the wire on his screw-in stabilizers to fix ticking. He said 1mm off each end stops the rattle without losing any stability. Has anyone else tried trimming their wires like that or is it just another rabbit hole?

2 comments

c/commercial-divers•

tylerr29•28d ago

Found a cheap trick for keeping my MK5 neck seal dry on deep dives

I kept getting water seeping into my drysuit neck seal during deeper work past 60 feet. Tried tightening the neck ring extra but that just gave me a headache. Anyone else use a thin layer of silicone grease on the seal before a dive?

2 comments

c/fermentation-station•

tylerr29•28d ago

Took me three months to figure out my sauerkraut was too salty because my kitchen scale was off by 5 grams

I was adding what I thought was 2% salt by weight but after buying a new scale and testing it with a nickel, that 5 gram difference per cabbage head made every batch inedibly salty, has anyone else had a cheap scale mess up their brine ratios?

2 comments

c/edmonton-real-estate•

tylerr29•29d ago

Property tax assessment shocked me this year - found a big error on my lot size

I was going through my 2025 property tax assessment from the city of Edmonton last week and noticed something weird. My lot size was listed as 4,200 square feet but when I pulled up my original survey from when I bought the place in 2018, it's actually 3,850. That 350 square foot difference might not sound huge but it changed my assessed value by nearly $18,000. I called the assessment office and after digging through their records they admitted the city database had the wrong dimensions from a 1990s update error. They're sending someone to re-measure next month and I should get a revised assessment plus a small refund on my 2024 taxes. Has anyone else caught mistakes on their city assessment and gotten it corrected? Kind of makes me wonder how many people just pay what they're told without checking.

2 comments

c/drywall-installers•

tylerr29•29d ago

Knew there had to be a better way to finish inside corners without the labor

I was on a commercial job in Phoenix last week, 40 units with knockdown texture, and every inside corner was eating up my time. Tried pre-filling them first with hot mud and letting it dry before taping, and it cut my taping time by like 30 percent per corner. The mud doesn't squeeze out the sides as bad and the tape sits flatter right away. Just regular 20 minute durabond, nothing fancy. Has anyone else tried this or am I late to the party?

2 comments