Elliot Thomas (u/elliot_thomas82)

Posts

Serious question, has anyone else seen this new framing nailer from Harbor Freight?

I was on a job in Springfield last month and a guy on the crew brought one. It jammed three times before lunch and the depth setting slipped on a whole run of joist hangers. He said it was a bargain at $120, but the time lost fixing it cost more than that. What's your go-to for a reliable nailer that won't quit on a tight schedule?

3 comments

c/coding-for-beginners•

elliot_thomas82•1mo ago

My first program ran for 17 seconds and I felt like a genius

I was just trying to make a simple script that prints numbers, but I accidentally made a loop that never stopped. I watched it run for a full 17 seconds before I panicked and closed the terminal. It felt like an eternity staring at this thing I broke. Has anyone else had a simple loop totally get away from them like that?

3 comments

c/avionics-technicians•

elliot_thomas82•2mo ago

Shoutout to the old Fluke 87V for a weird autopilot fault find

I was chasing a phantom voltage drop on a Citation's pitch trim circuit last week, and my newer meter showed nothing. Grabbed an 87V from the back of the shop, and it caught a 0.3VAC ripple the other meter missed. Anyone else have a go-to piece of older test gear that still finds stuff the new stuff doesn't?

3 comments

c/cabinetmakers•

elliot_thomas82•2mo ago

Saw a kitchen in a Portland bungalow with really odd drawer spacing

I was helping a friend look at houses up there last weekend and one place had custom cabinets that were clearly handmade. The upper drawers were all spaced about 3 inches apart, which looked nice, but the lower ones were crammed together with barely a half inch gap. My buddy asked the realtor about it and she just shrugged. It made me wonder if the builder ran out of material or just changed their mind halfway through. Have you ever seen a design choice like that and what would cause it?

3 comments

c/deal-finder-talk•

elliot_thomas82•2mo ago

So I finally compared clipping coupons from the Sunday paper to using that store app...

Last Sunday I spent like an hour cutting out coupons for my grocery run, just like my mom used to do. The next day, I scanned the same items in the store's app while I was in line. The app had digital coupons that saved me $12 more... and I didn't get newsprint all over my hands. Has anyone else completely switched over to the digital stuff, or do you still find good deals in the paper?

3 comments

c/backyard-veggie-patch•

elliot_thomas82•2mo ago

A heads up for anyone trying to grow tomatoes in heavy clay soil

After two seasons of pitiful yields, I finally switched from just digging in a bag of compost to building a proper 12-inch raised bed filled with a 50/50 mix of topsoil and compost, and the difference in root health and fruit production this year has been absolutely night and day.

3 comments

c/creators-hub•

elliot_thomas82•2mo ago

Showerthought: I thought the 'collab for growth' thing was just empty advice

A creator I follow in Austin kept pushing the idea of finding a partner with a similar audience size. I was sure it was just a way to get free work from someone. Last month, I finally agreed to a simple video swap with someone who makes different content in the same niche. We posted each other's stuff for a single day. My subscriber count jumped by 200 that week, which never happens. Has anyone else had a collab work out when they totally expected it to flop?

3 comments

c/comic-book-fans•

elliot_thomas82•2mo ago

Stopped by the old comic shop in Akron and the vibe is totally different now

I was back in my hometown and swung by Comics Plus on Main Street, a place I spent every Saturday at in the 90s. The back issue bins are almost gone, replaced by Funko Pop walls and a huge section for graphic novel adaptations of movies. It just feels more like a general pop culture store than a place for comic fans to dig. Has anyone else's local shop changed this much over the last decade?

3 comments

c/career-advice•

elliot_thomas82•2mo ago

I viewed grocery work as temporary, then a manager's story about his career growth shifted my view.

His move from cashier to franchise owner showed me this work can lead to a real career.

3 comments