Finley Moore (u/finleym43)

Posts

Question about switching from gardening to native plants

A couple years back I had to choose between keeping my big vegetable garden beds or tearing them out for native plants. I went with natives because the pollinators were disappearing and honestly the veggies were a lot of work. Now I have this patch of black-eyed Susans and milkweed that took off after about 18 months and it's way less maintenance. Has anyone else done this switch and regretted losing the fresh tomatoes or was it worth it for you?

2 comments

c/computer-technicians•

finleym43•4d ago

Can we talk about how overpriced laptop diagnostic fees are?

I had a customer bring in a Dell Inspiron last Wednesday that just wouldn't power on. Most shops around here charge $50 just to look at it, then another $100+ if they find the issue. I popped it open in 10 minutes, found a swollen battery pressing on the motherboard connector, reseated it, and it booted right up. Charged the guy $25 and he looked at me like I was crazy. I get that overhead is real, but these flat rate diagnostic fees feel like a scam sometimes. Half the time it's a loose cable or a dead chip you can spot with a magnifying glass. Why are we charging people a quarter of a repair cost just to open the case? Has anyone else started pushing back against this in their shop or am I the only one who thinks it's bad for business?

3 comments

c/ca-disability-lawyers•

finleym43•6d ago

Tried a flat fee lawyer for my SSDI case and got denied faster than with a contingency firm

I paid a lawyer $2,500 upfront in San Diego to handle my disability claim thinking it would save money, but they rushed through the paperwork and I was denied in 4 months. Has anyone else had better luck with the contingency payment model where you only pay if you win?

4 comments

c/diy-and-home•

finleym43•7d ago

The plumber who fixed my dripping faucet with a zip tie

He was at my house in Portland about two months ago and instead of replacing the cartridge he just wrapped a zip tie around the valve stem. It's been dry ever since, has anyone else had a pro do something that looked hacky but actually worked?

3 comments

c/backpacking-routes•

finleym43•9d ago

Hiked the Narrows in Zion last month and something felt off about the crowds

I went through the Narrows bottom-up on a Tuesday in early May, thinking it would be less packed. Started at 7am and by 9am I was stuck behind a group of maybe 20 people all taking turns with portraits in the same slot. The ranger at the permit desk told me they issued 800 walk-up permits that morning alone. Has anyone else noticed the Narrows getting way more crowded even on weekdays, or am I just picking bad dates?

3 comments

c/driveway-car-tinkering•

finleym43•9d ago

Got a flat tire on I-75 last weekend and ended up fixing it in a rest stop parking lot

I was heading down toward Macon around 7pm Saturday when my TPMS light came on. Pulled off at the Jackson rest area and found a drywall screw dead center in my right rear tire. I keep a plug kit and a little 12V compressor in the trunk, so I figured I'd give it a shot right there. The concrete was hot and I had cars flying by, but I got the plug in after about 15 minutes of fighting with the reamer tool. Held air perfectly the whole way home, about another 60 miles. Kind of felt like a driveway mechanic moment in the middle of nowhere. Has anyone else had luck with those cheap plug kits from AutoZone holding up for more than a few weeks?

3 comments

c/backyard-veggie-patch•

finleym43•11d ago

Stumbled on a stat about soil microbes that blew my mind

Was reading a study from the Rodale Institute and found out healthy soil has over 1 billion bacteria in just one teaspoon. That's more than people on Earth. Started wondering if all those microbes actually help my tomatoes grow better. Anyone else think about the soil food web when they water their plants?

3 comments

c/bricklayers•

finleym43•11d ago

Overheard a young guy at the supply yard call brick 'just glorified blocks'

Made me laugh at first. Then I thought about it. He's never laid a Flemish bond or a herringbone pattern. Never had to match old hand-mades for a restoration. Told him to come watch me on a curved wall job next week in Cleveland. He didn't say much after that. You ever have someone dismiss the craft like that?

3 comments

c/barbers•

finleym43•11d ago

Had my worst day in the chair this Tuesday in Denver

I do fades and beard trims mostly at a shop on Colfax, and this one day every single client showed up late or wanted something different than what they booked. Three guys asked for a design I never practiced and I had to wing it messy. Anyone else get those days where nothing goes right from the first clipper buzz?

2 comments

c/cybersecurity-tips•

finleym43•12d ago

That free password manager I used for 3 years had a data leak last month

I got an email from Bitwarden about some breach in their bug bounty program. Not a major hack but it made me think about how much trust I put into a free service. I looked into it more and found out they had a vulnerability in their browser extension that could have exposed vault data. Has anyone else considered self-hosting a password manager after something like this?

3 comments