Why does nobody talk about the toilet paper holder at the diner on Route 9?

I stopped at the Route 9 Diner last weekend and their bathroom had a toilet paper roll held up with a zip tie and a paperclip. It actually worked better than my fancy spring-loaded one at home that always jams. Has anyone else found a better fix for a busted TP holder than just buying a new one?

Shoutout to the guy who caught my falling longbox at the 2012 Emerald City Comicon.

I was carrying a stack of about 40 books I'd just bought, tripped on a loose floor tile near the Image booth, and this complete stranger dove to catch them before they hit the ground, saving a mint 'Amazing Spider-Man' #300 from a certain spine roll, and we spent the next 20 minutes just talking about Todd McFarlane's art.

Cleaned out my old toolbox and found my first welding cert card from 2004

I mean, I was just sorting through a bunch of old junk, you know? Pulled out this little plastic card, the laminate all cracked and yellow. It was my very first ASME Section IX cert for 6G pipe. The date on it hit me. I've been a card-carrying boilermaker for twenty years next month. Idk, it just felt heavy in my hand. I remember being so nervous for that test in the Philly union hall, my hands were shaking. Now it's just a thing I do without thinking. Has anyone else dug up an old piece of paper that really made you stop and count the years?

Hit 500 service calls without a single false alarm callback this year. That number shocked me, honestly. Is it pure luck or a sign we're getting better at system design?

I got turned around on the PCT near Sisters because I was just following my buddy's GPS track.

Now I always check the actual map and compass for the next turn before I start hiking each morning, does anyone else have a simple routine to avoid that kind of drift?

Got a service call for a 'cable box in the tree' in Dayton last Tuesday

The customer was serious, their old box was actually wedged in a maple branch after a storm. I had to use my 28 foot ladder and a fish tape to hook it out. Anyone ever had to retrieve gear from somewhere that ridiculous?

Shoutout to the crew that helped with the big oak removal in Greenville last Tuesday

We had this massive white oak leaning over a house, and the homeowner was really nervous. Our foreman, Dave, spent a full hour just looking at the lean and the power lines before he even picked up a saw. He had us rig a line from a healthy pine across the yard to guide it down in pieces. Anyone else have a go-to method for a tight drop zone with a bad lean like that?

A trick for those tricky inside corners on a stamped patio

I was doing a big stamped patio job in Springfield last month, and the pattern had to run right into a 90-degree corner against the house. I always hated how the stamp mats never fit right there, leaving a messy edge. My usual fix was to hand-tool it after, but it never looked perfect. This time, I cut a small piece of the rubber stamp mat, maybe 4 inches square, and used it like a hand stamp right in the corner before the main mat hit it. I just pressed it in by hand to get the texture started. It blended the pattern perfectly when I ran the big mat over it. Has anyone else found a good way to handle inside corners on stamped work?

Remember when everyone had a knee kicker? Now I see guys trying to stretch broadloom with just a power stretcher.

It leaves ripples by the walls every time. My boss in Charlotte showed me the two-tool method back in 2005 and it's still the right way.

I keep seeing guys skip the line check on long walls and it's a mess.

Worked on a big commercial job in Omaha last month and the crew before us laid about 80 feet of foundation brick without checking their line once. I mean not once. By the time we got there to start the veneer, the whole run was out by almost an inch and a half. We had to tear it all out. The foreman just shrugged and said, 'It looked straight from the end.' It doesn't matter how it looks from one spot. You have to check that line every ten, fifteen feet, especially with a breeze or if the ground isn't perfect. A snapped line isn't a set-it-and-forget-it thing. How do you guys handle keeping a long run true when you're working solo?