A retired guy at my local shop told me I was overcomplicating my pour-over technique

Rant: Finally caved and tried a digital protractor after swearing by my old swing arm one

I've been drafting for about 12 years now and always figured my old swing arm protractor was fine. Last week I had a commercial job in downtown Portland measuring some weird angles for a steel stair stringer. After getting it wrong twice and burning maybe 2 hours, my buddy handed me his digital one. I was all 'nah I don't need that fancy stuff'. But I tried it out of desperation. First try it was dead on. Felt kinda dumb but also kinda glad. Anyone else stubborn about switching tools then get proven wrong by a specific job?

Picked a paid password manager over free options

Everyone in this sub always pushes the free password managers like Bitwarden. I went with 1Password instead about 8 months ago. Yeah it costs me $36 a year but the shared vaults with my wife made switching so easy. Has anyone else had better luck with paid tools over the free stuff?

Tried a cheap DA vs a Festool for a week

Had a big insurance job in Flint last month. Six panels to block and paint. Used my usual $80 Harbor Freight DA for the first three. Then switched to a borrowed Festool. Night and day difference. The Festool didn't stall out on curves. Less vibration too. Anyone else notice a huge jump when you go from budget to high end sanders?

Picked the old Weller station over a new Hakko last month

I had a chance to grab a used Hakko FX-951 for $120 but stuck with my beat up Weller WES51 that I've had since 2005. The Hakko heats up faster and has better tip control, but I just know every quirk of that old Weller after thousands of joints. Anyone else hang onto older gear just because you're used to how it feels?

Had a talk with my buddy Kenji last night about why he dropped Bleach after the Hueco Mundo arc

He said it just felt like the power scaling got too messy and he couldn't keep track of who was stronger than who anymore, and honestly that made me look back at the Arrancar fights in a whole new light - has anyone else stopped watching a long series because the numbers stopped making sense?

Switched to a fixed-gear bike 6 months ago and my commute dropped by 8 minutes

I got tired of my gears slipping on the hill near 42nd Street. A friend suggested I try a fixed-gear setup, and I finally did it back in March. Now I'm faster and I don't have to fiddle with derailleurs ever again. Has anyone else seen a big time change after switching bike styles?

The day my spine glue gave out on a 1920s novel

Was rebacking an old poetry collection in my basement shop last Saturday and the PVA let go on me halfway through. Had to scramble and clamp it all over again, ended up with a tiny crease on the spine that I still can't unsee. Has anyone else had a glue failure mess up an older book like that?

That $80 DVD box set I bought without checking the region code

Picked up a full set of Cowboy Bebop at a flea market for $80, got home and realized it was region 2 locked. Has anyone else gotten burned by importing anime stuff without double checking compatibility?

Just realized I wasted $600 on prepaid hotel bookings before I ever checked local guesthouse prices

Stayed in a hostel in Medellin 2 months ago and the guy next to me paid $12 a night for a private room with breakfast. I had booked a chain hotel 3 months ahead for $45 a night thinking I was being smart. He just walked in and asked at 3 different places until he found the deal. I felt like an idiot. How do you guys find these walk-in rates without getting scammed?