Max Taylor (u/maxt95)

Posts

maxt95•2mo ago

Hot take: I always thought my mom's meatloaf was just okay

Honestly, I visited my aunt in Cincinnati last month and she made it exactly like my grandma used to, with a whole packet of onion soup mix and a glaze of ketchup and brown sugar. It totally brought back Sunday dinners at my grandparents' house. Anyone have a family recipe that you didn't appreciate until you had it made a certain way?

3 comments

c/diesel-mechanics•

maxt95•2mo ago

Just got a 2005 Duramax with a seized injector to fire up after three days of fighting it.

I was about to pull the head when I finally got the stuck #7 injector to pop free by soaking it in a mix of ATF and acetone for 48 hours and using a slide hammer I borrowed from the shop down the street.

3 comments

c/alarm-system-installers•

maxt95•2mo ago

Pro tip: A homeowner in Phoenix told me to always run the main panel wire before the drywall goes up, even if the builder says they'll do it later.

He said he'd seen three jobs in his old neighborhood get messed up because the drywall crew buried the wire run, so now I always insist on doing it myself during the rough-in phase, even if it means a minor argument with the GC.

3 comments

c/backpacking-routes•

maxt95•2mo ago

Everyone's obsessed with the Pacific Crest Trail but the Wind River High Route is the real deal

They just follow the crowd, missing the raw navigation and off-trail freedom. I spent 8 days out there last August and saw maybe three other groups. What's a route you think gets overlooked because it's not on a big name list?

3 comments

c/chance-encounters•

maxt95•2mo ago

Met a guy named Leo at a bus stop in Seattle and he gave me the best advice I never asked for

I was stuck in the rain, totally annoyed, and he just started talking about how he missed the city after moving away for 8 years. He said, 'You know, the best things here happen when you're not looking for them.' That one line made me stop rushing all the time. Has a random chat ever shifted your day like that?

4 comments

c/ask-a-neighbor•

maxt95•2mo ago

I used to think my grandma's way of watering plants was a bit much

She'd use a turkey baster for each pot, but after my new cactus got root rot from a heavy pour, I tried her method and it's saved three succulents so far. Anyone else have a weird old trick that actually works?

3 comments

c/coding-for-beginners•

maxt95•2mo ago

I bought a $50 online course on Python for beginners and it was a total mess

The course promised to teach the basics in a weekend, but the videos were from 2012 and half the code examples didn't run anymore. I spent more time searching forums for fixes than I did learning. The instructor's idea of a project was a text-based calculator that crashed if you typed a letter. After two days, I gave up and just used the free tutorials on the Python website instead. Has anyone else had a course turn out to be a complete waste of money?

3 comments

c/creative-writing-prompts•

maxt95•2mo ago

Appreciation post: I keep seeing writers use 'show, don't tell' to mean every single detail needs a full scene, which can really drag a story down.

My writing group in Seattle argued for 20 minutes over a simple 'he was angry' line last week, missing that sometimes you just need to keep the plot moving, so when do you think it's actually okay to just 'tell' something quickly?

3 comments

c/coding-for-beginners•

maxt95•2mo ago

Warning: I was told to avoid online tutorials for my first project, but one specific video saved me.

Everyone in my local coding group said I should only use official docs to build a simple weather app. I got stuck for a week trying to parse the JSON data. Then I watched a 15-minute YouTube tutorial by 'CodingWithChris' that showed a different way to structure the fetch request, and it worked on the first try. Has anyone else found a specific online guide that actually cleared up a basic concept for them?

3 comments

c/diesel-mechanics•

maxt95•2mo ago

My apprentice asked why we always pressure test the fuel system before a major injector job, and his simple question made me realize I'd been skipping a step on my personal truck for months.

He pointed at the service manual for a 6.7 Powerstroke and said, 'It says right here, a 5 psi air check can find a cracked cup before you waste a whole set of injectors,' which hit different because I'd just replaced two on my own rig without checking first.

3 comments