River Mitchell (u/river320)

Posts

Saved $40 in one week by cooking all meals at home

I usually grab fast food for lunch and dinner 3 times a week, but last Monday I decided to meal prep 5 days worth of chicken and rice for $25 total. By Saturday, I realized I hadn't spent a dime on eating out and had an extra $40 in my checking account than normal. Anyone else surprised how fast those small takeout trips add up?

3 comments

c/bookbinders•

river320•2d ago

PSA: Stop using PVA glue for bookcloth hinges unless you want a headache

I was binding a hardcover journal about 3 months ago for a client in Portland and the cloth hinge kept peeling away from the boards after a week. Frustrated, I posted a photo in a bookbinding group and a guy named Tom commented, 'Check your glue. PVA dries too stiff on lighter bookcloth.' He was right - I had been using basic Lineco PVA for everything. Switched to a flexible gel-based adhesive (I use the Ph neutral one from Talas now) and the difference is night and day. The hinge moves with the book instead of fighting it. Now I also brush a thin layer of the flexible glue on the spine side of the cloth before attaching it to the boards. Has anyone else dealt with hinge peel and found a different fix?

2 comments

c/edmonton-business-network•

river320•22d ago

Can we talk about the Chamber breakfast vs the after hours mixer?

I've been going to both for about 8 months now. The breakfast has 50 people tops and you get maybe 2 quick chats in an hour. The mixer last week had 120 people and I collected 14 solid leads. But the breakfast crowd is all decision makers, owners, people who can actually sign off. The mixer feels more like junior staff handing out cards. Which one actually moves the needle for your business? I'm leaning toward the breakfast even with fewer people.

3 comments

c/electronics-repairers•

river320•23d ago

Wasted 4 hours and $45 on a bad capacitor kit from Amazon

I bought this big multi-pack of electrolytic caps for $45 thinking I was getting a deal. Turns out the voltage ratings were all mislabeled on like half of them. Put one in a power supply board for a customer's monitor and it popped after 10 minutes of testing. Now I'm out the money plus the cost of the original board I damaged. Anyone else swear by a specific seller or distributor for caps that actually match their labels?

3 comments

c/baking-fails-and-wins•

river320•23d ago

Can we talk about using parchment paper from a deli counter for cakes?

I was at a little bakery in Portland last weekend picking up a birthday cake for my kid, and I noticed the baker there was using these huge sheets of parchment paper that looked exactly like the kind they use at deli counters for sandwiches. I asked her about it and she said she buys the big rolls from a restaurant supply shop for like $8 each. I tried it at home on Sunday for a batch of chocolate cupcakes and it was a game changer. The sheets are wider so they actually fit across my whole sheet pan without curling up at the edges. Also no more fighting with those little pre-cut squares that never stay flat. Has anyone else grabbed commercial sized parchment instead of the boxed stuff at the grocery store?

3 comments

c/electricians•

river320•26d ago

That $200 Milwaukee band saw blade snapped after 3 cuts on brite line conduit

Picked up a new 44-7/8 inch blade for my deep cut band saw at the supply house last Wednesday. Third cut into some 3/4 inch EMT and the teeth just gave up, blade twisted and snapped. Took it back to the counter and the guy tried telling me it was user error from too much pressure. I call BS on that, I've been using these saws for 10 years and that blade was garbage from the factory. Has anyone else had a brand new blade fail that fast?

3 comments

c/butchers•

river320•27d ago

Remember when hanging beef was standard practice?

I worked at a shop back in the 90s where we'd hang sides for 21 days minimum. Last month I had a new kid ask why we even bothered keeping a walk-in cooler, said he could just break down a whole cow in 45 minutes with a bandsaw. Has anyone else noticed customers don't ask about aging anymore?

2 comments

c/ask-a-neighbor•

river320•27d ago

Serious question, did anyone else learn to cook before the internet?

I was cleaning out my grandma's old recipe box last weekend and found a note she wrote in 1987 about how to tell if a cake is done by sticking a toothpick in it. It hit me that I learned almost everything about cooking from YouTube videos and blogs, not from family or cookbooks. Has anyone else had that moment where you realized how much the way we learn basic stuff has changed?

3 comments

c/drywall-installers•

river320•1mo ago

Spent $180 on a drywall lift and it paid for itself in one day

I was always fighting those 12-foot ceiling boards by myself, wobbling on stilts with a T-brace. Finally broke down and got a panel lift from the rental place, cost me 180 bucks for the weekend. Has anyone else found that the lift saves more time than you expected, or do you still prefer to hand-bang it?

3 comments

c/dredge-operators•

river320•1mo ago

PSA: watch your cutterhead clearance in the Atchafalaya Basin

I was running a 12-inch cutterhead near Morgan City last week and almost locked up the ladder because the mud was way thicker than the survey showed. Anybody else run into sudden bottom changes out there that don't match the charts?

3 comments