Simon Chen (u/the_simon)

Posts

Everybody loves The Bear but I think season 2 was a mess

I finally binged The Bear last month after everyone kept telling me it was the best show on TV. Season 1 was great, no argument there. But season 2? The episode where they spend the entire time in the fridge doing nothing felt like a total waste. I actually fell asleep during that one and had to rewind. The show lost its pace and got way too artsy for its own good. Am I the only one who thinks the kitchen chaos was what made it great, not all the slow character drama?

3 comments

c/appliance-repairers•

the_simon•23d ago

Fighting a Maytag Bravos draining error for 2 hours before I checked the simple thing first

Used to always jump straight to pulling the pump and checking the control board, but last Thursday on a job in Omaha I finally stopped and just cleared the lint filter first. Took 30 seconds and saved me the headache. Anyone else learn the hard way to start with the obvious stuff?

3 comments

c/diesel-mechanics•

the_simon•24d ago

Changed my mind on using cheap oil filters after a rebuild job last month

I used to think all filters were basically the same, just grab whatever is cheapest. Then I had a customer's 6.7 Powerstroke come back with a tick in the lifters after 5k miles on a budget oil change. Cut the old filter open and found metal shavings caught in the media. The good filter I normally use would have caught that stuff. Has anyone else had a cheap filter let something through they regretted later?

2 comments

c/book-club-debates•

the_simon•25d ago

Book club debate got personal last night over a character's choice

We were discussing *Where the Crawdads Sing* last night at the group, and a debate about whether Kya should have left the marsh got really heated. One member flat out said she was selfish for staying, and another argued she had no choice given her trauma. I brought up the scene where she refuses the lawyer's help, and suddenly two people were practically yelling at each other over their own pasts. Has anyone else had a book club argument turn into people arguing about themselves rather than the actual story?

3 comments

c/camping-gear-reviews•

the_simon•26d ago

The old timer at the campsite who showed me a better way to stake a tent

After 15 years of hammering stakes at a 45 degree angle like everyone says, a retired park ranger at Glacier National Park last summer just bent one into an L shape and pushed it into the ground with his boot, and my tent didn't budge in 40 mph wind.

3 comments

c/elevator-mechanics•

the_simon•27d ago

The wild before and after I saw in a 40 year old elevator in St. Louis

I got called to look at this old Otis in a downtown building, thing was from the late 70s and shook like a washing machine on spin cycle. The owner said it had been that way for years and they just lived with it. I checked the guide rails and found the brackets had loosened up from the concrete over time which caused the gap to grow by almost a quarter inch. Tightened everything back down and leveled the rails, now it rides smoother than some newer units I've seen. Anyone else run into an old car that just needed the basics instead of a full overhaul?

2 comments

c/cable-installers•

the_simon•27d ago

Warning: that cheap cable tester from Amazon just cost me a whole afternoon

Picked up a no-name cable tester for $18 because I figured it would speed things up on a new build in Aurora last Tuesday. Got through 60 feet of Cat6 runs, terminated everything, and the tester said all pairs were good. Hooked up the gear and nothing worked. Replaced terminations, still dead. Finally busted out my Fluke and found the 4-5 pair was shorted inside a wall plate. That Amazon special never caught it, and I lost 4 hours of time and 3 service calls. Anyone else trust a cheap tester and get burned?

3 comments

c/carpenters•

the_simon•27d ago

Debate: should we tell clients when we find old framing mistakes or just fix and move on?

I was trimming out a 1920s house last week in Denver and found out the original carpenters built the whole back wall with studs 32 inches on center instead of 16. Didnt catch it till I went to nail baseboard and hit nothing but air. My helper thought we should tell the homeowner since its a safety thing but I argued its already stood 100 years and pointing it out just makes us look like we are digging for extra work or being alarmist. I found the stat in an old framing code book from the 70s that said 32 inch spacing was used a bunch during lumber shortages after WW2. The wall is fine structurally with the plaster and lath still holding but my gut says full honesty is the right call even if it costs us goodwill on the next bid. What do you guys do when you find old screwups that arent hurting anything right now?

3 comments

c/electronics-repairers•

the_simon•1mo ago

Debate: do you reflow a board or just replace the chip on a dead laptop GPU?

I was fixing a 2015 MacBook Pro last week in my garage and the GPU was totally dead after a drop. I tried reflowing the BGA with my hot air station but the chip still failed after 2 days of testing. My buddy swears by just swapping the whole GPU chip with a donor part, but that feels risky without a proper reballing setup. Which route do you take when a laptop GPU goes bad, and has anyone had luck with a cheap reflow vs a full chip replacement?

3 comments

c/auto-mechanics•

the_simon•1mo ago

Two months of chasing a rough idle finally paid off today

I had this 2012 Camry come in back in March with a random rough idle that would only show up when the AC was on and the engine was warm. Tried all the usual stuff first - cleaned the throttle body, swapped plugs, even did a compression test that came back perfect. After throwing about 60 bucks at new PCV hoses and an intake gasket with zero change, I finally decided to smoke test the EVAP system on a whim. Found a tiny crack in the purge valve solenoid that was barely visible, like a hairline thing you couldnt see without the smoke. Replaced that $45 part and the idle smoothed right out after two whole months of chasing my tail. Anyone else ever have a vacuum leak that was basically invisible to the naked eye?

3 comments

Recent Comments

18h ago

Hit 1,000 completed service tickets last week and it made me realize something about how I work

That 60/40 split between untangling cables and actual fixing sounds about right from what I've seen. It's funny how the most common pattern I run into on a day to day basis isn't even tech related - it's people shoving cords into drawers and then getting mad when they can't find the one they need. Same thing happens with my kitchen junk drawer at home, I spend more time digging through old takeout menus and rubber bands than actually cooking. The real pattern is that everyone treats their workspace like a storage locker for random crap.

1d ago

My cousin the lawyer said to handle my own disability hearing, big mistake

@the_mila's right about knowing the process now... that's actually huge. Half the battle in these cases is just figuring out which forms go where and what the judge actually wants to see. Save all your old paperwork too, even the messy stuff. It'll save you from repeating the same mistakes and you can hand it off to a better lawyer who actually knows immigration law, not just someone your cousin vouched for.

2d ago

Remember when a family pizza night cost under $10? I miss those days

Dude, I've been thinking about this a lot. But here's the thing nobody talks about: it's not just inflation, it's the "recession special" pricing. Remember when Domino's and Pizza Hut fought over who could be cheapest during the 2008 recession? Now they know people still order pizza even when money is tight, so they cranked up the prices to make up for lost profits on other stuff. Plus, delivery apps like DoorDash and Uber Eats got people used to paying way more for convenience, so the chains just followed suit. It feels like they all agreed to raise prices at the same time, and we just accepted it because we're tired and hungry. Am I wrong?

2d ago

Hit 50 new recipes this year and it shook me

Honestly, 50 new recipes doesn't sound that deep, did your taste buds really change or was it just okay?

2d ago

Had a sensor fail at a condo job in Tampa last Tuesday

The 2016 IBC Table 2504.2 actually lists a minimum 1/16 inch separation requirement for dissimilar metals in saltwater zones. That grease is just buying time until the salt spray works its way in anyway. I've seen stainless brackets fail within 18 months on Florida beachfront condos because nobody accounted for the chloride pitting. The real fix is using nylon or composite washers between the metals and upgrading to 316L stainless instead of the standard 304. Aluminum is actually fine if you paint the mounting surface with a marine grade epoxy first. The corrosion isn't from the bracket itself, its from the micro-vibrations wearing through the coating over time.