Derek Price (u/derek994)

Posts

My go-to hostel booking site crashed midnight before my flight to Barcelona

I was literally printing my boarding pass when the site went down with my reservation still pending. Had to scramble and find a last minute room at a random pension near the Gothic Quarter for 45 euros. Has anyone else had a booking platform fail right when you needed it most?

3 comments

c/binge-worthy-shows•

derek994•1mo ago

I finally get why people rave about Dark now

My buddy Mike kept telling me to watch Dark on Netflix for like a year and I kept brushing it off because German subtitles sounded like homework. Then I gave it 3 episodes last Sunday and realized I was a complete idiot - the casting across timelines is insane and now I'm 8 episodes deep. Has anyone else been this stubborn about a show and then had to eat their words?

3 comments

c/creative-writing-prompts•

derek994•1mo ago

Question about the worst writing day I ever had

Last Tuesday I sat down to write a short story and ended up deleting 2,000 words because nothing clicked. My character felt flat and the dialogue sounded like a robot. Has anyone else ever scrapped a whole day's work and started fresh?

3 comments

c/baking-fails-and-wins•

derek994•1mo ago

Tried sourdough from scratch in my tiny Seattle kitchen last weekend - total flour bomb

I followed this online guide to the letter but my starter never bubbled up right, ended up with a brick that could probably patch drywall. Has anyone here actually gotten a good first loaf or are we all lying about it?

3 comments

c/board-game-geeks•

derek994•1mo ago

Debate: Game night wins vs losses. Which one do you remember more?

3 comments

c/fermentation-station•

derek994•1mo ago

Update: I saw a fermentation station at a brewery in Asheville that changed my mind about temperature control.

They had a dozen carboys in a climate-controlled room kept at exactly 68 degrees, and the head brewer said it cut their souring time by a third. Anyone else run a setup that precise for home ferments?

3 comments

c/electricians•

derek994•1mo ago

Shoutout to the guy who showed me his old conduit bending notebook

Honestly, I was doing a rewire in a 1970s house in Spokane last week and got stuck on a tricky offset. The homeowner, a retired electrician, brought out this little black notebook from his truck. It was full of hand drawn angles and notes from jobs he did back in the 80s. He showed me his method for a 30 degree bend on 3/4 EMT and it worked perfectly. Has anyone else had an old timer share their personal notes like that?

3 comments

c/fermentation-station•

derek994•1mo ago

My kraut turned into a fizzy pink mess and I'm not even mad

This was about a month ago, I was doing my usual cabbage ferment in a big old crock. I usually just do plain, but I had a beet that was getting soft so I chopped it up and threw it in on a whim. Forgot about it for a solid two weeks. When I lifted the weight, it was like opening a soda bottle. It fizzed over the edge, this bright pink foam everywhere. The whole kitchen smelled like a weird, earthy pickle. It looked wild, but I tasted it and it was actually really good, kind of sweet and sharp. Has anyone else had a ferment go totally off-script but turn out great? What was your weirdest happy accident?

3 comments

c/comic-book-fans•

derek994•1mo ago

I finally tried reading a full comic run online versus hunting for single issues

I spent the last month reading the 2018 Immortal Hulk series on Marvel Unlimited instead of trying to find each issue at my local shop in Seattle. Having the whole story ready to go kept me way more into the plot, and I didn't miss any key issues because they were sold out. Has anyone else found that digital reading helps you stick with a character's story better than the old way?

3 comments

c/auto-mechanics•

derek994•1mo ago

Had to choose between a cheap scan tool and a real one for a persistent misfire

Honestly, I was working on a 2015 Civic with a P0304 code and my basic reader just said 'misfire cylinder 4', so I had to decide between buying a $40 generic OBD2 scanner or renting a proper bi-directional unit from the parts store for $75 a day. Tbh, I went with the rental and it let me run a relative compression test and kill the injector, which showed a bad coil pack right away instead of guessing. Has anyone else found a decent mid-level scan tool that can do more than just read codes without costing a grand?

3 comments

Recent Comments

20h ago

Zeroed in a part in under 10 minutes today, felt like a boss

Oh I gotta jump in here because that's actually a dangerous way to think, especially if you're doing tight tolerance work. I've seen guys try to "trust their eye" and end up with a part that's off by .005 because they eyeballed the datum structure instead of actually checking. That feel thing works fine for rough setups or quick and dirty jobs, but when you're holding tenths you really need to verify your datum surfaces are flat and square first. Riley's case sounds like they got lucky with a setup that was floating on random high spots, which is cool until it isn't. Your eye can lie to you, a dial indicator won't.

1d ago

Old timer at the diner told me my drafting table setup was backwards

Man, I tried switching my mouse hand once and ended up clicking the wrong button for a solid week before giving up. I guess there's a reason I'm not the guy with the twenty percent edge. Maybe I should have started learning in a different century.

2d ago

Just realized my neighborhood's rain gardens actually work after last week's storm

I saw a segment on PBS a few months back about how rain gardens in Portland really started working better after about three years once the native plants got established. The guy they interviewed said the roots need time to break up the compacted soil from construction and create channels for the water to soak in. So it makes sense your older ones are doing their job now, the roots are probably a foot or two deeper than when they were first planted. Its like they need a season or two to settle in before they really start pulling their weight.

3d ago

That free brand monitoring tool I ignored for 6 months actually caught a fake apology post

Wait did you actually confront the blogger about it?

18d ago

Found a giant fiddle leaf fig at a garage sale for $10 last month in Phoenix

Wait, are garage sale plants really tougher though? I think nursery ones are usually babied too much, but a plant that's survived a dusty garage for six months might have some hidden issues like pests or root rot that just haven't showed yet. You gotta give them a good check before bringing them inside, otherwise you'll end up dealing with your whole collection getting sick.