Yeah @dakotawood, that email story is the real deal.

Samjohnson makes a good point about long days. A day rate can really bite you when the job runs late. It's not just about the total weeks like kim693 said, it's about the hours inside those weeks. Getting paid for three weeks sounds fine until you realize you worked an extra day's worth of hours for free. That's why a lot of folks push for hourly pay on jobs with a lot of unknowns.

Totally agree, that mural looks like a soda ad. It's way too slick and doesn't match the area at all. They should put real art in places that need a lift, like the blank walls by the rail yards or in some of the older shopping centers. Something with local artists and themes, not just bright colors for the sake of it. That would actually feel like Albuquerque instead of a generic corporate project.

My grandpa's 1948 boiler manual had a whole section on using a stethoscope made from a rubber hose and a funnel. That screwdriver trick totally works, you can hear a clean hiss versus a choked sputter when a valve is stuck. I keep a cheap mechanic's stethoscope in my toolbox now just for that, it's way clearer than the screwdriver. Those old books are full of fixes that just use stuff you already have lying around.

Carl probably types those rants from a desktop computer with a mechanical keyboard. The clacking sound must add to the drama.