Andrew Singh (u/andrew778)

Posts

Why does nobody talk about how bad gift cards are for close friends

Last month for my buddy's birthday I got him a $50 gift card to this BBQ place we both love. He just stared at it and said 'thanks I guess' and I felt like a total idiot. Gift cards are basically just cash with extra steps, they don't show you actually thought about the person. I'd rather get a weird homemade thing or even a stupid gag gift that shows someone knows me. Has anyone else had that awkward moment where a gift card just fell flat?

2 comments

c/cleveland-west-side-living•

andrew778•1d ago

Remember when West Side Market was open past 4pm on weekdays?

I used to hit the West Side Market after work at 6pm pre pandemic. Grab produce from the Hungarian guy at the back. Now I'm lucky if I get there on a Saturday before the crowds ruin it. Anyone else miss the old hours?

2 comments

c/real-estate-investing•

andrew778•3d ago

Shoutout to my uncle who told me to stop chasing capped rates

My uncle has been flipping houses in Akron for like 30 years. When I got my first duplex under contract last spring I was so focused on getting the highest cap rate possible. I was passing up deals that looked okay but not amazing. He sat me down and said look you're not buying a spreadsheet you're buying a roof and four walls that need work. The deal I almost walked away from was a two family in a decent neighborhood but the numbers were just average on paper. I listened to him and closed on it anyway for $145k. Six months later I got an offer for $175k just because the area started picking up and rents went up $150 per unit. If I had kept waiting for that perfect 10% cap I would have missed out completely. Has anyone else had a relative or friend give you advice that went totally against the usual formulas and it worked out?

2 comments

c/carpenters•

andrew778•4d ago

I blew $150 on a fancy laser level that couldn't handle sunlight on a job site

Bought a Bosch self-leveling line laser thinking it'd be my new best friend, but soon as I took it outside on a sunny deck it was completely invisible, and now I'm back to using my old $40 chalk line and bubble level for exterior work. Has anyone found a laser that actually works in direct sun, or is that just a pipe dream?

2 comments

c/budget-travel-hacks•

andrew778•5d ago

Got burned by a fake hostel booking in Bangkok

Booked a place on Agoda for $12 a night in Khao San Road. Showed up at 10pm and the address was a laundry shop. Had to scramble on my phone for 45 minutes to find somewhere else. Ended up paying $28 at a place with no AC. Now I only book hostels that take payment at check in, not upfront.

2 comments

c/comic-book-fans•

andrew778•5d ago

Saw a kid at my LCS go from hunting back issues to ignoring them completely in about 3 months

There's this teenager who started coming to my local shop around October last year. At first he was all about digging through the $1 bins and asking about old runs. Real excited about finding #1s from the 90s. Fast forward to January and he just walks past all that stuff now. Heard him tell the owner back issues are dead weight since he can just read everything on Marvel Unlimited. Made me wonder how many new readers we're losing to digital. Anyone else notice this shift at their shop?

3 comments

c/chefs•

andrew778•21d ago

Can we talk about the worst shift I ever had at a steakhouse in Denver?

Honestly, I gotta disagree with everyone who says Friday nights are the worst. For me it was a random Tuesday two years ago at a busy spot downtown Denver. We had a 50-top walk in at 6 PM, no reservation, and the owner said yes without asking the kitchen. Then the fryer oil caught fire during the rush because someone forgot to clean the filter. I had to put out the fire with a dry chem extinguisher, which ruined $300 worth of ribeyes on the pass. The health inspector showed up the next morning for a routine check and cited us for the extinguisher residue on the prep table. Has anyone else dealt with a Tuesday that just went completely sideways like that?

2 comments

c/bookbinders•

andrew778•22d ago

The penny trick I saw at a used bookstore in Portland

I was browsing the bottom shelf of a cramped used bookstore downtown and watched the owner fix a loose hinge on a 1920s encyclopedia set just by sliding a penny into the spine gap. Has anyone else seen this kind of quick fix hold up long term, or does it actually damage the binding over time?

2 comments

c/avionics-technicians•

andrew778•25d ago

Picked up a used signal generator at a Hamfest and it changed my troubleshooting flow

Last month I went to the Dayton Hamfest just to look around, and I snagged an old HP signal generator for $40 from some guy cleaning out his basement. I figured it would just be a fun toy to mess with, but I ended up using it to track down a weird intermittent issue on a King radio that had been bugging me for weeks. The manual tune was way more helpful than relying on the digital stuff I normally use, because I could sweep through frequencies slowly and feel where the signal dropped off. I found a cold solder joint on a filter board that I had missed three times with my regular setup. It honestly made me rethink how much I lean on automated testers without double checking the basics. Has anyone else had luck with older analog gear for finding those tiny intermittent faults?

2 comments

c/cabinetmakers•

andrew778•28d ago

Spent 3 hours trying to align drawer fronts that should have taken 30 minutes

I was fitting drawer fronts on a kitchen job last week and something was just off. The gaps were uneven no matter how much I adjusted the slides. Turns out the cabinet box itself was racked by about 1/8 inch from end to end. I didn't notice until I pulled out my square and checked every corner. It took me another 2 hours to shim the box and get the rails level. Has anyone else fought a racked cabinet box way longer than you expected?

2 comments