Old coffee cans are good but I found the glass jars from spaghetti sauce work even better for smaller stuff like washers and little screws. You can see right through them without having to open each one up looking for a specific size. I've got a whole shelf lined up with them now, labeled with a piece of masking tape and a marker. Saves me a good bit of time when I'm in the middle of a project.

Last summer I had a humidifier running in my workshop reading 78% and tried to glue up a batch of bookboards with Titebond. Took almost 4 hours before the stuff finally grabbed. Left fuzzy edges everywhere. I had to scrape half of it off and start over. Moved the whole operation into my basement with a window AC unit running nonstop and it worked fine after that. Humidity is no joke for glue. Anyone who says otherwise has never tried to bond leather in a swamp.

You ever had that moment where you realize you've been doing something wrong for years and nobody told you? That's rough, man. I feel for you, that old timer probably saved you from a bad chimney fire down the line. Creosote buildup is nothing to mess with, it can get real nasty real quick. I had a buddy who skipped cleaning his flue for like two seasons and ended up with a chimney fire that nearly took his roof off. So yeah, that little crusty stuff is a big deal, no matter what anyone says. It's good that someone finally called you out on it, even if it stung a little.

My buddy Mike spent six months baking sourdough during lockdown. Kept a notebook with every single rise time and temperature. One day the dough felt loose and sticky. He threw it out. Next batch same thing. Turns out his starter was just being slow. That gentle turn he was waiting for? Never came. He switched to a different flour and it perked right up. Sometimes the dough needs a nudge, not a story.

Three guys at my local diner told me to "savor" a fast food burger last week, same vibe.