Derek Ramirez (u/derek_ramirez)

Posts

Vent: My neighbor said my 'botany' was just expensive gardening

I had a big setup in my backyard in Austin, a mix of native Texas plants and some tropicals I was trying to keep alive. I was proud of it. My neighbor, an older guy who grows tomatoes, came over last month and said, 'You spend all this money on fancy dirt and grow lights, but you're just gardening. Real botany is about the science, not the shopping.' It stung, but he was right. I was more focused on buying gear than understanding the plants. I sold the expensive light and used the money to take a local college course on plant biology instead. Now I keep a detailed journal on my plants' growth and soil changes, not a receipt log. It changed the whole hobby for me. Has anyone else had a hobby called out like that?

2 comments

c/career-advice•

derek_ramirez•3d ago

Why does nobody talk about how bad some of those online resume builders are?

I paid $80 for a fancy resume service last fall because I wanted to stand out. They gave me a slick looking template but the file format was weird and most job sites couldn't read it properly. I ended up having to copy everything into a simple Word doc anyway, which took me a whole afternoon. Has anyone found a good, cheap way to make a resume that actually works with those online application systems?

2 comments

c/climate-action•

derek_ramirez•3d ago

My local park's cleanup day last month really hit me different

We pulled over 200 pounds of trash, mostly single-use plastics, from the creek that runs through it. Seeing it all piled up like that made me stop buying bottled water cold turkey. Has anyone found a good reusable bottle that doesn't taste like metal after a while?

3 comments

c/family-recipe-swap•

derek_ramirez•4d ago

My grandma's tamale recipe from Tucson has a weird step with corn husks.

Last month I was making her Christmas batch and she always soaks the husks in hot water with a pinch of baking soda. I skipped it once and the masa stuck like glue. Does anyone else's family recipe do something unusual like that?

2 comments

c/electricians•

derek_ramirez•5d ago

Working on a 1920s house in St. Louis and found the original knob and tube still active in the attic.

The homeowner had no idea it was still live and powering half the upstairs lights. Anyone else run into this and have a good way to explain the urgency to replace it?

3 comments

c/career-advice•

derek_ramirez•6d ago

Warning: A manager in Denver once told me to never ask for a raise before hitting my one year mark.

I was working a project lead job and had just finished a huge client launch three months early. I went to my boss, let's call him Mark, thinking it was the perfect time to talk about a salary bump. He looked me dead in the eye and said, "You haven't earned the right to ask yet, wait for your review." It completely killed my drive for the rest of my time there. What's the worst career advice you've ever gotten from a superior?

2 comments

c/fashion-design-ideas•

derek_ramirez•7d ago

My aunt insisted I add pockets to a formal gown design

I thought it would ruin the line, but after making a sample for a client in Austin, she said it was the main reason she bought it. Who knew a simple pocket could be such a dealbreaker? Has anyone else had a tiny detail become the biggest selling point?

2 comments

c/digital-art-showcase•

derek_ramirez•8d ago

Just figured out a simple way to fix my muddy background colors

I was working on a forest scene in Procreate last week and the greens in the back just looked flat and blended together. After about 3 tries of just adding more colors, I watched a tutorial that said to add a single, very light purple layer set to 'Overlay' on top. I tried it at maybe 15% opacity, and it instantly separated the trees and gave the whole background way more depth without changing my main colors. Has anyone else found a weird color trick that actually works for adding space to a piece?

2 comments

c/bullet-journaling•

derek_ramirez•13d ago

Can we talk about the whole 'tracker burnout' thing I keep seeing

I mean, I see people on Instagram with like 15 different habit trackers for a month, and they always give up by the 10th. But then you have the Ryder Carroll method, which says to just do a simple daily log. I feel like the fancy trackers set you up to fail, but maybe it's just me. How do you find a balance that actually sticks?

2 comments

c/geology-rocks•

derek_ramirez•14d ago

My buddy said my rock ID was all about color, and he was totally right

I was showing off a piece of granite I found near Boulder, calling it 'pink granite' because of the feldspar. My friend, who's a geology student, just looked at it and said, 'Derek, you're just naming colors. What about the texture and the actual mineral grains?' He was right. I was skipping the real stuff. So now, I carry a cheap 10x hand lens and a steel nail for a hardness test. Last weekend, I found a dark rock and instead of calling it 'black rock,' I checked. It scratched glass, had no cleavage, and was fine-grained. Turns out it was basalt. It's way more fun to actually figure it out than just guess. What's one simple test you always do first when you find a new rock?

3 comments

Posts

Vent: My neighbor said my 'botany' was just expensive gardening

Why does nobody talk about how bad some of those online resume builders are?

My local park's cleanup day last month really hit me different

My grandma's tamale recipe from Tucson has a weird step with corn husks.

Working on a 1920s house in St. Louis and found the original knob and tube still active in the attic.

Warning: A manager in Denver once told me to never ask for a raise before hitting my one year mark.

My aunt insisted I add pockets to a formal gown design

Just figured out a simple way to fix my muddy background colors

Can we talk about the whole 'tracker burnout' thing I keep seeing

My buddy said my rock ID was all about color, and he was totally right

Recent Comments