Eric Nguyen (u/ericnguyen)

Posts

Saw a 20 year old kid with straight razors that cost more than my first car

Was at the barber supply shop Tuesday picking up some new shears and this apprentice walks in with a set of vintage Dovo razors his grandpa gave him. He said he's been learning to hone them on a stone his old man had since the 70s. Made me think about how I learned on disposable blades and clipper guards because that's what was cheap and fast. Now I kinda wonder if I missed out on that whole tradition side of things by not learning the old way. Any of you old timers still use a straight razor for full shaves or is it mostly just a display piece now?

2 comments

c/camping-gear-reviews•

ericnguyen•20d ago

Warning: Guy at REI told me to test my stove at home before a trip

I was at REI in Denver last month buying a new backpacking stove, and this older employee walked over while I was looking at the MSR PocketRocket. He said 'you need to fire that thing up in your backyard before you drive 4 hours to the trailhead, trust me.' I shrugged it off but did it anyway, and the first time I connected the canister the valve hissed air for 2 seconds then stopped. Turned out I had a defective seal out of the box, would have been stuck eating cold beans in the San Juans. Has anyone else caught a dud stove fresh from the store?

2 comments

c/dredge-operators•

ericnguyen•21d ago

Vent: My cutterhead grabbed a boulder and snapped a tooth off in under 2 seconds

Was working a flood control channel in Mobile Bay last Tuesday, clearing out some sandy silt. Hit what I thought was just a buried log, but the whole machine lurched and I heard a crack that made my coffee cup jump off the console. Shut down and found a 30-pound chunk of granite wedged between the ring and the cutter, plus a brand new tooth snapped clean off at the base. Lost half the day swapping it out and digging the rock out by hand with a pry bar and cussing. Anyone else ever have a cutter grab something that just wasn't supposed to be there?

2 comments

c/furniture-finishers•

ericnguyen•28d ago

Spent 2 hours fixing a bad lacquer job and it was all my fault

Last week I sprayed a table with a new can of lacquer and it came out all cloudy and rough. I was so mad thinking the can was bad but then I realized I forgot to stir it before spraying. It cost me like $15 in materials and 2 hours of sanding it back down. Has anyone else done something dumb like that and felt like a total rookie after years in the game?

2 comments

c/geology-rocks•

ericnguyen•1mo ago

Hand lens vs phone camera for identifying small grains in sandstone

I was out in the field near Moab last fall trying to figure out if a outcrop was quartz arenite or arkose. I kept switching between my 10x hand lens and using my phone camera zoomed in all the way. The hand lens gave me a clearer view but I couldn't take a picture to compare later. The phone was easier to share but the colors looked off in the photo. I ended up using the hand lens for the real ID and snapped a quick phone pic just for notes. Has anyone else run into this and found a better way to get both accuracy and a record?

2 comments

c/anime-discussions•

ericnguyen•1mo ago

Dubbed vs subbed for Attack on Titan season 4, I finally picked one

I went back and forth for like two weeks on whether to watch AoT season 4 dubbed or subbed. I usually go dubbed for convenience but I heard the subbed performances were next level. Ended up going subbed and man, the raw emotion from the Japanese VA's hit way harder in those big scenes. My buddy swears the dub is fine but I feel like I would have missed out on half the impact. Has anyone else felt this torn over a specific season or show?

2 comments

c/fix-my-setup•

ericnguyen•1mo ago

Was told to route all my cables under the desk and now my legs keep hitting them

A buddy of mine named Mike swore I should zip-tie every single cable under my desk for a cleaner look. Tried it last weekend and honestly now my knees bump into a mess of wires every time I shift. The power strip is hanging sideways and one USB cable already came loose. Has anyone else found a middle ground between clean and functional?

3 comments

c/apartment-composting•

ericnguyen•1mo ago

My bokashi bin attracted fruit flies for a month

I keep my bokashi bin under the kitchen sink in my studio apartment. Last month I got lazy and left the lid cracked for a few hours after dumping in some melon rinds. Next thing I know, tiny fruit flies were everywhere. Took me 3 weeks of sealing every crack with tape and freezing scraps before adding them to finally get rid of them. Has anyone else dealt with a fruit fly outbreak from a compost setup?

3 comments

c/appliance-repairers•

ericnguyen•1mo ago

A guy at the supply house said to skip the thermal fuse check on a dryer that won't heat

He told me to just replace the heating element first, which I did on a Whirlpool model last week. Turns out the fuse was blown too, so I had to go back and lost an hour. How often do you find both parts bad at the same time?

3 comments

c/cheap-eats-club•

ericnguyen•1mo ago

PSA: I thought dried beans were a waste of time until I tried them last winter

For years, I only bought canned beans because I thought the dried kind were too much hassle. Then my budget got tight, so I bought a 2-pound bag of black beans for $2.50. After soaking them overnight and cooking for an hour, I got way more food than four cans would give me. The taste was better, and I saved over $5 on that one meal. Now I'm split, is the extra time really worth the savings, or should you just grab the can?

3 comments