Last Tuesday I was helping take down a big red oak at Grant Park in downtown Phoenix. The homeowner wanted it gone because roots were cracking their driveway, but nobody checked for the underground fiber line running right under the drop zone. My bucket truck barely missed it by 2 feet when we set the rigging. Now I call 811 every single time before I even unload the chipper, even for small jobs. Has anyone else had close calls with buried utilities on residential lots?
I did a full straight razor shave on a client last Tuesday and used my clippers for the outline. Forgot to dry them off good after cleaning up and woke up to little rust spots on the blade next morning. Had to sand them down with some fine grit paper and oil them up again. Learned that even a few minutes of moisture can mess up carbon steel blades real quick. Anybody else run into this issue with their gear?
I was at the regional meeting last Saturday and this younger guy said topping oaks is never okay for any reason. I get that it's usually bad but he was so absolute about it. I've been doing tree work for 22 years now and I've seen old oaks that were topped back in the 80s still standing healthy. We had a storm last June that took half a crown off a big red oak and the homeowner wanted us to just cut it even instead of removing it. That tree is still leafing out fine and providing shade. I think there are rare cases where a careful reduction is better than taking the whole tree down. Has anyone else here had a situation where a light topping actually worked out?
I was in the checkout line yesterday and this older guy was telling the cashier he's been reusing ziploc bags for like 5 years now. Said he runs them through the dishwasher on the top rack and they last forever. I've been throwing them out my whole life (lol). Did the math and yeah if I use maybe 20 bags a week at 50 cents a box, that adds up quick. Has anyone else tried this without getting weird looks from their family?
I was chopping onions for chili last night and halfway through my eyes were burning so bad I had to step outside for 5 minutes. Tried holding a piece of bread in my mouth like my grandma said, didn't work. Anyone got a cheap trick that actually stops the tears?
A company called HelpDesk AI was showing off their new chatbot that supposedly handles 90% of support tickets. They played a recording of a bot talking to a customer about a refund and it sounded fine, but I kept thinking about my own experience last month. I called my internet provider and their bot spent 15 minutes trying to sell me upgrades before I finally yelled for a human. How are companies testing these things before they roll them out to real people?
I was killing every peace lily i bought for like 2 years. Thought i was just bad at plants. Then i got a $10 pH test kit off amazon just for fun and tested my tap water. 8.5. Looked it up and most houseplants want 6.0 to 7.0. Started using rainwater from a bucket i leave outside and suddenly my plants are thriving. Anyone else ever test their water pH and find something weird?
I tried that BioRepeel stuff on a long-time client with oily skin and ended up with a crazy breakout that took 3 weeks to clear. Has anyone else seen this reaction or was it just a bad batch I grabbed?
I always swore by my old string lines and spirit levels, thought lasers were just for guys who couldn't snap a chalk line straight. Last month on a retaining wall job in Austin, my partner brought out his green beam rig and I watched him lay out 40 feet of block in the time it takes me to pull a tape. Has anyone else been humbled by a tool you thought was just overpriced gadgetry?
I work at a branch in Austin and last month I had three people in one week come in wanting to refi $60k out of their house just to pay off credit cards. They all thought it was a great idea because the rate was lower but nobody talked about closing costs or the fact they were turning unsecured debt into secured debt. One guy had already done it twice in five years. Have any of you seen people treat their house like a credit card and regret it later?