Plywood vs MDF workbench top - which one actually held up longer for you?

I built my first workbench 2 years ago using 3/4 inch plywood for the top. It was cheap and easy, but after 6 months it started to warp in the middle from humidity in my garage. So I ripped it off and replaced it with MDF. That was 18 months ago and it's still dead flat, even after a leaking can of oil sat on it for a week. The MDF soaks up spills like crazy though, so I had to seal it with three coats of polyurethane. Has anyone else found plywood to be a total dud for workbench tops or did I just buy the wrong grade?

Rant: The time the 7 train broke down between stations for 40 minutes

It was a Tuesday evening around 6pm, packed like sardines on the 7 train in Queens. We stopped in the tunnel near 46th Street and just sat there. No announcements for the first 15 minutes, just silence and people sweating. Finally the conductor said something about a signal problem ahead. Now I always carry a backup battery pack and a bottle of water when I ride that line. Has anyone else had a long stall on the 7 that made them change their routine?

That time I tried to use a post hole digger on frozen ground in January

Last winter I had a job up near Albany and the ground was solid as concrete. I figured I'd save time by just powering through with the manual digger instead of waiting for a thaw. First swing bounced right back at me and nearly clipped my knee. Second attempt I put my whole weight into it and the handles snapped clean in half. Landed flat on my back with mud down my coat and the customer watching from her kitchen window. Ended up renting a gas-powered auger for $85 that afternoon and finished the whole job in 45 minutes. Learned that pride and frozen dirt don't mix. Has anyone else had a tool fail on them in a spectacular way?

Customer told me my wire runs looked like spaghetti, so I changed my whole approach

I had this one job in a big office building in Denver where the homeowner walked in, looked at my panel, and said 'dude, this looks like a bowl of spaghetti.' lol I was kinda annoyed at first but he was right. So I started using those little adhesive wire clips to keep everything straight and use a label maker for every single zone wire. Now I leave the panel looking clean enough that customers actually take pictures of it lol. Has anyone else had a client call them out on messy work like that?

That Wednesday my Ghibli marathon got ruined by a bad dub

I had last Wednesday off work. Planned a whole day of Studio Ghibli films. Starting with Spirited Away, then Howl's Moving Castle, ending with Princess Mononoke. Got snacks, blankets, the whole setup. Then I pressed play and realized the streaming service had the English dub as default. Not the original Japanese track. I was 20 minutes in before I noticed. The voices felt so wrong. Mononoke's dub made Ashitaka sound like a generic hero guy. Lost all the emotion. Switched to Japanese audio and had to rewatch from the start. Threw my whole schedule off. Has anyone else had a mood killer like that with a bad localization?

Tried to save money on a used boiler feed pump off Craigslist

Picked up a used pump for $200 from some guy in Billings, spent 4 hours installing it over the weekend, and it seized up after running for 2 hours. Learned my lesson: never buy critical equipment from a facebook seller with no warranty - has anyone else gotten burned on secondhand gear?

Old barista at a shop in Portland taught me to taste coffee in a spoon

Vent: I finally understood why people talk about grocery stores in Lisbon

I was there last month and got tired of paying cafe prices for water and snacks. On a whim, I went into a Pingo Doce supermarket near my hostel. A 1.5 liter bottle of water was 0.19 euros, and a pack of pastries for breakfast was under 2 euros. It cut my daily food spend by more than half. Does anyone else have a go-to cheap grocery chain in other European cities?

My framing crew switched from a standard 20 oz hammer to a titanium one this spring

We were doing a big custom home job in Bend, and the boss brought in a couple of titanium hammers for us to try. I was sure it was just a fancy gimmick. After swinging my old steel hammer for about two hours, my arm would start to feel it. The first day with the titanium one, I didn't get that same tired feeling until after lunch. The big difference is the weight and the shock. The titanium head is so much lighter, but it drives a nail just as hard because of how it's balanced. My buddy said it felt like 'cheating'. After three weeks on that job, none of us wanted to go back. Has anyone else made a switch like that and been really surprised by how much it helped?