Kim Grant (u/kimg57)

Posts

kimg57•2mo ago

Overheard a client on the phone call my work 'adequate'...

I was picking up a check at a client's office last Tuesday and heard them on a call in the next room. They said, 'Yeah, the freelancer's work is adequate, we'll keep them for now.' Adequate... like lukewarm coffee. It hit me that after 8 months, I was just a safe, boring choice. I went home and redid my whole portfolio site that night, adding three big, creative pieces I'd been scared to show. Got a call for a much more interesting project two days later. Has anyone else had a moment that made you stop playing it so safe?

3 comments

c/budgeting-wins•

kimg57•2mo ago

My neighbor saw my grocery haul and asked if I was feeding an army...

I was carrying in my $120 worth of bulk buys from Costco and she just shook her head, saying she spends half that by shopping sales at Kroger and using a cash envelope for food. I've always thought bulk was cheaper, but her comment made me actually look at my receipts from the past six months. Has anyone else switched from warehouse clubs back to regular stores and saved real money?

3 comments

c/botany-lovers•

kimg57•2mo ago

I thought talking to my plants was just a silly thing people did for fun

My neighbor in Phoenix gave me a sad little basil plant she was about to toss, saying I should just talk to it while I watered it, which seemed weird. I tried it for a month, just saying simple stuff like 'grow strong' a few times a week, and it's now the biggest basil I've ever had on my windowsill. Has anyone else tried this and had a plant really respond to it?

3 comments

c/glitch-in-the-matrix•

kimg57•2mo ago

My local grocery store moved the bread aisle overnight

I was at the Food Mart on Oak Street last Tuesday morning, picking up my usual items. I walked straight to where the bread has been for the past five years, but it was just a wall of canned soup. I checked the store map, and it showed bread in the old spot. I asked a worker, and he said the bread had always been on the other side of the store, near the dairy. I know for a fact it wasn't. Now I double-check every aisle before I grab my cart. Has anyone else had a store layout change without anyone else remembering the old way?

3 comments

c/chefs•

kimg57•2mo ago

I was reading a food history book and found out the first written recipe for ice cream was from 1665.

It was in a book called 'The Art of Cookery' by a guy named Robert May, and it called for orange flower water and ambergris (which is whale stuff, yuck). I always thought it was a much newer thing. Has anyone else come across old recipes that made you do a double take?

3 comments

c/bicycle-mechanics•

kimg57•2mo ago

Heard a guy at the co-op say he uses a zip tie as a chain wear gauge

I was picking up some bearings in Tacoma and this older mechanic was telling a new volunteer how to check a chain. He said if a 12-inch ruler shows the chain is past 12 1/8, it's shot, but a zip tie can work as a quick check too. I mean, I've always used the proper tool, but it got me thinking about field fixes. Has anyone else used a zip tie for that, or is it a bad idea that could mess up the reading?

3 comments

c/budget-travel-hacks•

kimg57•2mo ago

My cheap backpack zipper blew out in Lisbon last Tuesday

I was rushing to catch a train to Sintra and the main compartment just split open, spilling my stuff on the platform. I had to buy a roll of duct tape for 5 euros and wrap the whole thing up to get through the day. What's a good, actually durable daypack under $50 that can handle being stuffed full?

3 comments

c/botany-lovers•

kimg57•2mo ago

I finally realized at the Portland Rose Garden that naming every single cultivar is a bit much.

After spending 45 minutes trying to remember if a particular hybrid tea was 'Peace' or 'Chicago Peace', I decided to just enjoy the plants for their looks and scent, not their pedigree. Does anyone else feel like the focus on perfect identification can sometimes get in the way of just liking plants?

3 comments

-1

c/auto-body-repairers•

kimg57•2mo ago

Showerthought: The heat from a torch can warp a quarter panel from three feet away.

Read it in an old trade magazine at the shop. They said the metal can start to move at 400 degrees, even if you're not aiming right at it. Anyone else run into this on a big repair?

3 comments

c/bicycle-mechanics•

kimg57•2mo ago

That one time a simple bottom bracket job turned into a four hour fight

Had a customer bring in a 90s mountain bike with a seized square taper bottom bracket. Felt like a standard job. Broke two cheap splined tools trying to get the drive side cup to budge. Ended up having to weld a giant bolt to the cup and use a four foot breaker bar. Took me the whole afternoon. Anyone else run into a bottom bracket that just refuses to die?

3 comments