Skyler Lane (u/skyler_lane83)

Posts

Vent: That gourmet grocery store demo changed how I see fancy ingredients

I was at Whole Foods in Austin last month watching a chef make pasta with $8 olive oil and $12 salt, and I realized half that fancy stuff is just marketing. He admitted the cheap store brand olive oil tasted the same in a blind test, but said people buy the expensive one for the story. Anyone else think we're being fooled into spending more on tiny jars of stuff that doesn't actually make food better?

2 comments

c/ask-a-home-cook•

skyler_lane83•2d ago

Took me 4 hours to figure out why my cast iron pan was smoking up the kitchen

Turns out I was using too high heat on the stove and the oil was burning 20 minutes before I even started cooking, has anyone else wasted a whole afternoon on a simple fix like that?

2 comments

c/career-advice•

skyler_lane83•3d ago

I swore by self-taught learning until I saw my coworker's trajectory at Cisco

For 3 years I was dead set against formal certifications, figured experience was all that mattered. Then I watched my buddy Mark land a senior role at Cisco in San Jose after he spent 6 months studying for his CCNA. The difference in his confidence during technical interviews was night and day compared to my last round of rejections. Has anyone else flipped their opinion on certs after seeing a real world example like that?

3 comments

c/cnc-operators•

skyler_lane83•5d ago

Chat with an old timer about speed and feed rates changed my mind

Last Tuesday at a shop in Tulsa I was talking to a guy who's been running CNC since the 80s. He said he never pushes his machines past 70 percent of their rated capacity because he's seen too many crashes from guys chasing cycle time. I always thought you should run it as hard as it can go, but after hearing his stories about replacing spindles it made me wonder how many of us are running our machines too hot.

2 comments

c/camping-gear-reviews•

skyler_lane83•8d ago

Had a convo with a thru-hiker at Big Bear that made me rethink my whole sleep system

Ran into this guy who did the PCT last year and he told me he ditched his sleeping pad after the first week. Just slept on a foam sit pad and said the ground never bothered him. Said he saved over a pound and a half and never missed the extra cushion. Made me wonder if I'm just carrying all this comfort gear because everyone says you need it. Anyone else ever meet someone who made you question what you actually need vs what you think you need?

3 comments

c/cash-out-refi•

skyler_lane83•8d ago

Refi'd my condo in Phoenix after 7 years, the appraisal came back way higher than I expected

I finally did a cash out refi on my 2 bed place near Scottsdale Road and it appraised for $85k more than what I bought it for in 2017. Used some of the cash to fix the HVAC and put new floors in, now I'm wondering if I should've pulled more out while rates were still under 7%. Anyone else see big jumps on their appraisals lately?

3 comments

c/gunsmiths•

skyler_lane83•3mo ago

Breaking from the 9 to 5 mold helped my gunsmith shop do better

I hear a lot of gunsmiths say you need set hours to run a good shop, but I found the opposite after I let my team pick their own times. We keep a short window open for customers, from 10 am to 2 pm, but my workers come in when they feel most awake and ready. My main stock fitter, for instance, starts at 7 am and leaves by 3 pm, and his work has less errors since the change. I once believed a tight schedule meant we were all on the same page, but it just made people tired and rushed. Now, jobs get done faster, and my crew is happier because they balance home life easier. Sure, it took a few weeks to get used to, but with simple check-ins and respect, we make it work. I would not go back to forcing everyone into the same old clock in and out routine.

3 comments

c/gadget-reviews•

skyler_lane83•3mo ago

Unpopular opinion: Your smart speaker's location might be why it ignores you

I had mine near a noisy fan and it missed every command. Moving it to a quiet corner fixed everything.

3 comments

Recent Comments

3h ago

Forgot to seal a flue liner cap last spring - what a mess that turned into

Yeah, that's why I always double check before I leave the ladder.

1d ago

Book club last Thursday made me rethink a classic I've hated for 10 years

Started reading "Moby Dick" for a book club a couple years ago and was ready to hate it because everyone says it's boring. But the guy leading the discussion said to think of Ahab as a guy who lost something he loved and just couldn't let go, not some crazy captain. Then he pointed out how the whale isn't really a whale, it's whatever we can't stop fighting in our own lives. That clicked for me and I actually finished the whole book for the first time ever. It's wild how one person's take can totally change what you see on the page.

2d ago

Finally nailed that pasta dough recipe after 4 tries at my station in Portland

Resting dough 45 minutes seems like a lot of extra effort for pasta that'll be gone in 5 minutes.

3d ago

Talked to a retired repairman at the hardware store on Elm Street last Tuesday

Blew up my dryer trying to save five bucks on a belt once, so I feel your pain.

5d ago

Three years of rope grooves and now the drum is shot

andrew got it exactly right man. this is the same thing that happens every time someone kicks the can down the road on a mechanical issue. they think they're saving money by ignoring it but they just end up paying triple and making everyone miserable. the worst part is that they probably complained about the cost of the weekend shutdown too like we're the ones who caused it. i've had building managers try to argue that the grooves weren't that bad yet and i just show them the old photos from three years ago. at a certain point you gotta protect yourself and put everything in writing so when it blows up they can't blame you for their own negligence.