That toothpaste story from @jesse_craig26 is wild lol. It makes sense though since thermal paste is basically made to handle heat cycles and not dry out, unlike Colgate. I bet a ton of people have had good results just from doing a simple repaste on an older machine.

The real difference nobody talks about is how Manchester's economy relies way more on small businesses and local jobs while Boston runs on big corporations and universities. Most people don't realize that a huge chunk of Manchester's workforce commutes south to Massachusetts for work, so calling it a cheaper Boston ignores that many residents already spend their money and time down there. That creates a weird split where locals and newcomers have totally different experiences depending on where they actually work. Have you noticed that gap between people who work in Manchester versus those who just sleep here?

Read some dude on a PC building subreddit say his pad actually melted a bit after a year in a high-temp rig. Shortcuts never work out long term.

smashing the lumps out of my batter way too aggressively" haha that's literally me, I used to beat the hell out of pancake batter thinking smooth = better. But I actually saw this Alton Brown video once where he said overmixing develops the gluten and makes them tough, not just flat. So now I leave the lumps alone and just fold it a few times, way fluffier results.

My buddy out in Salem put a sticky note on his computer screen for reminders like that.