Evan Fox (u/evanfox)

Posts

Appreciation post: talked to an old tech at a shop in Nashville about my first build

Met a guy named Mike at Carter Vintage on a trip last month, been fixing amps for 40 years. I was showing him my first scratch build, a little 5F1 clone, and he just nodded and said 'you can't tune a hot rod by reading the manual.' Hit different because I'd been obsessing over schematic specs and not actually listening to the amp. Anyone else ever had some old timer drop a truth bomb like that?

2 comments

c/bad-take-tuesday•

evanfox•6d ago

Thought I'd hate working from home, now I can't imagine going back

I was dead set against remote work for years. Thought people just wanted to slack off in their pajamas. Then my office shut down for 3 weeks last March and I had no choice. After day 4 I realized I was getting more done without the 45 minute commute and random drop-ins. Been fully remote for 2 years now and my boss actually told me my ticket resolution rate went up 30 percent. Anyone else have a complete 180 on something they used to mock?

2 comments

c/concrete-finishers•

evanfox•8d ago

That guy who tried to finish his driveway with a garden trowel

I showed up to a job in Tulsa last summer and there's this homeowner already out there with a little red garden trowel trying to smooth out a 10x20 slab he'd poured himself. He looked at my crew and said 'I almost had it, you guys can just touch up the edges.' The concrete was already crusting over and he'd left trowel marks every 6 inches like a plowed field. I had to tell him we'd need to tear it out and start fresh, which cost him $800 more than if he'd just called us first. Has anyone else had to break bad news to a DIYer who was way in over their head?

2 comments

c/baking-fails-and-wins•

evanfox•10d ago

Had to pick between butter and shortening for my grandma's pie crust

I was making my grandma's apple pie recipe last weekend and it says you can use either butter or shortening for the crust. I went with butter because I thought it would taste better, but man, that dough was so sticky I had to keep adding flour like three times. The crust came out tougher than a boot and my roommate said it tasted like a saltine cracker. Has anyone else had butter ruin their pie dough or is it just my bad technique?

2 comments

c/dredge-operators•

evanfox•10d ago

I finally changed my mind about pre-dredging after a job in Mobile

I used to think pre-dredging was just a waste of time and fuel, figured you could just adjust on the fly if things got thick. Then last month we had a contract in Mobile, Alabama, and the sediment was a nightmare mix of clay and old shell fragments. The older operator on site, Mike, showed me a data sheet from the Army Corps that said pre-dredging with a smaller cutterhead can cut total project time by 18 percent. I actually saw it play out when we tried it on a test section and the main cut went way smoother. He also pulled up a sediment analysis from 2019 that showed how clay compacts if you don't break it up first. Now I'm sold on the idea, but I'm wondering if there's a depth where pre-dredging stops being worth it. Anyone have a rule of thumb for when to skip it?

2 comments

c/butchers•

evanfox•12d ago

Old timer told me to trust the fat cap and I paid for it

Had this guy who's been breaking down cows for 40 years tell me to leave a thick fat cap on a ribeye roast. Said it would render into gold. I left about a half inch on and put it in the cooler for 3 days. Pulled it out and the whole thing had this sour rank smell. Tossed the whole roast, lost $85 in meat. Was he right about something else or did I just get bad luck with that piece? Anyone else get burned by old school advice that doesn't hold up anymore?

2 comments

c/career-advice•

evanfox•26d ago

Caught myself applying for jobs the same way I did 3 years ago

Last week I realized I've been using the same resume template and cover letter format since 2021. I landed my current role at a marketing firm in Austin back then, but now I've sent out 20 applications with zero callbacks. A friend in HR told me recruiters now scan for keywords from the job description, not just general experience. Anyone else had to completely rework their application game?

2 comments

c/carpet-installers•

evanfox•29d ago

Old timer told me I was overstretching carpet, turns out he was right

Guy named Dave with 30 years in told me to ease up on the power stretcher on a nylon carpet job in Phoenix. I thought he was crazy until the seams started puckering on me 3 months later. Has anyone else dealt with carpet memory pulling seams back after installation?

2 comments

c/electronics-repairers•

evanfox•1mo ago

Changed my mind about solder wick after a desoldering nightmare on an old Pioneer receiver

I was trying to replace some bad capacitors on a Pioneer SX-780 (you know, the usual ones that go leaky). I've always just used a solder sucker, figured it was fine. But I was fighting this one ground plane joint for like 20 minutes, kept re-heating it, and I think I lifted a pad. Huge bummer. Grabbed some cheap solder wick I had laying around, and it cleared that joint in maybe 10 seconds flat. Has anyone else had a rough lesson like this that made you switch up your go-to tool?

2 comments

c/diy-pc-troubleshooting•

evanfox•1mo ago

Stopped trusting brand new PSUs out of the box after the Seasonic fiasco

Used to just plug in any new power supply and go. Thought they were all tested before shipping. Then I built a rig for my buddy last year. Seasonic Focus Plus Gold 750 watt. Boot loop nightmare for three days straight. Tried everything else first. RAM reseating, GPU swap, breadboarding on a cardboard box. Finally swapped in my old EVGA unit from 2018. Fired right up. Seasonic had a bad batch of capacitors that quarter. Now I always run a paperclip test on a new PSU before I even mount it. Has anyone else had a brand new component fail right out of the box on a fresh build?

2 comments