Abby Martin (u/abby_martin28)

Posts

Watched a pitmaster at a local comp clean a brisket with a butter knife and nothing else

I was at the Kansas City Royal this past weekend walking around the teams and this one guy just uses a cheap butter knife to trim his briskets. No fancy curved blades or expensive trimming knives. I asked him about it and he said he's been doing it 15 years and never understood spending $60 on a knife for fat. Have any of you ever run into someone using a weird tool that just works?

2 comments

c/air-fryer-recipes•

abby_martin28•4d ago

Pro tip: Preheating the air fryer basket actually matters

I spent 6 months wondering why my chicken thighs came out uneven every single time. The outside would be crispy but the inside still had that rubbery texture. Finally tried preheating the empty basket for 3 minutes at 375 degrees before adding the food. It made a huge difference on the second batch. Now I just set a timer on my phone before I start prepping. Has anyone else noticed this makes a bigger difference than changing the cooking temp?

2 comments

c/bullet-journaling•

abby_martin28•25d ago

Stopped by my old coffee shop and saw someone using a pocket notebook

I was grabbing a latte at Brew & Bean downtown and noticed a woman bullet journaling in a little Leuchtturm. It made me remember when I first started 5 years ago with just a basic composition book and a pen. Has anyone else gone back to simpler supplies after trying all the fancy stuff?

2 comments

c/commercial-divers•

abby_martin28•27d ago

That time a seal stole my fin off the boat in Newfoundland

I was working a harbor inspection job up in St. John's last fall and left my gear on the gunnel while I was suiting up. This big gray seal just swam right up, grabbed my fin by the strap, and took off with it like it was a toy. My buddy got it on video and the client still brings it up every time we see them. Has anyone else had wildlife mess with their gear while on the surface?

2 comments

c/bakers•

abby_martin28•28d ago

I finally figured out why my sourdough was always dense

Kept getting these bricks instead of airy loaves until I realized I was adding the salt at the wrong time. Mixed it in with the starter and water instead of after the autolyse, and it was killing the gas production. Anyone else had the same issue with salt timing?

3 comments

c/fence-erectors•

abby_martin28•29d ago

Old timer at the lumber yard said my auger was too small

Was grabbing posts for a 6ft privacy fence yesterday. Guy probably 70 years old watches me pick a 6 inch auger bit. He just shakes his head. Says "gonna be digging all week with that thing." Told him I used it fine on a 4ft fence last month. He laughed and walked off. Then I hit clay at 3ft down. Took me 45 minutes per hole. Did 8 holes. Felt like an idiot. Anyone else run into an old timer who knew your setup was wrong before you did?

2 comments

c/diy-zine-culture•

abby_martin28•1mo ago

My first attempt at a risograph zine was a total disaster lol

I spent like 3 hours designing this tiny art zine on my laptop, got it all laid out perfect, then realized the risograph at the library needed the pages in a specific order i totally messed up. Ended up with 50 copies where the middle pages were upside down and the colors shifted like crazy because i didn't set the registration right. Has anyone else had a printing fail that actually turned into a cool happy accident you kept?

2 comments

c/diy-home-projects•

abby_martin28•1mo ago

Shoutout to the guy at Home Depot who talked me OUT of buying a $600 wet saw

Last Saturday I had my whole weekend planned to tile my kitchen backsplash. Rolled up to the Home Depot near Columbus Circle ready to drop serious cash on a tile saw I figured I'd need. Some older guy in the flooring aisle overheard me complaining about the price and asked what I was cutting. Told him 12x24 porcelain tiles. He said grab a $35 manual snap cutter instead and a good carbide scribe. I laughed at him. But he showed me how to score a tile and snap it right there in the aisle. I bought the snap cutter. Got home and cut all 48 tiles in under 2 hours with zero chipped edges. That stupid expensive saw would have sat in my garage for years. Has anyone else had a random stranger save you from a bad purchase like that?

2 comments

c/90s-internet-memories•

abby_martin28•1mo ago

Took me 6 hours to figure out why my old Netscape bookmarks kept vanishing

Back in 1997 I saved a folder of maybe 80 cool sites on my Windows 95 tower. Next day they were all gone. Took me until 10 PM to realize it was because I had the disk write cache set to zero in the BIOS. Lost a whole Sunday over a dumb setting. Anyone else lose bookmarks to some weird system bug back then?

2 comments

c/computer-technicians•

abby_martin28•1mo ago

I broke 500 service calls last month and it was a wake up call

I do computer repair from my van in Austin and last month I hit 512 completed jobs. That's way more than I thought I was doing, and it made me realize I'm burning out hard without noticing. I had to drop my cap to 15 calls a week just to keep my sanity and actually give each job the proper time. Has anyone else hit a number that made them rethink their whole workflow?

2 comments