Spent 6 hours on a flue that was just a raccoon's nest

Got a call from a house in Bakersfield last Tuesday. Said they had smoke backing up into the living room. I ran my brush through, pulled out some debris. Still had a blockage. Spent three hours trying different rods, cameras, even a drop light. Finally got the camera past a tight bend and saw it. A whole raccoon nest wedged in the middle. Took another three to pull it out piece by piece. Six hours for what should have been a 45 minute job. Has anyone else had a critter cause way more trouble than it should?

My first chat room in 1996 taught me to never use my real name online

I was 14, sitting at the family computer in our living room in Phoenix. I logged into a random AOL chat room about bands and typed 'Hi, I'm Linda from Arizona!' Within two minutes, a private message popped up from a stranger asking exactly which school I went to. It scared me so much I yanked the phone cord out of the modem. That single moment in 1996 made me create my first screenname, 'linda_kelly17', and I've used a handle ever since. Did anyone else have a moment like that that made you lock down your info for good?

Rant: My old professor called my site drawing 'a messy guess'

Last year I was mapping a dig in Tucson and thought my field sketches were good enough. My professor looked at my grid drawing and said, 'This isn't art class, it's a messy guess at where things are.' I started using a total station for every single point after that, even for small finds. It takes longer but my maps are actually accurate now. Anyone else get called out on their field methods and have to totally change how they work?

Finally got that old Maytag washer from the 80s running again

It was in a basement over in the old part of town, and the owner said three other guys gave up on it. The main issue was a seized transmission (you know, the kind they don't make parts for anymore). I spent about four hours cleaning, soaking, and gently tapping things, and somehow it just clicked back into place. The look on the lady's face when it started a full cycle was worth way more than the $150 service call. Anyone else ever bring a machine back from the dead that everyone else said was junk?

Showerthought: A customer in a Denver suburb changed how I see wireless sensors.

He said, 'I don't care if it's a bit more work to run wire, I want it to work in 20 years.' That stuck with me. Now I push harder for hardwired contacts on any major renovation. Anyone else have a client make them rethink a standard practice?

I used to think canned air was fine for everything, but a dusty server in Phoenix changed my mind.

That job took me 3 hours to clean with just air, but a $40 electric blaster did it in 20 minutes without spreading dust everywhere. Anyone have a good brand for those blowers that won't break the bank?

Had a job in a 1920s apartment building that made me rethink every wire run

I was installing a new system in a unit on the third floor last month. The place had those old plaster walls, so I was fishing wire down from the attic like normal. I found a perfect chase next to a chimney and dropped my lines. When I went to pull them through the wall plate below, nothing came out. I spent two hours cutting small holes, trying to find where the wire went. Turns out, the chimney had a hidden brick offset about six inches from the attic floor that my fish tape slid right behind. The wire was stuck in a void I couldn't reach. I had to re-run everything, and the job took twice as long. Now I use a borescope to check any old chase before I commit a wire run. Anyone else have a trick for spotting hidden voids in old construction?

My old Canon AE-1 shutter jammed on a perfect shot in Portland

I was trying to get a photo of the St. Johns Bridge at sunset last week, and right as I pressed the button, it just stuck. The film advance lever wouldn't move. I had to finish the roll in my bag, in the dark, which felt like a total waste. Has anyone else had a shutter die on them right in the middle of a trip?

PSA: A cheap trick for lining up drawer slides perfectly every time

Last month I was installing a full set of kitchen drawers in a tight space and kept getting the slides a hair off. My boss in the shop showed me this trick: use a piece of 1/4 inch plywood as a spacer between the cabinet side and the slide when you screw it in. It sets the perfect gap automatically. I did all 12 drawers in under an hour after that. Anyone have other simple jigs they use for repetitive tasks like this?

My bank locked my account for 3 days in Chiang Mai because I used a VPN to check my balance