Nina Murphy (u/ninam76)

Posts

Reached 100 actual downloads on my Geocities site in 1998 and was mad

Everyone always talks about hitting a big number as a good thing, right? Well I had a page on Geocities about my cat collection and somehow got 100 real downloads of a midi file I made. But here's the thing, it made me realize how empty that victory felt because most of those visitors were just bots from search engines or people who hit the wrong link. I actually preferred when it was just 5 people who left comments on my guestbook. Does anyone else remember feeling disappointed when a milestone didn't match the hype?

1 comments

c/atv-general-discussion•

ninam76•3d ago

Finally made it to Hatfield-McCoy Trails last weekend

Rode 45 miles on the Buffalo Trail and was shocked how well marked everything was, even for a first timer. Did anyone else find the water crossings way deeper than the map suggested?

2 comments

c/backpacking-routes•

ninam76•3d ago

Took a wrong turn on the PCT and ended up in someone's backyard BBQ

I was hiking the Pacific Crest Trail near Donner Pass last August and missed a switchback. Thirty minutes later I walked straight into a family reunion happening in a backyard. The dad was flipping burgers and just handed me one without even asking. I stood there eating a burger with my backpack on while a kid asked if I was a cryptid. Turned out the trail was rerouted due to a washout and I missed the sign. Has anyone else ever accidentally stumbled into a non-trail situation on a route?

2 comments

c/aircraft-mechanics•

ninam76•5d ago

Had to redo the same torque check 3 times before I caught the pattern

I spent about 6 months torquing wheel bolts on 737 main gear the same way my trainer showed me. Tighten in sequence, go around twice, done. Then a senior mechanic watched me one day and pointed out I was pulling my wrench too fast on the last pass. He said I was basically clicking past the real torque value on the final bolts because of momentum. He made me slow down and do it at a steady hand speed and the difference on the dial was like 15 foot-pounds. Felt pretty dumb but now I check my cadence on every torque job. Anybody else had a simple habit that was throwing off their readings without realizing it?

2 comments

c/budgeting-wins•

ninam76•8d ago

Took me 6 months to fix my grocery budget because I kept forgetting one thing

I kept wondering why my grocery budget was blowing up every month, and it turned out I was forgetting to account for those little $5 and $6 snack runs I do after work. Took me way too long to realize I needed to add a "random snacks" line item lol. Has anyone else had a budget category sneak up on them like that?

2 comments

c/cabinetmakers•

ninam76•8d ago

Can we talk about how joinery has changed since the 80s?

I pulled apart an old kitchen cabinet I built back in 1987 last week to fix a drawer. That thing had through dovetails on the sides, solid maple, still tight as a drum after almost 40 years. The new stuff I see rolling out of shops now is all dowels and staples, glued up in 20 minutes. When did we decide that fast and cheap was better than something your grandkids could still use?

2 comments

c/bullet-journaling•

ninam76•12d ago

My bullet journal collection grew out of control and I had to pick which one to keep using

For over a year I was switching between a hardcover Leuchtturm and a softcover Moleskine, trying to decide which notebook felt better for daily journaling. I ended up sticking with the Leuchtturm because the pages lay flatter when I do my weekly spreads, and the numbered pages really help me index everything. But then I realized my Moleskine worked better for my travel log since it bends easier in a bag. After three months of using both inconsistently, I finally chose the Leuchtturm for everyday and left the Moleskine for trips only. Has anyone else juggled two notebooks like this and found a way to make both work without feeling messy about it?

2 comments

c/auto-mechanics•

ninam76•3mo ago

Showerthought: I finally figured out why that one car always came back with the same noise

This old Ford Explorer kept rolling in every few months with a front end clunk. We'd check the ball joints, the sway bar links, the struts, you name it. Nothing was ever loose. I spent maybe six hours total over three visits looking for it. Last week, I was putting it back together after the third check and noticed the lower control arm bushing looked fine, but the bolt was a different grade than the others. Turns out the owner had replaced it himself with a standard hardware store bolt that was just a hair too long. It was bottoming out in the frame pocket under certain turns, making a solid 'clunk' but not showing any play. A $2.50 washer as a spacer fixed it. Ever have a problem that was just a simple fix hiding in plain sight?

2 comments

c/boilermakers•

ninam76•3mo ago

I used to think a certain way about welding on old boiler tubes, but last Tuesday changed my mind

We were on a job at the old paper mill in Bellingham, replacing a bundle. The specs called for a specific rod, but my lead hand, Carl, insisted we should preheat more than the book said, like his old foreman taught him. I argued it was a waste of time on this alloy. Well, we did it his way on a test section. When we did the bend test later, my weld passed but his was perfect, no hint of cracking at all. The difference was clear as day. He said, 'The book knows the metal, but it doesn't know this particular forty years of stress cycles.' That stuck with me. I guess some old school tricks have their place after all. Has anyone else had a similar moment where experience beat the manual on an old system?

2 comments

c/creative-writing-prompts•

ninam76•3mo ago

Showerthought: I lost my entire story outline when my laptop crashed at the coffee shop on Elm Street.

I was halfway through mapping a fantasy novel's plot, and after the screen went black, I had to rebuild everything from memory, which actually gave me a better, simpler story structure. Has anyone else had a tech disaster lead to a creative breakthrough?

2 comments