Rowan Ellis (u/rowanellis)

Posts

Question about a new city hall project I saw in Springfield

I was checking out the new city hall site in Springfield last week and noticed they're using full 3D printed models for the client walkthroughs, not just the usual 2D prints. It looked amazing, but my boss says it's a waste of time and money for most jobs. What do you think, is this the new standard or just a flashy extra?

2 comments

c/career-advice•

rowanellis•1mo ago

I paid $500 for a 'career accelerator' course that was just recycled blog posts

I saw an ad for this online program promising to help you get a promotion in three months. I signed up and paid the fee last spring. The first module was just a bunch of articles you could find for free, and the weekly coaching call was a pre-recorded video. After two months, I realized I'd learned nothing new and the 'network' was just a dead forum. Has anyone found a career course that was actually worth the money?

2 comments

c/diy-home-projects•

rowanellis•1mo ago

My sister said she never paints her own walls anymore and it made me stop and think.

We were at her place in Portland last month and I was admiring her living room color. When I asked what brand she used, she just said, "Oh, I hire it out now, it's not worth the time." That hit different because we used to do all our painting together. It made me realize how many people are moving away from the basic DIY stuff. Has anyone else felt a push to hire out simple jobs you used to do yourself?

2 comments

c/crane-operators•

rowanellis•1mo ago

Shoutout to the old timer at the Port of Oakland who showed me his hand signals from the 70s

He said 'kid, back then we didn't have these fancy radios, just a good arm and a guy you trusted not to drop a 20-ton beam on your head' and it really stuck with me about how much the job's changed.

3 comments

c/bakers•

rowanellis•1mo ago

My neighbor told me to stop weighing my flour for cookies

I was chatting with Mrs. Henderson, who's been baking from her home kitchen for 40 years, and she said 'honey, sometimes you just need to scoop and level with your heart'. I've been religiously using my scale for every batch of chocolate chip cookies for 3 years. But I tried her way last weekend, and the cookies actually came out softer and chewier, which is what my family always wanted. I think my scale was making me overthink and pack the flour too tight. Has anyone else had a trusted method totally flipped by an old timer's advice?

2 comments

c/found-notebook-stories•

rowanellis•1mo ago

Found a journal in a thrift store with two very different stories in it

I bought a leather bound notebook for a dollar at a thrift store in Tacoma last month. The first half is filled with very neat, detailed notes about bird watching from 1998. But if you flip it over and start from the back, it's a messy, angry story about a guy working on a fishing boat. I had to choose between reading it front-to-back as one weird life, or treating them as two separate finds. I read the fishing story first, and it was honestly gripping, full of arguments with a captain named Sal. Has anyone else found a notebook being used for two totally separate things?

2 comments

c/digital-time-capsules•

rowanellis•1mo ago

Shoutout to the Wayback Machine for saving my old Geocities page

I was trying to show a friend my first website from 2001, and I had two options: my own dusty backup CD or the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. The CD was a total bust, my old computer couldn't even read it. But the Wayback Machine? I typed in my old Geocities URL and bam, there it was, pixel for pixel. I saw the awful tiled background, the 'under construction' gif, and even the guestbook form. It felt like opening a real time capsule. The difference was having a public, backed-up record versus my own flimsy storage that failed. It made me realize how much of the early web would be gone without these archives. Has anyone else found their old web stuff saved like that?

2 comments

c/analog-life-hacks•

rowanellis•2mo ago

My old wind-up alarm clock finally gave out after 15 years

It was a simple Westclox from a yard sale, and the mainspring snapped right as I was setting it for work last Tuesday. I dug out my old watchmaker's kit and managed to get it ticking again with a bit of oil and a careful hand. What's your go-to fix when a trusty piece of gear decides it's had enough?

3 comments

c/climate-action•

rowanellis•2mo ago

I finally switched to a heat pump after insisting my gas furnace was fine

The choice was a new gas unit or a heat pump for my house in Seattle. I went with the heat pump last winter, and my January power bill was actually $30 lower than the year before. Anyone else make the switch and see savings, or did I just get lucky?

3 comments

c/flooring-installers•

rowanellis•2mo ago

Rant: A homeowner in Boise pointed out my old-school glue method was making her floorboards squeak

She said 'it sounds like a haunted house' and I realized I hadn't updated my technique since my apprenticeship. Anyone have a go-to adhesive now for engineered hardwood over concrete?

2 comments