That whole 'location location location' saying finally clicked for me

I was dead set on a fixer-upper in a cheaper part of town for months, then my agent showed me the comps on a tiny house near the new light rail stop in Denver. It appraised for 15% more than the ask just because of that stop. Has anyone else been surprised by what a transit line actually does to value?

Dropped $400 on a Klein fish tape and it paid for itself in a month

I was using a cheap steel fish tape from the hardware store for years. Hated every time I had to pull wire through a tricky conduit bend. The tape would kink up and sometimes snap inside the pipe. Finally got sick of it and bought a Klein steel fish tape with a fiberglass rod for around $400. Ran it through a 90 foot pull on my second job that week. No kinks no problems. The time I saved on that one job alone covered half the cost. Now I wonder why I waited so long to stop being cheap. Anyone else find that spending money on a good fish tape changed how they feel about conduit work?

I spent $85 on a 'rare' philodendron cutting that just died

I saw this gorgeous philodendron gloriosum cutting online, sold as a 'rare collector's item' for eighty five bucks. The seller had great pictures and promised it was a strong, rooted plant. When it arrived after a week in the mail, it looked okay at first, but the single leaf started yellowing within days. I did everything right, good soil, indirect light, kept it humid. It just slowly rotted at the base. I feel like I paid for the hype, not a healthy plant. A lot of these 'rare' plant sellers are just cashing in on the trend and the plants aren't ready to be sold. I should have waited and bought a smaller, established plant from a local nursery for half the price. Has anyone else had a cutting fail on them after spending a lot?

Just hit 10,000 unread emails in my work inbox and I'm not sure if I should celebrate or cry

I opened it this morning and the counter literally said 10,001. I think it's been building since I started this job in Phoenix three years ago. The pros are I guess I'm never bored, but the cons are obvious, like missing important stuff. Has anyone else faced a mountain like this and actually dug out?

My main band saw blade snapped right in the middle of breaking down a side of beef yesterday, so I had to finish the job with a hand saw and it took an extra hour.

Debate time: do you think it's smarter to replace blades at the first sign of wear to avoid this mess, or run them until they break to get every last bit of value out of them?

Our club's 'The Great Gatsby' meeting turned into a silent standoff

Last Thursday, we had a 45 minute debate about whether Daisy Buchanan was a victim or just selfish. Two members got so heated they stopped talking to each other. The weird part was the silence, just the sound of someone's dog barking in the background. It ended with someone finally saying, 'Can we at least agree the green light was a metaphor?' Has your group ever had a debate that just shut down?

I used to just dump the fryer oil at the end of the night. Now I filter it halfway through service.

Showerthought: Everyone says you should answer every single question in an 'Ask Anything' forum, but I stopped doing that 3 years ago after a thread in a car repair group turned into a 200-comment argument about politics.

Now I just answer the questions I actually know something about, and honestly, has anyone else found that makes the whole community way less of a mess?

I bought a $400 automatic taper and it's been sitting in my van for a year

Everyone kept saying it would change the game, especially for ceilings. So I saved up and got one. Used it on one job, a big living room ceiling in a new build. Honestly, it felt slower than just taping by hand. Had to keep adjusting the mud consistency, cleaning it constantly, and the finish wasn't any better. Now it's just taking up space. Maybe I'm using it wrong, but for me it was a total waste. Anyone have a trick for these things, or should I just sell it?

Warning: I just switched from a big bank to a local credit union

Last week, I was at the big bank branch downtown trying to get a simple fee waived. The manager said no, it was policy. Three years ago, I would have just accepted that. But my friend in Portland kept telling me about her credit union, so I opened an account there last month. They reversed the same fee over the phone in five minutes because I'm a new member. Has anyone else made a switch like this and noticed a real difference in how they treat you?