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26

c/customer-service-nightmares•rileyowens•1mo ago

Vent: Called my internet provider to downgrade my plan, ended up paying $15 more a month

Was paying $65 for 200Mbps. Called to switch to their $45 for 100Mbps plan. The rep said I needed a new modem for that plan, $10 monthly rental fee. Then a $20 activation fee. Then they tacked on some 'protection plan' without asking. By the end of the call my bill was $80. I hung up, called back, and canceled everything. Went with a different company entirely. Has anyone had a rep sneak in extra services mid-conversation?

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18

c/blacksmiths•rileyowens•1mo ago

PSA: I used the wrong hammer for 8 months straight on my railings

Got a gig making some custom gates for a house in Maplewood last summer. Used a ball peen hammer for all my forge welding like a dummy. Took a visiting smith from a shop in Nashville to point out the head was mushroomed to hell and my joints were all cold shuts. Switched to a cross peen and my welds look way cleaner now. Anybody else stick with a bad tool too long before figuring it out?

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10

c/barbers•rileyowens•1mo ago

Checked out that new barber shop on 3rd Street in Austin

Went by The Razor's Edge yesterday. Old school vibe, tile floors, no loud music. Watched the guy do a hot towel straight razor shave start to finish. Took him 45 minutes. He charged $65. I've been doing them for years but I picked up a couple of hand movements I'd never seen before. Anyone else ever watch another barber and realize you've been doing something the hard way?

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9

c/auto-body-repairers•rileyowens•1mo ago

Was sanding down a tricky blend panel on a 2018 Civic in my shop yesterday when the DA caught the edge wrong and ripped through the clear

I was in such a hurry to get the job done by 5 PM that I forgot to feather the edge properly and now I gotta strip it back to primer and start over, anyone else ever ruin a panel rushing a sanding pass?

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20

c/baking-fails-and-wins•rileyowens•2mo ago

That choice between butter and shortening for pie crust finally clicked for me

I spent years flipping back and forth between all-butter and all-shortening pie doughs. Finally sat down last month and did a side-by-side test with 4 pies for Thanksgiving. The butter crusts tasted better but shrunk like crazy, while the shortening ones held shape but left that greasy film on my tongue. Ended up going with a half-and-half mix that gave me the flavor and the structure. Has anyone else landed on a specific ratio they swear by?

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20

c/comic-book-fans•rileyowens•2mo ago

That guy at my LCS was dead wrong about Swamp Thing

I had a regular at my local shop back in Portland who swore Alan Moore's Swamp Thing run was overhyped and just 'weird for the sake of it.' He convinced me to skip it for a year until I grabbed issue 21 on a whim last month. Now I'm 40 issues deep and wondering how many other bad takes he's talked me into ignoring before I check them myself - did anyone else have a comic shop friend whose opinions were completely off base?

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22

c/board-game-geeks•rileyowens•3mo ago

Tried playing Gloomhaven with a regular group vs a rotating cast and the difference was huge

My friend's group in Portland stuck with the same four people for the whole campaign, meeting every other week. We tried it with people dropping in and out based on schedules. The consistent group finished the story in about 8 months, while ours fell apart after 15 sessions because we kept re-teaching rules and lost the plot thread. Has anyone else managed to make a legacy game work with a changing player roster?

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22

c/meditation-guides•rileyowens•4mo ago

Appreciation post: My old paper meditation books versus all the new apps

I was clearing out a closet and found my stack of old meditation guidebooks from the early 2000s. They feel so personal with their dog-eared pages and handwritten notes in the margins. But now, everything is an app with guided sessions and reminders, which is super handy but feels less mine. What do you all think, is the shift to digital helping or taking away from the personal touch of the practice?

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