and you know what that reminds me of, my uncle tried the same thing with his TV about five years ago. just unplugged it one day and started listening to baseball on the radio instead, said it made him feel less anxious. he still doesn't have one in his living room and honestly he's probably the most chill person in our whole family now.

Did you catch that article a few months back where they tested connectors made with cheap manual crimpers vs powered ones? The difference in pull-out strength was wild. I read it on some electrical engineering blog, the powered ones held way better under load and heat cycles. Makes sense when you think about it, that consistent pressure every time. Your Phoenix story sounds like a nightmare though, heat makes those cheap connectors go soft and the manual tools just make it worse.

...and honestly that kind of wake-up call is the best thing that can happen to you, even if it stings at first. I had a similar moment a few years back when a client in the restaurant industry told me my pretty social media graphs were useless because they didn't show how many people actually walked through their doors with a coupon code from Instagram. That forced me to start tying everything back to their POS system (pain in the neck to set up) but now I can show exact dollar amounts from each post. The funny thing is that other clients actually started noticing the change and asked how I got so detailed, so that one rude (but fair) comment basically reshaped my whole reporting approach across all accounts.

Yeah but did the friend actually pick up? Half the time I call people in big cities they just let it ring and text back later. Or maybe that's just my luck with people who hate talking on the phone.

Agree with you on that muscle memory thing, it sneaks up on you. One day you're still figuring out the trim and the next your hands just know where to slice without your brain having to think about it. I hit 500 racks of ribs a few years back and it was the same kind of realization, you don't notice the reps adding up until you're suddenly there. That's the part nobody talks about enough, the invisible grind that just becomes second nature over time.