Just read that a blocked chimney can cut your heating efficiency by 30%

I saw that stat in a home energy report from the city of Boise. It made me think about how we explain the value of a cleaning beyond just safety. Has anyone else found a good way to bring this up with customers?

Showerthought: I was looking at some old dredge logs from the 80s and the fuel use numbers were wild

I was going through some old paper logs from a project on the Mississippi back in '85... the daily fuel burn for a standard cutterhead dredge was almost double what we use now on a similar sized machine. I found it in a box of records my old boss left me. It really shows how much the engines and pump systems have improved over the years. Has anyone else seen a big drop in their own fuel logs over a long career?

Warning: I picked Python over Java for my first project and it was way less scary.

I built a script to rename a folder of 200 photos in about an hour, which felt impossible with the other language's setup. Anyone have a good next step after automating simple file stuff?

Cleaning out the garage and found my old flight school application

I filled it out back in 2018, right after my 30th birthday, with plans to start at the small airfield in Dayton. Life got busy with my daughter starting school, and the cost, nearly $12,000 just to begin, felt impossible. Now the papers are just sitting in a box next to the lawnmower. Does anyone else have a folder like this tucked away somewhere?

I set up a separate savings account just for car repairs and it saved me last month

My old car needed new brakes, which was about $400. Because I'd been putting $50 a month into that account, I had the cash ready and didn't touch my main savings. Has anyone else tried this for a specific expense?

My sister-in-law told me my pie crust was 'tough as leather' at Thanksgiving dinner.

She said I was overworking the dough and not keeping the butter cold enough, so I started using ice water and handling it less. The difference in my last two pies was like night and day, they were actually flaky. Has anyone else had a simple tip completely fix a baking problem for them?

I finally understood why my clear coat kept getting orange peel after watching a guy in Phoenix spray a panel with his gun 18 inches away.

Heard a kid at the library say he wanted to be an astronaut, and it hit me

I was picking up a book last Tuesday and this boy, maybe 8, was telling his mom all about Mars. It made me think of my own space phase when I was 12. I had charts of the planets and everything, but I gave it up in high school because I was told the math was too hard. That was over 15 years ago, and I still wonder what would have happened if I'd just tried. Has anyone else let a dream go because someone said it was too difficult?

Found a way to clear a tricky offset flue without taking apart the whole fireplace

Had a job in an old farmhouse near Springfield where the flue had a sharp 45-degree offset about four feet up. My rods kept getting stuck. I ended up wrapping a small, deflated soccer ball in a plastic bag, tying it to a rope, and lowering it down from the top. The ball filled the space and pushed the worst of the soot past the bend so I could sweep it normally. It saved me at least two hours of fighting with the rods. Has anyone else tried something like this for a really tight offset?

Warning about a fabric supplier in Dallas after my whole collection got delayed

They promised delivery in 3 days for my silk charmeuse, but it took 17 days and the dye lot was wrong, so has anyone else had to scramble for a new fabric source right before a show?