Those ties shifting after one hard rain is pretty normal from what I've read, since wood soaks up water and the ground underneath turns to mush. I saw a landscaping thread where a guy said his ties rotted out in about 5 years, and he wished he'd just done blocks from the start. Might be worth pulling them before that flower bed sinks on you.

Glass doesn't usually crack from pulling the plunger too fast, hate to be that guy. What really kills a French press is thermal shock, like pouring cold water in a hot carafe or hot water in one that just came out of the fridge. The other big one is a tiny chip on the rim or a hairline crack you never noticed, then one normal plunge day it just gives out. Pulling hard can flex things a bit, sure, but four minutes of steeping doesn't make the glass weak on its own. So before you blame your plunging speed, check the carafe for chips and stop dumping cold water into hot glass. As for the sock, that's a new one, but at least it was clean.