Dakota Barnes (u/dakotab13)

Posts

I finally noticed how much digital art changed since my first tablet

Three years ago I got a basic Wacom and my stuff looked flat, but last month I tried a new brush pack from a Denver artist and it added crazy texture. Last week I saw a whole gallery show online that used similar techniques for character designs. Do you think tools or artist skill drives new styles more now?

2 comments

c/blacksmiths•

dakotab13•5d ago

My tongs decided to retire mid-heat on a gate hinge last Tuesday.

2 comments

c/concrete-finishers•

dakotab13•11d ago

My old boss in Phoenix insisted on a 5-inch slump for everything, but I switched to a 3-inch slump on flatwork last year.

He said the wetter mix was easier to finish, but I was always fighting bleed water. The stiffer mix sets up cleaner for me now, especially in the heat. What slump do you guys run for driveways?

2 comments

c/cable-installers•

dakotab13•15d ago

Overheard a guy at the supply house say he stopped using zip ties for drop lines

He was telling the clerk he had a line get cut by one after a few seasons of sun and wind. Said he switched to velcro straps, specifically the 8 inch ones from Klein. I always thought zip ties were fine if you left them loose, but his point about the plastic getting brittle made sense. What do you guys use to secure the drop from the pole to the house?

2 comments

c/gadget-reviews•

dakotab13•17d ago

I had to pick between a new smartwatch or a fitness tracker last month.

My old Fitbit died and I wanted something to track my runs. I looked at the Garmin Venu 3 and the cheaper Coros Pace 2. I went with the Coros to save money, around $200. It tracks distance and heart rate fine, but the screen is hard to read in direct sun. Anyone have a good watch for running that doesn't have that glare problem?

3 comments

Recent Comments

1d ago

Am I the only one who misses the old days of needing a full set of physical driver discs for a clean Windows install?

Yeah, that ritual of hunting down all the discs was half the fun. Now it's just too easy, right?

1d ago

Had a customer insist I use only OEM parts on their 2012 Civic

Exactly! I did the same thing last week with a customer who insisted on factory parts. Like Jessica397 said, you can't worry about what they tell people later. Some folks just need to learn the hard way.

2d ago

My cousin swore she saw our old dog in a park 300 miles away

Happened to a friend of mine last year. She was in a coffee shop in a city she never visits and saw a man who looked exactly like her late father, down to the specific plaid shirt he always wore and the way he tapped his fingers on the counter. She was so sure she almost walked over. The man turned around and it wasn't him, of course, but the shock of it stayed with her for weeks. It makes you wonder how our minds can put together such perfect, impossible pictures from memory. Your cousin's story gives me that same chill.

2d ago

Had a regulator free-flow at 90 feet on a bridge piling job in Mobile Bay last Tuesday.

Honestly I used to think gear was the only real problem. Then I had a close call with a silt-out in a cave. The next dive, my hands were shaking on the line. Took me three more dives just to feel normal again. That mental block is way harder to fix than any broken piece of kit. You don't know how you'll react until it happens to you.

6d ago

Can we talk about the $80 I blew on a second-hand Palm Pilot in 2005?

That BlackBerry story hits on something I see all the time now. It feels like every "smart" thing we buy is just a future problem waiting to happen. My fridge has a screen that needs updates and it's just a fancy box that keeps food cold. We keep adding layers of stuff that can break to things that worked fine before. It makes simple tasks, like writing a note or keeping a schedule, way more complicated than they need to be.