The time a comic shop in Tacoma turned my bad week around with one old box

I was having a rough few days, you know, just one of those weeks where nothing goes right. I walked into my usual shop, The Dragon's Hoard, feeling pretty down, and the owner, Mark, pointed me to a long box of dollar books he'd just bought from an estate sale. I found a near-mint copy of 'Web of Spider-Man' #32, the first appearance of Cardiac, which I'd been hunting for years. Has a random find at your local shop ever just totally fixed your mood?

Bought a $400 heat gun for core box work, can't decide if it's a game changer or a waste

I got the Master Appliance HG501B last month for drying oil-bonded sand in complex cores. It works fast and gets into tight spots our old oven couldn't... but my partner says it's just a fancy hair dryer and we should have stuck with the oven method. The cost stings a bit for a single-use tool. Has anyone else brought in a specialty tool that split opinion in your shop?

I keep seeing other shops in my area use way too much baby's breath in wedding work. It looks cheap, not classic.

My brother said he only watches shows with his wife now and it made me think

We were at a BBQ last weekend and he mentioned they just finished a show called 'The Bear' together. He said, 'If we don't watch it together, it doesn't count.' It hit different because I always watch stuff alone on my phone during my commute. He said they talk about the characters like they're real people and pause to guess what happens next. It made me feel like I'm missing a huge part of the fun by just consuming episodes solo. Now I'm wondering if the best shows NEED someone to share them with to be truly great. Has anyone else had a show become way better because you watched it with a specific person?

The week I had to rip up 800 square feet of click-lock because the homeowner bought the wrong underlayment

They got a foam pad meant for laminate over concrete, but the subfloor was plywood and it squeaked like crazy under every step. Has anyone else had a client bring their own materials and then refuse to believe it's the problem?

Rant: Saw a traction sheave go from smooth to grooved in under 6 months at the old library on Main.

The building manager kept ignoring our calls about a slipping rope issue. Now the whole assembly needs a costly rebuild instead of a simple adjustment. Anyone else had a client's neglect cause a much bigger repair bill?

Finally got a decent look at that weird green mineral in my sample

Three years ago I picked up a rock near Sedona that had this green fleck I could never ID with my basic kit. Last week I borrowed a loupe from a friend and saw it's actually tiny, perfect epidote crystals in a vein. Anyone know a good way to photograph something that small?

Remember when a bad week meant climbing 30 poles in the rain?

Tried a new 8 inch cutter head on the old dredge in Mobile Bay versus the standard 6 inch, the difference in material moved was huge.