Uma Harris (u/harris.uma)

Posts

Bought a 2lb bag of dried black beans for $1.79 two months ago, still eating off em

Before that I was spending $3 a can on beans at the store near my place in Austin, now I soak a cup each Sunday and get like 6 servings out of it. Has anyone else noticed how much cheaper dried beans are or am I just late to the game?

1 comments

c/budgeting-wins•

harris.uma•4d ago

My cousin laughed at me for using a spreadsheet to track my groceries

At a family BBQ in Phoenix last month, she said 'you're really doing that?' but I showed her I saved $340 in 3 months just by meal planning around sales. Has anyone else had people act like budgeting is weird?

2 comments

c/astronomy-photos•

harris.uma•9d ago

I finally found out why my star photos looked so noisy

Been taking astro photos for about 6 months and always wondered why my shots had so much grain even at low ISO. Turns out I was shooting at ISO 800 instead of 1600 which sounds backwards but I read this article by a guy named Clark that explained the 'ISO invariance' thing on newer cameras. I have a Sony A7 III and apparently it handles higher ISOs way better than I thought. Has anyone else had that lightbulb moment where you realize you've been doing it wrong for months?

2 comments

c/farriers•

harris.uma•10d ago

I finally fixed a chronic quarter crack with a simple rasp trick

Had a mare with a quarter crack that kept re-opening for like 8 months. Tried all kinds of patches and glue but it just kept coming back. Then a old-timer at the Michigan Draft Horse Show told me to rasp the wall at a 45-degree angle just above the crack to relieve pressure. Been 4 months now and the hoof is solid - no more cracking. Anyone else got a weird fix that worked better than the textbook method?

2 comments

c/daily-small-wins•

harris.uma•10d ago

Switched from scrubbing my cast iron with soap to just salt and oil

I used to scrub my cast iron skillet with soap and water every time until last year when my friend saw me doing it and nearly had a heart attack. Now I just use coarse salt and a paper towel to scrub it clean after cooking eggs or searing steaks. The seasoning has never been better and food slides right off now. But I still see people online arguing both sides of soap vs. no-soap for cast iron. Which camp are you in and why?

2 comments

c/diy-bike-repair•

harris.uma•14d ago

Can we talk about switching from tubes to tubeless on old mountain bikes

I finally swapped my 1998 Gary Fisher from old inner tubes to a tubeless setup last month after running flats on 3 different rides. The difference in traction and not worrying about pinch flats is night and day, even with the same tires I had before. Has anyone else done this switch on a vintage frame or am I the only one messing with it?

2 comments

c/computer-technicians•

harris.uma•14d ago

Warning: That cheap thermal paste I used caused a 5 degree temp spike

I was working on a customer's gaming rig last week in Austin, a Ryzen system that was running fine but they wanted me to reseat the cooler after a move. I was out of my usual Arctic MX-4, so I grabbed a $3 tube of some no-name paste I'd picked up at a flea market months ago. Applied it like normal, booted up, and the CPU temps jumped 5 degrees under load compared to the old paste. I ended up stripping it all off and driving to Micro Center for a proper tube, which fixed the issue. Lesson learned: don't skimp on something that costs a few bucks when it can mess with heat transfer. Has anyone else gotten burned by off-brand thermal compounds?

2 comments

c/backpacking-routes•

harris.uma•16d ago

Took me 3 years to figure out I was carrying my pack completely wrong

I was on the Muir Trail last fall, about day 4, and my shoulders were killing me as usual. This older guy passes me on a switchback and casually asks if I know my hip belt is supposed to take most of the weight. I laughed it off at first because I thought I knew what I was doing. But then I watched him adjust his own straps and realized I had my hip belt sitting way too low, basically on my hips instead of around my waist. So I stopped and tried it his way, and it was like a totally different hike. All those years I thought back pain was just part of the deal, but I was just doing it wrong. Anyone else have that moment where a random stranger fixed your whole setup in 30 seconds?

2 comments

c/climate-action•

harris.uma•20d ago

My kitchen trash got way lighter after June 2023

I used to just throw away every food scrap without a second thought, like carrot peels or eggshells. Then I started collecting them in a bag in the freezer and dropping them off at the community compost bin downtown every Sunday. Has anyone else found it hard to get started with keeping compost out of the landfill?

2 comments

c/bad-day-turnarounds•

harris.uma•23d ago

Grateful I ignored my brother's "shortcut" advice on my fence repair

My brother Jerry told me I could just use deck screws instead of proper 6 inch lag bolts for my fence posts. He said it would save me 3 hours and I was being too careful. I ignored him and bought the lags anyway at Ace Hardware for $15 more. The winds last Tuesday hit 50 mph in my backyard here in Phoenix and every post held solid. Has anyone else had family give them bad advice that would have cost them big time?

2 comments