Twelve years in and I still catch myself lying to my own eyes. Been there with the sanding marks on a metallic silver hood, looked perfect in the booth lights, then the customer pulled it outside and the sun found every swirl. Maybe it's not being blind, maybe it's just that shop lighting flatters the work. Directional sun is the only honest inspection you get. I keep a handheld LED light now and walk the whole panel at an angle before I call it done. The finer grit thing works, but the real fix is changing how you look at your own work, not just what you use on it.

I used to just leave the tender hooked up and not think twice about it. But you mentioning the parasitic draw thing changed my mind. My Mustang has an aftermarket alarm that pulls power even when it's parked, and I caught the battery bubbling last winter. Now I pop the negative terminal off before I clip the tender on. Takes thirty seconds and saves the headache of a swollen battery.

That tower comment hits so close to home. I had a woman at my old brunch spot tell me she hated when her benedict came out looking like a skyscraper because the hollandaise always slid off before she could actually cut into it. Switched to a flatter, more spread out egg and sauce situation that same week, and suddenly people stopped sending plates back for being "too pretty to touch". It's wild how the people actually eating the food can see past all the chef ego stuff faster than we do.

Stacked boxes and a cutting board, been there, mine collapsed after two days and almost took out my coffee mug.

I read somewhere that the newer ACQ treated lumber is way harder on fasteners than the old CCA stuff, so you gotta use the right screws or they'll corrode quick. Good to know your 2011 deck is holding up though, that says a lot. I've heard mixed things about pressure treated warping on long boards, so I'd probably go cedar if I wanted it to look perfect for a long time.