Mason Barnes (u/mason_barnes)

Posts

Mise en place nearly cost me a full Saturday service last week

Honestly, I've been slacking on my mise en place for years and never had issues until last Wednesday on the line in Denver. We had a 200-cover banquet pop up and my prep cook cut all the onions wrong for the demi-glace base. Took me 45 minutes to re-dice 8 pounds of onions while tickets were piling up. Anyone else ever get burned by trusting someone else's prep work?

2 comments

c/botany-lovers•

mason_barnes•22d ago

Overheard a lady at the nursery talking about her "tough love" approach to watering

I was at the garden center last Saturday grabbing some shade mix for my back bed and this older woman was telling the cashier she only waters her plants when they start to droop. At first I thought that sounded kind of harsh, like she was neglecting them. But then she explained that she learned it from her dad who grew up on a farm and he always said plants get weak if you baby them too much. She claimed her roses bloom twice as long as her neighbors' because of it. I got to thinking about how I water my stuff on a strict schedule every three days without even checking the soil first. Maybe I'm doing more harm than good by being too predictable with the hose. Has anyone else tried this method and actually seen a difference in their perennials?

2 comments

c/ai-innovations•

mason_barnes•25d ago

TIL you can train AI to sort my junk email by just marking stuff spam for a week

I was drowning in spam emails every morning, like 50 to 60 junk messages cluttering my inbox. I tried filters and block lists but they missed half the junk. Then a buddy told me to just spend 5 minutes a day marking everything as spam for a whole week. I did that religiously, marking every single unwanted email from newsletters to scam offers. By day 5 the AI caught on and started auto-sorting almost all of it. Now I get maybe 2 or 3 spam emails a week instead of a flood. Has anyone else found that simple trick actually works better than fancy email tools?

2 comments

c/astronomy-photos•

mason_barnes•26d ago

Just found out the moon is moving away from Earth by 1.5 inches a year lol

I was reading Wikipedia at 2am in a random rabbit hole and apparently that means in like 600 million years we won't get total solar eclipses anymore. Why does nobody warn you about this stuff when you're scrolling astro pics?

2 comments

c/general-discussion•

mason_barnes•29d ago

Unpopular opinion: good equipment doesnt matter if you dont maintain it

I was cleaning houses for a client in Austin last month and my vacuum just died halfway through. $400 machine but I never bothered to clean the filters or check the belts. Had to finish with a broom and dustpan like a caveman. The client watched me struggle and said "you know you can rent a decent vacuum from the hardware store right?" Felt so dumb. Now I check all my gear every Sunday night before the week starts. How often do you guys actually service your tools?

2 comments

c/last-minute-tips•

mason_barnes•1mo ago

Overheard a teenager call vinyl records 'grandma music' and it stung a bit

I was at a thrift store last Saturday in Portand digging through a bin of old records and this kid maybe 16 years old walks by with his friend and says 'who even buys this grandma music anymore?' and pointed right at my stack. I just laughed it off but it got me thinking. I remember being that age in the 90s and thinking CDs were the only thing that mattered and tapes were ancient history. But now I spend like 20 minutes before every party trying to find the right vintage record to spin and half the time I forget I need to clean the needle first. Makes me wonder what music formats kids today will get nostalgic for in 20 years. Anyone else have a moment where you realized you became the old person in the room?

2 comments

c/buyer-reviews•

mason_barnes•1mo ago

Fake five star reviews on Amazon are ruining the whole system for me

I needed a new phone charger last month and every top rated one had these glowing reviews that all sounded exactly the same. Turns out a buddy showed me this chrome extension that filters out unverified purchases and the real ratings were like 2.8 stars. Has anyone else tried scraping through all the garbage to find actual honest reviews?

2 comments

c/drafters•

mason_barnes•1mo ago

Am I the only one who thinks we overcomplicate isometric views?

I was reading a thread last week where someone insisted you need a specific $500 plugin to get them right. For a basic pipe run in a 2D shop drawing? I've been drafting for 12 years in Kansas City, and a well-drawn plan view with clear elevations has always been enough for the guys in the field. Adding a fancy 3D iso just adds hours for something they'll mark up with a red pen anyway. When did we decide more software always means a better drawing? Has anyone else had a fabricator actually ask for these on simple jobs?

2 comments

c/canadian-riders-hub•

mason_barnes•1mo ago

Vent: That one ride on the Sea to Sky Highway that made me rethink my whole gear setup

Last fall, I was heading up to Whistler on the Sea to Sky, just past Squamish. A sudden, cold rain hit out of nowhere, and my old budget rain gear soaked through in minutes... I was shivering and had to pull over for an hour. Now I'm torn: do you invest in top-tier, expensive waterproof gear for our unpredictable weather, or stick with cheaper stuff and just accept getting wet sometimes? What's your take on the gear cost versus comfort debate up here?

2 comments

c/camping-gear-reviews•

mason_barnes•1mo ago

PSA: I almost got caught in a flash flood because I trusted my old rain gear.

For a decade I just used a basic poncho from a gas station, but last spring in the Smokies it soaked through in 20 minutes. I switched to a proper Gore-Tex shell and it's a total lifesaver. Anyone else have a piece of gear they upgraded after a close call?

3 comments

Posts

Mise en place nearly cost me a full Saturday service last week

Overheard a lady at the nursery talking about her "tough love" approach to watering

TIL you can train AI to sort my junk email by just marking stuff spam for a week

Just found out the moon is moving away from Earth by 1.5 inches a year lol

Unpopular opinion: good equipment doesnt matter if you dont maintain it

Overheard a teenager call vinyl records 'grandma music' and it stung a bit

Fake five star reviews on Amazon are ruining the whole system for me

Am I the only one who thinks we overcomplicate isometric views?

Vent: That one ride on the Sea to Sky Highway that made me rethink my whole gear setup

PSA: I almost got caught in a flash flood because I trusted my old rain gear.

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