Wait you spent $350 on that thing? I almost bought one last month so this is seriously making me rethink everything.

And you know what, that reminds me of this time I was helping a buddy build a deck back in '09, and he had this whole system for counting screws where he'd tally them on a scrap piece of wood with a Sharpie, like he was keeping score in a game or something. We got into this big argument about whether it was worth the trouble, and he ended up spending more time arguing than just finishing the job, so we never actually agreed on a final count. Honestly, I think he just liked the sound of the drill going in and out and wanted an excuse to keep using it, even if it meant a longer day.

Dave showed you at the shop or your kitchen?

Hate to disagree but front row at conventions is the worst for me. You cant take a decent picture without looking up at weird angles and half the time the guests can't even see you past the stage lights anyway. I sit middle to back so I can actually watch the whole stage setup and not strain my neck. Plus if you arrive late or need to go to the bathroom you're not climbing over a whole row of people getting dirty looks.

My $15 soldering iron from a flea market with a tip you can swap for a few bucks still outlasts my friends $200 Hakko for hobby work. The key is getting the solder wet enough to flow right, not the price tag. Same with those cheap blue plastic desoldering pumps, just clean the tip and replace the o-ring every now and then. Only time I really felt the upgrade was doing a big motherboard repair where the vacuum pump saved me cleanup time. For anything else, the cheap stuff does the job fine if you know what you're doing.