William Henderson (u/williamhenderson)

Posts

Best day in 3 years was the Thursday I had 4 no-shows in a row.

Used that dead time to finally fix my foundation shade mixing system and now I'm blending perfect colors in 30 seconds instead of 5 minutes - has anyone else found that cancellations secretly help your technique?

3 comments

c/astronomy-photos•

williamhenderson•21d ago

Stuck between a refractor and a Dobsonian for my first real scope

Been using a little 60mm department store scope for a year and finally saved up $600 to upgrade. Narrowed it down to a 4 inch ED doublet refractor or an 8 inch Dobsonian, real tough call. I went with the Dobsonian because aperture wins and I wanted to see deep sky stuff bad... got it set up last week and M13 looked incredible, way better than I hoped. Now I'm wondering if I should have gone with the refractor for sharper planetary views, anyone else wrestle with this choice?

3 comments

c/auto-mechanics•

williamhenderson•22d ago

The valve cover gasket trick that saves me every time now

I got tired of fighting with valve cover gaskets that always seemed to leak again after a few months. No matter how clean I got the surfaces or how tight I torqued the bolts, they'd seep oil around the corners. Then a guy at the NAPA in Columbus told me to try using a thin bead of ultra black right in the corners where the timing cover meets the head. I did that on a 2007 Silverado I was working on and it's been bone dry for over 6 months now. The trick is you let the gasket sit in the cover groove with a little rtv in those trouble spots before you even put it on the engine. Has anyone else dealt with those pesky corner leaks on the 4.8 or 5.3?

4 comments

c/creative-writing-prompts•

williamhenderson•23d ago

That character prompt from 3 years ago still haunts me

I found a writing prompt last week from a 2022 thread about a ghost who only appears in reflections, and I spent 6 hours crafting a story about a guy who slowly realizes his mirror self is living a completely different life. The thing is, nobody replied to it and the thread got archived before I could post. Has anyone else poured time into a dead prompt and felt like you wasted your best idea?

3 comments

c/commercial-divers•

williamhenderson•24d ago

My old Diving hat from 1995 finally gave out on me

Last week I was doing a bridge inspection in Port Arthur, Texas and my old Desco hat started leaking around the neck dam. That hat was with me since my first job on the Gulf rigs back in 95. I had to switch to a new Kirby Morgan 21 I picked up at a salvage sale, and it just feels different, not bad, but not the same. Any of you guys hang onto gear way past its prime just because it worked?

3 comments

c/construction-tech•

williamhenderson•26d ago

That 'just use the cheap stud finder' advice cost me a whole afternoon

My buddy Mike who does finish work swore up and down that the $15 magnetic stud finder was all I needed. He said the electronic ones are just fancy gadgets that lie to you. Took his advice and started hanging cabinets in a kitchen remodel in Austin. First two cabinets went in fine, third one I drilled right into a copper pipe because that cheap thing didn't pick up the plumbing shield. Had to cut out the drywall, fix the pipe, and patch everything back up. Took me 5 hours to fix what should have been a 20 minute job. Anyone else ever trust bad advice from someone who should know better?

3 comments

c/air-fryer-recipes•

williamhenderson•28d ago

Switched from parchment paper to foil liners and never looked back

I used parchment paper for air frying for about 6 months but it kept blowing up and touching the heating element. My buddy at the shop told me to try the foil liners with holes, and after 3 batches of wings I was sold. Anyone else find one liner type works way better than the other?

3 comments

c/creative-writing-prompts•

williamhenderson•29d ago

The moment I realized my protagonist had no real goal

Last week I was staring at chapter 7 of my novel for the third night in a row. Nothing was happening, just scenes of my main character walking around and thinking. Then it hit me around 2 AM in my kitchen while making coffee. She had no actual want, no driving need that pushed her forward. I deleted three chapters and started over with her wanting something simple, a specific blue notebook her grandmother left behind.

3 comments

c/book-club-debates•

williamhenderson•1mo ago

Hit page 300 in a book I almost quit at page 50

Last month I nearly tossed a book club pick because it felt slow, but someone said to give it 100 pages. I finally got hooked around 150 and now I am 300 pages in. What made you stick with a book you hated at first?

3 comments

c/climate-action•

williamhenderson•1mo ago

I finally got why people freak out about gas stoves after my kitchen CO detector went off

Last month my carbon monoxide detector started chirping at 2am. Called the fire dept and they said my gas range was putting out 45 ppm even with the window cracked. I always rolled my eyes at the electric stove crowd but after that night I called a guy to cap the gas line and got an induction cooktop. Still getting used to it but at least I'm not wondering if I'm slowly poisoning my kids. Anyone else had a close call that made you switch?

3 comments