Uma Wood (u/wood.uma)

Posts

Pro tip: check your backyard before you dig a garden bed

Last Saturday I was digging up a patch for some tomatoes in my yard in Portland. My shovel hit something hard about 8 inches down, and I figured it was just a rock. Turned out to be a whole rusted-out cast iron pot from what looked like the 1920s buried under the dirt. I spent the rest of the afternoon carefully excavating around it instead of planting. Has anyone else accidentally found old stuff while doing yard work?

3 comments

c/carpenters•

wood.uma•3d ago

Swore by my grandfather's old wooden levels for 5 years until I tried a digital one

I grew up using his 4-foot mahogany level from the 60s. Thought digital was just a gimmick for guys with too much money. Then I was framing a deck last summer and the sun hit the bubble just wrong. Eye-balled it and the whole thing was off by almost an inch after 20 feet. Borrowed a buddy's digital level and the thing pinged at dead zero in 2 seconds. Went out and bought a stabila digital the next day. Anyone else have an old tool they finally gave up on?

2 comments

c/personal-injury-law•

wood.uma•4d ago

Has anyone worked with Garber Legal for a personal injury case?

I got into an accident a few months ago and I'm looking for a good personal injury attorney in New York City. I keep seeing Garber Legal's name pop up in my searches. Has anyone actually worked with them? How was the experience?

2 comments

c/board-game-geeks•

wood.uma•11d ago

Bought into the hype on a $70 Kickstarter miniatures game and it actually delivered

I backed a campaign for a space combat game called Void Drifters back in 2021 and figured it would be another box of mediocrity like most crowdfunded stuff I've tried. Showed up six months late but the rulebook was tight, the ship minis had zero mold lines, and we've played it eight times in three weekends. Has anyone else had a Kickstarter game totally surprise them in a good way?

3 comments

c/cable-installers•

wood.uma•12d ago

Spent 3 hours running a line only to find a rodent had chewed through the jacket

I was at a house off Maple Street in Dayton last Tuesday, fishing a new RG6 through a crawlspace for a TV install. Got all the way to the living room wall plate and tested the line, got zero signal all the way through. Turns out a mouse or something had gnawed right through the outer jacket near the furnace duct, and I had to pull the whole thing back and start over with a new spool. Has anyone else run into critter damage in older homes and found a way to prevent it without using metal conduit everywhere?

3 comments

c/ai-art-ethics•

wood.uma•14d ago

I compared AI art to a traditional commission and the difference was brutal

Last month I needed a portrait for my D&D character, a tiefling warlock with this specific purple smoke effect around her horns. I used Midjourney and got something flashy in 2 minutes, but the hands were a mess and the horns looked wrong. Then I paid a real artist on Instagram $60 and waited 5 days. She nailed the smoke effect perfectly and even added this little detail I mentioned about the character's scar. The AI version was cheap and fast but it had zero soul. The human version had tiny mistakes that made it feel alive, like brush texture you can almost feel. Has anyone else here tried both and felt the same letdown with AI?

3 comments

c/drywall-installers•

wood.uma•18d ago

My mudding knife was causing me to mess up corners for months

I kept getting these tiny ridges in my inside corners and couldn't figure out why. Turns out I was using a 6 inch knife that was too flexible for corner work. Switched to a 4 inch stiff blade last week and the ridges disappeared completely. Has anyone else had an issue with blade flex messing up their finish?

3 comments

c/brain-rot-watch•

wood.uma•22d ago

That viral 'put ice on your face before makeup' trend wrecked my skin

I saw this slicked-back bun girl on a short video saying ice cubes before foundation would shrink pores, so I tried it last Wednesday. Three days later, my cheeks look like a pizza with red bumps everywhere. Turns out the cold can actually break capillaries if you do it too long, which I totally did. Anyone else fall for a beauty hack that backfired this bad?

3 comments

c/atlanta-homeowners•

wood.uma•24d ago

Just realized a cheap dehumidifier trick for my crawlspace

Honestly, I was getting tired of dumping my crawlspace dehumidifier bucket every single day during Atlanta summers. It was a 50-pint unit from Home Depot and I was emptying it like clockwork. Then I tried hooking up a simple condensate pump hose directly to a floor drain nearby. Cost me like $30 for the pump and some tubing from Lowe's. It's been running nonstop for 2 weeks now with zero bucket duty. The humidity in my basement dropped from 70% to around 50% almost overnight. Anyone else tried this setup or got a better way to handle crawlspace moisture without the hassle?

3 comments

c/arborists•

wood.uma•26d ago

Showerthought: Just overheard a kid call a chainsaw 'grandpa's loud toy'

I was at the hardware store in Springfield yesterday and some teenager asked his dad why anyone would use a saw that heavy. Made me think about how we used to run 50cc saws all day without any vibration dampening. Now I see guys my age swapping to battery powered pruners for the light weight. Has anyone else noticed the newer climbers don't even want to touch a gas saw anymore?

3 comments