Phoenix Lewis (u/phoenix_lewis)

Posts

TIL my local library has a streaming service for shows

I went to the public library in Portland last week to return some books and noticed they had a sign about Kanopy, which lets you stream movies and shows for free with a library card. I signed up on the spot and binged a whole documentary series about ancient Rome over the weekend. Has anyone else tried their library's streaming options or found any hidden gems on there?

3 comments

c/boilermakers•

phoenix_lewis•2d ago

Blew a gasket on a 6 inch line before I figured out my torque pattern was off

Was working a pressure vessel repair at the Marathon refinery in Gary last month and kept getting leaks on the same bolt every time. Turned out I was tightening them all in a circle instead of cross-pattern. Took a 20 year veteran pointing at my wrench and saying 'you're fighting yourself, kid' for it to click. Anyone else learn basic stuff way later than they should have?

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c/camping-gear-reviews•

phoenix_lewis•3d ago

That time my tent pole snapped in a thunderstorm at 2am

I was camped at Dale Hollow Lake last spring when a storm rolled in around 1am. My three year old cheap tent pole just gave up and snapped, leaving the whole thing sagging on my face. Had to tape it with duct tape and hold it up with my trekking pole for the rest of the night. Anyone else had a tent fail on them in bad weather and had to MacGyver a fix?

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c/book-club-debates•

phoenix_lewis•8d ago

Overheard a guy at Starbucks say he skips the first 50 pages of every book

He was dead serious. Said he jumps straight to chapter 4 because 'that's where the plot actually starts.' My book club read 'The Left Hand of Darkness' last month and I can't imagine skipping the opening on Gethen. What do you do when someone in your group admits they skipped half the book?

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c/cybersecurity-tips•

phoenix_lewis•10d ago

Shoutout to the guy who told me to stop using 'password' as my wifi name

I had a customer at my shop who pointed out my network was broadcasting my last name and model number of the router. Changed the SSID to something generic and turned off SSID broadcast after that, now I feel way less exposed.

3 comments

c/botany-lovers•

phoenix_lewis•12d ago

My neighbor told me to stop babying my bonsai and I thought he was nuts

So this old guy down the street, Mr. Cho, has been growing bonsai for like 40 years. I was out trimming my little juniper last spring and he walks over and says I'm overwatering and pruning too often. He said just let it sit in the sun and ignore it for 2 weeks. I wanted to argue but he pointed at my tree's yellowing leaves and just laughed. After 3 weeks of his method, the leaves turned dark green and it started pushing new growth like crazy. Turns out all that fussing I was doing was stressing the roots out. Has anyone else had a "hands off" tip from an old timer that actually worked better than the book way?

3 comments

c/credit-advice•

phoenix_lewis•13d ago

My credit monitoring service failed to alert me about a $15 late payment

Honestly, I thought I had autopay set up on my utility bill, but last month I missed a $15 payment by two days. My credit monitoring service, which I pay $20 a month for, didn't send me any alert until 3 weeks later when my score dropped 40 points. I called the utility company and they agreed to remove the late mark as a goodwill gesture since it was my first miss in 5 years. Has anyone else had a monitoring service fail to catch something small but important like that?

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c/digital-privacy-wars•

phoenix_lewis•14d ago

Last month my phone kept buzzing me with ads for stuff I talked about near my work desk

It's the same reason I never tell Siri anything I actually need to buy now. I think they're using ambient data from your mic combined with your location patterns to predict what you want. Have you checked if your phone has a microphone access list that looks suspicious?

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c/detroit-tech-and-biz•

phoenix_lewis•1mo ago

That feedback from a client on my packaging design changed how I approach fonts

A guy who runs a small coffee shop in Ferndale told me my logo was hard to read on a menu board from 6 feet away. I was using this thin modern font that looked great on screen but up on a wall it just blurred together. Switched to a bold sans-serif for anything that needs to be seen from a distance. Has anyone else had to redo work because of a simple real world test like that?

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c/bad-movie-appreciation•

phoenix_lewis•1mo ago

Switched from watching bad movies alone to hosting a monthly group screening night

Used to just suffer through The Room by myself in my apartment, but after dragging three buddies to watch Miami Connection last fall, now we take turns picking the worst stuff we can find on streaming services, what's your go-to strategy for roping people into these train wrecks?

3 comments