Vent: I used to think scanning a site was just about finding walls, but after the 2021 ground-penetrating radar survey at Jamestown, I realized it's about seeing the whole story underneath.

Has anyone else had a dig completely change how you approach field work from the very first day?

I tried discussing a new show on a big subreddit versus a small dedicated forum, and the forum was way better.

Vent: I paid $500 for a fancy project management tool and it just made me slower

I signed up for a year of 'FlowPro' thinking it would help me keep track of all my client work. It was so full of charts and reports that I spent more time updating it than actually doing the work. After three months, I went back to my old paper planner and a simple spreadsheet. Has anyone else tried a tool that just ended up being a time sink?

Showerthought: We spent 3 months testing a 'fair' hiring algorithm against basic resume screening. The old way was way more fair.

I paid $80 for a 'premium' password manager that just locked me out of my own accounts.

I finally looked up at the sky on my drive home from work last Tuesday and saw something I can't explain.

Warning: I saw a stranger's journal at a coffee shop in Portland and it broke my system

I was at a place called Case Study Coffee about two years ago. The person next to me had their journal open, and I saw they used a single page for a whole month's tasks, not a daily log. They just had a big list with tiny checkboxes. I'd been doing daily spreads for years, filling maybe half a page each day. That night I tried their way. I saved 15 pages in my Leuchtturm that month. Now my weekly log is just one page with a rolling task list. Has anyone else switched from daily to a more condensed format and stuck with it?

My 'can't miss' show turned into a total snooze fest last weekend

I started that new space show everyone was talking about on Friday night. By episode three, I was checking my phone more than the screen. The big twist was obvious from the first scene and the characters just stood around talking about their feelings. I gave it two more episodes on Saturday before I finally turned it off and watched a movie instead. Has anyone else tried to stick with a show that was just painfully boring?

I finally stopped using a garden hose for my float water

For years I'd just run a cheap hose from the spigot and drag it through the mud. Last month in Phoenix, the heat made the hose water way too hot and it set the surface way too fast. Now I keep a dedicated 5-gallon cooler with ice water just for my float, and the difference in work time is huge. Anyone else have a weird old habit they finally broke?

Stopped by a roadside spot in Lockhart and the brisket was different

I was driving through Texas last month and pulled into a place I used to visit years ago. The pitmaster is the same guy, but he swapped his old offset for a big pellet smoker. The bark was still good, but the smoke flavor was just not as deep as I remember. Has anyone else noticed a change like that when a place switches their main cooker?