Amy Murphy (u/amy_murphy15)

Posts

Debate: Should cosmetologists charge for consultations or not?

I visited a salon in Austin last week where they charged $25 for a 15 minute color consultation before booking. Another stylist I know says it's a waste and free consults build trust. Which side do you fall on for your own business?

2 comments

c/barbers•

amy_murphy15•6d ago

Clipper vs. straight razor for bald fades - which side are you on?

Honestly, I been doing this five years and always used clippers for bald fades. But my buddy swears by straight razor for that super clean look and says clippers leave a shadow. I tried the razor last week on a regular and the skin was smooth as anything but it took me twice as long and I nicked his ear. Which do you guys lean toward for a clean bald fade that saves time?

2 comments

c/baking-fails-and-wins•

amy_murphy15•10d ago

My mother in law insisted I was overproofing my dough

She told me I was letting my sourdough rise for way too long and that 2 hours was plenty. I followed her advice and baked a flat, dense brick that nobody wanted to eat. Has anyone else had a family member give them baking advice that just didn't work out?

2 comments

c/bricklayers•

amy_murphy15•11d ago

Had a guy yell at me on site for mixing my mortar too wet

I was on a job in Brighton last Tuesday, just laying a garden wall, and this old timer walks over from next door. He watches me for a minute then shouts "you're making soup, not mortar!" right in front of my mate. I'd been doing it the same way for 2 years and never had a blowout or anything. Has anyone else had some random person critique their mix unasked?

2 comments

c/ai-innovations•

amy_murphy15•14d ago

Got an email from Google about my AI chatbot experiment being a waste of server space

I spent 3 months building a little AI assistant to help small business owners in Des Moines manage their inventory. It was just a side project, maybe 50 users. Then Google alerts me that my model was using 40 times more compute than average for the responses it was generating. That stat really surprised me, I thought I had optimized it pretty well. Has anyone else gotten flagged for inefficient model usage and had to redesign their whole pipeline?

2 comments

c/coding-for-beginners•

amy_murphy15•17d ago

Just realized Python's enumerate() saves me from writing ugly counter variables

Last week I was looping through a list and kept messing up my index variable, then a buddy showed me enumerate() and it cleaned up like 15 lines of code. Anybody else got a built-in function they ignored for way too long?

2 comments

c/concrete-finishers•

amy_murphy15•21d ago

Hit 100 yards of broom finish in a single pour yesterday

We were doing a big warehouse floor in Kansas City, and the boss said we had to broom it all in one shot. Everyone said it was too much area for a good finish. We set up three guys on ride-on trowels with brooms attached, ran them in a line, and kept the edges wet. It came out perfect, no cold joints or marks. Anyone ever try a broom job that big without stopping?

2 comments

c/florists•

amy_murphy15•26d ago

Honestly, I threw some leftover ranunculus stems in a bucket with a little bleach water on a whim last week.

Tbh, they lasted a full 14 days, which is wild for a delicate stem. Anyone else have weird little tricks that actually work?

2 comments

c/drafters•

amy_murphy15•26d ago

My first boss said to always draw the centerline first, and I finally get why

When I started drafting in 2007, my boss at that small firm in Omaha had this rule: the first line on any floor plan had to be the centerline of the main wall. I thought it was just some old school habit, a waste of time when I could just start drawing walls. For years after I left that job, I ignored it and built plans from the outside in. Then I got a huge remodel project last month, a 1920s house with nothing square. I spent hours fixing dimensions that wouldn't close because my starting point was off. In a fit of frustration, I cleared the screen and drew that single centerline down the middle of the existing structure. Everything else, the new walls, the openings, just fell into place from that one line. It locked the whole chaotic layout into something I could actually work from. Has anyone else had a simple piece of advice they brushed off for years before it finally clicked?

2 comments

c/furniture-finishers•

amy_murphy15•27d ago

Question about stripping old shellac from a 1920s oak dresser

Last week I got a piece from a house in the old part of town, and the shellac was so thick it felt like plastic. I tried denatured alcohol like always, but after 3 hours it was barely lifting. My buddy Mike said to just sand it, but I'm worried about losing the original detail on the legs. Anyone have a better way to get that old shellac off without wrecking the wood?

2 comments

Recent Comments

1d ago

Can we talk about how much fence posts sink in clay soil after a wet spring?

The Denver clay is no joke, my buddy out there uses 80lb bags of quickcrete with gravel tamped in around the base instead of just dumping gravel in the hole.

1d ago

Overheard someone at the hardware store say you need 2 square feet for a worm bin and I'm not sure I believe it...

Totally feel you on the tight space struggle, I've been there. I tried bokashi in my old micro apartment and honestly it was kind of a nightmare. @amyb54 is spot on with the pickle smell thing, mine ended up smelling like fermenting trash for two whole months no matter how careful I was. The bucket itself isn't huge but you still need room to drain the liquid and store the bran stuff, plus you gotta bury the scraps somewhere which is impossible if you don't have a balcony or yard. Worms actually work way better for small countertops since a 10 gallon bin fits fine and they don't stink if you don't overfeed them. I'd say skip the bokashi unless you've got a garage or patio to keep it on because that smell really lingers. Maybe look into a small worm bin that can sit under a stool or on a shelf near your kitchen, that's what finally worked for me.

7d ago

Old timer at the supply house dropped a tip about prefilling butt joints

Hot mud shrinks but man does it make that first pass easier.

8d ago

My fridge died on Christmas Eve and I lost $400 worth of food

Wait, did your friend have to deal with water all over the floor the night before her big day? That sounds like a total nightmare, @vera_sanchez. I swear, appliances have this terrible timing, like they wait for the worst possible moment to break down. My dishwasher broke last month in the middle of a dinner party I was hosting, and I had to hand wash everything while everyone stared at me. I'm pretty sure my washing machine is just biding its time until the next holiday gathering to explode on me. At least your friend has a story to laugh about now, even if it probably wasn't funny at all back then.

8d ago

That cheap multimeter I bought on eBay actually passed calibration somehow

Built a little power supply kit last weekend and used one of those $15 meters from Amazon to check the voltages. It read 12.04V on a rail that my old Fluke said was 12.02V, so close enough for hobby stuff. I think the Chinese factories are cranking out decent components now, especially for basic DC measurements. Just don't trust them near mains voltage or high frequency stuff, that's where the real difference shows up.