Kai Park (u/kai_park)

Posts

Smoked my first brisket for 14 hours and missed the stall entirely

I was running my offset at 275F in Austin and the meat sat at 160F for what felt like forever, so I cranked the fire thinking something was broken. My buddy walked over and said "that's the stall, wrap it or wait it out" and I felt like a total fool for ignoring the probe reading. Has anyone else had that moment where a simple term like the stall made them rethink years of guessing?

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c/career-advice•

kai_park•2d ago

My old manager's 'fail fast' advice finally bit me in Denver

Back in 2019 my first boss told me to always apply for the job even if I didn't meet half the requirements, so I did and landed a role I was totally unqualified for, then got let go in 8 months because I couldn't deliver the basics, has anyone else found that applying to everything just sets you up for a rougher fall?

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c/auto-mechanics•

kai_park•3d ago

Finally fixed a rattling heat shield I'd been ignoring for a year

Last month I got tired of the racket on my 2012 F-150, so I crawled under it on a Sunday morning and found a cracked bracket on the rear shield near the muffler. Took maybe 40 minutes with a stainless steel hose clamp and some high-temp zip ties, cost me $3. Anyone else patch things up like this or do you always weld it?

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c/crane-operators•

kai_park•7d ago

Hit 10,000 hours on my Grove today, weird feeling

Clocked my 10,000th hour on the same Grove RT530E this morning, which is the first time I've ever hit that mark on a single machine. It made me think about all the picks it's done and how it still tracks straight, even after a decade of dirt and rain. Anyone else keep a log of hours per crane, or is that just my OCD showing?

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c/alarm-system-installers•

kai_park•9d ago

Unpopular take: I dropped the cellular backup module on residential jobs

Pulled the LTE module off the last 14 installs I did around Tulsa and stuck with plain old landline dialing. My supplier pushed the wireless add-on hard for the RMR, but customers here lose power every other storm and the battery drain on those units is brutal. Swapped over after a 2022 outage left 3 clients with dead panels because the cellular module ate the backup battery in 6 hours. Landline never fails if the copper is alive, and I check voltage drop at the demarc every time now. Anyone else finding the wireless hype overrated for budget homes?

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c/ai-ethics-arena•

kai_park•11d ago

My old professor's AI grading shortcut saved me 20 hours this semester

Dr. Chen from my undergrad told me to use ChatGPT just for rubric scoring, not writing feedback, so I tried it on 80 essays last week and the consistency was spot on. Has anyone else automated parts of grading and felt guilty about it, or is that just my 'ethics' hangup?

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c/boilermakers•

kai_park•12d ago

Visited the union hall in Gary and they changed the whole apprentice setup

Stopped by Local 374's hall in Gary last Thursday to pick up some paperwork and noticed they redid their whole training bay. They got 6 new welding booths and a pipe fitting simulator that cost like $40k, pretty wild for a hall that was barely holding together 5 years ago. The old timer running the place said they had to rework the apprentice schedule from 4 years down to 3 to match demand from the new battery plants. Has anyone else seen their local put money into simulators instead of just more stick time? I'm curious if that's the direction everywhere now.

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c/digital-art-showcase•

kai_park•14d ago

My tablet pen died mid-painting at a comic convention demo table

Last Saturday I was doing a live digital painting demo at a local con in Austin, showing people my process on a small tablet setup. About 15 minutes in, my stylus just stopped responding, no battery warning or anything. I had a spare pen in my bag but forgot the nibs at home, so I tried drawing with my finger, which looked terrible. The crowd was small, maybe 12 people, but I felt really exposed fumbling around. I ended up switching to a basic brush tool and explaining the sketch roughs instead of finishing the piece. I now carry two full pen kits plus a backup tablet whenever I do public showcases. Has anyone else had gear fail exactly when they were trying to impress a room full of strangers?

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c/controversial-comfort-foods•

kai_park•16d ago

Cold mac and cheese finally makes sense to me now

I always thought eating leftover mac and cheese straight from the fridge was gross, but my sister in law kept doing it and said the cheese gets firmer and the noodles turn chewy like a snack. She dared me to try a forkful last Friday and I got why people do it, the texture totally changes in a good way. Anyone else convert to cold pasta after years of reheating?

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c/coffee-enthusiasts•

kai_park•17d ago

Barista told me my shots were bitter, took 2 weeks to fix my dose

I've been pulling espresso at home for about 4 years with the same grinder and always thought my coffee tasted fine. Last month a friend who works at a shop in Portland tried my shot and said it was bitter and over extracted. He told me to weigh my dose instead of eyeballing it, so I grabbed a cheap scale and started tracking. Turns out I was putting in almost 20 grams for a double when my basket really wants 16. After adjusting and timing 30 seconds or so, the flavor opened up way more. Anyone else get called out by a pro and found a simple fix like this?

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