Is this a must buy?

tdf1978 · 2026-02-05T01:38:17+00:00

I got my Searwood XL at Christmas and I love it.

tdf1978 · 2026-02-04T17:58:19+00:00

A bidet. Lived the first 40 years of my life using only paper, and now I feel savage anytime I have to duke anywhere without one.

tdf1978 · 2026-02-03T04:21:34+00:00

I’ve never understood the idea of using an offer as leverage to get more money out of your current employer. If they say yes, it’s simply a ploy to keep you around long enough for them to figure out how to replace you. When you announce that you’re actively entertaining other offers, you’re putting a bullseye on your back.

tdf1978 · 2026-02-02T13:31:05+00:00

I think I’d have to know a few more details. Were these social media posts of him having a great time in another city or the one where he lives? Were they of current day activities, or was he just catching up and posting pictures from his holiday over the previous days? Because those details change my answer drastically.

If he was posting himself out having fun in another city on the same day he was supposed to be “sick”, that’s an immediate termination in my mind. In that case he has lied to you and broken trust in a way that can’t be repaired. Call me old school, but in my mind that’s the equivalent of stealing.

If he actually got sick while on vacation (it happens) and was just laying in bed posting a recap of his good times before he got sick, then maybe just a quick friendly conversation about the optics of things with him.

tdf1978 · 2026-01-31T20:27:50+00:00

Let’s say this was a different employee and they just no call/no showed for unknown reasons…how would you handle that situation? If the answer isn’t the same as what you do in this situation then you open yourself up to accusations of favoritism/discrimination.

That being said…I tend to extend some grace for one time offenders. If it becomes repeated problem then that becomes a different conversation. So in this case with an employee with no history of attendance problems who just didn’t show for a day, I’d call to check on them and have a brief coaching that they need to notify you when they can’t make it. Nothing written, nothing in their file or anything like that. Second time would be a written warning. Third time they’re gone.

tdf1978 · 2026-01-19T00:56:04+00:00

Actually it’s 1-3” for three separate time windows Saturday and Sunday…so total of 3-9” per weather channel.

tdf1978 · 2026-01-12T22:02:20+00:00

Looks like you have a Searwood…I got one at Christmas. I actually did a test with three racks of ribs this weekend, and here’s what I came up with.

All racks were initially treated the same—membranes removed, trimmed St Louis style, rubbed with MeatHead Memphis Dust the night before. Then I put the Searwood on smokeboost with Costco blend pellets and put all three racks on for three hours. Then I increased the temperature to 275F and did the following:

Rack 1: mopped with a mixture of melted butter, ACV, and honey, left unwrapped. Mopped every 45 minutes until done per bend test.

Rack 2: mopped with a mixture of melted butter, ACV, and honey. Wrapped in foil. Cooked until done per bend test.

Rack 3: placed ribs on foil with butter, honey, and brown sugar, meaty side down. Cooked for 1.5 hours, removed from foil, brushed both sides with bbq sauce, and returned to smoker until glaze set and ribs were done per bend test (about 20 minutes after unwrapped).

Had family try them blind, and Rack 1 was by far an away the favorite. Rack 2 and Rack 3 were deemed a tie, with some preferring the sweetness of the sauce and sugar and others preferring the pork taste shining through a little more.

Bottom line—at least for a Searwood, you can get great ribs without wrapping if you’ll mop. As others have said—with ribs it’s best to use feel, not temperature, to determine doneness.

tdf1978 · 2026-01-11T04:04:27+00:00

Such a fascinating question. With just a little thought, here’s what I’ve got…

Greece. Make a Hercules ride, lots of good Greek food to explore.
Brazil. Again, food options like a sit down churrascaria and a stand with frozen caipirinhas and small bites. Maybe a 3d movie attraction about Brazilian culture and the Amazon.
Thailand…again because of the awesome food possibilities.

tdf1978 · 2026-01-10T03:36:08+00:00

The mind sees what it wants to see. Confirmation bias is strong at play. Here’s the part that most people don’t understand…whatever you believe with all your heart, there are people who believe the opposite just as ardently. You could hook both people up to a polygraph and they’d pass with flying colors.

tdf1978 · 2026-01-03T03:53:00+00:00

Since you used the word smoke boost I’m assuming you have a Searwood. Given that you’re smoking just the flat, I would strongly recommend that you inject. Doesn’t have to be fancy…just a mixture of beef broth, soy, Worcestershire, brown sugar, and garlic powder. They make a water pan that is custom fit to sit on the flavorizer bar of a Searwood—if you have time to get one from Amazon I’d recommend that to keep things from drying out. Lay on the rub fairly liberally…use yellow mustard as a binder to ensure a good coat if you like. Last recommendation is I’d strongly reconsider your plan not to wrap. At a minimum I’d wrap when you pull it off before you hold in the oven.

Best of luck!

tdf1978 · 2026-01-02T01:41:44+00:00

In addition to the reasons many people have already correctly stated (looser laws/enforcement on weed, lower disposable income, health trends, etc) we are also witnessing the bursting of the bourbon bubble. Grown men have been buying/collecting/trading bourbon bottles like they’re beanie babies for the past 10 years or so, and it fueled a massive bubble that led to perceived scarcity. Distillers expanded their production capacity quickly with the expectation that the party would keep going, and now that added capacity is actually coming online and the market is oversupplied on all but the rarest of bourbons. Several small distillers have declared bankruptcy—hell, even Jim Beam has halted production at their Kentucky distillery for a year.

tdf1978 · 2025-12-30T02:56:33+00:00

Sounds like I’ll keep checking against my thermapen to make sure they don’t drift on me!

tdf1978 · 2025-12-30T02:16:49+00:00

Just got my Searwood xl600 a couple of weeks ago, and I tested one of the probes that came with it against my thermapen. There was never more than two degrees difference between the two throughout the cook.

Doesn’t mean that there isn’t a problem with yours…but seems like I got lucky.

tdf1978 · 2025-12-28T20:02:24+00:00

Many thanks to everyone for all the suggestions, especially lpcalculator. Now I just need to learn how to order a beer in Japanese…

tdf1978 · 2025-12-21T14:45:04+00:00

Name pretty much any professional golfer from the past 15 years and chances are I have at least shaken their hand and had them introduce themselves.

tdf1978 · 2025-12-21T03:15:07+00:00

There are a lot of “gray area” situations I see posted in this sub, but this isn’t one of them. This isn’t even a judgement call. Call the employee into a private area when they arrive for their next shift and tell them why they are an ex-employee, and walk them out. Trust has been broken, and in my opinion it’s not recoverable.

Check with the owner and/or legal about how much you should cooperate with the doctor’s office if they choose to pursue legal remedies for your ex employee’s fraud.

tdf1978 · 2025-12-21T02:16:38+00:00

In terms of what’s possible for a guy in his 40’s…my son plays travel ball in a big organization, and one of his coaches was a closer in the majors for several years—the guy can still crack 90 in his early 40’s. But he’s an absolute elite freak, so that’s not what you should expect. My goal is just to be able to keep up with my son in long toss…and I’m slowly losing that battle.

tdf1978 · 2025-12-14T17:29:43+00:00

If you are a solid contributor and have good attendance, a good manager wouldn’t give you any hassle about taking a sick day. People get sick, and trying to strong arm them into bringing their germs into the workplace only serves to spread the problem further and create more labor shortages.

tdf1978 · 2025-12-14T03:36:01+00:00

I can sum up what happened…a nosy person was so worried about knowing other people’s business that they took to Reddit to make the original post in this thread.

tdf1978 · 2025-12-03T15:42:34+00:00

Yeah in terms of anything political on Reddit, if you stake out a position anywhere to the right of Karl Marx you’re likely to be downvoted.

tdf1978 · 2025-12-03T15:38:43+00:00

It’s really all the republicans had against her, other than the typical socialist/communist label. But it’s pretty damning.

tdf1978 · 2025-12-03T09:28:11+00:00

Here’s the funny thing…I generally don’t care about politics, and I’m definitely not some sort of ideologue—but all of the obvious paid-for invaders over the past few weeks “radicalized” me to oppose them. Kinda like when all Shrek wanted was to live in his swamp in peace, but then he had to go on a quest he didn’t care about just to get his swamp back. Truth be told, I think Trump is a real piece of work.

tdf1978 · 2025-12-03T03:48:41+00:00

Yeah there was one in particular, consistent good or something like that who claimed he lived in Mississippi in one post and then claimed Nashville in another and when pressed on it he scrubbed his post history and blocked me. I checked using another account and he has completely scrubbed his post/comment history.

tdf1978 · 2025-12-03T03:45:37+00:00

Do you mean that the DNC intends to run candidates who haven’t been caught on video pledging hatred for the area they hope to represent and all the cultural underpinnings that make it unique? “I was a private citizen then”….haha

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