My buddy swears by a pinch of cinnamon in his chili, which sounded weird but actually works.

Yeah the "eyeballing the water" thing got me too. I used to think scales were just for people who were way too into it. My coffee was always kinda sour or bitter, never right. Started weighing my beans and water, turns out I was using like 10 grams too much coffee every time. That little $20 scale fixed more than any fancy grinder I bought first.

Diagonal boards are actually a great, solid base.