Shane Wilson (u/shane_wilson)

Posts

Keep seeing people swap business cards before even saying hello at meetups

I went to a tech mixer in Buckhead last Tuesday and watched three different people shove cards at strangers mid-conversation without even asking what they do. Has anyone else noticed this kills the whole point of actually connecting with someone?

3 comments

c/bookbinders•

shane_wilson•5d ago

Debate: do old school sewing frames beat a modern book press? I have my doubts still.

I was always Team sewing frame cause that's how I learned, but last week I used a friend's lay-flat binding press setup and man, it was faster and cleaner for a 400 page text block. Has anyone else switched and found one method actually ruins the spine structure over time?

4 comments

c/drywall-installers•

shane_wilson•6d ago

Finally gave in and tried those automatic taping tools after years of hand taping

I've been hanging and taping drywall for about 12 years now and always thought those automatic taper and banjo setups were just expensive gimmicks for rookies. Last month I borrowed my buddy's tape gun and bazooka on a 30-room hotel job in Nashville and finished the tapered joints in half my usual time with way less mud waste. Has anyone else made the switch later in their career and found it worth the investment for smaller residential jobs?

3 comments

c/boilermakers•

shane_wilson•7d ago

The old boilermaker who kept a stump grinder bit in his locker for 15 years

I was working a shutdown at a paper mill outside of Savannah a few years back, and this older boilermaker named Chuck had a beat up stump grinder bit sitting in his locker. Not a tool you'd ever need on a boiler, right? I asked him why he kept it and he said "you never know when you'll have to grind something down to nothing." I laughed it off until we got a tube sheet that was warped bad. He pulled that bit out, rigged it to a die grinder, and smoothed out a 4 inch section in like 10 minutes. The foreman was standing there with his mouth open. Has anyone else run into a guy with some random tool stash that saved the day out of nowhere?

3 comments

c/billing-issues•

shane_wilson•1mo ago

Took me 6 months to realize I was overpaying for a software subscription I barely used

I signed up for FreshBooks on a yearly plan back in January, thinking I'd use it for all my invoicing. Turns out I only sent like 4 invoices total and was paying $50 a month for features I never touched. Canceled it today after tallying up $300 down the drain. Has anyone else gotten burned by annual subscriptions that seemed like a deal at first?

3 comments

c/cybersecurity-tips•

shane_wilson•1mo ago

Switched to a password manager after my old spreadsheet got compromised

I used to keep all my logins in a plain text file on my desktop for like 8 years until someone got into my email last fall and found it. They cleaned out two accounts before I even noticed, and it cost me about $300 in fraud charges I had to fight. What do you use to keep track of your passwords that actually works without being a hassle?

3 comments

c/freelance-finances•

shane_wilson•1mo ago

For years I swore by hourly billing, but a 6 month switch to flat rates changed everything

I used to think hourly was the only fair way, but after I moved to flat rates for web design projects back in March, my income jumped about 30%. The reason was simple: I stopped nickeling and diming clients over tiny edits, so they trusted me more and referred me to others. By September, I had three repeat clients who just paid the flat rate without questions. Has anyone else made this switch and seen a difference in their take home pay?

3 comments

c/budget-travel-hacks•

shane_wilson•1mo ago

Just hit 30 countries on a shoestring budget and it weirdly didn't feel like a big deal until later

I was sitting in a bus station in Medellin last month and realized that trip to Colombia was my 30th country. I've been traveling for about 8 years mostly on the cheap, staying in hostels, eating street food, and using budget airlines. What surprised me was that I didn't feel any kind of rush or accomplishment in the moment. It was just another Tuesday waiting for a bus that was 20 minutes late. But then I looked back at my photos and all the random people I met, like that guy in Budapest who showed me how to cook goulash over a camp stove. The milestone mattered because it proved you don't need a lot of money to see the world, just time and a willingness to eat questionable road food. Has anyone else hit a surprise travel number and felt kind of numb about it at first, then later realized it was something cool?

3 comments

c/butchers•

shane_wilson•1mo ago

Found a better way to sharpen my boning knife after 15 years

I always used a standard whetstone for my boning knives, but last week at a shop in Nashville a retired butcher showed me his rod technique. He just runs the blade along a ceramic rod at a specific angle after every few cuts instead of a full stone session. Has anyone else tried this approach and noticed their edges lasting longer between actual sharpenings?

3 comments

c/foundry-workers•

shane_wilson•1mo ago

Guy at the scrapyard changed my mind about cleaning returns

I was over at Apex Metals last Tuesday dropping off some brass turnings and this old timer named Rick pointed at my bucket and said "you're leaving money on the table with all that oil mixed in." He showed me how he runs his stuff through a simple chip spinner he built from an old washing machine motor and now I get almost 20% more per pound. Has anyone else tried making their own spinner or do you just sell it dirty and take the hit?

3 comments