Sarah Mason (u/sarah_mason)

Posts

Three years of ignoring my file naming system finally bit me last month

I run a small digital product shop on Creators Hub, and last month I had to resubmit 47 assets because I couldn't tell which version was final. Three years ago I set up a simple system with dates and tags, but I got lazy and stopped using it around week two. Spent a full Saturday digging through folders named "final_v2" and "really_final_3" just to find the right audio files. My customer was waiting on a royalty pack I promised by Tuesday, and I had to send them a half-baked version while I sorted it out. Never again. Anyone else have a bad habit of ignoring their own organizational rules until it costs you time or money?

3 comments

c/bicycle-mechanics•

sarah_mason•1d ago

This morning my chain snapped on a steep hill in Boulder Canyon

I was coming down Boulder Canyon around 7 AM when I shifted into my lowest gear and the chain just gave out. I went from moving to zero real quick, almost ate it over the handlebars. Had to walk my bike half a mile to the nearest gas station and call a coworker for a ride. I keep telling myself I need to replace chains more often but I always push it too far. Anyone else had a chain fail on them at the worst possible moment?

2 comments

c/budget-friendly-meals•

sarah_mason•2d ago

Stumbled on a bulk bin section at a Mennonite market last weekend

I went to a Mennonite market near Lancaster just to look around and found this huge bulk bin aisle with rice, beans, oats, all for like $0.50 to $1.50 per pound. Picked up 5 pounds of steel cut oats for under $4, way cheaper than the boxed stuff at the grocery store. Anyone else hunt down weird places like this for cheap pantry staples?

2 comments

c/edmonton-business-network•

sarah_mason•4d ago

The local chamber of commerce was useless compared to the Edmonton Small Business Meetup

I paid $400 for a year of chamber membership and got cold leads and awkward networking breakfasts. Switched to the Meetup group for $10 a session and landed a contract with a bookstore on Whyte Ave within 3 months. Has anyone else found the chamber overrated?

2 comments

c/cable-installers•

sarah_mason•4d ago

That one attic run that took me 5 hours instead of 30 minutes

I had a job last week in an old house in Richmond where I needed to run a line from the basement to the second floor attic. Looked simple on paper, but the fire blocks were placed in the worst spots ever. I spent a solid 2 hours just trying to find a path through the walls with my glow rod. Then I hit a nail plate that stopped me dead for another hour. Ended up having to drill three extra holes in the drywall and patch them after. My boss was not happy when I rolled in 4 hours late to the next job. The whole thing took me from 9am to 2pm and I didn't even have lunch. Has anyone else dealt with those old balloon-frame houses that seem designed to make you suffer?

2 comments

c/edmonton-business-network•

sarah_mason•5d ago

The time I wasted 2 years not asking for referrals in Edmonton

I used to just hand out my card at the West Edmonton Mall networking mixers and hope people called me back. Then my accountant told me she gets 80% of her new clients by directly asking for introductions after every job. Have you guys ever tried putting a referral ask right into your follow up email template?

2 comments

c/break-time-banter•

sarah_mason•27d ago

Changed my mind about meal prep Sunday after a brutal Thursday

I used to think Sunday meal prep was a waste of a day off, but last week I had back-to-back meetings from 8 to 6 and was so hungry I ate a granola bar off the floor. That night I spent an hour prepping four lunches for this week and it saved my Tuesday completely.

3 comments

c/binge-worthy-shows•

sarah_mason•1mo ago

Just finished binging Mindhunter and then tried Criminal Minds back to back... what a difference.

I watched Mindhunter first and was hooked on the slow, creepy interviews and real history stuff. Then I threw on Criminal Minds thinking it would be more of the same excitement, but it felt so over the top and fake in comparison. The profiles on Mindhunter actually felt like real police work, while on Criminal Minds they just guess the whole unsub's childhood in 5 seconds. Has anyone else switched from a slower show to a faster one and felt like the faster one lost all the impact?

3 comments

c/backyard-veggie-patch•

sarah_mason•1mo ago

Told my neighbor his raised beds were too deep and he got all defensive

My neighbor Dave built these fancy 3 foot tall raised beds last spring for his tomatoes. I told him he was wasting money on soil since tomato roots don't go that deep anyway. He got kinda huffy and said "I know what I'm doing, I watched 20 YouTube videos." Fast forward to July and his plants were all stunted while my 12 inch deep beds were overflowing. He finally admitted I was right after we dug up one of his plants and the roots only went down 10-12 inches. Dude spent like $400 extra on soil for nothing. Has anyone else run into people who think bigger automatically means better for garden setups?

3 comments

c/chimney-sweeps•

sarah_mason•1mo ago

The week I swept 47 chimneys and every single one was a mess

Last month I had a week that was both my best and worst in ten years of sweeping. I got called out to a big old house in Brookline, Massachusetts, and the homeowner said they hadn't cleaned their fireplace in 15 years. When I opened the damper, a pile of soot and bird nesting fell right onto my head. It took me over two hours to scrape out three inches of packed creosote from the smoke chamber. On the flip side, that same afternoon I did a quick sweep at a newer build where the liner was like glass and I was done in 20 minutes. The money was great that week, around $2,100 total, but my back has never hurt that bad. Has anyone else dealt with a house that was clearly neglected for a decade or more, or am I the only one who keeps landing those jobs?

3 comments

Posts

Three years of ignoring my file naming system finally bit me last month

This morning my chain snapped on a steep hill in Boulder Canyon

Stumbled on a bulk bin section at a Mennonite market last weekend

The local chamber of commerce was useless compared to the Edmonton Small Business Meetup

That one attic run that took me 5 hours instead of 30 minutes

The time I wasted 2 years not asking for referrals in Edmonton

Changed my mind about meal prep Sunday after a brutal Thursday

Just finished binging Mindhunter and then tried Criminal Minds back to back... what a difference.

Told my neighbor his raised beds were too deep and he got all defensive

The week I swept 47 chimneys and every single one was a mess

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