Spent $45 on a "premium" sketchbook and it bleeds through every time I use a marker

I picked up this fancy Strathmore sketchbook at the art store downtown because I wanted to treat myself. It was like $45 for a 60 page book and I thought it would handle my Copic markers no problem. Nope - the ink bleeds straight through to the next page on every single color I try. Has anyone else had this issue with their so-called premium paper?

Overheard a guy at the Calgary Stampede breakfast brag about closing a deal in 10 minutes

I was grabbing a pancake at that Chamber breakfast last Thursday and this guy in a suit says to his buddy 'I closed a $15,000 contract just by asking what their biggest headache was.' He didn't pitch anything, just listened for 10 minutes and then offered a solution. It made me rethink how I approach conversations at these networking events because I usually just hand out my card and talk about my concrete work. Anyone else notice that the best salespeople barely talk about what they sell?

Found a hidden gem for networking at the Edmonton Chamber mixer last month

I went to the Chamber of Commerce mixer at the Sutton Place hotel back in February and felt like I was just handing out cards to people who didn't remember me five minutes later. Then I hung back near the coffee station and started asking folks about their biggest headache in their business right now. Got three solid leads and a referral to a bookkeeper named Susan by just listening instead of pitching. Has anyone else had better luck ditching the elevator pitch at these events?

My tablet pen died mid-stroke at the Atlanta digital art expo last weekend

Overheard a guy at the hardware store bragging about his $80 caulk gun and I had to bite my tongue

I was picking up some painter's tape and this dude is telling his friend he spent 80 bucks on a caulk gun for his bathroom remodel. I wanted to say something so bad but I kept quiet. I've been using the same $8 caulk gun from the big box store for 7 years and my bathroom caulk lines look fine. No drips, no mess, just steady pressure and a wet finger at the end. I get that fancy tools have their place but a caulk gun is basically a metal tube with a plunger. What did that 80 dollar one do, caulk the tile for him while he watched TV? Has anyone else seen people drop crazy money on simple tools they don't need?

That talk with the shop owner about my comic pulls changed how I collect

I was at Cosmic Comics in Brooklyn last Saturday and the owner Mike saw my stack of 12 new issues, all number ones. He asked why I was chasing first issues instead of sticking with a run I actually liked. It hit me that I was treating my pulls like betting on stocks instead of just reading stuff that makes me happy. Now I'm going back through my old boxes and pulling out runs I never finished. Anyone else ever have a shop worker call them out like that?

Old timer told me to stop stretching against the grain and I fought him on it for 2 years

Guy named Hank who's been laying since the 70s watched me fighting a hump on a berber install in Louisville and said 'you're pulling the wrong way, kid.' Took me way too long to realize he meant running the power stretcher parallel to the backing instead of across it. Anybody else have to learn the hard way from a crusty vet?

An old timer told me to stop driving finish nails so deep into baseboard

He said the wood expands and contracts and you'll get those little dents showing through the paint after a season change. Has anyone else dealt with nail pops coming back after a few months?

Took me 6 months to figure out MARTA bus transfers work way different than the train

Hit 100 password resets for one user and had to step back

I manage accounts for a small office, about 40 people. One user kept calling me every few weeks to reset his password because he forgot it. After the 100th reset over 2 years, I finally asked him what system he used. He said he wrote passwords on sticky notes under his keyboard. I showed him a free password manager and he hasn't called once in 6 months. Has anyone else run into that kind of stubborn behavior with simple fixes?