The day a squirrel set off every motion sensor in a 12-unit building

Got a frantic call from a property manager in Springfield about a full system alarm at their new apartment block, with every single zone showing motion. Rushed over expecting the worst, only to find a very angry, very lost gray squirrel bouncing off the walls in the main hallway. It took me, the manager, and a guy from the landscaping crew with a broom about twenty minutes to guide it back outside. Has anyone else had a small animal cause a total system meltdown?

Watching my phone die at a concert in Denver made me rethink battery packs.

I was recording a video and it went from 40% to dead in under five minutes. Now I'm looking for a power bank that can actually handle video recording, any good ones under $50?

Saw a poster in a coffee shop that used a single color in a way I never thought of

I was at a place called The Daily Grind yesterday and they had a new poster for a local band. The whole thing was just different shades of green, no other colors at all. It made the band name pop out way more than I expected. I always thought you needed contrast from different colors, but this showed me how much you can do with just one. Has anyone else seen a design that changed their mind about a basic rule like that?

I always used a standard brush for my 8-inch flues, but after trying a poly brush on a job in Springfield last month, the difference was night and day.

I've been weighing my flour wrong for years and it took a customer complaint to show me.

My neighbor in Phoenix showed me how to turn leftover rice into a whole new meal

She fried it with a couple eggs and some frozen peas from her freezer, plus a dash of soy sauce. It was a full dinner for basically nothing. What other cheap add-ins do you use for fried rice?

Update: I just realized my 'emergency fund' was way too small

My truck needed a $1,200 transmission repair last month and I had to put it on a credit card. That's when I saw my savings were only for small stuff, not real problems. Anyone else have a rule for how much cash they actually keep on hand?

A client meeting in Denver made me rethink my whole contract setup

I was at a coffee shop on Colfax Avenue going over a simple website project with a new client. They agreed to everything, signed the contract, then asked for three 'small' extra features that would have taken 20 extra hours. I had to decide between eating the cost or having a tough talk about scope creep. Do you always build in a buffer for extra requests, or do you charge for every single change?

I realized my neckline check was making clients tense up

A regular in my chair in Akron finally said 'you always push my head down so hard' after his cut last month. I was just trying to get a clean line, but I guess my hand pressure was way too aggressive. How do you guys check your work without making people uncomfortable?

TIL that the old school carpet tacks I used to hate are actually making a comeback for some high end jobs. Read it in a trade magazine at the supply house.