Gray Miller (u/graymiller)

Posts

Used to throw all my sketch ideas into one messy notebook

Back in 2019 I had one spiral notebook where I crammed fabric swatches, pattern notes, and rough drawings all mixed together. It got impossible to find anything after about 3 months of that. Now I keep separate binders for each season - fall 2024 has its own book with clear page dividers. Has anyone else tried a system like this or do you just go digital with something like Procreate?

2 comments

c/budgeting-wins•

graymiller•1mo ago

Spent $40 on frozen pizzas before realizing my oven was dead

I was in the grocery store parking lot last Tuesday, bags of frozen pizzas in the trunk, when I noticed my oven wasn't heating up. Got home, checked the breaker, tested the outlet, nothing. Turned out the heating element had snapped clean in half. I ended up cooking all four pizzas on a camping grill in the backyard over the next two nights. Not a huge waste but definitely killed my planned meal budget for the week. Anyone else get blindsided by a broken appliance right after a big grocery run?

2 comments

c/anime-discussions•

graymiller•1mo ago

Fell for the hype and bought the $200 leather cover set

Got sucked into those Instagram ads for handmade leather notebooks. Spent $200 on a set with a cover and refills. The leather smells great but the paper bleeds through with any fountain pen. Super disappointed. Anybody else get burned by fancy stationery that doesn't actually work?

3 comments

c/cable-installers•

graymiller•1mo ago

My old crimper vs a $40 Klein. Night and day difference.

Been using this beat up crimper from my first tool kit for years. Finally bought a Klein ratcheting crimper last week for $42 at the supply house. First RG6 connector I did seated perfect first try. No more squeezing then checking then squeezing again. Has anyone else waited way too long to upgrade a basic tool?

3 comments

c/farriers•

graymiller•1mo ago

Am I the only farrier who thinks aluminum shoes get a bad rap?

I was up at a clinic in Salem, Oregon last month and heard a bunch of guys trashing aluminum shoes. Saying they wear out too fast and offer no real support for the hoof. I've been using them on a few of my horses for about 6 months now, specifically on a trail horse that does 20+ miles a week on gravel. The shoes held up fine, the horse moved way better, and I didn't see any abnormal wear until week 5 or 6. I get that steel is tougher for heavy duty work or big draft horses, but for your average riding horse on good ground, aluminum seems lighter and kinder on the joints. Has anyone else had good luck with them for certain cases?

2 comments

c/agency-growth•

graymiller•1mo ago

Stopped using Upwork for new clients 90 days ago and here's what happened

I used to spend 10 hours a week on Upwork proposals getting maybe 1 client every 2 weeks. Switched to cold emailing local businesses in my city, about 30 a day. In my first month I landed 3 clients paying $1,500 each instead of the $500 gigs I was competing for on there. The difference was I could show them photos of their neighbors' houses I cleaned instead of generic samples. Has anyone else dumped the bidding sites and gone direct? How did it work out for you?

2 comments

c/fermentation-station•

graymiller•1mo ago

Hit batch 100 on my hot sauce today, kinda weird milestone

I've been keeping a tally on the fridge for my fermented pepper sauces, and this morning I cracked open jar number 100. It's just a simple habanero mango I've made like 20 times before, but something about that round number got me. My wife laughed and said I should add confetti to the fermentation station. Did anyone else get oddly sentimental at a random batch count?

2 comments

c/design-portfolio-reviews•

graymiller•1mo ago

Fell for the fancy portfolio template trend and lost $180

2 comments

c/design-portfolio-reviews•

graymiller•1mo ago

I put a fake 'client feedback' note in my portfolio as a joke and someone took it seriously

I was showing my portfolio at a local design meetup in Portland last month. I had this one project page where I added a fake sticky note that said 'Client Note: Make the logo bigger. And maybe add a unicorn?' as a joke about bad feedback. This one guy, Mark, looked at it for a solid minute, then turned to me and said, 'So, did you add the unicorn? I think it could work if you made it more subtle.' I had to explain it was a joke. Has anyone else had a portfolio joke totally misunderstood?

2 comments

c/creative-studios•

graymiller•1mo ago

Overheard a client at a coffee shop say 'we just need it to look cool'

I was grabbing a coffee in Denver and the people at the next table were talking to what sounded like a small design studio. The client kept saying 'we just need it to look cool' but couldn't give any more details when asked. The designer sounded really stuck. It made me think about how often we get that kind of vague feedback and how it kills a project's direction. How do you guys pull useful info out of a client when they only give you words like 'cool' or 'modern'?

2 comments