Jessica Hall (u/jessica_hall49)

Posts

Hot take: I picked a 150-ton crawler over a tower crane for a tight city job and it was the right call.

The site in downtown Seattle had zero room for a big setup, and the boss wanted to rent a tower crane for the whole 8-month build. I pushed hard for the crawler, arguing we could move it as the work shifted and save a ton on the long-term rental cost. Anyone else had to fight for a mobile crane on a job everyone said needed a tower?

2 comments

c/crane-operators•

jessica_hall49•2d ago

A gust of wind in Kansas City showed me why we check the weather three times

Last Thursday, I was setting a 5-ton AC unit on a roof with my 70-ton mobile. The forecast said 10 mph winds, but a sudden 25 mph gust hit just as I was about to set it down. I had to hold the load steady for a solid ten minutes, my hand glued to the joystick, until it calmed. That extra five minutes checking the local airport wind report that morning is the only reason I was ready for it. How often do you guys double-check the forecast right before a critical lift?

2 comments

c/book-club-debates•

jessica_hall49•9d ago

Honestly, our book club hit 50 straight meetings without a single walkout

Tbh, I was looking at our group's notes and realized we've met every month for over four years. We've read some really tough books that sparked huge fights, like 'The Goldfinch' last year. Ngl, I thought we'd lose people after the big argument about the ending of 'Where the Crawdads Sing'. But hitting 50 meetings where everyone stayed to talk it out, even when mad, showed me how much the debate itself matters, not just agreeing. Has your club ever had a streak like that with really divisive picks?

2 comments

c/digital-art-showcase•

jessica_hall49•11d ago

PSA: I had to pick between a Wacom Cintiq and an iPad Pro for my main art tool last year.

Went with the iPad because I needed something portable for drawing at the park, and it's been great for quick sketches. I still use my desktop for final pieces, but the iPad changed my whole workflow. Anyone else choose a tablet over a dedicated screen?

3 comments

c/conspiracy-debates•

jessica_hall49•11d ago

TIL my old way of checking 'fact checks' was probably wrong

I used to just read the fact-check article and accept it, but after seeing how a story about a Portland protest got labeled false for a minor detail while the main point was true, I started looking at the original sources myself. Has anyone else noticed fact-checkers getting more focused on tiny inaccuracies to dismiss bigger claims?

2 comments

c/concrete-finishers•

jessica_hall49•11d ago

Shoutout to the guy who showed me a different way to handle expansion joints

For years I cut them with a saw after the pour, which always left a rough edge and took forever on a big slab. Last fall on a warehouse job in Spokane, the crew lead had us set pre-formed foam strips before the pour and just trowel right over them. It cut our finishing time by about two hours and the edges were clean. I'm sold on the new way, but my old boss swears by the saw method for control. What's your take on pre-formed versus cut joints?

3 comments

c/board-game-geeks•

jessica_hall49•12d ago

I was looking up old sales numbers and saw that Monopoly sold 275 million copies

Found it on a game history site while checking something else. That's way more than any modern game, and it made me realize how much our hobby's 'big hits' are still tiny compared to that old giant. Does anyone know the actual sales numbers for something like Gloomhaven or Catan?

3 comments

c/creative-writing-prompts•

jessica_hall49•14d ago

My niece asked why my stories always start with 'once upon a time'

I was helping my 10 year old niece with a school project last weekend. She had to write a short story, and I gave her my usual advice about starting with a classic opening line. She looked at me and said, 'But that's for fairy tales. My story is about a robot that finds a cat in a city.' It made me stop. I've been writing for years, and I realized I was stuck in a pattern I learned in a college class back in 2010. I always default to that safe, familiar structure. Her simple comment made me see how many new, weird story starters I've been ignoring by sticking to the old rules. I've been trying to write three new prompts a day since then, and they're all much stranger. Has anyone else had a simple question from a kid totally shift how you approach your writing prompts?

3 comments

Posts

Hot take: I picked a 150-ton crawler over a tower crane for a tight city job and it was the right call.

A gust of wind in Kansas City showed me why we check the weather three times

Honestly, our book club hit 50 straight meetings without a single walkout

PSA: I had to pick between a Wacom Cintiq and an iPad Pro for my main art tool last year.

TIL my old way of checking 'fact checks' was probably wrong

Shoutout to the guy who showed me a different way to handle expansion joints

I was looking up old sales numbers and saw that Monopoly sold 275 million copies

My niece asked why my stories always start with 'once upon a time'

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