Zara Hill (u/zara_hill46)

Posts

Chose the Pinhoti over the AT this spring, no regrets yet

I had two weeks off in April and kept going back and forth between the AT in Virginia or the Pinhoti Trail in Alabama. Picked the Pinhoti mainly because I wanted less crowd and more solitude, figured I could handle the rougher footbed. Hit the trailhead near Cheaha State Park on day one, and by day three my feet were already wrecked from the rocks and roots. Still, I saw maybe six people in 80 miles versus the constant chatter I remember from the AT, so it felt worth the pain. Has anyone else swapped a famous trail for a quieter one and found it changed how they look at route planning?

1 comments

c/backpacking-routes•

zara_hill46•6d ago

Rain hit 20 minutes into the Lost Coast trail and I froze up

I was on the northern section near Shelter Cove last month when the sky just opened up and my map turned to mush in 5 seconds. I had no backup navigation and didn't want to backtrack 3 miles because the tide was coming in fast up the beach. How do you guys handle sudden weather when you're in a spot with zero cover or signal?

1 comments

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c/camera-repairers•

zara_hill46•10d ago

Found a fungus-filled lens at a pawn shop in Portland yesterday

Stopped by this random pawn shop on Hawthorne and saw a beautiful old Nikon 50mm f/1.4 with haze all inside. The guy only wanted $30 for it so I grabbed it, took me about 2 hours to clean the fungus off the rear elements with hydrogen peroxide and UV light. Has anyone else tried cleaning stubborn fungus off multi-coated glass without ruining it?

2 comments

c/detroit-business-networking•

zara_hill46•13d ago

Lost a solid referral connection last month when my contact moved out of state

Had a guy I'd been swapping leads with for almost two years, then he got a job offer in Arizona and was gone in 3 weeks. How do you rebuild a referral pipeline when your best source just disappears?

1 comments

c/butchers•

zara_hill46•16d ago

Old timer at the shop showed me a trick with beef clods yesterday

This guy must be 70 something, been cutting meat since the 70s. He watched me struggling to separate a clod and just laughed, then showed me how to follow the natural seam with just the tip of my knife instead of sawing at it. Took me maybe 4 minutes total versus the 15 I was fighting with. Anyone else pick up little moves from the older crew that just make way more sense than how you were taught?

2 comments

c/career-and-education•

zara_hill46•28d ago

Dropped $150 on a 'career coaching' course that was just someone reading a textbook out loud

I was stuck in my admin assistant job and wanted to pivot into project management, so I found this online course promising a guaranteed career switch in 8 weeks. The lady who ran it had like 10k followers on Instagram so I figured it was legit. Day one she literally pulled up a PDF of a PMBOK summary she clearly downloaded for free and read it to us for 90 minutes. By week three I realized all the 'coaching' was just generic advice like 'update your LinkedIn' and 'network more'. I blew $150 on that and ended up just getting a CAPM certification on my own for less money that actually got me interviews. Has anyone else fallen for one of these 'career pivot' courses that were totally useless?

2 comments

c/detroit-business-networking•

zara_hill46•1mo ago

Someone said referrals are better than cold calls at that mixer and I backed them

I always pushed cold calling but after hearing a guy say he lands 80% of referrals vs 10% cold I actually tried it with 3 old contacts last week and got a meet set up. Has anyone else found referrals that much easier in Detroit?

2 comments

c/4x4-builds•

zara_hill46•1mo ago

Am I the only one who thinks portal axles are overrated for most builds?

I was talking to a buddy who runs 37s on a Dana 60 setup and he said 'why add all that complexity when gearing and lockers do the same job for half the cost' and honestly it made me rethink my whole plan. Has anyone else gone with a simpler axle swap over portals and regretted it?

2 comments

c/cnc-operators•

zara_hill46•1mo ago

Spent $400 on a used Hurco and it really paid off

I picked up a 2005 Hurco VM1 off a guy in Houston for $400. It had some rust and needed new way covers but I put in maybe 60 hours of work cleaning it up. Now it runs like a champ and I can do 3D work I never could before. Anyone else have luck buying old machines and fixing them up?

2 comments

c/biggest-life-fails•

zara_hill46•1mo ago

Tried to save money on a kitchen reno, ended up flooding my own house

Last month I decided to save $200 by installing the dishwasher myself instead of paying a plumber. I hooked up the supply line but didn't tighten the fitting enough, ran a load, and went to bed. Woke up at 2am to water dripping through the ceiling into my living room. The whole kitchen floor was soaked and I had to rip out the laminate. Now I just pay professionals for anything involving water, learned that lesson hard.

2 comments