It's wild how fast that tech changed. The machines now are on a whole other level compared to those early ones.

Man, I feel that. My uncle told me the same thing about my bathroom ceiling. I ended up having to scrape it anyway, but what saved me was using a garden sprayer to really soak the popcorn first. Let it sit for like 20 minutes, then it came off in huge, wet clumps with a wide putty knife. Still a messy job, but it went way faster and didn't make nearly as much dust.

Happened to me last year on a six-plex. I had a backup hard money guy on speed dial who closed in five days, but the points were painful. Now I get two lenders to the finish line on every deal.

Honestly I was the same way, I used to think I could just watch one and stop. The trick that sort of works for me is to never, ever let it auto-play the next episode. I make myself get up and physically click to start the next one. That tiny bit of effort breaks the trance sometimes. It still fails a lot though.

Oh man, that's a classic. I swear, trade shows are a magnet for that kind of thing. It really does make you sharpen up your "no thanks" radar on the spot.