That "3 day window" thing is standard, so yeah, early is mostly luck.

Did your buddy ever tell you about the time this exact thing happened to him? He was fishing Romex through this old house in South St. Paul and hit a copper pipe with a screw, water everywhere, had to cut open the ceiling to fix it. After that mess he started using a stud finder and a borescope before every single hole, no exceptions. Cost him forty bucks for the camera and saved him a flood. Sounds like you both learned the hard way that blind drilling in old houses is just gambling.

Oh sure, and next you'll tell me you alphabetize your spice rack too. I did the exact same thing for almost a year, just scribbling entries wherever they landed like my notebook was a napkin. Funny how a 5 minute habit only feels worth doing after you've already wasted an afternoon digging through your own mess.