> I think for now, I am going to stick to old school soldering small > wires into my vias.
This is what I do. I've found that a 28 gauge brass wire (standard hardware store size) in a #80 hole is a snug fit - you can push the wire through, but it doesn't move when soldering. So I can quickly push/solder/cut from one side, then flip the board over and solder/cut all the other sides.