diff --git a/crates/dogstatsd/src/datadog/shipping.rs b/crates/dogstatsd/src/datadog/shipping.rs
index 4ee6d53a..a8841b50 100644
--- a/crates/dogstatsd/src/datadog/shipping.rs
+++ b/crates/dogstatsd/src/datadog/shipping.rs
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ impl DdApi {
 
     /// Ship a serialized series to the API, blocking
     pub async fn ship_series(&self, series: &Series) -> Result<Response, ShippingError> {
-        let url = format!("{}/api/v2/series", &self.metrics_intake_url_prefix);
+        let url = format!("{}/api/v2/series", self.metrics_intake_url_prefix);
         let safe_body = serde_json::to_vec(&series)
             .map_err(|e| ShippingError::Payload(format!("Failed to serialize series: {e}")))?;
         trace!("Sending body: {:?}", &series);
@@ -54,10 +54,10 @@ impl DdApi {
         &self,
         sketches: &SketchPayload,
     ) -> Result<Response, ShippingError> {
-        let url = format!("{}/api/beta/sketches", &self.metrics_intake_url_prefix);
+        let url = format!("{}/api/beta/sketches", self.metrics_intake_url_prefix);
         let safe_body = sketches
             .write_to_bytes()
-            .map_err(|e| ShippingError::Payload(format!("Failed to serialize series: {e}")))?;
+            .map_err(|e| ShippingError::Payload(format!("Failed to serialize sketches: {e}")))?;
         trace!("Sending distributions: {:?}", &sketches);
         self.ship_data(url, safe_body, "application/x-protobuf")
             .await
diff --git a/crates/dogstatsd/src/util.rs b/crates/dogstatsd/src/util.rs
index 8a16ef0b..c06be42a 100644
--- a/crates/dogstatsd/src/util.rs
+++ b/crates/dogstatsd/src/util.rs
@@ -40,7 +40,8 @@ pub fn parse_metric_namespace(namespace: &str) -> Option<String> {
     let mut chars = trimmed.chars();
 
     // Check first character is a letter
-    if let Some(first_char) = chars.next() {
+    {
+        let first_char = chars.next()?;
         if !first_char.is_ascii_alphabetic() {
             tracing::error!(
                 "DD_STATSD_METRIC_NAMESPACE must start with a letter, got: '{}'. Ignoring namespace.",
@@ -48,8 +49,6 @@ pub fn parse_metric_namespace(namespace: &str) -> Option<String> {
             );
             return None;
         }
-    } else {
-        return None;
     }
 
     // Check remaining characters are valid (alphanumeric, underscore, or period)