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Better than Plumb
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I'm not the expert
Last week, I taught a class called “Editorial Roles Outside of the Office.” The idea was suggested by a colleague who had heard me talking on a local radio show. She wondered what that was like and what other kinds of things editors did besides making magazines.
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Figuring it out as you go
When I built my addition, I set it two steps lower than the main house to keep its mass from overwhelming the original building. But I know from reading Fine Homebuilding all these years that short runs of stairs can be dangerous. People don’t see them easily and tend to trip. So I thought I’d be clever and install a little light in the wall over the steps. I went to the lighting store and ordered what’s called a “theater light.” Problem solved—until it was time to run baseboards and skirtboards along the wall.
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On the road to new energy
Last week, I drove to upstate New York on business. I had reserved one of our company cars, a Chrysler Sebring, for the trip. But when I went to pick up the keys, I learned that we sold the Sebring and bought a Prius. Two of them, in fact.
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How green is green enough? (Or, you can't please everybody, part II)
Perhaps if you had simply said that Fine Homebuilding isn't green enough, I could not have argued. I don't think any person, group, or company can defend the claim that they are green enough. None of us is. We've all got to do better.
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You can't please everybody
“Dear Sirs. Despite being longtime subscribers, we are canceling our subscription to Fine Homebuilding. We are very disappointed in the direction your magazine is headed..."
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Nailing down editorial integrity
Recently somebody stopped me in the hall and told me that one of our advertisers, Maze Nails, is celebrating its 160th year in business. That any company has been in business so long is remarkable, but that a building-products company, making something as prosaic as nails, should survive for 160 years is extraordinary.
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This NESEA is no monster
For the first time in 20-plus years of living in Connecticut, I took a train to Boston. It cost $11 for parking, $63 for the actual fare, and another $2 for the MBTA Silver Line to my hotel. The trip took about five hours, counting my drive to New Haven, where I caught the train. I could have driven to Boston in three hours for about $15 worth of gas. I was inspired to complicate my trip because I was attending the 33rd annual conference of the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association, otherwise known as NESEA.
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A little constructive criticism
We all need friends—and bosses—who will tell us the truth even if it’s not what we want to hear.
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Can you be passive-aggresive with yourself?
As the months went by, and the late-February deadline approached, I considered and rejected other possible authors and topics until eventually, there simply wasn’t enough time left to find an author and then develop, write, and edit an essay with that person. Only one option remained. I would have to write the essay myself. And I wonder now (this is the passive-aggressive part) if that hadn’t been my goal all along.
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Knee surgery and the Builder's Show don't mix
For some time now, I have been putting off calling an orthopedic surgeon about the pain in my right shoulder—even though four years ago I tore the rotator cuff in my left shoulder and learned that if I had come in sooner, I might have been able to avoid the invasive surgery and its lengthy recovery period. But when my knee started to hurt, too, I finally gave in and called.
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Garage Progress
We're making good progress on the garage shop at the project house. Drywall is hung, carriage doors are installed and the new front facade has been painted. read more
About this blog
As the editor of Fine Homebuilding, I spend my weekdays trying to produce a magazine that will satisfy 300,000 of the most demanding builders, both professional and amateur. As the owner of a 200-year old Cape in Connecticut’s Litchfield Hills, I spend weekends working on my house.
Each activity invariably informs, and complicates, the other. In this blog, I’ll offer observations from both worlds -- publishing and building -- with the hope of providing some useful or at least entertaining insights.
