Maybe you know the story of the Tower of Babel. These old-timey peoples began building a tower to reach the heavens, but God deemed it an homage to man’s glory, not his. So he smote their society — which was united by a common language — by creating multiple languages and distancing the people.
I think those forces are still somewhat at work. Ever notice the members-only speak of certain professions? I’ve worked in the journalism field for more than 10 years and I know we’ve got some unique lingo and notations of our own.
“The paper’s been put to bed.” = “The paper’s gone to print.” “Adjust the kerning.” = “Take in the spacing between letters.” “SIC” = “Spelling is correct.”
And so it goes with other professions, as well. To me, a budding handyman(dy), it happens most frequently with construction specialists and home improvement gurus. Continue reading ‘Home improvement Babylon’
Mandy Miller is senior online editor for Angie's List publication department. When she's not focusing on the
magazine's website and other online offerings, she's tackling a mounting list of home improvements she thinks she can do herself. Plus, she really likes to ride her bike, play with her puppy, Boo Radley, and take naps.
Most Angie’s List members, when checking the List, look for a company to hire based on their prices, punctuality, and quality of work, and most reports reflect on these same factors. But there’s more to a service company than what’s in its report.
Members may not realize it without visiting the company’s website or hearing it from its employees, but many companies, when they aren’t painting, installing windows, or remodeling kitchens, are involved in their communities. Continue reading ‘Good companies and good neighbors’
Liz is an associate editor at
Angie's List magazine. She enjoys eating chocolate chip ice cream on the beach after swimming. She also likes colder, drearier places like London.
You’d think after living in central Indiana my entire life I’d be used to our weather. But it never fails to surprise me with tornadoes, thunderstorms, destroyed power lines and overflowing basements.
As Kristy indicated, Indianapolis has recently experienced some bad weather. Last weekend, I came home to knee-high sewage that had backed up into my basement. Continue reading ‘Bad weather bothering you? Not me…’
Conor is an associate editor for
Angie's List magazine. He has a cat named Kanye and a puppy named Sherman, his favorite movie is
Back to the Future, he loves playing basketball and his favorite place is his couch.
I’m willing to do anything legal to save money. This includes moving in with an old family friend in order to save on rent. Here’s a picture of my good old buddy:
Continue reading ‘A Tip from My Thumbs’
Conor is an associate editor for
Angie's List magazine. He has a cat named Kanye and a puppy named Sherman, his favorite movie is
Back to the Future, he loves playing basketball and his favorite place is his couch.
The thing I want most is a new driveway. I never thought I’d say that, but once you become a homeowner a lot of things change. When my fiancé and I were looking for a house, a paved driveway was one of our “must haves”, but when we saw our home we fell in love and the gravel driveway didn’t seem like such a big deal. Boy, were we wrong. It is to blame for quite a few expensive problems. Ones that I never saw coming. Continue reading ‘Driveway of destruction and death?’
Jackie is editor of
Quality + Design, the
Angie's List newsletter.
She's currently owned by three Great Danes named Silas, Eppie and Augustus Merriweather as well as two angry tabby cats, Bob and Polly. Her favorite album is anything by Radiohead.
Finally, warm weather has arrived. (Well, kind of. We hit freezing temperatures in Indy last night after enjoying a week of 70-plus degrees.) After spending all winter getting my house spruced up on the inside, I’m ready to dig out the gardening supplies and get to work on further improving my home’s value. At the top of my list of outdoor home improvements is the demolition of a hideous red deck the previous homeowner haphazardly installed. It’s gigantic and eats up nearly half of my already small yard. That, and it sits way off the ground, allowing my neighbors a full view over my fence (which is painted a matching hideous red, of course). Continue reading ‘Pave the way…’
Brittany is senior editor of national affairs for
Angie's List magazine. When she's not busy reporting for the magazine, she enjoys relaxing, bowling and watching movies.
Reading through the Blue House Blog has given me comfort — I, too, have landscaping and lawn woes. However, unlike Tristan, I want to cultivate grass, not destroy it.
Last spring, my partner and I hired a contractor from the List to install a new sidewalk leading from the back door of our house. The goal was to get a walk that sloped away from, not toward, our house. To that end, we got what we wanted and were pleased with the result.
However, we were not pleased with this contractor’s liberal use of his Bobcat. While “grading” the ground around the walk, he seemed to have held some sort of Bobcat Demolition Derby in our yard. That result: A dirty gray-brown lawn devoid of any grass. Continue reading ‘Oh, how I know now …’
Mandy Miller is senior online editor for Angie's List publication department. When she's not focusing on the
magazine's website and other online offerings, she's tackling a mounting list of home improvements she thinks she can do herself. Plus, she really likes to ride her bike, play with her puppy, Boo Radley, and take naps.
Friends and family arrive at my front door and their first question always is: “Where’s the landscaping?” I smile and sigh. I’m wondering the same thing since my fiancé, Matt, owns a full-service landscaping company.
The saying, “A plumber’s pipes always leak” holds true, I guess, for most service professionals. I’ve come to the conclusion if you spend so much time working on other people’s homes, the last thing you want to do is work on your own home in the little spare time you do have. Continue reading ‘Living with a professional landscaper’
Kristy is deputy managing editor at
Angie's List magazine. She has two rottweilers, Bud and Moto, and enjoys playing mom to her rott-en, lovable pups. Taking the plunge into homeownership last year was a huge wake up call for Kristy. Thankfully, she says, she not only has a handy fiancé, but a handy tool called Angie’s List as well.
A couple of us magazine staff writers have been working on a feature story about the plethora of home improvement TV shows for our June issue. I have to admit, when I first started reporting on the topic, I knew very little about the quirky hosts my co-workers gushed about and the drama-filled plots that seem to keep millions of viewers enthralled. My TiVo only records a few of my favorite sitcoms, so I hardly ever venture out of my comfort zone to check out what’s airing on the other channels.
Apparently, Angie’s List members are big fans. In a recent poll, 79 percent of our members said they watch these types of programs — everyone from “This Old House” old-school fans to the fanatics who love watching the fiery Niecy Nash annihilate clutter in “Clean House” chimed in to let us know why they watch. Some have a pretty serious addiction to home improvement TV as a handful of respondents admitted they tune in to more than 15 different shows per week. The majority said they watch it to get ideas for their own house and because they’re entertaining. Continue reading ‘Channel surfing’
Brittany is senior editor of national affairs for
Angie's List magazine. When she's not busy reporting for the magazine, she enjoys relaxing, bowling and watching movies.
When we started doing research for our green issue, I didn’t know much about building a “green” house. I figured if you turned the lights off when you left a room and turned the water off while you brushed your teeth, you were doing your part to help the environment. People who really knew what they were doing could add some solar panels to their home or replace their windows with new, low-e ones. But that was it, right?
Wrong. Continue reading ‘Going green across the country’
Liz is an associate editor at
Angie's List magazine. She enjoys eating chocolate chip ice cream on the beach after swimming. She also likes colder, drearier places like London.
