March 11. That’s when, in the middle of a Mavericks game, the NBA announced it was putting a stop to its season. For me, that’s when the pandemic began here in the United States. The D Magazine staff began working from home two days later. It’s been a year.
You spend that much time in your house, and things change. Those little annoyances you once could escape by heading to the office turn into monsters that leap from behind doors and try to disembowel you before you can even get your first cup of coffee in the morning. Am I exaggerating for effect? No!
For me, my monster was a leaky chimney. I’d say rainwater has made its way into our chimney for four years. I had to meet every storm with three or four pots in the fireplace to keep the ship from taking on too much water. We put up with it for a while. Then we hired a guy to fix it. Then, when he failed to fix it, we returned to putting up with it.
Everyone on staff has his or her own leaky chimney. That was our inspiration for the April cover story of D Magazine: “How to Fix Everything.” It is online today and you can read it here. I raised my hand to write a blurb about fixing a leaky chimney. I got a recommendation from a friend. I talked to the chimney guy. The chimney itself was about $2,000, and there was some other stuff that needed to be done. Total bill for a 38-word item in the magazine: about $3,000.
You know what? It rained pretty good two weeks ago. You know what else? My chimney no longer leaks. A decade from now, someone will ask me, “Remember that pandemic?” I’ll respond: “How could I forget it? That’s when we finally got our chimney fixed.”
That cover story went online today. As you look it over, I want you to know that all 49 recommendations were made on the strength of experiences like mine. Shout out to the staff of D Home. They helped, too. We’ve all either used these professionals, or we have a trusted source who has. This stuff doesn’t come from Google.
We’re here to help. You can thank us by subscribing, if you don’t already.
Here’s to herd immunity and to dry fireplaces. 2021 is looking up.
