If you think about it, there are a lot of similarities between your body and your home. For example, each contains a network of systems that allow the whole to function as needed. With a little imagination, you can draw parallels between your home’s plumbing, electrical and HVAC systems and your body’s circulatory, nervous, and respiratory systems. Read more

A complete kitchen renovation is expensive. The average cost is about $23,000, with high-end transformations costing upward of $50,000. The priciest part of these renovations is the cabinetry, as it requires significant planning, resources and labor to install. However, homeowners looking to save money and time may find that cabinet refacing is an easier and less expensive option for achieving the results they want.

What is cabinet refacing?

Cabinet refacing is a method of updating your cabinets without enduring the expense and hassle of ripping out the old ones. It’s different from simply painting over the old cabinets. During refacing, workers remove doors and drawers, sand down all the original cabinet surfaces, Read more

Click HERE to download a PDF of “The 21 Most Popular Uses of Diamond Certified”

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Recently, I discovered an app that allows me to interact with people in my neighborhood who are looking to buy or sell things like electronics, furniture and clothing. The concept isn’t exactly groundbreaking (craigslist has been around for a while, after all), but there’s something about this app that sets it apart from the others I’ve tried: the community aspect. Since everyone who uses it lives and/or works in the same area, there’s a real sense of fellowship in the interactions I’ve seen. I mostly use the app to share Diamond Certified companies with neighbors who have specific needs. For example, if someone is looking for window coverings, I’ll give them a link to a nearby company’s Diamond Certified Company Report page—it makes them feel confident in my referral and I usually get thanked for my advice. Read more

Spring is a season of renewal. In nature, new grasses grow, flowers bloom and birds nest. For consumers, moods brighten, home improvement projects are planned and winter-delayed health appointments are booked. For company managers, it’s a time to achieve performance numbers, optimize employee skills and generate more referrals.

For the Giants and A’s, spring is a great opportunity to work on perfecting the fundamentals. As the MLB season gets underway, I can’t help but reminisce about my own history with America’s pastime. Here’s something you might not know about me: from the age of 19 to 25, I was a semi-professional baseball player. It seems like a lifetime ago, but it’s true—I played on a number of tournament teams that competed across the United States and even played against international teams like Australia and Japan. Read more

The other day, I watched a documentary about the making of Pink Floyd’s groundbreaking 1973 album, The Dark Side of the Moon. It’s an album I’ve heard countless times over the course of my life, but as I watched the band members go into detail about the techniques they used to record those classic songs, it occurred to me that I only knew part of the story. Sure, I know most of the words to “Money,” but I didn’t know that in order to achieve the cash register sounds at the beginning, they had to stretch their reel-to-reel tape across the studio to make it fit with the song’s unusual time signature. Read more