My dad visited Chicago last week for a TV interview his publisher set up with Lou Manfredini and the producers of House Smarts on HGTV. It was lovely to spend an afternoon and the better part of a day with my dad, since our visits per year are few, and it was really neat to be with him on the set while he was talking about his book, Be Your Own House Contractor, and his website, buildyourownhouse.com on camera. My dad knows his stuff, and he puts a ton of work into updating his website with really valuable information about building your own house, being a general contractor, and estimating costs before building. It’s a field of knowledge that I have yet to put to use in my own life, but when I’m ready, I’ll know just what to read to prepare me for it.

A friend of mine was working on a graduate school project a couple of weeks ago for her project management class, and she called me up to tell me that she had just spent a good deal of time on byoh.com, having found it in google, before she realized that the guy in the website’s photo is my dad, Carl Heldmann, who she’s known since elementary school as “Skip,” his nickname. She was really excited and said that the website saved her a ton of time on her project and it was such a fun coincidence. Reason #reallybignumber why I’ll never stop loving the internet.

Here is my favorite shot from the taping: