Man Cave Maneuvers

 

The Old Room Configuration

Yesterday saw the start of a paradigm shift in the room where I spend most of my waking hours.  I will readily admit that I watch too much television.  I have since my earliest days – it’s a form of escapism that I willingly devote way too much time to.  Most of that escapist era is spent in my family room with my large projection television.

This television was my retirement gift from my wife when I left the military.  It was one of the coolest moments in my life when I walked into a Circuit City (it was a while ago) and proudly told the sales dude – “Show me your biggest TV.”  I bought that television and have been really happy with it but it is a huge, boxy space eater that my wife has not always appreciated –ascetically speaking.

My son and wife got together to buy me an even bigger flat screen television for Christmas that is going to be mounted on the wall above the fireplace.  Yesterday saw the first step in that transition with the cable company coming to move the cable connection across the room.

The guy showed up on time but I immediately sensed issues when he told me the best thing to do would be to get an electrician to trace the wires and then have someone come in to do the installation.  I got the impression he was behind in his schedule and was hoping to escape my house early.  His apparent bad luck ran true when he ran into me.  I tersely explained over Buddy’s paroxysm of rage at being caged and unable to sniff or at least taste this intruder that I had clearly explained the requirement when I set up the appointment.

I showed him where the new TV would be and suggested he drill down through to the garage and wire into the panel from there.  He said he didn’t think he had the correct tools and asked to see what kind of drill bits I had (my confidence continued its nose dive).  He got through the floor and then came back up from the garage with one of my wife’s plant holders with a cute little angel on top.  He said I should extend this through the hole and tap so he would know where to drill up from the garage. We did this and when he tried to get the wire through he failed miserably.  I was getting frustrated and his office was calling him every five minutes to find out why he was so far behind. 

Sensing that he was about to give up I told him to give me the plant holder and wait in the garage.  I went upstairs and jammed the thing down as hard as I could which poked through the garage roof. His garage ceiling hole was off by about six inches but at least we now knew that.  He then spent about five minutes trying to wrap the wife around the plant holder stem which fell off every time he tried to push it through the hole.  I suggested duct tape (which solves all problems) and with that I was able to get the wire up into the family room.   

He finished his work and when I pointed out the TV was still on the other side of the room he looked like I crushed his spirit.  I told him to show me how to make the connections and I would do it myself.  It turned out to be pretty easy and I was semi-amazed when I turned everything back on that it all worked. 

I went upstairs to get ready for work and found Panamanians scattering from my room.  Apparently they had all been hanging out in there with my wife while the installation was going on. 

I returned home after work to an eerily quiet house.  My wife and her posse had left to do some shopping (shocking!).  They were delayed a little bit by a dog from way down the street who came to visit Buddy.  This other dog belonged to one of the party guests from the weekend and when he escaped from his house made a bee line for our house.  I’m guessing he smelled Buddy on his owner and wanted to check out this other dog.  My wife said it was almost comical because Buddy was standing on his back legs on one side of the door while the other dog did other same on the other – looking at each other through the window.  Buddy was barking as if the world was about to end which made the Panamanians all nervous. The neighbor showed up looking for her dog and the crisis was averted.

I used the quiet time to finish re-arranging the family room.  Buddy helped by vomiting twice, probably still coming down from his adrenalin surge.  It was kind of jarring to see the room changed so drastically; like I said – I spend a lot of time in that room.  The next step will be the installation of the new TV next week – color me psyched!

I won’t talk about the college football championship game last night out of respect for many of my friends who are big Notre Dame fans.  It was certainly men against boys.

The Critical Tool Used for Cable Installation

Also Useful for Dragging Wire Up

 

The New Temporary Configuration - Awaiting New TV