monitorhead

My Thanksgiving break started one day early this week when I decided to take today off moments before leaving for work. We spent the morning taking the kids to the NASA Space Center and the boardwalk at Kemah — complete with sitdown dinner and amusement park rides. It was a great way to spend the day and even more fulfilling since I had planned to go to work today. It was like playing hookey. I really enjoyed spending time with Megan and the boys doing a family fun day, something unusual and frivolous.

The kids are thoroughly tired out from the whole affair and have snuggled down into their beds for a mid afternoon nap. Logan was so tired that he nearly fell asleep while riding the kiddy train in a loop around the boardwalk. Now, it is a very peaceful moment at home preceding what will surely be a boisterous few days over the holiday. This is the first time to have a Thanksgiving meal at our house with more than just the 4 of us. It will be a lot of fun and I know Megan is excited about hosting the event. 

From start to finishing detail, it took about 10 hours but my speakers are hung and discretely wired. Time to identify a new project to procrastinate on.

Do you have any projects that you started with the best of intentions but never completed? We all do, don’t we. I thought I would confess one of my little projects that I keep finding ways not to complete. Keep in mind that this is my project–not something someone else asked of me–so you would think I’d have a vested interest.

When we first moved into our house in January, I spent many hours setting up my man station-also known as the entertainment area. I carefully unpacked all the electronics (television, DVD, receiver, DirecTV boxes, Xbox, CD player, homebrewed PVR, network hubs, speakers), wires (speaker wire, A/V cables, ethernet cables, power cords, surge protecters), and remotes (eight or nine including the all-in-one master). Then it was time to meticulously route cables and connect components while taking a few extra minutes to label things for the future day when the cables inevitably work into a morass of plastic coated copper and terminals. A few weeks later, I would do this wiring all over again when I purchased my new TV. Then, the real work began.

The trip from California had rattled my media computer enough to require a re-install off the operating system and software as well as some reorganization of the hardware inside that I had been neglecting. Next, I need to get a network connection to the entertainment area. Luckily, the previous owners had done some home wiring and run ethernet cables throughout the house. Unluckily, they had neglected two rooms that I found to be critical–the living room and the master bedroom. In fact, I need two network connections in the living room (one for the PVR and one for the Xbox) which is readily addressed by a small 4-port switch. After purchasing some special tools (fiberglass wire-puller, 3/4 inch drill bit, and "old work" outlet housing), I got to work.

The living room was easy to complete, there was plenty of room to work and some wires had already been pulled. We live in a one story house with attic access so pulling wires is as easy as locating the desired wall, drilling a hole in the top plate and sending the wires down to a hole cut in the sheet rock below. This is a cinch for interior walls that contain no insulation such as my living room wall. However, the best spot for a network drop in the bedroom was on an exterior wall. That was not fun. Not only was I thwarted by insulation on multiple attempts to pull my wire fshing rod through the wall, but drilling the hole was a challenge. The location of the hole was so close to the eaves of the house that I had very little room to work. (Keep in mind that I am lying on my stomach across ceiling joists covered in fiberglass insulation). After several hours, multiple trips up the attic ladder and a face full of pink insulation, I did manage to successfully pull my cabling into place.

Everything was wired up and in place except for one last detail–and this is my unfinished project. I have the obligatory 5.1 surround sound speaker package that any self-respecting, male, American consumer between the ages of 18 and 35 feels compelled to own. Not wanting to mar the wall with tacked up wires, I decided the right thing to do was pull speaker wires through attic to the perfect spot on the opposite side of the room where I would hang the speakers with some nifty wall brackets. This project was not nearly as complex as my previous endeavor and in fact I now had all the tools and experience I would need to proceed. Upon locating the desired spot to place the rear left speaker, I discovered a little gift from the previous home owner–a roof leak. We had not noticed this leak during the home inspection because it was in the shadow of the eaves and so near that fireplace that leaking rain water had been running down the wall rather than marring the ceiling with a wet stain.

From here, the project went on hold until after the roof repair. I didn’t want to place any wires where there was an active leak. A lengthy process of repair quotes and aborted repair appointments (due to heavy rain!) extended the repair for a couple of months. Then, the procrastination began. By now, I had my surround speakers sitting on the floor for 4 months. I not longer noticed them, the impetus to complete the project was gone. Excuse after excuse has kept me from completing the job like the fact that we hit the summer months and the attic was 120 F. Anyway, this weekend I took another step toward the completion of this project by buying some new speaker wire. That’s right, this is not a story about finally finishing the project. It’s still not done. But now it is cool outside and I finally have a repaired roof and all my materials and tools assembled. No more excuses. I will finish this project.