Bob Villa, I am not

Well, on February 11, I got a surround sound system for my abode. It's in the basement where the TV is, which makes the placement for the system rather appropriate. This weekend I decided that the sooner it was up, the better. I really wanted the wires hidden and given that the basement is finished with a regular ceiling (versus dropdown), I figured I was screwed.

Alas! My wife pointed out that the Time Life home improvement books I bought back in my college days may come in handy. A glimmer of hope came across my face as I bounded down the steps (narrowly missing the boy's toys) and opened up the book on electronics. Lo and behold it told you how to do it. Well, it was about doing it with cable, but the same principles apply. I gleefully ran back up the stairs, (narrowly missing the boy himself this time with said toys) and confidently showed my wife how it was done. All I needed to do was to cut some holes in the wall, and use fish tape to pull the wires through the walls and ceiling. Brilliant!

So I was cutting holes in the wall (I did check for studs first, but enough about me looking in the mirror) and making sure they all lined up and how I wanted this all to work. The boy came down and said "Wow, looks like an army had a battle here". Not the most encouraging thing I ever heard, but accurate. Anyway, turned out that the ceiling was, as my dad would say, "uniquely done", which means "what in the blue fuck were they thinking?" So I (or more accurately my wife, she loves this stuff) had to make larger holes in the wall so we could get at the fish tape to pull the wires through. After making sure the children were both upstairs and listening to music, the wife and I were free to cuss like gangsters whose drug shipment was busted by the feds while finishing the job.

The 2 rear speakers are all wired and the front right speaker is set, it is only the front left speaker that is remaining. The speaker wire that came with that is so pathetically short that Tattoo from Fantasy Island couldn't use it as a belt. So I have to get some additional wire to make that speaker workable, but the major stuff is out of the way. All that is left after that speaker is set up is to patch the holes so that kids don't think we are adding another closet for thier toys. Then I can enjoy the sounds of the TV the way they were meant to be enjoyed, with my ears ringing and bleeding.