A Nurse with a Gun

Saturday, February 21, 2009

The Wonderful World of Cable

"Wake up Xavier, the guys are here to install the cable."

"Huh? What? Cable? We don't need no stinkin' cable!"

It's just nine dollars a month more for basic cable. It's my surprise for you."

"Darling, I don't want a bunch of guys rootin' around the house, tacking cable to the outside and tearing stuff up."

"Xavier, they are waiting outside. Ilsa is barking at them."

"Good."

It's hard for some to believe that I have survived for forty-five years without entertainment being routed into my home on a co-axial cable. Frankly, other than local and national news, and occasional DVDs, I just don't watch it much. I never saw the point of paying to have the stuff pumped into my house.

Still, with analog television going the way of the dodo, I wouldn't be watching it at all without a converter box. So, yesterday, when my wife surprised me with a couple of guys ready to tack coaxial cable around the outside of my house, I sent them away and decided to run it myself.

The obvious route was through the attic, as the exterior source is on one side of our home, and the television is on the other. So, this morning, I climbed into the attic to detach the antenna cable and add an extra 60 feet of cable to reach the other side of the house.

Once inside the dusty attic, there were other chores to perform, of course. repair the screen on the gable vent. Reattach the heater duct to Little Darling's bedroom, and seal it off. Finally, after an hour's diversion, I joined the additional cable to the antenna cable, and I ran it across the attic, down through the roof in the heater compartment, and through the exterior wall where I wanted it hooked up. I sealed the hole with the cable running through it with caulk, and told my wife-mate to have the cable guys come and hook it up at any time.

It's time to go to the range.

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6 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

All of the moving pictures entertainment I can handle can be had from the internet and dvd's. I cancelled cable 18 months ago and never looked back.

2:18 PM  
Blogger Z@X said...

No cable for me until they pry the rabbit ears from my cold dead hands.

2:54 PM  
Blogger Spike said...

Love the redneck Duct-repair job. Ive done a few of those myself. Though if your going to seal your ducts, check all the joints.

The old joint tape has a tendency to pull away, allowing air to escape, and costing you cash.

3:54 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

TV has a lot to do with what is wrong with America today: watching TV makes you dumber.

6:15 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have never had cable; I have never cared much for TV, even less now with all the reality shows. I'd rather read. Movies, I can get on DVD.

10:19 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I've had a converter box for several months (my Mom, meaning well, came by & gave it to me one day). Haven't even opened the box. Of course, I haven't turned the TV on for over a year, so I'm unlikely to anytime soon.

11:51 AM  

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