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Sunday, August 19, 2007

The Great Re-Wiring Project

It just seems to have been non-stop around here the past month or so. There was the camp, and the trip out to see the family in Vegas, the friends' baby, the wedding, and just the all-around running of the family business and then, of course, there's the family business. I was very explicit yesterday: I am going to use my day off to continue the work of The Great Re-Wiring, honey.

It all started with the purchase of the new TV. There was a certain amount of consternation over it, but if there's an antithesis to buyer's remorse, I got it within a week of this purchase. What was so wrong with me that I didn't buy this sooner? She's a beauty. And when Mrs. Ditchman saw how good football looked in HDTV, there was no going back.

So now the house needs to be re-wired. And if you're going to be putting all those holes in your walls, you may as well pull all the wires through for those other things you were planning on: outdoor speakers, additional outlets, cable, ethernet, etc. But these things take time. And they also take a certain amount of fortitude when it comes to the heat and the attic and the microscopic insulation fibers that imbed in your skin throughout the long, arduous process. I'll take it all week long, but on a Sunday? May God lash the innocents a good distance from my tongue.

So that was the plan of the day. Instead, I ended up fixing a toilet handle, a lamp, cleaning the aquarium, and changing out the kitchen sink faucet. This is no fun -on your back, head in a cabinet with a garbage disposal inches from your face. But the sink sprayer needed to be fixed, and therefore the whole thing needed to be replaced. And then we decided to have some friends over last minute, so the place needed to be tidied up, dinner needed to be prepared, the child placated.

It was a terrific day off. Great to see some friends, have a nice glass of wine, and score of all fortunes: the little Ditchman was a perfect angel, entertainment for all, the family salesman -if families could be sold. She even blew kisses as the old friends drove off. One day we are a mess, the next day we are a Mutual of Omaha commercial. Such is life.

As for the re-wiring, it is ongoing.