The little safety pin

I'm not really sure where to begin. To be honest, I wasn't expecting last night to turn out quite the way it did. Let me explain...

We live in university owned housing, and in an older apartment complex. We are one of 12 units in our building, and even though it has it's quircks, I really enjoy our home. However, since we moved into the new apartment in June, AHB has been missing his TV at night before bed. He used to wind down with some TV in bed before shutting the light off and snoozing. We don't have the opportunity to do that in the new apartment because of the way the building is wired. We only have cable in the living room. Another chord was not an option to run cable to the back. Well, then the media room called me...

They said they had an option for me - not that everyone would get this - but there are perks with being nice to the folks in Media. :) So, our media guy said he would hook me up with a splitter and a long cable chord. The only option for us was to run the cable to the back room from the living room. I didn't tell AHB, just incase it didn't work. But sure enough I got the splitter in the mail yesterday...but there was one huge flaw. AHB likes things tidy. This 75 foot chord was not going to add to the decore of the apartment, nor could you easily hide it running right through our kitchen into the back bedroom. Hmm. I knew this wasn't ideal for him, but what was more important? The cable option or the messy cable chord?

So, last night we invited dear Ellen over for dinner.

What you are about to witness is about 1 and 1/2 hours of the "Cable Chord Fiasco of 2011". Note to readers: No animals were hurt in the process of this evening.

AHB said: What if we try to run the cable chord through the vent? There is a vent in every room, and it is a straight shot from the living room to the bedroom without the mess of the chord on the ground.

True, there is a ventilation system that runs through our apartment starting behind the TV and ending in the bedroom. And the next thing I know, Ellen has a screw driver and AHB had the vacuum. (Heaven forbid we get dust on the carpet in the process of this evening...)

So we take off all the vents and shine a flash light from the bedroom to the living room, and sure enough, it is a straight shot with no obstructions. Perfect.

Ellen realized she could almost fit her head into the hole...which we decided was NOT a good idea. We had the Crisco ready just incase. AHB checked out the bathroom and realized we couldn't get both screws out of the wall, so we gave up on that vent quickly. Then we started the slow and painful process of pushing the chord through the vent. It seemed to be working well for a bit. But, please picture trying to put a drawsttring through a pair of athletic shorts. You know how this goes. It all gets jumbled in the middle unless you have a safety pin on the end of the string. Well, we could't find a "safety pin" long enough to help in this process. We tried a hanger, we tried the long plastic thing the chord came wrapped in...we were losing steam. This was about 45 minutes into the project. AHB decided we should pack up and call it a good attempt. The trouble was not being able to see where the chord was getting stuck...we couldn't tell if we were making progress. Then Ellen found my makeup mirror and did a McGiver move where she shined the light in the vent and used the mirror to look down the system. Which helped a bit.

After some time, and more grumbling, Ellen and I decided if the hole were a bit bigger it would be easier for one of us to get in there and help the chord move a bit more. If only the hole was bigger....or if only we were a bit (quite a bit!) smaller...

And the conversation looked a little like this:

Ellen: "I wish we could stick something up there and help it push through."
Me: "Yep."
Ellen: "OH MY GOSH! We should attach the chord to Apple and put her in there! She is small enough to fit!"
AHB: "Absolutely not!"
Me: "She is totally small enough."
(Ellen is now picking up Apple and examining her.)
AHB: "No. We are not doing that. What if she gets stuck. She will never fit. No."
Ellen: "Sure she will, won't you Apple?" (Ellen is now hooking the end of the chord to Apple)
(AHB Walked into the kitchen for 3 seconds to check on the bread pudding)
(Ellen shoves little Apple into the heating vent when AHB had his back turned.)
Me: "Uh, pip. You might want to go into the living room and call Apple in the vent. Ellen just may have shoved her into the ceiling..."
AHB: "Jesus Christ, Ellen!" "Apple, come here honey..."

(This is my camera through the hole in the 2nd bedroom to see where she was. You can see her little eyes in this photo--and how messy the vent was!)

And, sure enough, that little dog crawled to her dad in the living room. Didn't stop once. And in 1 minute, or cable chord drama was over. Although AHB was not thrilled. :)

It almost made me pee my pants! I was laughing so hard! The best part was Ellen who then ran into the living room shouting "I can't believe that worked! I can't believe that worked!". We would have had a mess on our hands - had she gotten stuck! What an adventurous night. And we haven't hooked it up yet...that was enough for one evening.

Little Apple was the hero, and then she promptly got a bath. Per "dads" demand. :o)

Annnnd, if he doesn't divorce me over this...maybe we are in the clear!

mmp