channel beneath the ridgeplate - Wednesday November 27 2002

Gretchen and I refer to all the workers who come to our house under the generic rubric "homeslice." Today the homeslice known as Darren came again to tape and spackle the master bedroom. He's a very friendly guy and had a tendency to chat endlessly with me whenever I was nearby. He kept presenting this wistful ambition to transcend his present domestication (he has a couple of kids) and go off to the world. He wants to live in Florida and surf in Hawaii, if only he can unburden himself from his Hudson River real estate in a blighted part of Kingston. It's a good thing that he's being paid by the job or else I'd be paying for this conversation. Still, I end up paying for some of it anyway, since it tends to distract me from the things I need to be doing.

The best method for staying focused was to stay far away from Darren and play loud music. Somewhere into the second Slayer album, Gretchen (who was chatting with Darren) asked me to change the music - evidently it wasn't to Darren's liking.

Throughout the day I managed to install all the wire and boxes for my studio. Some of this work involved cutting holes in a previously-sheetrocked wall from the backside and installing outlet and switch boxes. I found that by running three-conductor wire below the ridgeplate (which wasn't as deep as the rafters) I was able to eliminate nearly all of stud drilling that wire pulling normally requires. While I was at it, I also ran telephone and speaker wire, just in case I want to install a totally awesome stereo system with 35 foot speaker separation for listening to all my favorite lofi tunes.