Due to the acquisition of some new entertainment equipment, I’ve decided it’s time to completely reconfigure and consolidate my entertainment center. While I’m doing that, I’m going to ask my good friend Cornelius to jot down some notes as they happen. I’ll return at the end to wrap things up. Cornelius, please introduce yourself…
Hello everyone, that’s me above. Josh has asked me to keep a running log of what’s going on as he redoes his entertainment center, and I plan on documenting what I consider to be major events as part of this home project. It’s a dreary, rainy day here in NYC, so he’s under no pressure to get things done by a certain time. Let’s get started:
11:00 a.m. — Josh is taking his usual methodical approach by double-checking the equipment and connections map that he made a few days prior. He’s placed a glass of water near the sofa and has a pad and pen handy, as well as labels for tagging wires. I have a good feeling that this is going to go smoothly.
11:27 a.m. — Josh has taken all the hardware out of the cabinet and is currently pulling cables out and placing them in piles. I’m not sure what the piles are, but I assume they are “keep” and “get rid of” piles. Looks like things are going well…he’s singing along to The Police, which is playing from his laptop as he works; “R O X A N N E !”.
11:52 a.m. — Josh has hit a minor snag. He’s trying to set up the wiring of the A/V receiver, but keeps going back and forth between his connection map and the rear of the receiver, and fiddling with cables. I’m not worried, I’m sure he’ll work his way past this issue.
12:08 p.m. — A moment ago Josh announced that he needed an aspirin and went into the bathroom to get one. He then grabbed a granola bar from the kitchen, and is now sitting on the sofa reading one of the instruction manuals.
12:28 p.m. — This is bad. Josh is lying on the floor in a fetal position mumbling unintelligibly. I feel like I should do something to assist, but I’m afraid. I’m very afraid.
12:53 p.m. — Josh eventually got up and has been sitting on the sofa with his computer smiling and laughing for the past 10 minutes. I don’t think he’s looking up instructions manuals. I can’t see the screen, but my bet is on YouTube and funny cats.
12:58 p.m. — How ‘bout those Yankees? First place with the best record in baseball…can’t ask for much more. Mets…not so much.
1:01 p.m. — Sorry about the last update. Josh was looking around the room with an exasperated look on his face…the kind of look he has right before he starts throwing things. I wanted to have something positive on the screen and that was the best I could come up with.
1:08 p.m. — Josh has disappeared into his bedroom, and I hear a lot of rummaging around. Not really sure why.
1:10 p.m. — Josh has emerged from his bedroom. I’m not sure what the baseball bat is for, but I’m sure it’s important.
1:12 p.m. — Oh. Dear. God. Everyone seen that movie “Office Space”, with the scene where they beat up the printer in the field? Only thing missing was the Ghetto Boys.
1:44 p.m. — Wow, what a turnaround. It looks like Josh is done with the hardware and connections, but he’s standing in front of the cabinet with a cable in his hand and scratching his head. I guess this is the similar to having an extra screw in your hand after putting a bookshelf together?
2:00 p.m. — Josh has manually turned on all his equipment and has manually changed the inputs on the A/V receiver, and all seems to be working correctly. At this point, he has the Yankee game on (it looks and sounds great!), and seems to be updating his universal remote control.
2:10 p.m. — The universal remote control has been updated without issue and now he seems to be changing the settings on all his equipment to make sure that everything is using the correct A/V settings. I think the end is in sight.
2:30 p.m. — Josh has configured his A/V receiver’s speakers (it looked like it did it automatically), and he’s now testing the various functions of each piece of equipment. At this point, he looks very relaxed and seems to almost be enjoying it.
3:00 p.m. — Josh has announced that he’s done. From what I can tell, he still has a few minor things left to connect, but for the most part, he seems to be done. He has some old equipment he needs to get rid of, some garbage that needs to go out, and some new toys to play with. All-in-all, it went about as well as I figured it would. I’m going to turn it back over to Josh for the wrap-up…
I just read what Cornelius wrote, and he may have exaggerated a few thing slightly (I’m going to talk to him about this later). I just want to make clear that I had full control of my faculties at all times, and he was never in any danger. The reconfiguration went well, and while there were some minor issues, they weren’t anything that I couldn’t handle. I do have a list of things I need to address at a later time, but they are mostly cosmetic. I think I’m going to take a quick nap, order in dinner as a reward for myself on a job well done, and relax and enjoy a movie on my new equipment. I can’t decide between “GoodFellas” or “The Usual Suspects”…maybe I’ll just have to watch both.
