Dr Desert Flower: Home Electronics Specialist

When we moved from Arizona to California on a "corporate move", the packers took all the TV and stereo wires, put them in a big dish pack box, and DUMPED them in a Huge Pile in our living room when we got to California.  I said "you're going to plug all those  back in..  right?"  and the United Van Lines movers said "no, that's not our job".  It was disappointing and aggravating.  When a "corporate minder" called to see how the move was going, I unloaded on her, saying how upset I was that I'd have to waste an entire day untangling the wires, and then figuring out where the heck they all re-connected to which device.  "I can send someone to hook it up, professionally" the minder quickly stated "included in the price of the move" - "certainly, can they come today?" "This afternoon, after 2pm". "Great!"  

A few hours later, a professional electronics installer arrived.  He was an ex-Direct TV installer, ex-Time Warner cable installer, part-time DJ who was very perfectionistic.  He wire tied all the cables, hiding them from site with cable ties, and made "just the right length" connections.  My stereo system had never been so expertly installed.

Then we moved ourselves from the rental house to the bought house, in October.  Non-corporate.  We're paying for it directly out of our pockets, not a corporate move.  So I took pictures of the connections, to remind me what was connected where.  And then I intended to reverse engineer from the photos, and re-establish the connections once we were in the new house.

One thing lead to another, and I put "functioning stereo" low down on my list of things to do at move-in, after "get garage clean enough to park cars in it" and "adjust sprinklers so that they do not soak the entire pool deck and furniture rendering pool deck uselessly wet" and "unpack my office so that I can work the next Monday morning" (we moved on a Friday).  

Dr Desert Flower Really does not like to work around the house in silence.  She craves, she needs, a musical soundtrack to keep her moving, make her feet want to dance, liven the mood.  So while I was occupied elsewhere doing many other things, she took the pictures here, and single-handedly re-connected the entire stereo system herself.  This was no small task, in that the home we bought has "surround sound" in the walls of the family room, and speakers attached to the outside walls pointing at the pool.  She got it all to work, using just her wits, patience and these photos, and saved me a good 4 to 6 hours of my day, with lots and lots of frustration in trying to do it myself.  I did not know my wife had it in her to be so adept at electronic connections, but I am happy to see she could and she did.  I am a lucky man.