Hooking Up
from the Just Because collection (2002-2006)
Sometimes the world comes down to finding the correct wire. It’s all about connection. Be it female, male, or neutral, there has to be a match. The diameter of the incoming feed has to match the diameter of the opening or there is no satisfying signal. I recently struggled with this dilemma. Having a boarder in the house precipitated the need for a correct electronic hookup to meet his needs. There was a downstairs television without an antenna. Our house is a cable-free zone which presents some challenges as far as audio/visual reception is concerned. On good days we can tune in five network broadcasters which is plenty for our needs. However, without the right antenna connection all you will get is fuzz on the television screen.
Without a problem, I found the old rabbit ears I had stored in my “Wires and Cables” basket . Unfortunately, they had two straight wire ends and the television had a coaxial feed. I continued to rummage through a warehouse-sized basket of electronic goodies saved from old television sets, radios, stereo systems, computer peripherals, and parts of phones that no longer worked. I resisted the urge to sit down and reminisce over where all these parts had originated. I had a job to do, so the cataloguing of electronic memories would have to wait for another day. I found a female socket that had two screw nubs perfect for the size of my two-wire feed. I made the attachment and went to the back of the television set where a male coaxial nub awaited acceptance of the female socket. “That was easy!” I mistakenly thought.
Life would be simple, if it were more standardized. All these complex associations mean trouble when it comes to trying to get the signal to flow. When it comes to wires at least, diversity is just too frustrating! Oh life! Back to the workshop I went to find an adapter. The little gold-coloured part winked at me from the very bottom of my box of techno-paraphernalia. I reviewed my progress up to that point: male to female, female to male, my connections string was growing. All that was needed now was a short cable with two female ends. Fortunately, the cables had all been taped into individual units at some point by someone with obsessive/compulsive characteristics. So, I was thankful, since it’s a known fact that cables and wires, when left alone for a sufficient period of time will co-mingle into a fishing line tangle of Gordian proportions.
Huzzah! I set eyes on a two foot long black-cabled beauty with all the correct proportions and snapped the two remaining ends in place. The TV reception was remarkably clear considering all of the intermediate connections. Clarity was produced from combinations. Diversity can be a bonus. Go figure!