Larriane Wills a.k.a. Larion Wills

More on things that don’t go right.

I had this little project today that I was certain sband wouldn’ttake me more than a few minutes. All I wanted to do was put a small fan behindour television. The TV, you see, sits more or less in a box, a built inentertainment center. The problem with putting electronics in boxes is theybuild up heat. I had noticed when I dusted that ours was getting pretty warm,even though there is an open space of four feet above the top and six inches beneaththe bottom edge with the pedestal it sits on. Oh, yes, and about two feetbehind. With the weather changing, getting hot, I thought an ounce ofprevention just might save us a lot of aggravation in the future. On myshopping trip into town I bought one of those personal fans, about 6 inchesacross. My plan was, lean over the top of the screen, lower the fan by its cordbehind the TV and then reach beneath the screen around the pedestal to plug in,position and turn on the fan. Simple. Just a couple of minutes. I dragged overa footstool to give me the height I needed, which put the top of the TV levelwith my armpit. I lowered the fan, no problem and then let it slid the lastlittle way down by the cord. I reached under the bottom edge with plenty ofroom for my arm to move the fan around, tip it up to blow the heat the way Iwanted, but, I noticed, the TV had gone off. Somehow, I had managed to pull thepower plug loose from the back.  Keep inmind the armpit height as you attempt to picture this. I’m on the footstool,leaning over the top of the TV and, yes, I can see the plug lying behind it,and I think I can see where the cord came from, but there are an awfully lot ofplugin places and such back there. Fortunately for my nerves and patience, Iactually knew where the owner’s manual was and there is a picture of the backof it showing me where the plug should go. First I had to get a hold of thatplug. I knew I couldn’t reach it by bending over the top. Nor could I reachwhere it went from under the bottom. The only thing I can do is get it fromunderneath, press my body against the set to be sure it didn’t tip forward, andwork the cord up between the set side and the wall. Success. By really, reallystretching in a sideways, one armed lean I was able to feel around where Ithought it was supposed to go, stick the plug into the recessed area andpush.  I didn’t really expect it to go inthe first try. I turned the plug, wiggled and jiggled, no luck. Turn, wiggle,jiggle, turn. The plug would not push in. Maybe it was just a tight fit, but Ididn’t want to push too hard or I might have ended up with something it tooktwo strong men to lift on my chest and me flat on the floor. I needed to beable to see which way the plug needed to be turned. Off to the bathroom for ahand mirror. Okay, single prong to the left, double to the right. Wiggle.Jiggle.  Overcome the urge to pound. Couldn’tanyway, not one handed and in that awkward position. That stupid plug would notgo in. I just couldn’t get any real leverage on it. I needed more height. Offto find the ladder. That gave me the height, but held me too far away to giveme the strength I needed. I could not believe I might need a hammer to get thatplug in when all it took was a bump to make it fall out!  Next I was five feet up on a ladder, hangingover the top of the TV, again in a sideways lean, one foot under the bottomedge on the shelve it’s sitting on.  Idiscovered the plug didn’t push straight in; it pushed up at an angle. Contact!And I just about bailed right off the ladder. No, I didn’t get shocked. Anytime before if the power had gone off, the television had to be turned back on.Not then. As soon as that plug touched home the sound came on, right thereacross my belly, right in my ear. War of the Worlds was playing, just as aplane crashed. End of the story? Nope. During all the up and down, I realizedthe shelf under the TV holding the DVR was building up more heat than the TVsection which probably explained why the DVR sometimes froze. I put the fan inthere. Next trip to town, I’ll have to get another fan, but that cord won’tfall out again. While I was back there I found the little clampy thing the cordfits through to keep it stable. When I get the next fan, it really will onlytake me a couple of minutes, not an hour. Tom Cruise had already saved theworld before I finished.