A few months ago, Clark asked me if I had done any home wiring. "Sure", I said. "What do you need?" Turns out that he had this big plan for a few rooms in his home that involved running CAT 5 cable for his computers, COAX for his cable TV and even one line for his Sirius radio. All the wire had to be run behind the walls and any plates that were added had to look as if they had been there all along. It had something to do with his lease and him not being able to do any additions or modifications to his place.
It didn’t take long for the both of us to realize that I didn’t have the right tools or experience necessary to perform this task so two weeks later, with the assistance of RayJ and some fish tape, we took on this deceptively simple task.
More than once I wondered why I didn’t try harder to convince Clark of the advantages of wireless networking - especially when I found myself in Clark’s crawl space, balancing on a cross beam, adjusting my flashlight and removing my face mask to yell at RayJ: "Did it come out yet?"
After six hours of fishing tape and pulling wire, we were almost done. I could already smell the sea food that Clark had promised us at the end of the day, but you should never get too comfortable when doing this kind of work. I had climbed up into the crawl space for the 27th, and what I hoped would be the last time, when I slipped. Thanks to my Spiderman like reflexes, I didn’t fall through, but my leg did break through Clark’s ceiling.
So there’s Clark, looking at my dangling leg, dark grey insulation gently falling on his living room furniture and, what’s the first thing he does? He calls Judy.
"Come on over. You gotta see this", is all he says before he starts taking pictures of the tragically funny incident. Nice way of not letting your landlord know that you did some work in your house, right?
Judy, I’m so sorry for your loss. I can’t even begin to image your pain.
Please know that I’m here for you.
Clark, I’m sorry that you had to live with so much pain in your life.
I’m glad that you have taken care of that problem forever.
I hate the fact that you couldn’t stay with us a little bit longer.
I love the fact that you had the intelligence to find a painless solution to your problems and the courage to follow it through.
I will miss you until the day I die.
Raul Martinez - 5/27/2007
