It took forever to get the one side's soffit put together, and less than 5 minutes to get it put up tonight.

I then mapped out where the wall sconces are going to go relative to the can lights that will be in the soffits. I also marked where my side QS8's are going, and moved the two flexible air ducts into the soffits. I was about to run the speaker wire for the final two QS8s, but then I got asked to help out with my oldest daughter's college applications and I never made it back downstairs... At least some progress was made, I guess.

Today (actually yesterday, I just haven't gone to bed yet), I managed to spend a solid 7 hours or so working in the basement. Most of the time was in the home theater running wire. I know, how can it take that long. I needed to do some figuring and calculating of where the side surrounds were going to go, and that mean planning out the wall sconces and can lights in the soffits. Not that I put those up, but mapping them out took a little time. I also worked on the equipment rack to try to get the whole section in the wall isolated from the rest of the wall so that it was more sound proof in the end since I had these huge holes in the back of the 4-gang adjustable boxes that the wires and cabling were going to terminate at. That way I have a little extra wire tucked into that cavity in case I need it.

Tomorrow (or today, if you are keeping track), I plan to start building my backer boxes for the can lights. I really want to have those done by the end of the day.

Then I will start putting in the adjustable boxes and wiring for the wall sconces (now that I know where they are going) and the electrical outlets. I will save putting the putty pads on the back for another day probably.

Once that is done, I am down to a very short list of items. I am sure that they will take some time yet, but it is getting closer since the rest of the basement is ready for drywall and the home theater is all that needs to be finished.

I will try to put up a couple of photos soon.

nick, you should take a point and shoot camera with you, to document your work at the end of the day... Or another short video.


I remember when i wired our family room for front and rear speakers... I think i was in the attic for an easy 3 or 4 hours... and i was only running 4 wires!!.... Stupid top plate....

Yea the only point and shoot cameras in our house are my kids'. I don't think that they would miss them. That is a lot easier than taking my DSLR down there. Any future video will pretty much be just in the home theater so they will be shorter. Of course, here I sit at the local mall...stranded...while my wife and kids shop for some stuff. I am just thinking how much time is wasted while I sit here...waiting...

Go to the apple store or cell store, and buy yourself a Iphone 4S.. The camera is pretty amazing... 8mp. and 1080p video.... my 4s has replaced my point and 5mp point and shoot camera i use to use for FB and other internet photo sharing.... I completely agree the DSLR can be a pain.. I have a Cannon 5D mk1, i only use it for "real photography" anymore....

No Apple store here, besides, I've had an 8 MP camera on my Android phone for 18 months...

Megapixels ain't everything...

Neither is every Apple product... On my "old by today's expectations" Droid Incredible, it was rated one of the top cell phone cameras by many review sites, and I've been able to use it for almost 18 months now.

I've taken some really great looking photos on my phone. The biggest issue is that with an always exposed lens cover, it is prone to scratching. Of course, none of these do real well in super low light, even with my phone's dual LED flash...

But I digress, I need to get to work...

I'll take a quality camera over a cell phone camera any day. I haven't seen many quality pictures from one. But the other day, I seen a good one from an android phone, (but only saw it on the phone).

I took a really good photo of an Android phone on my iPhone once. Then I used a photo editor app on my iPhone to make it look like the Android phone was engulfed in flame.

It was glorious.

Then I cried because Steve Jobs is dead.