Getting Used to Me

One of the things I was told when I took the job in Atmautluak that there is a TV satellite dish that the teachers can tap into. All we’d have to do is run cable to our home, get a receiver, order programming, and pay our own bill. That eliminates any misconceptions or bill discrepancies. It is fair and logical. Not a bad deal.
A couple of weeks ago it was time to run a cable to my house. We (meaning the site administrator while I watched) first drilled a hole through the outside wall and inserted a co axle cable. Then “we” put an end on the cable. The site administrator (SA) went outside to connect the cable leaving me to attach the other end to the satellite receiver.
We tested it, but couldn’t get a signal.
Thinking the cable was bad; we found another cable to try. After we switched them we went into my house. He put a new end on the cable, crimped it and then began to connect it to the back of the receiver. At that time I chose to open my big mouth without thinking. As I watched him attach the cable to the back of the receiver I happened to say something like, “We didn’t have it there last time. We put it here,” I said pointing to a different outlet.
I thought he was going to faint. I thought about it myself. He kindly explained that I had put the first cable where a TV Antennae should go and that the connection with the word “Satellite” written by the satellite symbol was where the satellite cable goes.
He connected the cable in its rightful place and we gave it a shot - still no signal. The SA then went to his house and hooked up the cable to an unused splitter.
Back in my house we saw the familiar bright red line on the TV screen meaning no signal. Then he pushed a button on the remote and it worked. We were only picking up the odd numbered transponders, but at least we figured the cable was okay. He explained that for some reason that splitter won’t allow even numbered transponders. That is why they don’t use it. But, he had an idea to take care of the situation.
I was going to Bethel soon so he asked me to pick up another cable. At the present we were using two different lengths of cable to go to a main junction box where all housing cables begin. He told me to get one long enough to go all the way to the main junction box. Using one long cable instead of two would be better. I measured the distance and phoned in the cable order so it would be ready.
Apparently, I heard “new cable,” but not “main junction box.” I came back with enough to run the same way we had run the other two. Thanks to me the SA’s brilliant idea became void. But, at least we had a new cable to run halfway.
While we were at it, the SA logically decided to go ahead and run three cables to take care of all the housing. That way we only had to do it once. He found and tested three cables. They all worked beautifully. Two of them were the ones we had originally strung to my house. It wasn’t my place to say anything, but I couldn’t resist. I laughed and told him, “It will take you a while to get used to me.”
He didn’t dispute that fact.
After installing the new cable to my house and running the other three cables it was time to test my receiver again. We were in front of my TV looking at the familiar bright red line showing no signal.
We were at a loss on why nothing was working and the SA was heading off to go hunting. He showed me where he connected all the cables and basically said he would leave me with it to figure it out. Talk about faith. With my help it had only taken us four hours to do an hour job – unsuccessfully.
Nevertheless, he left to go kill something leaving me to scratch my baldhead. I guess I needed a good scratching because I ended up figuring it out. I don’t know how I did it, but I got a good signal to my house and also a neighbor’s. My all-afternoon hour job was done.
Maybe one theory to my success is that I am used to me and know how to handle myself.