Back in 2018 I used to fish coax through walls with a flashlight and a prayer

Now I use a $30 fiberglass glow rod and I can run a line through three stories in 15 minutes flat. That old way had me wrestling with insulation and nailing into joists blind, guessing where the drop was gonna come out. Switched over after I got stuck for 45 minutes on a single run in a crawlspace in Phoenix last August. My foreman handed me one of those rods and I felt like I was cheating. Still don't get why nobody told me about these sooner... anyone else hang onto old methods too long?

2 comments

2 Comments

faithg2612d ago

Stuck for 45 minutes on a single run in a crawlspace in Phoenix" yeah I felt that pain just reading it. Something nobody brings up though is how those old methods actually taught you to map out a building's structure in your head. Like, I remember being in a warehouse with dropped ceilings and having to feel around for crossbars with just my fingertips, listening for the tape measure click. Now with a glow rod you just zip through and you don't learn any of that muscle memory or spatial reasoning. Not saying I want to go back to sweating it out in 110 degree attics, but I do wonder if the young guys starting out now are missing out on really understanding how buildings are put together. Kinda like how GPS killed my ability to read a paper map.

danielh8112d agoMost Upvoted

You ever notice how everything's getting easier but we're also getting worse at the basics? @faithg26 hit it right on the head with that map analogy. I see it everywhere now, not just with tools. Like my dad can rebuild a carburetor from scratch but I just plug a scanner into my car and let it tell me what's wrong. We traded hard won knowledge for convenience and I'm not sure that's always a good trade. Those 45 minute crawlspace runs were miserable, absolutely, but I'll bet you can still picture exactly where every pipe and wire in that building runs. I can't even remember my own phone number half the time because my phone saves it for me. There's something lost when you skip the struggle.