No, I didn't go to a tropical paradise (I wish) to go fishing at this time of year. No, we're not drilling holes in any lakes up here to go ice fishing. I'm talking about fish tape. This might be an instructional post to a few people reading this. I found out absolutely nobody in Connecticut knew what I was talking about when I told them about fish tape, and almost everyone in Nebraska knew what it was. Obviously, this isn't one of those regional pop/soda/coke type of debates, it's just that people didn't know what it was.

For those who don't, fish tape is made up of thin steel that allows you to thread it easily through walls. Most electricians use it, and most people named Brian Helge use it when they drop their surround sound speaker into the wall. As you can see from the image, there is no easy way to get a wire when you're hole is near the ceiling.

So, this is what you do:

• Assess the hole and realize this is going to be extremely difficult to do by yourself.
• Go into the basement and look at the ridiculously small hole that you have to work with.
• Use electrical tape to secure the wire to the fish tape, feed it up the wall and brace the fish tape holder so it doesn't fall when you go upstairs.
• Realize this is almost impossible with one person, so go a new route by dropping a weighted string and praying that you can grab it from the bottom.
• Try both processes around 10-15 times with no luck, and then somehow, manage to get the two caught on each other and pull the string up.
• Go to extreme measures to make sure the wire doesn't fall back down when you pull the fish tape back down through the floor.
• Marvel at a job well done.