Bit of Ivory

Of all the things I planned on doing Labor Day weekend, spending the
whole time assembling complicated electronic machinery was not one of
them.
See, my dad is an electrical engineer (audio is his specialty), and for
the past 4 years he’s been working on this giganitc project. It’s a
translation system for the Conference Center, the new gigantic (20,000
seating capacity) meeting hall for my church. 10 years ago, he designed
the translation system for the Salt Lake Tabernacle, but with the
announcement of the new building, they decided to update the
technology. Well, the building was finished 2 years ago, but dad’s
still working on getting the system done. It’s almost there– it needs
to be installed and working by the first weekend of October, which is
our next General Conference. So this weekend we assembled one component
of the system, the ATM-2000s (Atomatic Translation Mixer).
I’ve attached front panels to chassis; then put front panel circuit
boards in the panels; installed fans, volume controls and headphone
jacks; and attached the front panel to the main chassis. My fingers are
raw from screws and nuts and ribbon cable. And we’re only delivering 32
of the 66 they ordered. After Conference, they’ll be 34 more to put
together. Not to mention the OACs (On-Air Controllers) and the Booth
Module (remote access for the translators).
Now I know why I’m an English major.