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PAGE A4 â€" WATERLOO CHRONICLE, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 9, 1991 Bit of a kick to it. But, hey, it wasn‘t that difficult at all. In fact, I secured the framing throughout the basement in less than an hour "And so," said Beth, "thus endeths one of the most overplayed, overtalked, overanalysed aspects of this entire operation. Next time, just get the thing and use it." Of course, she was right. What I did not bother to mention was that I got so confident using the nail gun, that as I loaded the shell for the final anchor, I popped a toothpick in my mouth, looked down at the frame, and said aloud, "go ahead, 2 x 4, make my day." I mean, what good is making an entire rec room for a Fischerâ€" Price camera if you can‘t have a little fun doing it? How did I know, imitate Clint Eastwood or Rambo, I felt like saying. But after a few minutes with Gary Boyko over at A to Z Rental, I felt much relieved. Gary, without a doubt one of the friendliest, easy going types I‘ve ever met, calmed me down, rented me a Kleenex to get rid of the sweat on my brow, and told me exactly how to use the gun. ° So that night, I went home, cleared the basement of family meg&n, and went down, loaded up, and drove the first nail in. _ ‘"They‘re real easy to use â€" as long as you know what you‘re doing." "I‘ve built about 30 rec rooms in my day, and never used the thing. What are you going to do with it?" And so, much of my Christmas vacation was spent going to get lumba.nndinmhtion,mdmlumber.(flmcsrtbencond time) and plywood, and floor coverings, about nine other things I learned along the way I‘d need. But it‘s been great fun, and a good learning experience for me. What has ticked me off is the reaction of others when I tell them I‘m undertaking the project. "Have a good Christmas, Rick?" "Super. I‘m building a rec room for the kids." The reactions, in no particular order, were: "Oh, your brotherâ€"inâ€"law is up from Lindsay, is he?" "Uh, you‘re not handling any of those power tools by yourself, are you. Those cordless drills can be vicious." "YOU? I thought the closest you ever got to carpentry was fetching the beer." How I earned such a reputation, I‘m not sure. But while I‘ve struggled at times, things are going pretty well, and I should be finished the project, well, let‘s say before golf season starts. The most humorous incident to date was the realization I was going to have to personally staff one of those concrete nail guns that anchors the framing into the concrete. Intimidating? Only to the extent that the closest I‘d ever been to any kind of gun in my life was when I picked up the wrong duffel bag at a sloâ€"pitch tournament at the Bridgeport Rod and Gun club. A trifle unfamiliar with this concrete nail process, I asked three close acquaintances what to expect. "Hey, watch yourself with that thing. Packs a powerful punch." the kids, well, we should probably make a nice laundry room off the side. And we never have enough room for our canned goods, why don‘t we improvise around the sump pump and make a storage area. Whatever‘s left can be your workshop, which you‘ll hardly use because by then, everything will be done." There you go. Jordan gets a Fischerâ€"Price camera for Christmas, and next thing you know, instant fourth floor to our backsplit. I am experiencing great difficulty word processing my column this week. Not that it‘s tough finding the words. Hey, that‘s the easy part. The tough part is that my fingers are bruised and full of slivers from building a rec room from scratch in our basement. It‘s a project that evolved Christmas morning when Beth and I realized that there just had to be more room in our home for our two growing boys and their growing arsenal of amusements. "What we need," said Beth, ‘"is for you to build a big toy box downstairs to put this stuff in. And as long as you‘re doing that, we should probably finish off the room and make it a big playroom. And if I‘m going to be doing laundry and watching Waterioo Chronicle Second Class Mail Registration Number 5540 Published every Wednesday by The Fairway Group Incorporated 215 Fairway Rd. S., Kitchener, Ont. January 9, 1991 My latest project is turning me into one nervous ‘rec‘ THAT‘S LIFE Pik Câ€"p" _ TOWERS PLAZA 672835 Ontario Limated 94 Brdgeport Road, Unit 35 Waterloo, Ontario N2J 219 ($19) 886â€"9111 I g * Beauty Services * Banquet Halls * Caterers * Video Weddings LET US HELP YOU KEEP. NEW YEAR‘S RESOLUT 2 p.m. & 7 p.m 1 p.m. & 3 p.m. FASHION SHOW Sat. â€"Jan. 12 we 6 e canee s se n wune we n n e n e e aratee n n e e o HomeFit is featuring special pricing on fitness equipment to help you achieve your goals! FOURTH ANNUAL 1991 12 noon â€" 9:00 p.m. Sunday, The Thirteenth of January 11:00 a.m. â€" 6:00 p.m. ... 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