... and there was much rejoicing.

Well, I passed. The electrical inspector came by Saturday morning. He like what he saw... except that dicey arrangement with the plug for the kitchen stove. The picture at right (looking up at the basement ceiling) shows the plug for the oven which is overhead in the kitchen. The inspector nearly turned on his heels and walked out when he saw this. I quickly explained that this was the handiwork of the previous owner and I had nothing to do with it, but that we will be replacing it when we renovate the kitchen (our next project!). "What kind of ceiling are you putting in?" he asked. Initially I misunderstood his question and started to explain that I would replace it by cutting through the floor from above. Then he reminded me that it is a code violation to have a junction box or any kind of connection in an inaccessible location. Presumably if we had been planning a suspended ceiling then he might have left it at that.
Since we are putting in sheetrock, however, he insisted that the whole arrangement (there is a junction box not visible in the photo) be replaced before the ceiling is put in.
No problem.
The next step was to make the final connections for the laundry area. The main reason we wanted this inspection just for the bathroom/laundry room before the rest of the basement is wired was so that we can set up the washer and drier in their proper places. So right after the inspector left I started wiring up the outlets and switches. Oops... the outlet I had bought for the drier was actually a range outlet. Damn. So I had a trip to the hardware store to add to the day's itinerary. Since I would be working in the main electric panel to connect the three bath/laundry circuits ( the 110/220 drier circuit, the dedicated laundry circuit for the washer, and the general light/receptacle circuit) I figured what the heck, I might as well replace the troublesome oven outlet as well.
So I consulted my reference books for info about requirements for a range outlet. First I noticed that one of the books had conflicting information in the text and in an illustration. Hmmm... So I got out another book and found... yet another variation. A little investigation revealed that the first book not only had an error, it was also published in 1992, but the electric code changed in 1996! Fortunately I had bought that second book (actually I had already owned it, but bought the new edition; good thing! Moral: more books are better.)
Eventually I found the supplies I needed, got the laundry all connected, got the wiring for the stove disconnected, and then quit for the day.
This could have resulted in a disastrous situation: with the stove disconnected, It would have been difficult to make coffee Sunday morning. The solution: a quick run to Dunkin' Donuts. And then I was able to finish wiring up the oven and get back to framing.
The update there: about half the main room is framed now. We are way behind schedule on that, but I should be able to finish up next weekend.

Bathroom Wiring

I THINK the bathroom rough wiring is done. Of course I won't know for sure until the inspector OKs it... and chances are he will find something wrong somewhere. But I can't see what it will be.
Last weekend (10 days ago, now), I did all the roughing in. Most of it is pretty straight forward. Drill holes in the middle of the studs... make bends in the wire not too sharp (10 times the diameter of the cable, per code).
Of course there were some small snags. I bought a 50-foot box of 10/3 cable (that is, three strands of 10-gauge wire plus ground) for the drier. But it turns out that about 52 feet of cable would have been better. I even moved the receptacle box one stud closer to the get an extra 16 inches on the other end. I think I will be OK; there is enough cable at the main panel to make the connection, but not any extra if don't trim the ends well the first time!
Installing that cable was also a pain. It is not very flexible. Also, I had cheaped out and not rented a right-angle drill. Since my electric drill and 5/8-inch auger bit are to big to fit between two studs, each hole is slightly angled. In retrospect I should have made the effort to straighten out the holes (by straightening the drill out as I drilled). It turns out I also should have paid more attention to drilling the wholes at the same height. The un-evenness is amateurish, made pulling the cable more difficult, and used up precious inches of cable!

Exhausting Work

Who would think that one of the most difficult decisions we have yet faced would be selecting and locating the bathroom exhaust fan.
The complications started when the plumber mentioned that he didn't think that venting the drier and exhaust fan under the porch would meet the code. I called the building inspector to ask him about requirements for the exhaust fan. "I know there are limits and requirements for drier venting (minimum bends, no screws into the duct, etc. to avoid lint build up which can lead to a fire). What about exhaust fans?" I asked.
He said that the requirements and limits are even stricter for the exhaust fan. The bottom line is they don't work very well. It is better than no ventilation at all, but they simply don't do a great job removing moisture from bathrooms, so you really need to avoid anything that will reduce the efficiency of the fan. Like long duct runs.
Normally an exhaust fan can be located close to an exterior wall, and can be vented right through that wall. In our case, however, the bathroom is not actually adjacent to an exterior wall. It is close, but the laundry area is between the shower and that exterior wall. We figure that the fan will remove steam better if it is located relatively closer to the shower versus closer to the exterior wall. That will mean a longer duct run, though, so we figure we need a somewhat stronger fan than would otherwise be needed for the size of the room.
So we trooped first to Lowe's, where we bought a fan that we later decided was undersized. So I went off to an electrical supply company in Norwood, a nearby town. But they had moved to Canton, on the other side of town. So I stopped at Home Depot and bought a larger fan... but really much larger than we need.
So I actually ended up tracking down the electrical supply house in Canton and buying a THIRD exhaust fan. This turned out to be the Goldilocks fan: not too big, not too small: just right. The lesson is that the big-box stores (Lowe's and Home Depot) may have just about everything... but not necessarily the right size. And of course, the guy behind the counter at the electrical store was actually helpful!