You need to run it through your thumb and finger first to take the "lay" out of it and make it sorta straight.
Like Hal says, it's just a matter of practice. Put a Help Wanted ad on Craig's List for "1A2 installer" and you'll get plenty of experience. I hear that there's plenty of 1A2 work in Afghanistan these days.
I agree that putting little tie-downs around them is a pain when trouble-shooting, but the number of times you need to go back into an installation are few and far between.
