Virtual Progress

The figurin' continues, and about the only progress I've made on the van over the past week has taken place between my ears and on the several sheets of paper that I've been busily scribbling dimensions and very roughly sketching ideas on. I tell myself that this sort of progress is every bit as important as the kind involving the use of cool power tools, but I'll admit to occasionally fighting off the gnawing sense that things have stalled.

Work has been keeping me a bit distracted too, and looks to continue doing so over the next two or three weeks. In show business, however, that is never a bad thing, and it's not without good reason that musicians have been know to remark, "work is work." Similarly, I increasingly find myself saying, "van conversions don't pay for themselves."

Lately, several times each day, Q happens by the van to find me perched inside lost in contemplation over one corner of the rig or another. It's a lot like figuring out how to put a puzzle together, but without connecting the first two pieces until you can clearly see how all the rest will follow in turn. That's probably not a realistic goal, but I do think I should have a reasonably clear plan in mind before work moves from my imaginary world to the real one. And I'm getting there, slowly but surely.

There has been some "real" progress, mind you. I took apart the dashboard yesterday to fix an intermittent light bulb connection above the tachometer. Hey, it's something. And I've ordered several components for the upcoming phase of exterior body work – most notably the tinted bed liner that will keep me safe during the next zombie outbreak, as well as all-new window and door seals. The new seals won't go in until after the van has been painted and the windows tinted, but they sure look pretty just sitting here.

Then there's the mighty Ford Zetec engine that I recently purchased, whose progress I've been anxiously following as it slowly makes its way from one freight terminal to another. Unfortunately, the tracking web page provides zero location data (and spells "shipment" with two Ps!), so while I have no idea where the engine is right now, I do know that it has passed through four different terminals in as many days. More quasi-progress. And with any luck, each terminal is a bit closer to LA than the last, but that egregious spelling error leaves me thinking that might be overly optimistic...

At any rate, the body work is going to be the next big thing I tackle, as I'm reluctant to do much to the interior until I'm finished slathering various messy substances over the exterior – particularly while the windows are out. As a result, until the tinted bed liner arrives, I'll likely continue to design the interior on paper, research various components of the plan, start placing orders for stuff, and (I hope) continue to make money.

Onward.