Half-Assing It

The week went something like this:

 

In the office Monday, getting things done. Follow that up with 3 (long) consecutive days of training and some very poor weather. Turn it all around with a half day Friday chock full o' productivity on the business side. Step outside and "enjoy" the cold, gray rain at lunchtime. I let things blow over since all my intended work was to be outside. How to pass the time? I flitted with the idea of cleaning up and heading to the Rod, but was afraid I'd lose the entire afternoon. How about a quick flick then….Kevin Bacon in Footloose? Excellent.

 

Ventured out after the rain subsided. Ended up performing surgery on the OSB sheathing under the rear windows behind the housewrap. Why? This is the wall that took a swim shortly after construction. Regular siding over these areas wouldn't have required attention but I needed my aggregate panel install to be perfectly flat. Well, flat as possible anyway. And managed to install three of said panels before darkness fell.

 

Friday night? Saturday morning was kind enough to remind me of the PL fun. In a very rare move, Cam and I closed the place down. But, work to do and all that. Grubbed out the brush where the PoCo and I agreed to put the 25kVA transformer. Trimmed and installed the remaining 3 rear panels (involved process, actually). Towed the Brougham to a spot that wasn't directly over where the primary electrical feed will run. And planed, ripped, routered and notched the 16' east beltline board as darkness fell. Then hitched up the picker and brought it to the parents for Sunday. Saturday night's movie? Blue Hawaii. Yes, I'm serious.

 

Sunday..no lodge work! I bet you didn't see that coming. First was a run to the parts store, then the real fun began. And I'm not talking about the guy behind the counter asking me, in all seriousness, if I had the 15-bolt pan or the 16-bolt pan. Sorry pal, I haven't been wallowing on my back under the truck yet. Ended up buying both kits then. Bottom line- transmission filter and fluid change, oil filter and change, air up the tires in the truck and picker, whole lotta oil-dri and broom time. And, the famous Merry Christmas sign raising. I recall at least one year where this operation was a piece of cake. Of course, that was before the re-shingling and removal of pulleys. And to my surprise, Cara had never seen the sign first hand. One would've thought the picker would make quick work of raising that thing, or at least help to hold it off the shakes, but oh-no.  It was late afternoon before we had that thing squared away. Only a couple minor injuries, both to the shingles and a couple folks involved. Too dark to dive into Cara's glow-plug harness fault then. The temps had really dropped by this time so we finished up our laundry and had pizza with the parents before heading back to the apt.

 

Okay, so all of this is the superficial stuff. Lately, the indecision continues. One of the projects slated for next summer is a shelter east of the lodge. As with the lodge, this is yet another opportunity to sharpen my design skills. OK, more than that, design AND engineering skills, because this thing also has a heavy emphasis on rapid assembly and low-cost. My initial design from months ago really fit the bill, unfortunately, a triangle is a very poor form to maximize usable square footage. You end up with sides exceeding common length lumber (now you need butt-joints and have to consider deliver and costs skyrocket once you exceed "common" lengths) to get decent interior space. A keystone shape may be considered. But there are other issues here. I'm eager to put some googie flair into this thing, but that presents more problems because a) the style and materials of the shelter need to harmonize with the lodge next door. B) Googie costs bucks. C) Googie and free-form should be reserved for the drive-in. C+1) The Drive-in needs to be labor, time and cash-concious as well and I already have a design on the table for it. C+2) Scuttle the current design and allocate googie-required funds?

 

On the drive-in front, I had planned earlier this summer to kick-off construction on it this next spring. I pulled the parcel out of ag production so it wouldn't be planted with corn this year (leaving inevitable stalk and stubble to fight next season). There are even preliminary flags placed for support piers. BUT, I'm thinking the drive-in should get its due. If it means pushing the thing out 12 months for a much better design and more cash to throw at it, perhaps it should wait. Funds are now tied up with the inflated costs of bringing power back there. The current design meets the critera set forth, but it's lacking…..something.

 

And that's interesting to think about, too. What's the difference between a hamburger stand and a steakhouse? Pretty much everything aside from charging money for prepared food. Besides a parking lot, a building able to seat patrons (booths, tables, décor), hiring wait-staff, a full-fledged kitchen, menus, restrooms, etc.  What's the difference between a small drive-in and a large drive-in? A screen but bigger. A projector but bigger. A parcel of land but bigger. The minimum requirements are pretty much the same whether the DI is large or small (still need a ticket-taker and booth, a concession stand with offerings, restrooms, yard lighting and pole-top lights, fencing, etc.) It doesn't cost twice as much to build a concession stand twice as large. Nor does it cost 200% to build a screen twice as big. At some point you break out of this comparison (I'm not talking about hanging a bed sheet from a clothesline here, or my 16mm projectors). Both screens require guy wires and a minimum number of poles. Labor to dig holes and erect the the bracing, and so forth. So, at what point do the lines intersect and you know what to build? And what about intangibles? How is your experience affected if I built a DI with a) a cool ticket booth that no one ever mans, b) a hokey ticket booth the run-down DI's have now, or c) no booth at all (and throw the $$ at something else). What if that "something else" were a greater variety of films. Then what's your answer? These are the things I need to continue to weigh. Low cost. Easy to build. Maximum Impact. Semi-permanent.