Friday, May 22, 2009

pROJECT mAYHEM II

There are two ways of kitting out a van.

Method 1. The sport climbing (redpoint) method:
  1. Plan everything out meticulously leaving nothing to chance.
  2. Buy the materials to implement the plan.
  3. Execute successfully with a minimum of fuss.

Method 2. The trad climbing (onsight) method:

  1. Sketch out a quick plan.
  2. Buy some materials.
  3. Faff about.
  4. Revise the plan.
  5. Buy some more materials.
  6. Faff some more.
  7. Revise the plan some more.
  8. Execute with a lot of fuss and realise that you still have 90% of the materials left.

I chose the trad method - the end result was the same - I ended up with a van with a floor fitted as intended. However I don't think it would have been half as interesting, or enjoyable, had I chosen the sport method just because there is something so satisfying about solving things on the fly. Having said that there one thing I would do differently next time - make sure I have enough money left to buy a beer when it is all over as a day doing trad without a beer at the end of it is just ever so slightly wrong.

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