Date:         Tue, 18 Jan 2011 11:36:14 -0800
Reply-To:     Mark Hineline <hineline@OCOTILLOFIELD.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Mark Hineline <hineline@OCOTILLOFIELD.NET>
Subject:      Re: first time buyer
Comments: To: Alistair Bell <albell@SHAW.CA>
In-Reply-To:  <754053AA-B4C2-4C00-A974-9955A93F07FF@shaw.ca>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes

I love to tinker with my Vanagon. My favorite thing to do is to make
everything work as it did when it was on the showroom floor. This past
weekend I spent an inordinate amount of time making the fasten
seatbelts light work. I found the relay (without a buzzer), and it
comes on when I put the key in the ignition, then off when I turn the
key. That's not right.

Anyway, my point is that a detail that most people would overlook is a
challenge that I pursue until I get closure (if you want to know why,
read some work by the psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi). Most
people wouldn't care about this.

Then, when I get it to stock, I modify it.

Call it a sickness.

The most important rule of Vanagon ownership is: never drive it
farther than you can afford to have it towed, back, if something
should happen. That's basically between $1.00 and $2.00 a mile.

Mark