Something to See

I stopped at Frank's before leaving town to check on the progress of my car. It's been a little while. Someone had to have done something, right?

I'm happy to report that yes, Frank had constructed a sample of my driver's seat ready for me to approve and called me late this morning to make plans to meet. Pablo picked me up and took the long way into Glendale because of an accident. For about 30 minutes, I grasped for the correct Spanish words to tell him how I'm liking it in Pasadena, what I like to cook for dinner, and where I'll be going this week. I enjoy this practice, but several times, Pablo has tried to speak Spanish with me in front of other people, a situation with which I am not entirely comfortable. I appreciate that he thinks my skills are up to snuff, but I'm not ready to stutter in front of an audience.

When I arrived, half of his garage was filled with pieces of my car. I looked at the seats first, which the guys had quickly sewn together using white vinyl. I think they look okay, but we're going to use pink piping all around instead of the black shown in the picture.



Although the white leather is nice, and there is still decent amount of pink on the seat, I'm afraid it's not going to tie in with the significantly darker dash. I thought the dash turned out looking beautiful, but of course when Francisco tried to stand it up so I could view it straight on, he dropped it on a piece of the console, leaving a big pink scratch on it. *facepalm*



He tried to spit-shine it, which I knew would be pointless. The guy who made the dash told me that this matte finish was prone to scratching and hadn't put any coating on it. *facepalmfacepalmfacepalm*

Francisco assured me they would touch everything up before they attached it. I don't want to throw a shit-fit, but I feel one brewing. I have a good eye, and I want a flawless dash. If anyone is going to fuck up something I paid hundreds of dollars to have made, it's going to be me.

On the way back, Pablo told me (in Spanish) that some Chinese people were working on my A/C last week. Whaaa? I guess Admir looks kind of Chinese (I don't think he is though), but people? I don't mind if he has help, but I'd like to know about it so if something gets ripped off, I can cover all my bases. I hate that I have to think about this, but it only had to happen once for me to be wary forever.

Later, Admir came through Pasadena and billed me for the speakers. We're going with Infinity Kappa pro series 6-by-9s for the front. They're made of titanium, which sounds like it would be a good idea. I don't have much to compare them to but my factory speakers in my old Camaro, which crapped out after a few years. And all of my friends have factory speakers, so they're less annoying people, but I can't use their cars to compare quality.

I asked Admir about the A/C and we shot the shit about that for awhile. Then I mentioned that Francis didn't follow up with me, just in case he was planning to recommend him to someone else. The guy sounds like he has a lot on his plate.

Admir also mentioned that the head unit, which I had sent to Central Auto Sound about a month ago, was just sitting out on a work bench somewhere.

"And I was like, 'Hey! This shouldn't be out. Someone could just come by and swipe it.' So I hid it in the back behind... blah blah blah" *FACE. PALM*

I could not believe he was telling me this right before I had to leave town. I can't get over there until I get back, so I guess I'll just spend every day I'm gone hoping and praying that someone doesn't make off with my shit. I really, really could have gone without knowing that until I returned.

I'm pretty frustrated right now. I'm writing this post late because I needed to step away. It was either that or have a full-blown freak-out, which accomplishes nothing. But hope springs eternal: Maybe I'll see some major headway when I get back.