My blog is slightly out of sync with my YouTube videos. I’ll try and catch up during the holidays.

This video has a lot going on. The original concept was very different than the end result.

The more “BigRobVan” videos I make, the more of “me” that seems to seep into them. It’s very common and natural for content consumers to pigeonhole content creators into very small and specific categories. People who know me only from BigRobsVan have a vewy different view of me than people who watch my video game streams or listen to my retro podcasts. They’re all parts of who I am.

Those who know me from retrocomputing circles know that like a lot of kids in the 80s, I grew up on early home computers like the Apple II and Commodore 64, and also grew up “exploring” the phone system. I’m from the WarGames generation — no, I never almost started World War III, but I certainly spent more than my fair share of time poking around computer systems that didn’t belong to me. I don’t know if my childhood infatuation with the phone company had anything to do with my love of big white vans or not, but the pairing seemed ripe for a crossover video of sorts.

The idea for this video began simmering around Halloween. The original idea was that I was going to dress up in a costume (as a phone repairman) and then dress up my van in a costume (a telco van) and then… well, the rest never came together. I tried to think of something to do with trick-or-treating that didn’t involve passing out candy to children from a large white van, and nothing else seemed to stick. I ordered white magnets with the Southwestern Bell logo on them for the van and already had most of what I needed for my own costume, but without a good story to go with it all, I ended up temporarily shelving the idea. I probably have half a dozen good ideas that are all sitting in a holding pattern, waiting to go from “concept” to “story.”

Halloween had come and gone when a friend of mine informed me that he knew of a payphone that had become available. The video I made takes a little artistic license and the payphone’s acquisition wasn’t quite as nefarious as you may have been led to believe. As I said multiple times throughout the video, never trust a guy in a uniform. 😉

This is the first video I put bumpers on explaining that this one was for entertainment purposes only. I don’t want anyone out there trying to steal a payphone. Not only are they typically bolted down into the concrete but they often have cables running to them (some of which contain 110v electricity) protected by metal shielding. (Don’t ask me how I know.) The people who install payphones, like ATM machines, know that they will be abused by the public and are anchored down pretty well.

The video in my mind is very different than the one that I eventually published. I had a meal to prepare and some other things to do and then my battery died. The “show and tell” portion of the video was a last minute addition. I know my old computer friends liked it but I’m not sure how well the vanlife people enjoyed it. Stealth camping next to a phone repair box like the one I did is asking for trouble. Nobody actually living intheir van and anyone seeking to avoid attention would never do it. Again, “for entertainment purposes only.”

I loved the idea of this video and don’t love the end result. Like a lot of content that is created these days, I’ve tossed it into the wind. I learn something from every single video I make, even if the lesson is what types of videos work and which ones don’t. I don’t hate the video, but it’s always a little disappinting when the final product is so far from what you originally envisioned.