As we prepare for our opening ( currently scheduled for the 18th of "when it's done!" ), we're finding ourselves diving into a wide variety of different tasks. Today we're flexing some of our interdisciplinary muscle and soldering together custom wireless joysticks.

These joysticks will allow you to play games on WALL-O-VISION, the unique gaming system built just for our shop. Once they're done, we'll share some details about how exactly it works.

At the same time, we're experimenting with combining ice cream with pineapple bread pudding because that seems like a pretty great way to spend an afternoon to us.

Ladies and gentlemen: we are ecstatic to share that this is the final week of buildout at the shop. The time between now and your first Tubby Robot sundae experience is shrinking at a discomfiting rate.

The exterior signage was installed today, and we hope Tubby's gleeful visage brightened the mood of Main Street travelers on an otherwise gloomy day.

Our sign has two components: 1) the aluminum logo art mounted high and 2) the three-dimensional "ICE CREAM FACTORY" lettering mounted on the lower beam. The lettering is internally illuminated and has some dandy inline cutouts that really emphasize the individual glyphs.

Our signs were fabricated and installed by the fine folks at Urban Neon, who were a pleasure to work with throughout the entire process.

Inside, the finishes have all been applied. Take note of the woodwork on the walls and around the windows; we think our friends at Deily Contractors did a fantastic job.

If you're local, you might be interested in the fact that we've been churning out test batches of ice cream all week. If you happen to stop by to chat while we're in there, there's a good chance you can finagle a delicious sneak preview. Don't tell anyone, though! It's a secret.

It's hard to believe, but we're just a week or two away from the end of buildout! Finishes are now being applied both inside and out, and we have heat and hot water flowing throughout the building.

The tilework has been grouted, and wooden trim elements have been installed.

The front of the shop has been outfitted with transom windows, which will prove integral to the forthcoming Wall-O-Vision™ game stations -- we'll have more on those later.

Outside, the upper marquee has been faced and is ready to receive lighting and signage.

The kitchen is slowly filling with equipment, including a wide variety of refrigeration and -- most importantly -- our new batch freezer. We should be churning out our first test batches of ice cream next week!

The architectural centerpiece of our renovation was installed today! This corner-wrapping window will serve as our sole seating area while letting in a great deal of coveted natural light.

These window panes are 100% removable, so we'll be letting in fresh air along with the light when the temperature is pleasant. As a side effect we'll very likely be releasing the tantalizing scent of fresh belgian waffles to Main Street at large, a situation for which we apologize in advance to anyone on a strict dietary regimen.

In the back of the shop, our kitchen buildout is nearing completion. We're scheduled to start receiving equipment next week that'll fill up a large portion of the usable space.

All three of the tile mosaics have been completed, and two of them have been mounted to the wall. You can also see that our stainless steel counters have arrived; we can't wait to wipe the construction debris off of them and line them with toppings.

After being assembled, each tile mosaic is lovingly applied to the wall of our humble ice cream shop. This video is presented at 20x normal speed.

The star of this particular video is Tim from Deily Contractors.

Here's the process we're using to create the pixel tile mosaics for our incredible ice cream shop. This is the creation of a single 12" square panel; there are 60 panels in all.

I'm not using any performance enhancing drugs; this video is just playing at 12X speed.

There's a lot going on at the shop simultaneously, so we'll share a quick overview of the week's work:

There are now functioning doors on the building, which means we have honest-to-goodness keys to the shop.

All of our major masonry projects were completed this week, which included filling a ton of holes on the interior and the gaping tears on the exterior.

The ceiling insulation was treated and painted a lovely shade of gunmetal grey.

Kitchen tile installation is nearly complete! This will likely be the first finished space in the building.

In mosaic news, we've received a shipment of nearly 11,000 various glass tiles. These had to be separated from paper backing and sorted, resulting in a floor-spanning spectrum.

The greys!

The blues and greens!

The reds!

Mosaic assembly has begun, and we'll be at it for at least two weeks. We don't want to make any hasty calls, but we're getting the feeling that these are going to look pretty amazing.

As we write this post, the shop's ceilings and walls are being coated with spray foam insulation. This is one of the last steps before we can start applying finishes to the interior, so it's a pretty good time to share some of our decor-based plans with you.

We've been itching to build some video game-inspired mosaics ever since we started this crazy project. Now that the final measurements are locked in, we've been able to design three separate mosaics for our biggest open wall.

Once mounted, the pieces will be surrounded by subway tile and separated by wood trim.

These mosaics will be built with 3/4" glass tiles and will measure approximately 54" x 40". That's pretty dang big!

Each mosaic has been lovingly designed as an homage to a specific game. Can you name the inspiration for all three? Hint: They were all originally released for the Super NES.

With all the plumbing and electrical work roughed in, it's officially carpentry season! Our counter tops have been built and they're getting sent off to be wrapped in stainless steel.

Prep work for the incoming windows is underway, and we've officially taken down our construction barrier so everyone on Main Street can see what we're up to.

Next week we'll get to close up all of the utilities and start putting some finishes up. There is going to be a LOT of tile.

To save precious space inside the shop, we planned to install an external heating and cooling system on the roof. One thing we weren't sure of, however, was how exactly we'd get such a large piece of equipment up on such a narrow perch.

The answer, it turns out, was a massive crane. Thanks, massive crane!

This guy obviously has a deep trust in the process.

This thing could have easily lifted our HVAC unit above buildings twice the size of these.

Now, it sits upon our tiny roof.

Inside the shop, the electricity and ethernet lines are being run.

These particular receptacles will power our menu boards. By "menu boards", I do of course mean "LCD monitors mounted to the wall".