DarthTofu Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 5:00 AM: Alarm clock goes off. 5:00:o1: I slap my alarm with all the force I can muster at 5:00:01 in the morning. 5:30 AM: I finally wake up manage to jam my body into a shirt, only to discover that I have no pants which forces me to venture downstairs to the washing machine to get a decent pair of jeans. 6:00 AM I'm out the door and on my way Brevard Community Collage. Why, you ask? What could possibly have gotten me out of bed at such an ungodly hour? FIRST robotics! (If you are not familiar with this year's problem, I suggest you check http://www.usfirst.org/ and http://merritt.hs.brevard.k12.fl.us/clubs.html for info on both our robotics club and the problem... I'm not on our site, and it is still under heavy construction due to incompotant people in charge of the site... Even though I show up to more meetings than almost anyone else, I'm not on the team according to our web site! *Let's out cry of anguish*... Oh, yes, please don't BEAK the site, anyone...) 7:30 Am: Arrive at the FIRST robotics site and head over to the pit where I meet up with some mentors on my team. 8:00 AM: The team is now registered, our robot is uncrated from its trip to the campus, and a "Chorale" has been set up around our pit area. The robot is raised up on high, and positioned on our wagon so that we can get to the underside of it and work on our harvester mechanism. We get to work attaching the surgical tubing which will draw foam balls into our robot so that we can shoot them through large hoops suspended in the air for the competition. 8:45 AM: An announcement comes over the PA system that there will be a Safety Captain's meeting and a Driver's meeting on the practice field at 9:15. 8:46 AM: After commenting that the safety captains will probably be run over by the drivers if they are attempting to occupy the same space at the same time, I am promoted to safety captain and given a bright red pin to indicate my new promotion. I decide that I shall become a superhero and change my name to Captain Safety- defender of the safe! 9:15 AM: I discover that all I have to do as Captain Safety is BS that we have been safe in putting our robot together (Meaning that I must cover up a few scars) and make sure that everyone in our pit area wears closed toe shoes and safety glasses at all times. 10:00 AM (Or so): Our first practice match. A truly painful experience. The shooter on our bot is woefully inaccurate, and our driver still needs to get warmed up- jamming issues occur in the harvester system, and the robot rocks back and forth on it's six traction wheels with every maneuver, threatening to tip over. Fortunately it doesn't, but we score maybe one shot... Out of about eleven. 10:15 AM: We're back in the pits and hard at work- the programmers are making the controls less sensitive, we (The engineers) are beating the crap out of our harvester system to make it work properly, and the drive team is discussing strategy. 10:30 AM: our bot is inspected. First we are weighed, coming in at 119.4 pounds... The weight limit is 120 pounds. We are then sized up and are found to be exactly within the size allotted for this year's bot. Our bumpers (Which I slaved over forever) are weighed with the front bumpers (Which gave me hell for two weeks) being cast out on account of their taking 15 minutes to get put on properly. They weigh 13 pounds. Good thing we eliminated the front bumpers. 11:00 AM: Second match, and time for me to fill my protesting stomach- two slices of pizza and a paper cup of Sprite later, I watch our match which, while still somewhat painful, goes much better and has a significantly higher (4-5 balls per 12-13 shot) than before, though it still isn't particularly good. Due to a glitch in the scoring system our alliance wins the practice competition- 263 to 4... ****ing owned... 11:25 AM I discover that while I saw relaxing and watching a few matches a safety inspector came by and checked out the pits... Without me, the Safety Captain, present. ****. I head back and get chewed out by at least a dozen people, including an egotistical little ten-year old prick who's father is a mentor... Stupid chubby kid is good for absolutely nothing except thinking that he's smarter and better than you due to genetics... 12:00 PM: Another match, this one truly terrible with not one shot going in and the announcers proclaiming our bot as using a "Russian strategy of 'if you shoot enough times, one will eventually hit your target'". Our horrible wanna-be-third-string-driver's driving test failed, he is told that there is no way in hell he will even be third string- the regular driver is back on the job. 4:30 PM: After a rather long day its finally our last match of the day- and the third-string-driver is somehow calling shots on the drive team, now. In a last ditch effort to get some more points our robot bolts up the 30 degree ramp to the platform which can get us five points if we are up there alone, fifteen if we're up there with another bot, and twenty-five if all three bots are up there. Nobody else is up, and we rush, driving over three or four other balls on the field, and hit the ramp backwards. The robot topples, messing up some of the delicate piping in the system which delivers balls to the shooter of our robot. 4:45 PM: We discover that not too much damage was done, and that the delivery system actually now works somewhat better on one side (We have two pipe-tracks delivering balls on either side of our shooter). The other side is fairly easily repaired, and I head home, finally getting there at about 6:30 PM. I promptly check the forums, am interrupted to eat dinner mid-way through, finish checking the forums, type all of this, and prepare to get ready for sleep soon to make up for what I lost this morning and to be prepared for tomorrow when we aren't involved in practice matches but in the real deal- we'll be playing for real, and can be watched via a live web cast on NASA's website or on the FIRST robotics website... We're team 801 Horsepower from Merritt Island Florida... Watch us, cheer for us, whatever... I just felt the need to share this with you guys if you'd like to watch- you may even see the Dark Lord Tofu on the broadcast wondering about near the field with an array of pins on his shirt and the bright red "Safety Captain" badge on... Ya never know! I'll try to make myself conspicuous for you all, though ... Though if you guys see Sha Fu Chang, deffinately post it on here that you saw him- the kid needs to be famous beyond the state of Florida as one of the only eighteen year olds out there who could build an atomic bomb if he felt like it... 12/14/07Nu kyr'adyc, shi taab'echaaj'la Not gone, merely marching far away Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aenivae_Ikeda Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 Tofu, be considerate. If you were to be on the air ratings would take a nosedive! Not really mate. I'll watch during 4th period or something when I have nothing to do tomorrow. "I saw the greatest minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving, hysterical, naked, dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix." -Allen Ginnsberg, "Howl" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BadSamaritan Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 My day went like this: 7 AM - Alarm stereo goes off. A roll out of bed, walk across the room, turn it off, crawl back into my nice toasty bed. 8:30 AM wake up, realise I have 30 mins to get to work. Call work, say I'm going to be late, saunter to the kitchen for breakfast. 8:31 AM - Realise my breakfast of cold pizza and beer has already been devoured. Damned roomates. 8:32 AM - get dressed, out the door. Lock myself out of house, without smokes and wallet. 9:15 AM - Get to work. Punch in. Walk into freezer. 6 PM - Walk out of freezer, very cold and extrememly frustrated with upper managments inability to realise the limitions of their freezer. Much yelling ensues between my boss and I. Write-ups for insubordination quickly follow. 6:55 PM - Arive home, crack open freshy purchased beer. Turn on computer, light much needed smoke. Relax and prepare for tomorrow. [Emo]God, I hate my life. [/emo] I once knew a great man. Nothing got to him, and he always smiled. May he forever rest in peace, knowing fully well that his freinds shall remember him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grand_Admiral_Thrawn Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 Hmm, Tofu must be runnign out of things to spam about if he's resorted to this. Oh how desparate the new folks are History is on the move, Captain. Those who cannot keep up with it will be left behind, to watch from a distance. And those who stand in our way will not watch at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarthTofu Posted March 10, 2006 Author Share Posted March 10, 2006 Hmm, Tofu must be runnign out of things to spam about if he's resorted to this. Oh how desparate the new folks are Eh? What's this, now? I have plenty of things I could spam about if I wanted to! I just felt like telling everyone about FIRST, seeing if anyone else participated in it... I'm getting ready to head out for day two right now... 12/14/07Nu kyr'adyc, shi taab'echaaj'la Not gone, merely marching far away Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aenivae_Ikeda Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 Yeah my day has gone like this... thus far... -12:30 Go to sleep -1:00 or so Falls asleep - 2:30 AM I am woken up by huge oaf of a step-father bumbling around through the house - 3:45 or so- Fall back asleep. --4:24 woken up by my cat meowing at my door. -4:47 woken up as I roll onto another pillow only to have my face smeared in cat shit -5:05 go into the kitchen after cleansing my face, and burning my pillow. Am greeted by a kitchen full of dog piss and shit because the dumbass puppies are too good for wee-wee pads... -5:15 make a cup of choclate milk and check the forums. Proceeds to bitch about the constant early morning wake ups. I'm going to predict the rest of the day now... 7:35 Arrive at school freezing my ass off because walking sucks ass 7:45 Go to English. Perform a skit of Macbeth in which Macbeth and Macduff battle, except my partner and I have become Jedi for this. 8:35 Go to math and put up with the most god-awfully incompetant human being alive, idiotic students who only talk about "How hot so-and-so's ass is.". 9:25 Go to concert choir, put up with people who hate me for dropping zero hour show choir. Put up with dumbass choir director who also hates me for those reasons. Put up with pompous ass choir kids who think they sound good when they blend like ass. 10...something- Go to history, become rejuvenated as this class kicks ass. Still endure idiotic comments, but for the most part it'll be better. 11... something- Go to lunch, put up with idiots who act like they did in fourth grade, and then listen to them bitch about how myself and everyone else have changed... Eat bad food, meander around aimlessly for a while... 12:20- Go to French, listen to idiots attempting to speak french, and listen to spoiled little shits saying stuff like "Oh my parents don't take care of me, I mean last weekend they only gave me $400, I mean like god." 1:35- Go to Astronomy/Geo... Put up with the gangbangers, slackers, druggies, and uber-morons as the teacher attempts to teach the class. Get a headache, become infuriated, pull a columbine... Not really but yeah... 2:25- Walk home, freezing my ass off, arrive at home, pass out on the couch, wake up at 8 and be grounchy because I didn't want to be woken up... 9:00 Do homework, post on forums... 12:00 Go to sleep... And so on... "I saw the greatest minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving, hysterical, naked, dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix." -Allen Ginnsberg, "Howl" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jahled Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 My day went like this: 7 AM - Alarm stereo goes off. A roll out of bed....etc Do you ever feel that the sound-track of life is the sound of cows in a barnyard? http://www.jahled.co.uk/smallmonkeywars.gif Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarthTofu Posted March 10, 2006 Author Share Posted March 10, 2006 My day went like this: 7 AM - Alarm stereo goes off. A roll out of bed....etc Do you ever feel that the sound-track of life is the sound of cows in a barnyard? ... And people call me crazy- it is quite clearly the grilling of a cheese and beet sandwhich while submerged in catsup. 12/14/07Nu kyr'adyc, shi taab'echaaj'la Not gone, merely marching far away Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitth_raw_nuruodo Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 My day went like this: 7 AM - Alarm stereo goes off. A roll out of bed....etc Do you ever feel that the sound-track of life is the sound of cows in a barnyard?No J. It's the sound of HUNGRY cows in a barnyard. BTW: Many possible BEAK's, but I have chosen not to point them out... Chaos, Panic, Disorder, Destruction.....My work here is done. Grand AKmiralCommander-in-Chief of BEAK Forces(CINCBEAK) BEAK Imperium"To BEAK is Divine!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aenivae_Ikeda Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 My day went like this: 7 AM - Alarm stereo goes off. A roll out of bed....etc Do you ever feel that the sound-track of life is the sound of cows in a barnyard?No J. It's the sound of HUNGRY cows in a barnyard. BTW: Many possible BEAK's, but I have chosen not to point them out... How considerate of you Mith... You know what's funny? The fact that grammar and spelling do not strictly apply to dialogue due to dialects... And this is dialogue... So woo and yay! "I saw the greatest minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving, hysterical, naked, dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix." -Allen Ginnsberg, "Howl" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarthTofu Posted March 10, 2006 Author Share Posted March 10, 2006 You know, he's right- this is conversational English- esentially each and every single BEAK on this forum has been done incorrectly (Except for ones based on things that other people have written). I have a bit of a splotch for it, but Scath and Mitth are both doomed to die horrible deaths from their false BEAKing! 12/14/07Nu kyr'adyc, shi taab'echaaj'la Not gone, merely marching far away Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Scathane Posted March 11, 2006 Share Posted March 11, 2006 Do you ever feel that the sound-track of life is the sound of cows in a barnyard? Frequently... However, I don't hear them much nowadays... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General_Crespin Posted March 11, 2006 Share Posted March 11, 2006 My day went like this: 7 AM - Alarm stereo goes off. A roll out of bed....etc Do you ever feel that the sound-track of life is the sound of cows in a barnyard?No J. It's the sound of HUNGRY cows in a barnyard. The sound of HUNGRY cows in the barnyard waiting to be MILKED. Stupid cows. http://crespin.xwlegacy.net/pics/Shadowkeeper99a.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarthTofu Posted March 11, 2006 Author Share Posted March 11, 2006 My day went like this: 7 AM - Alarm stereo goes off. A roll out of bed....etc Do you ever feel that the sound-track of life is the sound of cows in a barnyard?No J. It's the sound of HUNGRY cows in a barnyard. The sound of HUNGRY cows in the barnyard waiting to be MILKED. Stupid cows. That isn't very nice to the cows!BTW- we placed sixth overall- Our alliance of two other teams with our own didn't work out- the first time one of our bots had a chain creak, the second time the radio failed to respond... I kept telling them to choose a differant team, but they went with the stupid hippy-bot, and it broke down! GAH! 12/14/07Nu kyr'adyc, shi taab'echaaj'la Not gone, merely marching far away Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aenivae_Ikeda Posted March 11, 2006 Share Posted March 11, 2006 But hey you still placed sixth, so thats pretty cool. How many teams were there altogether? "I saw the greatest minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving, hysterical, naked, dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix." -Allen Ginnsberg, "Howl" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarthTofu Posted March 11, 2006 Author Share Posted March 11, 2006 52. There were three teams to an alliance, so ultimately there were 24 teams competing in the end... I think I made a typo somewhere saying it was the top ten, so, yeah... The top eight teams get to pick an alliance with two teams ranked beneath them- and the hippie team as I call them quite frankly had a sucky robot- we were the only center shooter on our team! Everyone else aimed for the corner goals! (If you're lost, check the FIRST page). Does anyone else do robotics? 12/14/07Nu kyr'adyc, shi taab'echaaj'la Not gone, merely marching far away Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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