Last week, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, my daughter could be found in Milwaukee at the "FIRST" (that is the name of the main sponsor) robotics competition, held at the US Cellular Arena. (Information HERE.) Three days of non-stop activity for high school robot-building teams that is so intense even local participants stay in an on-site hotel.
Because my daughter would not be in school and I did not need to get her out the door in the morning (which usually involves me hopping into the car in my red, satin pajamas to give her a ride to either school or the bus stop), I made a Friday morning appointment for a plumber to fix a leak under the sink in my project house. Then I called my temporarily unemployed friend, Gino, to ask if she would like to visit my house with me. (Yes, this is the Gino mentioned in The Rumor's Secret and, yes, she is planning to come with me to Darryl Markette's [http://www.dmarkette.com/] "Pinko de Mayo" fundraiser concert this May 4th.) She said yes and plans were made to leave on Thursday after her class was over, around noon.
Because my daughter would not be in school and I did not need to get her out the door in the morning (which usually involves me hopping into the car in my red, satin pajamas to give her a ride to either school or the bus stop), I made a Friday morning appointment for a plumber to fix a leak under the sink in my project house. Then I called my temporarily unemployed friend, Gino, to ask if she would like to visit my house with me. (Yes, this is the Gino mentioned in The Rumor's Secret and, yes, she is planning to come with me to Darryl Markette's [http://www.dmarkette.com/] "Pinko de Mayo" fundraiser concert this May 4th.) She said yes and plans were made to leave on Thursday after her class was over, around noon.
 |
| Trusty travelling companion and fearless defender, Snickers |
Wednesday night, Gino cancelled. A chef owning her own sideline business, she had received a large catering order that needed to be filled. It was not a problem. She'll see the house some other time. I just packed my trusty travelling companion and fearless defender, Snickers, into the car with me. Then, after I dealt with the computer trauma mentioned in my last post, we headed up to the house by way of Gino's house for a quick visit.
Up at the house on Friday morning, I filled in some holes in the wall with "mud" and got my under-sink plumbing fixed. Then I hopped in the car and drove home, hoping to be back in time to visit at least one of my daughter's robot matches. No such luck. By the time I dropped Snickers at the house, I had already missed the final match. I called Gino, who lives right downtown and very close to the arena, and asked if she wanted to keep me company as I rooted for my daughter's robot on Saturday morning.
Saturday morning came and I picked Gino up at her house. She directed me to the arena, we went inside and found a place to stand. As soon as my friend saw what we had come to watch, she grabbed her phone from her purse to start snapping photos and filming. A big basketball fan, she was particularly enthused that this year's robots were built to shoot hoops. One match finished and she stopped filming to run out into the hallway and begin calling her family to tell them where she was and what she was watching. (I got a really big tickle watching how excited my friend was to be with me at one of my daughter's events.)
Did I have a camera? No. I accidentally left it in the house after I put it down to put on my jacket. So that you know what I am talking about, here is the Youtube video produced by FIRST.
The arena was packed, by the way, and it was pretty fun to watch the robots compete. My daughter's team placed near the bottom, 40 out of 48, but I am so proud of her I could just about bust. My daughter, of course, does not quite understand how I can be so proud of a losing team, but she will one day. An awful lot of effort goes into designing, building and finding sponsorship for these high school robotics teams. The dedication of time, in and of itself, is phenomenol. In my humble opinion, every high schooler who dedicates their time and effort to a project of this magnitude is a Winner before the competitions even begin.
************
FRC Robotics team 2077, my daughter's high school team, can be found online at http://www.wix.com/team2077/laser-robotics and next year's hunt for sponsorship has already begun (Big HINT for any companies out there looking for a good, educational cause to sponsor).
No comments:
Post a Comment