Thanks to EVERYONE at UCF

[Jay W.]

Man, that was an awesome regional..

Everyone was great at UCF. Teams were helping out each other every way possible, and everyone (well, except my girlfriend who got sick) seemed to have a great time. Just wanted to thank everyone for making UCF one of the best regionals possible.

1319, 1251, and 342 - Our neighbors in the pits were exceptionally helpful, giving a hand or a part if we needed it.

1604, and the other "UCF Welcoming Commitee" - We appreciate the warm welcome when we got to our hotel. Even though the wonderful Rent-A-Cop kick ya'll out nearly as soon as you arrived. Barry, Arefin, Tytus, and everyone else, thanks!

Arefin - You did a great job as announcer!

Also Congrats to S.P.A.M and their winning alliance, and also to everyone in the finals. Those were some great matches to watch, very exciting.

[Billfred]

Well, since Jay here started the thread, I suppose I oughta throw in a few thanks of my own.

Thanks to the following people, listed alphabetically in no particular order:

Barry Bonzack for putting me up during the regional (and for the T-shirt, which I really wasn't expecting).

845 for letting me hitch a ride with them instead of driving down myself. I can't wait to see y'all again on my home turf.

Everyone I inspected. This marked my first time as an FRC inspector, so I was still a little bit green, but teams were almost universally understanding, particularly on relatively pesky things such as sharp edges, school and sponsor names, shooter shielding, and the doggone flag holders. (The nearest Lowe's or Home Depot must've had a run on half-inch pipe, given how many times I couldn't pass a team because of those holders.)

Gary Dillard, for helping to debug 1649's pneumatics system. It's Friday morning, matches are being played (including at least one 1649 match, which they thankfully sent a human player to), and their pressure regulator isn't showing any working pressure, which was the one thing keeping them from passing inspection. Gary knocks out the problem in about five minutes, then keeps with them after I had to split to help them work out the last few kinks. Gary may be behind Heidi in the caption contest, but he's #1 in my book.

1649, for keeping cooler under the pressure of having your robot stuck in inspection while you're supposed to be in a match than I could be.

233, whose electrical system was the easiest-to-inspect arrangement I encountered. I know I said this in their thread, but everything was organized, labeled, documented, and laid out so I didn't have to lay on my belly to check it.

(As an aside, if you have to work with wiring on your robot before your next inspection, please look into making it easy for an inspector to see everything and follow wires. The wire size check often became very frustrating when the electronics panel was jumbled up and obscured from some important angles.)

1902, for showing us that modest tools in the right hands will more than bring you to the dance. (Their robot, which made finalist, was made with a chop saw and a drill press in a garage. Great stuff.)

Thanks also to everyone who said hi, even if I was dazed and perhaps didn't recognize you back. Hope to see most of y'all at Palmetto!