Thanks from Team XBot

[Madison]

I wanted to take a minute to thank some of the teams that made competing in Portland this weekend a great experience for our team. As we've grown over the years and begun to reach out more, we've met so many wonderful people from other teams and it makes competing much less stressful and far more fun.

First, we want to thank teams 100 and 2550 for being a part of our alliance during the elimination matches. Y'all were flawless and fantastic to work with and I'm sorry we couldn't do more to support you. We were a great team, though, and we held it together through four (!!) matches in our last bracket. That's nothing to sneeze at.

That said, we also want to congratulate team 2046. You guys are awesome and I couldn't think of anyone I'd rather lose to. :) We'll see you again in Tacoma, but maybe this time around we'll get a chance to work together.

1318, congratulations on your Regional Chairman's Award! We want you to go to Atlanta, so please let us know if we can do anything to help. The Pacific Northwest is not well-represented at the Championship and we can start to change that this year with your help.

Congratulations to the regional winners -- 1540, 368 and 1280. We didn't get a chance to interact with either 1540 or 1280 this year, but 368 was our neighbor and they couldn't deserve the win more. Their machine is absolutely fantastic and I can't wait to see them make waves in Atlanta.

Thanks, also, to everyone that lent us tools. Our pit now has a crate that opens up and stores tools,and a work bench with a sander, band saw and drill press, but despite all of that, nobody thought to pack a hammer. Thanks to everyone that lent us the help we needed and we were happy to return the favor when we could.

:)

[sciencenerd]

1318, the IRS, would like to thank you in turn for helping us make our robot functional and for all the great efforts you have gone to to support the outreach efforts of our team and all of FIRST this year! Special thanks go to Madison for her correct diagnosis of the problem with our gearbox setup - after fixing that we had no major gearbox trouble for the rest of the regional (knock on wood). Thanks also, of course, to 2046 for giving us the parts to fix that issue.

1318 would love to be there in Atlanta and we're working on ways to make that happen. We're trying to put together a quick video for our sponsors and the public that we can show at an open house in the hope of drumming up some more funding to make that trip realistic. We were able to get video of all of our matches and a lot of action in the pits, but unfortunately had packed up our equipment by the time we got called as the chairman's award winning team. I know you took a lot of video at the event as part of your PBS documentation - did you happen to get that on tape? If so, we'd love to get that from you and include it in our movie.

You guys had a very effective robot and we're looking forward to seeing you in Tacoma and hopefully Atlanta as well!

[=Martin=Taylor=]

We were a great team, though, and we held it together through four (!!) matches in our last bracket. That's nothing to sneeze at.

Bah... I remember this one time at Davis.... :D (but that's another story)

Team 100 would like to thank 488 and 2550 for being awesome alliance partners! 488 gave us these cool shirts... WITH POPCORN BAGS IN THEM!! We discovered latter that night that yes, you can pop popcorn in a drying machine :D

We'd also like to thank and congratulate team 368. They had an amazing robot and they lent us tools in our hour of need in the semifinals. Congrates also to their alliance partners 1540 and 1280.

I'd also like to thank Team 8 and 114 for helping us scout. We couldn't have done it without you!

Oh yes! And thank-you Platt for the free platypuses! AND TOOLS?! Since when do the regionals supply us with free bags of tools!??

[Darren Collins]

That said, we also want to congratulate team 2046. You guys are awesome and I couldn't think of anyone I'd rather lose to. We'll see you again in Tacoma, but maybe this time around we'll get a chance to work together.

I would like to thank you for your kinds words. You have a wonderful team and an amazing robot. We are lucky to have such friends in our area. Thank you for the help you have given our team by supporting our fundraisers and by sharing with us valuable technical advice. See you in Tacoma!

I too would like to congratulate team 1318 on their Chairman's award. What you have done for F.I.R.S.T. in Washington State is truly commendable.

Finally, I would like to congratulate the regional winners in Oregon on well earned victory. It was an honor competing with you.