-you stay up late because it feels wierd to go to bed early
-you go to a presentation on the F-35 and all you talk about is the robot
-the robot is the most expensive thing you've ever driven
eric

...When Your band director welds your instrument to fix it and you have a strange urge to file it.

...When you try to drill holes in yourself to lose weight

...you don't think a robot is done till it's full of holes
...you have been know to occasionally outburst and say "I'm a robot!" in the Ralph Wiggum voice
...You know why allowing a 200 pound teammate to dance a jig on a crate is a BAD thing

When you are on a first name basis with everyone in the accouting office because you have talked to them more often than you have talked with your teachers.

-If at 10:30 pm you finally have the robot packed up then go to Shari's to celebrate and you chug a jumbo milkshake and your friend tries to eat a whole lemon marang pie and only eats half and doesn't touch the marange.
-If the day after a major work day half the team sleeps and the other half works.
-If every finger on both your hands have been either gashed, smashed, burned or, blister due in some way to the robot.
-If you deburr your finger instead of your work piece(I slipped)
-If every minute you have off during school is spent in the shop on the robot.
-If you you have welded, made, fixed, or designed every part on the entire robot at least twice.
-If you have one person designated to search through the phone book calling every single restaurant and asking for donations of food each and every day.
-If you had to fix and or setup a milling machine, lathe, drill press, and welder so that you can make your robot.
-If you sit down and measure every part of the robot with a scale that is accurate to the 100th of an inch and obsess be cause two parts that are supposed to match are off by 5 100ths.
-If after the robot is shipped your mentor and you can't decide whether to make a cart, ommniwheels, a shift on the fly transmission, or a Continuously variable transmission.

Oh wait I think these things sound familiar...

Nahh!

Good luck to everyone at their regionals!!

if you program until ur fingers are too numb to type any more code :)

I know what those are like... especially deburring. Too many times. And it doesnt' stop bleeding if you're operating a lathe or a mill and you keep reopening it when you turn the things to make the stuff move..
And i can't weld, but I did the other stuff... :D

-- When you say I'm going to school see you tomorrow, and your parents understand what you're talking about.
-- When you mourn the death of the 2002 robot, when it has been sacrificed for bracket things. And there's actuallya paper that says "RIP......."
-- When you stay up till 3 in the morning because "that's what's normal."
-- You go into robotics re....sion (it's not regression or recession... I'm too stupid to think of the word... they use it when talking abotu drugs too) after robotics ends.
-- When you really start unintentionally start speaking Yoda-speak, because good syntaxically correct sentences form, you cannot

I think the word you are looking for is remission.

... when your wife and kids won't say "Robotics" but only refer to it as "the R word". :ahh:

You know your addicted to first when...
 

-You shout "ctrl-z ...ctrl-z" when you broke something(in the real world)

-You get in heated debates with people who believe the segway isnt a good idea.

-You almost cry @ invitationals because people aren't being nice to the robots

-Your previous mentors tell you that there proud of you for starting a team and it means the world to you

-The Mail Boxes Etc. guy knows all about FIRST and the animation and how imp. the package is to you

... when you begin to have a tear come to year eye as the robot is loaded into the crate, because you won't see him for over 40 days.
... when your American Government teacher lectures the class for being non-coherant, then speaks to you afterwards in hopes that you won't take offense, because he knows you haven't slept in a bed for 7 nights.
... when you enter a silent mode of depression, because you won't see your teammates for almost 45 hours.
... when you only have 2 friends outside of Robotics, and when you walk into the Band Room, they yell at everyone to leave the practice room so you can take a nap.


..... older... but good..... when your teammates discuss you on the way home from a competition.... and they have debates over wether or not you are really human.

...when you think in PBasic variables, using PWM outputs for limb motion, switches and sensor values for senses, and if-then statements for judgement.


...when before you open your eyes in the morning you're on ChiefDelphi oggling other team's robot pictures.


... when you feel guilty/pained when you have to drill holes in the robot to reduce weight- then make it up to him by polishing and buffing by hand.


... when you know every team's number, but can't remember your phone number.


... when you can't sleep at night because over the course of 6 weeks, you forgot what sleep was- and find yourself gazing at your shrine to FIRST which occupies an entire wall of your room.

So is everyone in FIRST in band? I feel left out. (Ah, that might be solved next year...)

I start to feel lonely when I don't see my robotics buds for twelve (waking) hours.

--everyone who attends on your team knows the Rocky Horror soundtrack because you've played it for three days straight-- even the kids who have never seen the movie.

--your mailbox is full of "Reply to post..." emails from the CD forums.

...When you get home day after shipping at three after school and freak out because you forgot to go to robotics.:eek:

......When at a party while playing trivial pursuit you get the card with Dean Kamen as the answer and you srceam out THATS MY GOD!!!!! and you dont get funny looks except for by your teammates cause you just gave away the answer
......you choose to have a party for your FIRST team over the rest of your friends(boyfriend included)
......you choose to go to FIRST instead of a Party cause its almost shipping and your just positive something will break that night
......the first thing you learn about your new b/f is that he used to do FIRST and you then yell at him for not still doing it
......your buddy list not only has your FIRST team on it but it has the surrounding towns FIRST teams on it, and most of the counselers from FIRST camp on it too...and your still waiting for s/n's from campers that you had (like libby kamen) over the summer
......you got a new s/n just so you would have FIRST in your s/n
......you wonder what you missed when your robot is packed up and shipped by 12 instead of 7 like your used too
:)