you know you're addicted to FIRST when...

...you have two english essays due tomoro, but youre still on cd reading these posts, even though the nationals were almost three weeks ago

or someone from another FIRST team.

~when you decide you have to make a body-splitting machine so you can take your placement tests and go to the robotics challenge taking place the same day. (who wants to help me succeed in creating this one? ;) )

you know you're addicted to FIRST when...

...this is your third post in one day
...whenever you see a company logo you start thinking of who you have contacts with in that company so they can sponsor you for next year
...you cant stop thinking of how great next years robotics will be because youre starting up a team at your new school next year and you will get to be head

OMG, my eyes watch every building going by with the possibilities of free food, materials, money...

you know you're addicted to FIRST when...

...you see the license plate AGHT 771 and you automatically see your team name in it (SWAT 771)

...when you look at the time at night and without fail, it's always 10:37. (This already happened 5 nights in a row!!!)

... when you decide to do business with a company just down the street, not because they're nearby, but because they sponsor a FIRST team.

... and it isn't even your team.

...when u have never used aim before, and u download it to talk to FIRST people

...when u reread posts for the signatures to see if anyone put their sign in names so u can add them

...when in the passing time between classes you can hear "heyyyyyyyyy"s in the hall and join in even if they are no where in sight

btw today we did our "heeeeeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyy"s around 15 times, nada actually ran into our physics class screaming it :D LOL,
Hermione

When you have no life and spend all your time on Chief Delphi.
(That isn't meant to offend anyone who is like me...no life...only Chief Delphi. LOL ;) )

...when you have three days of standerdized testing, and the start times for each of the three days is 8:45, by coninsidence, and this has more of your attention more then the test.

(845 = my team number... d'uh)

When you stare at the clock for nearly five minutes so you won't miss that special time of the day...That one minute when the time contains the same numbers as your team number...

8:10...8:11...8:12...8:13...


8:14!!!!

...when you have have already asked a company if they will sponsor you next year

...when you have the most posts on this thread and you didn't even start it. :D

You know you're addicted to FIRST when ...

Your sister is getting married, and planning to do it in either January or spring, and you tell her not January because that's build season, and for spring, wait until the schedule of FIRST events is released for 2004.

Stephen

~when you watch a movie and people in the movie remind you of people from FIRST (ok..so my friend saw the movie..but she don't post on here..so I'm doin it for her)

When you're taking a practice SAT II and the tests are in the 300s, so you ask your biology teacher to give you the one numbered 365 :D

...when you cant see or use the word "first" without automatically thinking of robots

that might have been said already, but o well

Haha ... how 'bout: When you're taking the SAT II writing, and you somehow manage to write completely about FIRST

Stephen

... when people around you start hearing the word robot in situations where that is the farthest from what actually was said you could POSSBILY be

When in every school project you somehow manage a way to incorporate FIRST.

Also, when you're sitting in pre-calc class and you look up at the clock and see the time 1:11 almost everyday and think "oh yes, Wildstang", or when you get out of school and hope to see 2:34 on the clock.

...when all of your free-choice school themes (essays) happen to have also been newspaper articles and press releases you originally typed for your team.

When you get excited when you get $2.01 in change at Caribou (happened to me today).

I'd love to see that on our school clocks because we normally get out of school at 3:10!! ;)

- Katie

When you're mom "requests" that you don't wear your team shirt for your school picture (more like "you better not wear that shirt or I'll burn the pics") and you're angry for the rest of the evening.

When you burst out during the middle of CAPT testing when one of the answers included your team name(and prior when it was in your test book number)!

been there... done that... in addition to three years of state standardized testing essays.... all written about FIRST and your experiences!



*can't remember a time not going to a formal with a FIRSTer! ;)




... When you are very ill, can barely walk... and stay out of the hospital.. and the only thing you can think of is... 'oh man, it's gonna suck trying to get caught up on my reading on Delphi!'..... hehe (me all last week!)

...You are the one out of three people on Chief Delphi...

When you are doing a speech unit in English and all 8 or your speeches relate to FIRST Robotics.

While your at it, how bout a "Get Jim to Indiana fund" if theres any money leftover :D

When you print out the pneumatics manual (or any other manual) for your own personal use.

...When while sitting in the car with your dad and brother, the song "The boys are back in town" comes on, and you immediatly think of playing that on your robot cart as you walk into the UCF regional next year, you tell your dad and for ONCE he dosent immediatly cut you down by saying how much of a dork you are, but instead names another song that would be good to play for that as well (BTO- Roll on down the highway)

:D

...When you really wish FIRST had two seasons or something so you could attend another midwest regional...for both robotics and its people (okay okay, so maybe really just one person that you REALLY wanna see ;) )

that would be pretty cool.... but we're still unsure of going to IRI, much less another season. (however, i could go WATCH :yikes: that competition since it's only bout an hour or so away) ;)

You want to go to a off-seasion competition so bad you will do just about anything...

Is anyone going to IRI and is happening to pass through Michigan?! :D

When you have chiefdelphi.com and usfirst.org shortcut keyed on your comp... :eek:

Maybe Chief can give you a ride. =)

it's been said before, but it actually happened...

My family went out for a Mother's Day dinner, and the final total came to $236. (lots of people)


My dad took the bill, and read it as it was handed to him. Soon as he said "236," I instincively shouted out "Techno Tics"

My family looked at me wierd, I just shrugged.

-you insist that all of the seniors on your team get prom dates, because you know they need to get out
-3 of the 6 guys prom dates are on FIRST teams
-one of them is you
-your parents ask for the computer, but then proceed to see you on cd, and go "nevermind, i'll come back later" [just happened]
-your parents don't worry about you spending 6 weeks in one room with 15 men between the ages of 17 and 50 until the wee hours of the morning
-you take pieces of the previous year's robot, because you know it will be sacrificed, but you must always have a part of it
-your friends ask you what the big chunk of metal their brother brought home last night is.....and you get either insulted or tell her to steal it
-your father thinks you have an addiction to cd and gets upset when he sees you on [he thinks the seasons is over!!]
-your friends dont know what you are talking about for the 6 weeks of build season, but smile and nod because they know you have too much caffine in your system to shut up
-you know what you are getting the team seniors for graduation presants [DEW CUBE!!!]
-you give people evil stares if they ask you if FIRST is like battlebots
-people have stopped mentioning battlebots in your presance for fear of you freaking out
-your non-FIRST friends know there are large chunks of time in the winter when they will not see you, but you are not hibernating
-your non-FIRST teacher lets you come into his room during study hall to let you sleep [after the build period of course] because your study hall teacher believes in "silent study" but they still won't let you sleep [i dont snore!!]
-your team can taste the difference in shipments of DEW
-your team found walking to FIESTA at nationals to buy DEW was not a option, it was a way of life
-your team figured out the DEW bank can hold 8.3 lieters of DEW, but everyone on the team checked the calculations
-your friends have to sneak you DEW cuz they know you can't go cold turkey and your parents refuse to buy it
-your FIRST seniors bring you dew in the morning after they know you were writing an essay until 3 am [cuz you no longer have an excuse to not fall asleep, build season is OVER :( ]
-you hang out with FIRST people outside of competions and meetings
-your team starts team-dating the team you used to mentor [WOO go 173-571]
-only one person on your team understands your gibberish, however, it always ends with BAH [steve!!]
-you put up an away message to post on CD [darnm those people, always distracting]
-your engineers laugh when you try to find guys at a robotics competion
-your engineers know who you are dating, your parents don't cuz he's at your pits, when he has a break.....maybe

Hehe...sorta similar here..

...your engineers show their acceptance of the girl you've been hanging out with the whole time (They start cracking on her like she was one of our own [Elyse: haha, Z's little comment...lol])

...Yeah, your parents have never even SEEN the girl your dating, they have NO idea what she looks like, and your engineers have seen her enough during those few days of competition (BUT I HAVEN'T SEEN HER ENOUGH!!)

Kay..sorry...had to get those out when I read them, lol. I'm going to go call her now...lol

when you are still wearing your FIRST bracelets a month after the competition and when you are asked why, you go into a long description of your robot and the game and everything there is to know about FIRST

When you have a drawer filled with things you've collected from competitions.

When you reread all 544 posts before this. *sigh, why did I spend so much time doing that...*

When you show up to school with your own team's head gear, anotehr team's head gear, huskies' thing they gave out, our team's robotics shirt, and many many pins down your pants (*cough* lauren :D it was good)

When you're at prom and every time the music stops and you're supposed to sing the lyrics, you start screaming "ROBOTS!!!!!!!!!!!!" why? I don't know, because it was fun. People look at you funny. Well, not me, because someone else was yelling louder. But still......ramblerambleramble...

..when all the botics ppl do the cha-cha slide at senior ball and amazingly every one else joins in

..when at bowling afterwards u do the colorado jig to any randome song :D heehee, we do that one lots

...when you go to work excited for the next 8 hours because you know that one of your favorite FIRSTers will be in town.

...when you still go to your alumni team's awards banquet - because the parents of the team tell you that you have to come and offer to pay for you.

...when you know what the 'unwashed hawk of justice' means!

im actually putting all of my things onto a huge piece of material (undecided what kind so far) and then hanging it up behind my bed

When you have done searches online for your team number to see what pops up and in doing so you have learned you team number in barcode

hehe, I did this in school today

...When you do a search for 108 Robot and you learn that episode 108 of MST3k (Mystery Science Theater 3000) was "The slime people"...and 107 was "Robot Monster"...Lucky Chrisitan team..lol

...When, on the one day you're positive your not going to motorola, you wear your "other team" shirt. Only to arrive to 3rd hour to discover two engineers have decided to come to school (Which NEVER happens..why they were there, Im still not sure..)...hehe, they weren't happy :D

I live in California...I don't want to be sleeping and have all the stuff fall on me because of an earthquake. =P

I'll probably put them somewhere where I can see them once I get my own room.

.. I have a MOE arm from their bot this year mounted on my wall above my bed :D

I have my buttons on a corkboard on my wall, along with random hanging things I've aqcuired in FIRST.

.... so incredibly true.... yet scary!

.... or when the only people who know how to do it are the robotics people, and the entire gymnasium stops dancing and watches you in a daze! :)

...when you're selling body lights at your school to non-firsters and yet you sell almost your entire batch the first day.

...when you have a CAD project to do and you decide to model your 2003 robot.

...when you're to write a topic for school and that topic is related to robotics.

...when you're taking the MEAP (Michigan Educational Assessment Program) Test and in the english section, it asks you to write about your life long education and you reply with something related to FIRST since it fits the topic anyway.

...when you wear your old team shirt to work, and your boss commends you for it!

(btw, I work for Mrs. Beatty at School Stuff in Hammond, Indiana. Maybe that explains it? :) )

...when you have a school newspaper senior survey and the whole team puts "join robotics" under what advice to give to incoming frosh :D

...when at your annual robotics banquet, you see a picture of your boyfriend's team and jump around and squeal in delight, forgetting it's a formal event.

yeah, that was really funny... and wrong on many levels... i totally hear the not seeing enough part. other first couples probably are saying the same thing, except those lucky to have found someone on the same team or pretty close.

..when your parents think you're insane for dating someone 4 states away, yet because of first and so many similar interests and experiences, the relationship works fine because no one else would be as excited talking about old matches and robots as them.
(..when other engineers [i.e., the engineers of boyfriend/girlfriend's team] accept you as part of their team)

when you're sitting in math class yesterday (13th) and all of a sudden you shout out that nationals ended exactly a month ago

When you start thinking about getting a FIRST tattoo

When you notice that one of the answers on the exit exam is 192, and you write "GRT!" next to it in the test book

...When you now have a SigmaC@T engraved silver plated mouse given to you for being "Dr. Animation"

...when you've gotten at least 10 new people to join the team since the last competition you went to.
...when almost ALL your friends are in FIRST now because the one's that were'nt have mostly joined. And the rest well don't have a team YET but would join If and when they get one.
...when you're taking a survey and it asks "Favorite Month?" And you put January/Febuary. Only because that is when the 6 weeks of building takes place! :D
...when you had to take a second exit exam for research (didn't count) and once again all the starting time's ar 8:45 and you find this extremely cool.
...when you might cancel some summer plans for the team
...when you might cancel some summer plans for another team's team member who might come and visit. (Here's to hoping!!)

..when you have eight team shirts from ur team, one from another, and five from raytheon and wear them regularly...lol :p

... While working and counting the change to open the cash register you notice when the numbers are the same as somones team number. "Wow we have 135 in nickles, thats the same as penn number"

.... When you notice the totals of things you purchase or other people purchase are the same as a certain team number and freak out and save the receipt.

... When your family plans a vacation to New York City and you tell your parents, "Yeah, plan on me being gone one day because I have some friends to visit," and your parents say, "Oh, from FIRST? Just let us know when!"

... When you tell a FIRST friend that you're going to New York City instead of New Jersey and, instead of forgetting about seeing you this summer, he says, "Oh, that's too bad - cause I hate driving to the City!" (Mike, you rock! :))

- Katie

...when 10 years ago, you dream of something of which you had no idea what it meant and on the day of Nationals, you finally realize what that dream meant. It's interesting that whenever I dream of something, it usually comes true. Other than that, I don't have any dreams at night. So far, every dream I've had came true except one.

...when you just hafta know if the robot fits in the PT Cruiser. Comments from thinking about it: "I think it will...with the seats up and..yeah...maybe"

...when you prove it really does fit :D

When you have a dream that you lost the pins you've collected.


*attaches pic* Do I even have to say anything? =|

When you consider hack sawing a form of stress relief.:D

When you can go anywhere and see things that relate to robotics...even a home and garden show...and you love it.

when you attend a banquet sponsored by your church in honor of your graduation... and everyones paper agenda thing has a number for a later doorprize drawing... and you search for an hour trying to find 84.... or when they draw them, you think of hey, wonder what (team number here) is up to now?

when you carry allen wrenches around in your pockets, and try to convince your non-robotics friends that its normal

16ish from your own team, 7ish from other teams, 5ish volunteershirts...

All FIRST shirts, all the time.

{edit}
HAD 16ish shirts, then freaked out when your mom gave 8ish to goodwill.


Wetzel
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tri-regional volunteer

When your 18yo daughter figures out she'll be working 294 hours at her summer job and you both look at each other with eyes lighting up in delight.

...when your list of guests at your birthday party is overwhelmed with FIRSTers, and your outside-of-FIRST friends complain because 'you'll be talking about robots all night'.

Robots all night? yay! ;)

...when you delve into the depths of delphi to revive this post
...when you still post on this post
...when you figure you've spent close to 700 hours on FIRST this year
...when that last statistic makes you smile
...when you have more than three reasons your a FIRSTaholic
...when that stastic makes you smile too.
...when you learn trig so you can make better mill patterns for the wheel
...when other team members tell you that you talk about FIRST too much
...when you plan on posting in this fourm again
...when "you" happens to be me.

i so do that. everyone tells me that i talk about robots and other teams way too much.

...when you quote someone who's quoting you about being addicted to FIRST just to re-prove your point
...when you check CD enough to see your post with only 1 more reply and feel the need to re-reply:D
...when you edit your own quote to answer a quote of one of your posts that was proving the point of being addicted to FIRST that you are now quoting (this is getting too confusing, i'm logging off now;) , or not.)

.....when u begin to figure out ur teams control system for next year even though the season doesnt start for 6 months
...when u bring up welding so much that the freshman of the team is convinced ur going to weld him to a desk
....when the sheer thought of battlebots angers u
...when u seriously consider a LAN party as a fundraiser
.... u time the cycle of a ride at astroworld( the Dungen Drop, yes i know i spelt that wrong)
...when gaining full control of the robotics server makes u pyscoticly happy

...when as soon as you start talking your brother leaves the room because he knows what you are going to say has something to do with FIRST/anything robotics related and he doesnt care
...when you get mad at your brother and yell at him for almost an hour for not caring about FIRST and anything else robotic related

Control system fabrication for next year has already gone under brainstorming, diagrammming, and we're about to order our parts!



...and we ARE having a LAN party fundraiser, 6 days from now! ::laughs manically (sp?)::

When at baccalaureate mass, you represent your robotics team using the regional championship trophy and control board as symbols.

I had to walk down the church aisle carrying that trophy... over my head!! All the while moving at a rather slow pace so that people before me could place their symbols down. We had the biggest display of every other club/team. Most of them brought like a basketball or a t-shirt, generally something small. HaHa we went all out :D Oh! all this while wearing my white gown and my lovely red tips redyed to contrast nicely...

Yeah, that's what I was thinking! :yikes: ;)

- Katie

...when you stop reading in your book at a certain page, and rather than remember the page number that you were on, you remember the team name that corresponds with the number

...when 8 people just got added to your 10 member team. Yay!

...when you spend an hour and a half trying to figure out this problem:

(csc^2 x + sec^2 x)(sin 2x) = ?

A. csc^2 x - sec^2 x
B. sec 2x
C. 4 csc 2x

and turns out that the answer is C just because of one little thing I didn't pay attention to.

we learned that stuff in precalc/trig a few weeks ago... i hated it!! :p but yeah, anyway...you know you're addicted when...

....you are on the phone long distance with your best friend from chicago and you end up reading him posts from CD because you couldn't tear yourself away from it!! (yes i actually did this:]and i kinda felt bad afterwards for unsing up his phone bill just to bore him with my obsession with FIRST)

...when you learn this type of stuff for fun just so you can mill the hole patterns in the wheels

you get to have 'symbols' at your baccalaureate? can you elaborate on that a little bit more for me?????
....hehe... when you are asked to be one of very few who speak at your graduation... and your first thought is 'How can I realte this to Robotics', and end up writing a speech regarding Douglas Adams. [It is entitled 'So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish'.... I will have to post it sometime! ;)]

There's my "get jim to germany while elyse is there" excuse! I need to bring the sigmacat robot for demonstartion..and this will of course take a week...

Okay...ive managed to get teh robot into a PT cruiser...

Next: The Overhead storage bin...muaahahah...

Kay...im done with the weird evil laughter...back to aim now :D

...when you get really excited because you see the doctor on simpson's (i cant remember his name) riding a segway and you run to your computer to post this post

...When you think of how to make something you have used for years better by slapping a Victor 884 on it...

...When you wish you can see/drive in one last match so badly...

...When you look foward to being a FIRST Mentor... :D ;)

When you can't stand your current school because it doesn't have a team. And you don't care how short summer is, you just can't wait for school to start again because you'll be at the school with the team...I mean, I've already called it "my school" since building season...

....when the background on your computer is a picture of you and your robot

...when nine of the threads on the front page in this section have been last replied to by you

When you are walking through the mall and you see people's shirts and think to yourself "what team are they from?" or "hey look, its someone from team...." just becuase their shirt looks like a robotics team shirt. I must have thought that at least three times today.

...when you made the "Questions Only" Thread and you're surprised by how many replies there are in 3 days while you were gone.

...when you show your relatives what you made in robotics that remain them speechless.

hehe... the greatest thing I ever saw... where our team is 'centrally' located in Towanda.... we are near nothing... so we drive into the nearby cities (about 1-1.5 hour drives) for adventures..... a couple of weeks ago, went to Binghamton to go to dinner at Hooters..... I thought I was going to fall off my stool when I saw someone walk through with a Championship Event shirt on!.... I wish I had the guts to ask him where he was from... becuase he sure wasn't from our team.... and there aren't any really close teams around here!

When you forget your boyfriend's phone number due to the fact you haven't called him in almost 2 months since you saw him at robotics meetings every day.