Six Degrees of John V-Neun
 

I am a big fan of community building exercises. And harassing my friends.

With that said, I introduce a new game for us to play: Six Degrees of JVN!

Objective: Everyone needs connections. Connections get us job interviews, a friend to lean on, someone to explain gear ratios, etc. Connections between people move the world. Through connections in FIRST alone, I have met a great array of people and found a few close friends.

Connections move the world. So what are your connections in FIRST? Let's find out, shall we?

Rules: Your progression MUST begin with you and end with JVN. You MUST have six degrees between you and JVN (yourself and John don't count as a degree). Don't know JVN? Even better. Talk to your friends, to other CD people that you may/may not know, and FIND OUT your connections. Link yourself. It is very possible (and maybe even preferred?) to play and be involved in this game without ever having to speak to JVN.

An example of a successful linkage (and post) would be:

I, Amanda Morrison, am friends with the webmaster of ChiefDelphi, Brandon Martus, who was in Dean Simmons and the Kamens with Andy Baker, who was also part of the talent show with the Trombonists of Oconomowoc act, who are from 269, as is Ricky Quinones, who knows a fellow Wisconsin-er, Katie Reynolds, who is on team 93 with WFA winner Sean Schuff, who was on this year's reffing team with JVN.

The Six Degrees of Seperation in this case are Brandon Martus, Andy Baker, the Trombonists of Oconomowoc, Ricky Quinones, Katie Reynolds, and Sean Schuff. Here's another example, in case you don't get it.

I, Amanda Morrison, was on team 71 with Darrell Noble, who suggested Joe Johnson for the IRI Talent Show, who is on team 47 with Mike Martus, who is the dad of Brandon Martus, who went to Wonderland with me by the invitation of Steve Warren, who was an announcer with Karthik Kanagasabapathy, who won a regional with his team 1114 when they paired with 229, JVN's team.

A bad example would be: I, Amanda Morrison, met JVN at IRI a few years ago.

Make them interesting. You cannot have less than six degrees between you and that person, so why don't you make them pretty obscure and see how many people you can meet in the process? PM other CDers and ask how they know JVN. Search old posts and find out what events he was at, and find other people who where there. Find out if any have played against a match he coached, or been his alliance partner. This game will actually be equally as hard for the people who know John, because they have to think of six people between him and them.

I have picked John because a large majority of the FIRST community knows him, and he has been involved in a variety of things for FIRST (a high school team, a college team, refereeing, etc.) and has attended many events. You don't have to know John to play this game, or even have to talk to him.

Let's see who you know. Post as many linkages as you want.
Good luck, and happy posting!

Amanda Morrison

Clarifications:
1. You MUST have SIX degrees between you and JVN
2. Yourself and JVN don't count in those six
3. The degrees must be PEOPLE (that's for your bookshelves, Eric)
4. What do you win? Rep from me, if yours is original enough
5. Post as many as you want... but only six degrees for each link

Re: Six Degrees of John V-Neun
 

I can do it in two.
I Ed Patterson was (and still am) on team 191 the X-Cats in 2002 with Adrienne Emerson who is now an officer on team 229 Division by Zero with JVN.

Re: Six Degrees of John V-Neun
 

Okay...i think i can do this

Ben Lauer went to nationals in 2004 with Stuart Bloom who made room reservations with DJ Fluck who was on the Technocats of 45 with Andy Baker who hosted IRI with Chris Fultz who worked at Rolls-Royce with Collin Fultz, who work with Nate Harris who graduated from Clarkson, where JVN attends.

Re: Six Degrees of John V-Neun
 

I think the goal was to make it as long and drawn out of a link as possible. I know that this is a problem for teams who try to optimize everything to be as short, small, and lightweight as possible, but for folks like me whose robots are hulking overbuilt machines...(evil grin)

I, William Leverette, was a real-time scorekeeper on Archimedes Field this year with the official scorekeeper being David Kelly. He was beheaded in a picture here on CD by Amanda Morrison, who was challenged to do the chicken dance by Dave Lavery. He is incessantly tormented via Photoshop by Heidi Foster, who discussed evil overlords with Eugenia Gabrielov. She has bearhugged Mike Schroeder, whose team (25) was on Newton Field this year with 229, the team of one JVN.

PS: You know I love you guys and your superlight machines. ;)

Re: Six Degrees of John V-Neun
 

This took me a bit to figure out and I'm blaming Amanda for making me think of it.

I went to high school with Steve Shade and, at nationals in 2000, he introduced me to Kate Leach. At Kate's house at kickoff in 2002 was Jess Boucher. Jess was at Kristen Kelso's house for kickoff in 2001 (as was I). At that kickoff, I talked to Nate Smith directly before I talked with Andy Baker (who recognized me from my photo). At nationals in 2003, Andy Baker introduced me to JVN.

Matt

Re: Six Degrees of John V-Neun
 

here i go...


I, Arefin Bari, met Mike Dessingue at Nationals. Mike was at IRI this year with Amanda Morrison, who did the chicken dance in 2003 after a bet was made with Dave Lavery. Dave posted the bet on ChiefDelphi, where Brandon Martus is the webmaster. Brandon was in the IRI band with Andy Baker, who is one of the best engineers in FIRST (gearbox guy :-)). Andy Baker was a referee with JVN this year at IRI.


weeeeeeeeeeee... i did it... :)

Re: Six Degrees of John V-Neun
 

Can it be a spider web looking 6 degrees?? Not a complete circle?

Hmm.. weird. Have to think about this.

Re: Six Degrees of John V-Neun
 

I know Ken Leung, who is a part of the WRRF with Bill and Jim Gold, who were at Cal Games with Dan Green this weekend, who has announced at a regional, like Paul Copioli , who loves the Colorado Avalanche, like DJ Fluck , who was a member of the Technokats with Andy Baker , who was a referee at IRI with John V. Neun

Cory

Re: Six Degrees of John V-Neun
 

Ok, I got it..

I joined team 237 in 2001 and met Ken Leungand Matt Leese at Nationals in 2001. Ken and Matt both volunteered at Kickoffs with Jessica Boucher. Her little brother Ted Boucher started the team this year and took over driving after our old Driver Matt Plude left our team to go to Clarkson where Adrienne Emerson goes to school. Adrianne used to be on the X-Cats with Koko-Ed. The X-Cats are from Rochester where a new regional is planned for 2005. Clarkson is signed up to go to the Regional in Rochester. JVN may be there with Clarkson. JVN traded team shirts this year in Atlanta with Scott Shaw who is also on team 237 with Me.

Oh what a tangled web we weave... and this is just (mostly) on the East Coast.

edit: full circle time.

edit: time to go Crazy!! :ahh:

Re: Six Degrees of John V-Neun
 

i got one more... yay...

I, Arefin Bari, am on a team with Craig Bishop, who was talking to Andy Baker at nationals about a roller idea for the robot. Andy is on team 45 with Kyle Love, who met Eugenia Gabrielov this year. Eugenia is on team 461, which is sponsored by Purdue, and DJ Fluck also attends a branch of Purdue. DJ was at this year's IRI with JVN.

:)

Re: Six Degrees of John V-Neun
 

I, D.J. Fluck went to school with Clark Gilbert who many people confuse with his twin brother Kyle Gilbert who pulled an all nighter the night before the 2003 IRI with David Kelly that traveled with Amanda Morrison to Nationals, who met Jason Morrella at the 2004 kickoff who sumo wrestled Andy Baker at the 2002 SoCal Regional who procded to call JVN because he overslept the Friday morning of the 2003 IRI.

Re: Six Degrees of John V-Neun
 

My name is Chris Fultz, my son Collin Fultz is an Air Force ROTC student at Purdue. His decision to join the ROTC is probably due in part to being in Cub Scouts when he was younger. His Cub Scout leader was Mr. X, a Rolls-Royce person (I wont use his real name since he is not a FIRST guy - yet, anyway). This summer, I was able to make a connection between Mr. X, and Steve Shade. Steve now works for Rolls-Royce in Annapolis, which is the home of the US NAval Academy. I had a great uncle who was in the Navy, and after WWII he decided to not return to Indiana, and instead stayed in San Diego, which is in California. I visited him and went to Disneyland when I was eight years old, which is also the same age Collin joined Cub Scouts (see above for relevance).

Ending 1: Well, Disneyland is in California, where Ken Leung lives and goes to school. Ken was at the IRI this year, and I think Scott Ritchie took him to the airport to get back home. Scott Ritchie leads team 234, and Stuart Bloom was on team 234 a few years ago, before he left to help start Team 1018 at Pike High School. Stuart Bloom has the same first name as my previous business president, Stuart Mullan, who was a great supporter of FIRST at Rolls-Royce and was a judge at the 2004 IRI, where JVN was a referee.

Re: Six Degrees of John V-Neun
 

I, Amanda Morrison, worked with David Kelly on this year's IndianaFIRST Jeopardy, which we were asked to do by Andy Baker. I went to Kickoff this year, and Andy introduced me to Jason Morrella, who was with Ken Leung at this year's Cal Games. Ken came to IRI this year, and was in the same hotel with myself and Tom Schindler. Tom started out in FIRST on team 177 with Eric O'Brien, who is JVN's college roommate.

Re: Six Degrees of John V-Neun
 

My name is Chris Fultz, my son Collin Fultz is an Air Force ROTC student at Purdue. His decision to join the ROTC is probably due in part to being in Cub Scouts when he was younger. His Cub Scout leader was Mr. X, a Rolls-Royce person (I wont use his real name since he is not a FIRST guy - yet, anyway). This summer, I was able to make a connection between Mr. X, and Steve Shade. Steve now works for Rolls-Royce in Annapolis, which is the home of the US NAval Academy. I had a great uncle who was in the Navy, and after WWII he decided to not return to Indiana, and instead stayed in San Diego, which is in California. I visited him and went to Disneyland when I was eight years old, which is also the same age Collin joined Cub Scouts (see above for relevance).

Ending 2: Disneyland is in California, and California is one of 48 states I visited on vacation with my parents. My Dad worked for Allison, which was part of GM. Kevin Kelly also worked at Allision, and has had three kids on team 234. One of Kevin's kids is David Kelly, who works on a lot of FIRST stuff with Amanda Morrison. Amanda goes to school in Muncie, which is where Scott Ritchie lived, and he was an animal farmer (cows). Another animal farmer is Andy Baker (pigs), and pigs go well with eggs for breakfast. Eggs come from Chickens, and Thunderchickens cooked them for breakfast in Atlanta this year. Team 234 was in Atlanta, and had a pit next to the team from Clarkson, which JVN leeches on to to get great trips.

Re: Six Degrees of John V-Neun
 

Actually...
At the time 229 was led by the esteemed Eric O'Brien. This year it is run by the lovely and talented Adrienne Emerson.

I get a lot of credit for leading, but in actuality...
I just work here.

John

Re: Six Degrees of John V-Neun
 

My name is Chris Fultz, my son Collin Fultz is an Air Force ROTC student at Purdue. His decision to join the ROTC is probably due in part to being in Cub Scouts when he was younger. His Cub Scout leader was Mr. X, a Rolls-Royce person (I wont use his real name since he is not a FIRST guy - yet, anyway). This summer, I was able to make a connection between Mr. X, and Steve Shade. Steve now works for Rolls-Royce in Annapolis, which is the home of the US NAval Academy. I had a great uncle who was in the Navy, and after WWII he decided to not return to Indiana, and instead stayed in San Diego, which is in California. I visited him and went to Disneyland when I was eight years old, which is also the same age Collin joined Cub Scouts (see above for relevance).

Ending 3: Disneyland is in California, and California is one of 48 states I visited on vacation with my parents. Team 48 is Delphi Elite, and Delphi is also the name of a big company in Kokomo, that sponsors Team 45. I had a good friend, Carolyn R, who lived in Kokomo and was a minister. Another friend who is a minister lives in Phoenix, home of the Arizona Regional. Team 234 won the Regional Chairman's award there in 2003, and they won the Regional Chairman's award in Chicago in 2004. Also in Chicago was team 71, Beatty Machine, from Hammond. Bill Beatty is a Woody Flowers Award Winner, and I was able to meet Woody Flowers at Dean's house in 2003. Also at Dean's house was team 461 from Purdue. Oneangrydwarf is from team 461, at Purdue and may be a volunteer for that regioanls. I was just in a meeting at Purdue with Carolyn Percifield who is one of the committee leaders for the Purdue Regional. Also at the meeting was Rachel Voss. I met Rachel this summer at the IRI, which I helped plan with Libby Ritchie. One thing about Libby, she said "make sure one of the IRI referees is "JVN".

Re: Six Degrees of John V-Neun
 

I Michael Schroeder, am friends with Amanda Morrison, who is eventually going to hurt David Kelly really bad one day, who knows Scott Ritche who is an adult leader on 234 Cyberblue and 234 Cyberblue was next to 229 Division By Zero at nationals this year and 229 Division by Zero is sponsored by Clarkson University, the School John V-Nuen currently attends

to make mine cooler, these are also people that i have bearhugged.

Re: Six Degrees of John V-Neun
 

I, DCA Fan, became really active in FIRST because of Redhead Jokes. On the team, I worked at the SCRRF Fall Classic, where I met Ken Leung. I met Ken again at Nationals, where I also met Erin Rapacki, who was in charge of FIRST Workshops. In the Off-Season workshop, lead by Scott&Libby Ritchie, there were slides of IRI, where Brandon Martus performed with Andy Baker, who refereed with JVN.

Whew, that was hard.

Re: Six Degrees of John V-Neun
 

I guess we shouldn't do this as a drinking game, right? ;)

j/k guys!

I Joseph Matt am on team 384 which went to the 2003 VCU Regional and won with teams 388 and 395 who went to 2004 Championship in Atlanta, GA who was in Newton with 229 who is run b JVN.

Woah, that was fun.

Re: Six Degrees of John V-Neun
 

...Which is partially sponsored by Columbia University. Which is where Jimmy Vielkind goes to college. Who is JVN's little (smarter) brother.

OR

...Which was featured on the FIRST TechTV special with their coach WayneP was formerly from the Thunderchickens, coached by Paul Copioli, who's pit was next to Team 229, which is sponsored by Clarkson University, which is where Eric O'Brien goes to college, who kicks JVN every morning and makes him go to class...


This is fun.
There are a LOT of fun connections.
Everything is interconnected.

Wayne from 395 is actually an EMT at Columbia with my little brother.
Also... Wayne and I coached together (395 + 229) and were shown on the TechTV special together.
Wayne also met and talked a bit to my father at the NYC regional this year!

Gah...
John

Re: Six Degrees of John V-Neun
 

John -

Shut up. You're ruining our fun and killing the thread. They're supposed to ask YOU for these connections. Dork.

Amanda "I know a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy who knows Jimmy Vielkind" Morrison

Re: Six Degrees of John V-Neun
 

Here's one with no FIRST people as the six degrees.

Does anyone remember that sad washed up rapper Snow? He was the one who penned the horrible song Informer. Well, he dated a roommate (who shall remain nameless for her sake. I mean who wants the entire internet to know that you dated a horrible rapper. I mean, it's not even like she was a Jay-Z groupie) of my ex-girlfriend (who shall also remain nameless). But yeah, I had a friend who dated Snow. In 2001 both Snow and the Barenaked Ladies won MuchMusic Video awards, (the award show was canceled due to the aftermath of 9/11.) The Barenaked Ladies recently performed at the 2004 NHL All-Star Game. While at the game, the "Ladies" met the best young player in the NHL today, Jerome Iginla. Jerome plays with the Calgary Flames, who came within a game of bringing the Stanley Cup back to Canada. The Calgary Flames lost to Tampa Bay in game 7 of the Cup finals, 2-1. The lone Calgary goal was scored by Craig Conroy. Craig Conroy played his college hockey in the late 80s at Clarkson University, the home of Team 229 and the illustrious John Vielkind-Neun.

To summarize

Me --> 1. My Ex-Girlfriend --> 2. Her Roommate --> 3. Snow (Washed up rapper) --> 4. Barenaked Ladies --> 5. Jerome Iginla --> 6. Craig Conroy --> John Vielkind-Neun

Re: Six Degrees of John V-Neun
 

Oh, shoot. And while I'm at it....

I, Amanda Morrison, met John Boucher at Nats this year. John's son's name is Ted Boucher, whom I have never met, but I have met his sister Jess Boucher at IRI this year, when she was my roommate with Tom Schindler. Tom Schindler loves his Segway, as does Dave Ferreira. They've even Segwayed around Boston together. Dave also taught me to ride a Segway (perhaps that's why I'm not so good? ;) ) I once stole Dave's gloves (on accident) at Kickoff, and met him there through Andy Baker. Andy Baker sometimes looks like as much of a dork as JVN.

Re: Six Degrees of John V-Neun
 

Alright, time for another.

I, William Leverette, am a DJ on WUSC-FM. According to documents on file with the FCC, one of the owners of WUSC-FM is Governor Mark Sanford, as he is a trustee of the University of South Carolina by virtue of office. Governor Sanford came to the Palmetto Regional (on Friday, if memory serves me right), as did one Meredith Rice. She won a FIRST scholarship during the 2004 season, as did John Gilbert of 233. 233 attended Robot Rodeo in Florida, as did 180, home to Gary Dillard. He is a mentor to folks like Tiffany Lee, who was dancing with Tytus Gerrish at the Rodeo (along with about half of S.P.A.M. and half of Children of the Swamp). According to my sources (cough)amanda(cough), Tytus has met the one and only JVN.

Re: Six Degrees of John V-Neun
 

I <3 revivals!

I, Amanda Morrison, wanted to go to Sweet Repeat this offseason, so I talked to my friend David Kelly about traveling with me, but he already had plans to be traveling with Mark Koors. Mark started a company with the illustrious Andy Baker, who was once known to sumowrestle Jason Morrella at a FIRST event. Jason was with Dave Lavery at IRI this year, and Dave just released the first game hint: to explore 'John Neun' a little better. Mr. Neun, we all know, is the father of the one, the only, the nerdiest, JVN.

Re: Six Degrees of John V-Neun
 

Amanda Didn't like my first one and i cant sleep so :

I Michael Schroeder, once chased Andrew Baker around a gym in Indiana, Baker. who once chased a pig (gotta love evolution folks), is a mentor of the Kokomo Indiana FIRST Robotics Team, The TechnoKats, and also a member of Indiana FIRST which helps run IRI, At IRI i talked with Jess Boucher who also knows an Andy Grady, Andy Grady is a FIRST trivia wiz, and does trivia questions on ChiefDelphi Each year, Chief Delphi is maintained by one Brandon Martus, Brandon is son of the Famous Michael Martus, and both are Unsung FIRST Hero's, an award that Amanda Morrison helped create, Amanda Morrison is on my buddy list just above JVN

OK so its Me, (1) Andy Baker (and a pig), Indiana FIRST, IRI,(2) Jess Boucher, (3) Andy Grady (the walking FIRST Encyclopedia), Chief Delphi, (4) Brandon Martus, (5) Michael Martus, (unsung FIRST hero's (have you submitted a mentor lately?), (6) Amanda Morrison, My Small pathetic Buddy List (i gotta find some better people to put on there :p) and finally John V- Neun (also a walking FIRST Encyclopedia)

i would also like to point out that 5/6 people on this list have been bear hugged by me... so umm jess watch out ;) :p

Re: Six Degrees of John V-Neun
 

What do you mean it's a year since a reply?

I, William Leverette, have a suitemate this year by the name of Keon Pressley. Keon was a graduate of Clover High School, which is home to FRC 1539, which started a Vex team, FVC 171. 171 won both the Challenge Award and championship, and the only team to win more awards in this season (according to the FIRST site) was FVC 1, which won the championship, Connect, and Create awards. FVC 1 is in Wisconsin, also home to FRC 93, which won its first regional ever last year with a robot running a control system created by Innovation First, Inc., which employs one JVN.

(John, your occupation has made this too easy now. ;) )

<edit>Alright, so I definitely missed that FVC 268 won three at the Delaware FVC event. That's still partial credit, right?</edit>

Re: Six Degrees of John V-Neun
 

ha, this looks fun.

I, Neha Batra, was reunited with Elise Janowak, from 269 at Nationals after 2.5 years or something after meeting her from a summer camp, who sold a "I like Robots" t-shirt to Ms. JessJank (Mommy) who is also the mommy of Bharat Nain (who saved my little tush by helping me with programming last year) who introduced me to Arefin Bari who introduced me to the leader of RCU, Kristen Kelso who nominated Amanda Morrison for UFH who made a thread about the six degrees of JVN.

i wasn't even around when the thread started! oh well... times are a'changin...

Re: Six Degrees of John V-Neun
 

I am JVN....
oh wait, that's not six.... :p
(can't beleive no1 said that one yet)

Re: Six Degrees of John V-Neun
 

I, Jenny Beatty, was once a movie extra (playing a nun) in a really bad movie with Kevin Bacon. This movie with Kevin Bacon was filmed in Baltimore, near where Matt Leese attended high school. Matt Leese was on Team 7 with Steve Shade. Steve Shade introduced me to Anne Bergeron in August 2004 right when I was considering taking the gig as Senior Mentor. Anne Bergeron (and Steve) were refs at the Championship last year. Team007 passed their field while walking back to the pits. Team007 and Team 229 had just been on the same alliance. There was a voice apologizing to Team007 for something and the voice belonged to JVN.

Does this work? ;)

Re: Six Degrees of John V-Neun
 

How did I miss this the first time around??? Oh well, here goes.

I, Dave Lavery once loaned my Silicon Graphics computer to Vice-President Al Gore. He used it to show images from the Mars Pathfinder landing site to Attorney General Janet Reno. Janet Reno was parodied on Saturday Night Live by Will Ferrell. Will Ferrell graduated from the University of Southern California, as did Patricia Nixon, wife of President Richard Nixon. Mrs. Nixon was the First Lady when she welcomed Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Mike Collins to the White House after the Apollo 11 lunar landing. Neil Armstrong was the first human to step on the surface of the Moon. But Tony Norman thinks that Armstrong and Aldrin really landed on a sound stage in Arizona. Despite this fundamentally stupid belief, Tony did at one time make an amazing display of good judgment and hired JVN.

-dave

Re: Six Degrees of John V-Neun
 

Dan Swando was on 217 longer than Paul Copioli, who Announced the GLR with Dave Verbrugge, who is on Hotbot with Gina Sweet, who is in the same Sorority as Theresa Thompson who's dad Mr. Thompson was in charge of Safety at Buckeye Regional last year, which was attended by Sarah Brown (who didn't like it), who was on 229 with John V. Neun.

Re: Six Degrees of John V-Neun
 

Let's go again!

I, William "Billfred" Leverette, released a teaser video for Team 1293. The first person visible in that video is Greg Hosford, 1293 jokester and engineer extraordinaire. Mr. Hosford works for Shakespeare Composite Structures, which shares a name with William Shakespeare. Shakespeare (the person) wrote "Twelfth Night" which was performed in November of 2004 at Clarkson University, the then-home of JVN.

Re: Six Degrees of John V-Neun
 

6 DEGREES OF KEVIN BACON:
Kevin Bacon was in his first movie Animal House with John Belushi, who was on SNL as was Will Ferrel, who starred in Anchorman with Steve Carrel, who used to be on the Daily Show with Jon Stewert on Comedy Central, which was the logo in front of which IFI founders Bob Mimlitch & Tony Norman stood in a photo, who hired John V. Neun.

AND ME AGAIN:
DAN SWANDO once got an autograph from the captain of the Detroit Red Wings Steve Yzerman (and know which house is his). The Red Wings were assistant coached by Barry Smith before the strike, who now is assistant coach for the Phoenix Coyotes under Wayne Gretsky, who ran Team Canada this year at the Olympics. Canada was knocked out by Russia, which included newcomer Pavel Datsyuk, who lost the Bronze to the Czech Republic, which included Robert Lang, who was the 1990 Draft Pick of L.A. Also picked in the 1990 Draft (and now playing for L.A.) was Craig Conroy. Conroy is an alumni from Clarkson University, as is John V Neun.

Re: Six Degrees of John V-Neun
 

I Michelle Celio, freinds with Tiffany34990 who is also friends with Tytus Gerrish who is know for terrorisng the south florida area *kidding!!* with Arefin Bari who was on FIRSTcast *episode 2* which is hosted by Matt Krass who was thrown into a fountain at the 2006 Web hug by Joe Matt who works at seseme place which is based of seseme street wich is probably watched by Andy Baker (becuase of his children!) who was on the latter epsiode of FIRSTcast as JVN

Re: Six Degrees of John V-Neun
 

I, Adam Richards, create podcasts with Joe Matt. One of Joe's best friends is Matt Krass, whose sister Madison Krass works with team 488. Team 488 attended the Championship for the first time in Atlanta in 2006. Another team that attended Championships for the first time in Atlanta was team 1942, which also attended the Israel Regional. A volunteer at the Israel Regional was Greg Needel, a former member of 1511. Greg was also on 1511 with Ashley Christine, who went to the Finger Lakes Regional this past year at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Koko Ed recently graduated from there, and currently mentors team 191, which was a rookie team in 1992. Another rookie team in 1992 was team 20, JVN's high school team.

Re: Six Degrees of John V-Neun
 

I Rohith Surampudi swapped shirts with Elgin Clock who stayed at the house of Conor Ryan from 1403 after Monty Madness. Dez also stayed at Conor Ryan's after Monty Madness. Dez slept in the basement with Joe Matt. Joe Matt is an Apple computer addict. Kayla13 uses am ibook g4 and engages in Skype conferences with Joe Matt. Kayla gave Karthik Kanagasabapathy a kilt. Karthik Kanagasabapathy posed in this picture with JVN.

Re: Six Degrees of John V-Neun
 

I, Steve Warren had a shop class teacher in grade 7 by the name of Jim Breadner. Now Jim had a 2 year old son named Mark Breadner. As time went on and Mark grew up, he invited me to a FIRST event. I asked to join a team and was introduced to Roly Anderson. Now with Roly's love for the program I became really inspired and began volunteering at events as well. Well the Regional Director of FIRST Robotics Canada was Vance Scott. With backup by Mark Breadner, Vance worked with Rob Gorbet to start up the Waterloo Regional. Now, how to staff this event was an issue. Volunteers are coming from all over. One of those people was an ex Team 188 member, Tristan Lall. Tristan was the lead inspector. Well during the inspections I became a bit disgruntled by issues surrounding our team. Brewing and stewing I sat down at the scorers table were I had my perspectives put in their proper place by the one and only JVN.

Re: Six Degrees of John V-Neun
 

I, Jay Trzaskos, am attending IRI this July. I am going to be staying with team 25 and Corey Balint. Corey drove in the Championship Finals on Einstein against Paul Copioli and his ThuderChickens. 217 attended the Greater Toronto Regional along with the Husky Brigade and Ken Patton who won the Championship Woodie Flowers Award in 1999. Andy Baker won the Championship Woodie Flowers Award 4 years later in 2003. Andy had dinner with Chris Carnevale and other 229'ers in Manchester before the kickoff event this year. Chris Carnevale headed the Integrated Design team on 229 this past year. Jeremy Boire was a member if the ID team this year, but the year before he was JVN's roommate.

Re: Six Degrees of John V-Neun
 

I, Kelli Van Antwerp, was a member of WildStang with Tiffany Gach, who went to prom with Andrew Morrison, who attended IRI. team 45 was at IRI with Andy Baker who threw peanuts at me durin ght Braves game with Tytus Gerrish who might as well be married to Arefin Bari. Both of whom I met through Courtney Balcer who drove with me to the Beatty Beach Party that was attended by Amanda Morrison who introduced me to JVN.

Re: Six Degrees of John V-Neun
 

Two approaches...

6-degrees through Indiana

I, Cynette Cavaliere, attended GMI (Kettering U) where I met my husband Tom. One of Tom’s fraternity brothers was Indiana native, Les Willis, whose son Joe became a member of Team 292, PantherTech. Joe made it sound so fun that my son Tommy jumped at the chance several years later to join the robotics team at his high school, the newly formed Team 1511. Team 1511 is lead by Kim O’Toole who also organized the off-season event Ra-Cha-Cha Ruckus. The 2005 Ruckus was attended by a woman who was visiting with her son who had flown up from Texas to volunteer at the event. That woman was the Mother of JVN. (I just happened to sit next to her when I took a break from my volunteer duties that day.)

6-degrees through Canada

(Same start) I, Cynette Cavaliere, attended GMI (Kettering U) where I was a RA (Resident Advisor) during my senior year. One of the members of my unit was Steve Rourke, the Father of the Triplets (Niagara FIRST), one of the Triplets, Team 1114 is mentored by Karthik, 1114 picked Team 1511 in the 2005 GTR and the alliance (with 1305) went on to become regional champions. 1511’s student coach was Tommy Cavaliere. The role of coach was filled by this year by Ashley Christine Cheney. Ashley’s first FIRST regional competition was in 2005 (as a member of 1559) at FLR held at RIT. Attending RIT and mentoring Team 1511 was Greg Needel. Greg took his Segway to Championships this year where he “borrowed” the bag of Jay Trzaskos and tried to throw it in the fountain. Jay is a member of Team 229. JVN is an alumnus of Team 229.

Re: Six Degrees of John V-Neun
 

Anyone for another thread revival?

I, Richard Wallace, was sent by my employer during the first week of 1996 to visit Deka Research & Development, where I met Dean Kamen. Dean immediately convinced my boss (not connected with FIRST since then) that Emerson should start a FIRST team, so I stayed over Friday night, attended the FRC kickoff Saturday morning and returned to STL with a kit of parts... but I digress. Dean's self-propelled inverted pendulum, code-named Ginger, attracted the attention of entrepreneur John Doerr, who knew my boss through previous business deals. He later became one of the main investors in Segway LLC ... but I digress again. John's sister Susie Mathieu became a member of the FIRST board of directors and started the St. Louis Regional planning committee, another rich opportunity for digression, but I won't go there. Last year, our committee decided to (1) hold a Fall Training Camp for robotics in November and (2) host an FVC Pilot event in December, so Susie contacted Tony Norman to get some help from IFI. To make sure that we got the best technical guidance available, Tony dispatched the incomparable JVN.

Re: Six Degrees of John V-Neun
 

I, William Leverette, got my start in FVC by filling out a form on VIMS, which I followed up on by emailing Lynn Casey, FIRST's volunteer resources manager at the time. She forwarded that email to Karen Smith, who was the FVC Program Coordinator at the time. That email resulted in an email to Lamar Tisdale, the contact at South Carolina State University for the 2006 FVC Orangeburg pilot tournament. This information was ultimately passed onto Gail Johnson, who ultimately made the volunteer assignment and handled volunteer training (although I had to miss it, as I had class and Orangeburg is an hour away from me). It was at this tournament that I first served as a judge, and it was also where I first met Donn Griffith, who served on this year's FVC game design committee with one Rich Kressly, who told everyone shortly before Atlanta to rub the nearly-bald head of JVN.

Re: Six Degrees of John V-Neun
 

That's five posts in this thread. I nominate Billfred for the "prolific poster of connections to JVN" award.

Re: Six Degrees of John V-Neun
 

Thanks, Richard, but let's make it six.

I, William Leverette, am the older brother of Marlowe Leverette, 1293's operator in 2006. The driver that year was Paul Hosford, who was the operator in 2005 beside one Daniel Schep. Daniel's younger brother, Patrick Schep, is currently a freshman at Carnegie Mellon University, birthplace of the CMUcam. This year, teams received in the kit a simple mounting setup for the CMUcam designed by one JVN.

Re: Six Degrees of John V-Neun
 

I, Andy Baker, is in the same fantasy football league as Dave Lavery , who can eat donuts and has worse legs than Amanda Morrison. Amanda works for FIRST, which was founded by Dean Kamen, who has a ficticious cousin named Ozzy Kamen. Ozzy once sung a song about Johnnie V-Neun.

Re: Six Degrees of John V-Neun
 

I, Pavan Dave swapped shirts with Arefin Bari, who wrapped the team 45 trailor, filmed by Michelle who took a picture of Eric S. who claims to be on the same team as Andy Baker, who is in a band with Brandon Martus, who used to be on the same team as Mike Martus, who introduced the Golden Hex Bug challenge, which is sponsored by FRC148 which JVN is now apart of.

Pavan.

Re: Six Degrees of John V-Neun
 

I, William "Billfred" Leverette, had a layover of about eight hours in Union Station in Washington, DC yesterday. At Union Station yesterday, General Motors displayed their Chevrolet Volt concept (my photos of it); General Motors sponsors FRC team 67, which made Einstein in 2004--the same year as a certain Team Hammond. Team Hammond's alumni include Amanda Morrison, whose current day job (besides, if the rumors are true, rocking out) is with FIRST Tech Challenge*, which currently uses the Vex Robotics Design System--a system that has seen many improvements at the hands of one JVN.

*Still have to get used to that...