Re: You know you've overdosed on FIRST when...
 

When you're watching Star Trek and you realize that the forklift in the background is utilizing a mecanum drive.

Re: You know you've overdosed on FIRST when...
 

you know you are addicted to FIRST when...

-you read all 128 pages of this thread and realize that it is all so very true

-you take your senior pictures with your robot from your junior year

-you have last year's robot sitting in your garage because you have taken it to so many presentations and robotic summer camps

-your friends threaten to kidnap you from robotics on your birthday because it's the middle of build season and they know you want perfect attendance

-your friends refer to you as safety captain outside of robotics

-you have multiple pairs of safety glasses in your purse

-you have multiple non-team shirts that have your team name and number on them that you designed just for the fun of it

-your mentors text you at all hours of the day giving you updates on sponsor presentations

-you and your best friend become team leads and the only thing you talk about anymore is FIRST

-your family doesn't see you for 6+ weeks during build season because you go straight to the buildsite after school and dont come home until they are already asleep then you leave for school before they wake up the next morning

-you refuse to date anyone who isn't on a robotics team

-your family no longer knows anything about you, they just know everything about your team

-you spend all your time thinking of new things to build and new ways to try to recruit sponsors

-the FIRST thing you tell your boss when you get a new job is the days you need off for competitions

-everything in your room becomes related to FIRST in some way

-you convince your parents to become mentors so they will stop complaining about never getting to see you

-you choose where you want to apply for college based on the location of FIRST teams in the area

-you go on vacation to visit family and are disappointed that you can't find any FIRST teams in the area that you can visit

-you think about the major possibilities of starting a FIRST team on an Air Force base when you go to visit your brother who happens to be in the USAF

-while thinking about starting a team on your brother's base you ramble about FIRST to your brother until he gets up and leaves the room

-you spend the majority of your vacation time on CD

-your team wins a regional and you are more excited to be taking home the Gracious Proffessionalism award

-you combine pits with the rookie team next to you at competition so that you are better equipped to help them

-when the judges ask you as safety captain about the safety procedures of the rookie team you are helping because there are more members of your team in their pit than in yours

-when you spend your entire summer working on robotics

-when your team no longer knows which subteam you are on because you have worked with all of them

-when you beg your parents to let you stay home while they go on vacation so that you wont miss anything robotics related

-when your team calls you FIRST to get another team member/mentor/sponsor's number because they know you will have it programmed into your cell phone

-when you have a box in your room dedicated to other teams' buttons

-when you have a collection of stuffed animals from competitions that you have been to that was started by a friend on another FIRST team

-when you find out you are going to be an aunt and the FIRST thing you think about is what FIRST team your neice will be on when she is older

-when you check USFIRST, CD, and your team website as often as you do facebook and your personal email

-when your closet consists of mostly your team colors plus a shirt or two that you haven't had the heart to get rid of because they are from your well meaning relatives

-when you have a necklace with a limit switch on it

-when your school plays cotton eyed joe during every passing period for a week during a fund raiser and you as well as your teammates are dancing down the hall to class

-when you stay in a hotel as soon as you get to the lobby in the morning you automatically start singing "G-O-O-D-M-O-R-N-I-N-G, Good Morning, Hey, Hey, Good Morning" whether you are with your team or not

-you have more pictures from robotics than anything else on your computer

-you have all of the FIRST promo videos as well as all the videos of your team from competition on your computer

... i think i should stop for now. more later =)

Re: You know you've overdosed on FIRST when...
 

when you are speechless from reading that last post

when you realize that the only reason you know 5 different computer languages is because of FIRST

when you find out that you get at internship (at a biology lab) because you know LabView

when you get bored at that lab and (using labView) figure out how to take a picture of your brain with an ultrasound machine :)

when you fall asleep at night and dream once again you are at a competition

when you spend 4 weeks of your summer planning and running 3 different FLL robotics camps

when you keep the program from Atlanta in you backpack at all times

when you look around and realize that so many things around you deal with robotics

when you check CD every day during the build season

when you check CD every day when it's not the build season

when you start writing apps for the Palm that deal with FRC scouting

when you realize that you picked all your high school classes based on STEM

whenever you see and triangle, circle, and square together, you think of robotics

when there is so much to write, you cannot put it in words.

p.s. (when you realize this is a quick reply)

Re: You know you've overdosed on FIRST when...
 

...when you clock out at your job and without trying the time lands on your team number(22:07) and then you start jumping and shouting with excitement scarying the other workers and then have to explain.
...when you are still helping with programming the website while at college
...while waiting in the forever ending line at target when all the college students got target to themselves and Cotten Eye Joe starts playing on the loudspeaker and you start dancing while in line.

Re: You know you've overdosed on FIRST when...
 

- Your happy that your not the only other person who saw that!

- You relized that you could possibly miss kick-off and that sadden you

Re: You know you've overdosed on FIRST when...
 

I was playing a game of scattergories with my family, the letter was C, and a cattergory was awards/ceremonies, and chairmans award was the only thing that popped up in my head...
^_^

Re: You know you've overdosed on FIRST when...
 

You know your son is overdosed on FIRST when...

...he comes in the door and announces that his room number in his college dorm this year will be "ThunderChickens Special" (217).

Of course, we knew EricH was way overdosed already. There is no cure! :)

Re: You know you've overdosed on FIRST when...
 

Actually, it's "ThunderChickens Central" (room 217 in the central wing).

The really bad part? The street address is Rhode Warriors (121).

Re: You know you've overdosed on FIRST when...
 

.... a post like this gets 145,000 views.

Re: You know you've overdosed on FIRST when...
 

... all of your stories now start with "this one time at robotics..."
... all of the competitions your team will be attending as well as your friends' teams will be attending are on your calendar as soon as you sign up
... you have driven a half hour to get robot stickers from hobby lobby so you could finish your robotics scrapbook
... you actually have a scrapbook dedicated only to robotics
... the FIRST thing you tell the new girl in school when she asks about you is about your team
... you have different contact groups on your phone for your team: mechanical, electrical, business, mentors, parents, sponsors
... you have a contact group on your phone for other teams
... you plan your social life around robotics events
... you determine which classes to take which part of the year because you don't want your GPA to drop during build season

Re: You know you've overdosed on FIRST when...
 

When you randomly ask people at freshman week if they're into robotics...

When you've found someone from 175 / 111 / 2753 so far...

Re: You know you've overdosed on FIRST when...
 

That looks like one scary alliance.

When you take off time from robotics and skip meeting just so you can spend time with your family so your mother won't take you off of the team.

Re: You know you've overdosed on FIRST when...
 

When on your keyring you keep a flash drive with all your CAD files. :D

(When typing files you accedently put first... :D )

Re: You know you've overdosed on FIRST when...
 

... when you look at the last three digits of California* license plates and wonder if you know that team from somewhere.

... and you keep a tally of how many teams you know. I'm winning.

* - also works with any other state

Re: You know you've overdosed on FIRST when...
 

... you and a friend fight and one of your mentors helps work it out because it's bad for the team

... you spend your free time during the summer planning the team open house

... you automatically invite your mentors to hang out with you and your friends when playing ultimate frisbee or sardines

... you can break down in front of team members but not in front of your family because your team has been more of a family to you the last couple years than your real family just because you haven't been home

... you haven't eaten dinner with your family in months, but have had "family dinners" every few weeks with your team