2006 IRI - Thanks & Congratulations
 

Awesome -

Thanks to 64 fantastic teams for another exciting IRI.

Great robots, great talents, cool VEX, interesting dodgeball, fantastic volunteers, and a huge benefit for the Child Life Center. Plus, almost 100
backpacks - 30 heading to Gulfport MS to assist displaced kids as they get ready for school this fall.

The finals were just incredible - I don't think you could hand pick 12 better matched teams to go into semis and then the final matches. Who would think 130 points would be a losing score!

Awesome - :ahh:

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Thanks to you guys for putting it on!
It rocked

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Yeah there is a big thank to everyone that helped!!!

I just can't wait till next year!!! :D :D :D

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Yeah it was really great this year.

Thanks to everyone that helped, and i hope to see everyone back again next year. To the seniors... I hope to see you back as a mentor, and i hope this was a great learning experience.

***EDIT***
I sure did like that fire alarm it was quite nice and entertaing. I will say that one benefit of it was that i got to meet and get a picture with Dave Lavery.
***EDIT***

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It was a totally awesome competition with top-notch teams playing at the peak of their games. We saw some great alliances putting on a great display... with lots of scoring in spite of intense defensive efforts. It was well worth the trip for me to witness those exciting matches in the elimination rounds.

Congratulations to the IRI organizers for another incredible event.

Hopefully a California team or two will be in the mix next year!!

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Whew! that was some heart pounding driving i had to do. I got scared when the thunder chickens pined us in the corner for a whole period. I want to see the matches, does anyone have a web cast? I was to busy watching our robot to see what else was going on. (u know that whole tunnel vision thing)

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This has been an awesome IRI for me.
I have been to 3 of them (2003,2005,2006) and this is by far the best one.
I honestly think that the matches played today in the elims were better then nationals.
The 71 1625 910 vs. 25 1114 33 matches were awesome.
There is no explaining 44 balls in the center goal.
How awesome.
Thank you 111 and 16 for being our alliance partners in the elims.
It was awesomely fun.
Congrats to 71 1625 and 910 for your win and 233 217 and 1272 for an awesome semi-final round.
It was awesome.
And i would not like to forget 1213 for letting my operate their robot for them.
If it wasn't for them I would have been there.
They have an awesome robot and Jack and Keith are awesome people.
Thanks for capping off the best four years of my life.
It was fun seeing all the people that i know here at IRI people like Ty, kelli, kyle, JVN, jay and new people that i just met here...the rest of 45(haha).
Thank you to 47 for their awesome help and being awesome people.
Thanks to 47 again for letting u use your human player during the elims when we needed one the most.
Thank you to 494 and 70 for helping 1213 out big time with everything you did that i don't know.
thanks to all of our alliance partners that we were teamed with to help us get second seed...we couldn't have done it without you.
And thanks to the judges that awarded us the quality award, i was surprised but with a robot as good as 1213 had then i guess its a given...they have an awesome robot by the way.
Sorry if i forgot anything..just let me know and i will fix that...haha.


Thanks
Stevie

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Oh yeah thanks for great experience. Im a little sad this is my last year. I do want to go and see if I can find a team to mentor when Im away at college. (I think I wont have the money or time to get there though)

Also a BIG thanks to the martians for giving us there window motor to replace our "magic foot." (brake system)

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Thanks to teams 494 and 40 for being such fantastic alliance partners, we gave it our all and almost got it!

Thank you also to HOT for transporting our robot to and from the competition, you don't know how much we appreciate that!

I'll do my big long thank you's later, but that's my short list

PS I've uploaded pictures from the weekend here under IRI

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You are welcome Stevie. Thank you for being “The Stevie” and giving us your best effort in every way. You may think your last four years were about as good as it gets, but you ain’t seen nothin yet. Your best years have yet to come, and will get surpassed by the years to follow them.

Thanks to all the teams who aligned with Friends of 1213, whether on or off the field. Thanks to all of you who were pleased at our success; a special thanks to those who weren’t surprised. ;)

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Man I only got to attend one day of this years IRI, I've been to every IRI since its inception, and I must say that this one had a level of competition that surpassed anything we could have ever dreamed of when years ago a bunch of Indiana teams got together in a gym in Kokomo to have a little off season scrimage.

Thanks to all my fellow volunteers, especialy the scoring/reset kids who did such a great job working with Jerry Budd keeping everything running smoothly and on time. Thanks to the guys behind the scoring table Brandon Martus, David Kelly, Molly Menges, Mark Koors, The Gilbert twins, and everyone else helping out over there, you guys faced some challenges and blew right past them.

Thanks to the greatest announcing/MC crew we've seen to date, Paul, John, Colin, and Dan you guys were awesome. I especialy enjoyed the speed rounds.

Congrats to 71 1625 and 910 on the win, from what I heard from everyone i talked to after the wedding i had to attend yesterday *grumble grumble stupid weddings during robotics events* it was a hard fought win.
Congrats to 233, 217, and my favorite team 1272, From what I hear you guys did amazing and never gave an inch without a fight! Congrats to my team 1272, You guys continualy amaze me by what you can accomplish even when everything seems to be going wrong and new challenges are constantly popping up, you guys are an inspiration to me.

Ohh and less i forget Mr Baker, thanks for letting me reff again and work with such a top notch ref crew. Amy, Andrew, Kevin, Jeff, Lisa, Jeremy, and Stu (Not to mention Mr Kyle love and the other outstanding young gentleman who helped us out for the mentor rounds) it was a pleasure working with you guys, best running ref crew i have worked with yet.

Chris, Andy, and Libby, you guys outdid yourselves again. Thanks for letting me be a part of the magic that is my favorite offseason event, Already looking forward to next year. Thank you Thank you Thank you guys for all the hardwork you do.



(Wow for 1 day i sure did have alot of people to thank!)

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Thanks to everyone for making my first IRI a memerable one. I had great fun as the pit announcer on Friday. One person, that I konw of, recognized me but I met a bunch of new people. Dave, Tytus, Arefin, Andy, and there's more that I may not have known who they were. :ahh:
Thanks to team 40 for bringing their VEX field and robots. I got a lot of interesting ideas from them.
And especially thanks to team 107 for letting me and a couple fellow teammates be honorary members. That was fun.
Thank God I got to see the semi-finals. They were, undoubtedly, the best matches I have seen any year.
Did every single team end up with a tie or two?
And congrats to the winners and finalists. Excellent alliances.

Next year, people need to start wearing their safety glasses. I saw many people walking around without their safety glasses. In fact, I saw more adults and mentors without safety glasses than students. There were also a few Poof throwing incidents, which included a student running back and forth while an ADULT mentor threw the ball to him. Multiple times nearly running into a tool chest.

There is one thing that I have a grumble about while I was in Indianapolis this weekend. It was the weather. There's nothing more ruining of your IRI fun than sleeping in a tent full of rain water. I didn't get to the competition on Saturday until 1.

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Is there anywhere i can find archived video of the eliminations? the webcast wasn't working for me.

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This was my first IRI, and it was, dare I say, amazing.
Sadly, I got to see everything through the first round of finals, but then I left early because I was sick.
There's no explaining 44 balls in the center goal.
Thanks to 45 for letting us use a battery on Thursday night (for checking the field) when we left all of ours in Libby Ritchie's car.
Thanks to everyone who tried to figure out the issue with our drive station on Thursday night.
Thanks to 233 and 47 for being amazing alliance partners for my first and only time driving the robot.
Thanks to Jerry and Venny for yelling, at the same time , mind you, completely opposite things for me to do while I was driving. But thanks Jerry for telling me to ignore Venny beforehand. =)
Finally, thanks to Ryan for suggesting I do that Andy Baker poem for the Talent Show. I got to talk to some interesting people, and his wife wants me to e-mail her a copy.

Thanks again,
Danielle || 393

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My 3rd personal IRI, and 116's second, I can safely say this was the best of them all.

To 25, 1114, and 33:
You guys were a blast to hang around during the QFs and SFs. You pushed 71, 1625, 910 further than any other alliance, and played what I consider the greatest elimination series I have ever seen. Probably the most impressive feat was the fact that the croud was actually cheering for Beatty!

To 71, 1625, and 910:
Wow......just wow. Your trip to the championship was amazing. We were almost giddy watching those matches with how close, high scoring, fast, and genuinely entertaining they were. You guys really earned all of your wins.

To 1712:
Thanks for the cardboard! ;)

To 296:
Thanks for letting us cut off the end of your pool noodle, it saved us!

To 393:
Thanks for having so many entries in the talent show, it would have been alot less fun without you.

To 1114:
Thanks for making that fire alarm sound pleasing :p

To 71:
Thanks for giving us a chance to get outside on Friday :p

To all the folks that helped to put together IRI:
Thank you for an amazing event. I can't wait to come back next year!

To anyone else I forgot:
thanks!

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IRI was awesome! i just got back from a 12 hour bus ride back to PA

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hope it came in quite handy.

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I am very happy I had the chance to come to IRI this year. It was definitely the best FIRST event I have been to. The teams were great, the event was well organized, everyone was nice and it was just overall fun.

A big thanks to Chris Fultz and Libby Ritchie for making it possible for me to come to IRI.
Also thanks to the members of team 393..It was fun hanging out with you guys and having dinner after the competition.

Hopefully everything will work out and I'll be in the US next summer and will be able to come to IRI again next year.

David

Re: 2006 IRI - Thanks & Congratulations
 

Thanks to all the sponsoring teams, including team 40 for the vex, Ryan for running the talent show. I actually don't know who ended up offering and/or giving us the breaker, but thanks for that too.

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[quote=Lil' Lavery]To 25, 1114, and 33:
You guys were a blast to hang around during the QFs and SFs. You pushed 71, 1625, 910 further than any other alliance, and played what I consider the greatest elimination series I have ever seen. Probably the most impressive feat was the fact that the croud was actually cheering for Beatty!
QUOTE]

thanks so much! it was a great series and were glad that so many people enjoyed it!!! :)


IRI was so awesome! it was my first time attending it and it was probably my fav. comp. besides nationals. i just wish it lased longer..... All the people were so nuce and friendly. plus all the best robots were there. i got to see old friends and make a lot of new one. I had so much fun and will definetly be coming back!!

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As the "stick guy" trying to keep the balls from jamming in the blue center goal, it almost seemed like a dump truck deposited those balls in the goal in a matter of a few seconds. I managed to knock a ball out of the goal while trying to clear the jam. The scorer, two referees and a few field reset people saw that ball come out as well, so the correct tally wasn't 45 ;) ...

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Our second trip to IRI and what a blast! Thanks to Jim Z of team 33 for letting us know about it last year and for being so gracious in your help with anything we asked for.

Thanks to our partners in the playoffs - 71 and 1625... what teammates! You guys just poured them in! Great strategizing and amazing offense! We let everyone on our team get a chance at driving or being the human player during the weekend matches so we figured our so-so record would make our chance of getting picked pretty slim. Thanks for looking beyond the stats! Nobody thought our alliance stood a chance against the #1 and #2 seeds plus the Killer Bees. It took three incredible matches but we did it! We're still shaking our heads at the one match when our defensive autonomous mode managed to take them on when all three went to shoot, and we somehow managed to push 1114 into 25 and drive them off to the side out of range, then back up and turn around and drive 33 into the opposite side wall for the duration of the auton period. It was like it had eyes. Yeah, it ran an arc pattern and reversed and went forward multiple times to cover as much area as possible but let's face it... catching all three robots? What luck! Sheesh!

Hats off to our finalist opposition too! The world champs, previous IRI champs and (Boilermaker?) regional winners - wow! Everyone took us to three matches and we had to play our last 4 matches with only 1 of 2 CIM drive motors on one side working (speed controller died) so we were sweating bullets if we could still defend and also keep you off of our teammates. You were so FAST! Everyone was just so darned good!

We're a very small team and have learned so much from so many helpful teams out there that we can't begin to thank them all. I know my son will grow up to be a better engineer, and a truly gracious professional because of each and every one of you. Why can't all sporting events be like IRI??? Thanks to all!

Foley Freeze - #910 - 2005 Newton 9-0 & Finalists, 2006 Grand Rapids Finalists, 2006 IRI Champs (woo hoo!)

Re: 2006 IRI - Thanks & Congratulations
 

Thanks to Stu Bloom's crew, the Robo Devils (1018), for the main breaker after 1712's went bad and also another huge thanks to 1646 for the Anderson quick-disconnect. You kept us running and in the game.

Personally, I want to thank Chris, Andy, and Libby for organizing such an incredible event and to the volunteers for flawless execution. Aside from the competition, dodgeball was cool and judging the talent show was a blast. It's also rare to get the chance to spend time with so many of your FIRST heroes in one place:
-Andy, Mark, Chris, Scott, Stu, Paul, Karthik, JVN, Dave, Tony, Dan G., Raul, Brandon, Mike, Amanda, Dan L. ... and I'm sure there are many more I'll remember later.

Re: 2006 IRI - Thanks & Congratulations
 

The thanks we owe IndianaFirst for IRI almost goes without saying. But I'll say it anyway. Thank you all so very much!

Words alone can not express our gratitude to both sets of Martians for all they've done for 1213 this year. They fronted us $4k so that we could buy some time to get in the show. We practiced together. They gave us their camera.h and helped us focus our camera at IRI. It did not exorcise the gremlins, but it gave us the confidence in that we'd done about all that we could do for her in the pits, so we drove her like we had to.

The Killer Bees loaned us a backup-backup battery when ours failed to charge. I finally replaced the PWMs we borrowed from them at GLR. Chief Delphi loaned us batteries to save us from going back and forth to the far side of the pits. They loaned us their HP, after ours had to leave before the eliminations. Beth had 1504 bring along their extra camera because I had a premonition (not really, ours was flaky but it worked) that ours would fail. Turns out we didn't use it; we were winning with our eye half closed :-) but 1504 was there for us.

It's often said at TARDEC that no good deed shall go unpunished. So it is that now you all have gone and done it; you'll have this little old guy hanging round way more than you want. :eek:

PS: Before you get the chance to say it - I realize that the above is already the case. :)

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296 came to IRI!? I would have taken them in a pool. Or is that 269? heh.

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I believe it was 269, I didn't see 296.

Re: 2006 IRI - Thanks & Congratulations
 

Just a quick thanks to all the people who helped out with the talent show to get it up and running. But a huge thanks to everyone who entered, because without you guys there wouldn't have even been a talent show. Thank you Paul, Raul, John, Tony, Rich, and Dave for being judges. The whiteboard commentary is always appreciated. I hope everyone had as much fun as we did doing this. Start planning now, because it's going to be hard to top this year's acts!

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Re: 2006 IRI - Thanks & Congratulations
 

Thanks to Mr.D and Terri Schulz for their help during the Mentor Drive.
And even though Andy Baker, Jeff Smith, and Chris Fultz were running around like (thunder?)chickens with their heads cut off, they still stopped to say hey - made even us little teams feel at home.

Re: 2006 IRI - Thanks & Congratulations
 

Congrats go out to all the teams that played their hearts out at the 2006 IRI, especially to teams 71, 1625 and 910 for their incredibly hard fought win!

IRI Hosts, thanks to all of you who planned so smartly and worked so hard to make this a truly outstanding event, a model tournament!

Thank you 217 Thunderchickens for loaning us a CMUcam!

Thanks Beth Sweet for being our human player and for giving it your all with us in our mentor round!

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Gael Force would like to throw a big thank you out to Arefin for helping us fix our robot during the quarters against the 25/1114/33 alliance. Those were some of the quickest repairs that we did, especially at the risk of personal injury.

And thanks to 68, 1008, and 269 for helping us give it our all against a very strong alliance.

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I don’t know where to start. This was my 2nd year going to IRI, and I must say, it was a privilege to work with IndianaFIRST crew. After I leave every year, I crave for more, and I know I will go back there again.

I wanted to thank Tytus because if he wasn’t up for this trip, maybe I wouldn’t have gone.

I want to thank Chris Fultz for letting me volunteer again at IRI.

Thank you to Tim Baird (Gael Force) for welcoming me to help them fix their robot during quarterfinals.

Thanks to Clark Gilbert (DJ at IRI) for burning me a mp3 disk to listen to while Tytus and I were driving home.

Thanks to Andy Baker, Rich Kressly, John Wanninger and Jim Schaddelee for taking time out of their hand and talk to me. Andy, I must say, every time I see you, you remind me more why I want to be an engineer.

This is for Amanda… you surprised the crap out of me when you showed up at the talent show. I am glad you made it to IRI 2006 and I am very happy that I saw you.

My time at IRI
 

I would like to thank 1213 and Jack Jones for letting me come down to IRI and help them with their awesome robot.
I seen video and seen that they could hit 10 out of 10 but then again they were by them selves no pressure.
Then I went to a practice and seen how good their robot is.
When we started to compete at IRI we lost the first match...we the 'bot was awesome.
We only missed like 2 or 3 balls out of like 25.
We proceeded to win every match we were in and place second seed.
It was awesome.
I had so much fun.
The strategizing, the competing, the people, just everything was awesome.
This is the most fun that i have had at a FIRST competition since Midwest 2003.
And being able to pick the legendary 111 is awesome.
I mean when i was on 65 in '03 they picked us.
playing along side Jack Jones was awesome.
He is brilliant when it comes to robotics.
Being teamed up with 16 again was fun.
Finally some one other then me that remembers Midwest '03 haha.
Even tho i was the gunner for 1213 i also helped Jack coach.
It was fun.
strategizing with the great Raul was awesome.
making it to the semis was a lot of fun too.
Losing to The Pink Team and the chickens is an honor.
Even tho i would have loved to beat them.
Seeing everyone was fun also.
And people like Paul Copioli Andy Baker and JVN Knowing me is more then awesome.
The matches and everything this year were the best i have ever seen.
IRI was just awesome for me.
I will be back next year...haha

Re: 2006 IRI - Thanks & Congratulations
 

IRI 2006 was an awesome event as always. Thanks to Andy, Chris, Libby and everyone else who had a hand in making IRI the most fun event in all of FIRST.

It was a definite thrill to be a part of alliance with the type of fire power that 25, 1114, 33 had. Throughout the season there was a lot of debate over who was the best team in FIRST, 25 or 1114. I think Team 71 proved that this debate was a moot point. :) Beatty's display in the semifinals proved once again that they are the most dominant team in all of FIRST. They outplayed and outstrategized us, and once again proved an old adage of mine, "Never bet against Beatty". Teams 1625 and 910 were great compliments to the BEAST and are well deserving of their championship trophies.

Special thanks to Ryan Dognaux for organizing an amazing talent show, and allowing Team 1114 a chance to show off our talents. Also, thanks to all audience members for not showering us with projectiles, even though we probably deserved them. :P

Congratulations to Kyle for running such an exciting dodgeball tournament. The crowd was totally into the event, and your rule change allowing for a team to bring back players by throwing the ball through the center goal was an amazing idea. Kudos.

Like I said up top, IRI is the most fun event of the season, and Team 1114 looks forward to returning next year. We've already started planning our talent show act. :P

... oh the sun'll come out tomorrow... :)

Re: 2006 IRI - Thanks & Congratulations
 

Note to IRI Planning Committee:

Seriously consider an alternate activity to replace "talent" show... :)

Re: 2006 IRI - Thanks & Congratulations
 

Some people have no sense of humor. For those who didn't get it; the idea was that a performance like that was a threat to national security. A lampoon, sorta like Chris', but different. Geesh

I will say no more - forever!

Goodby

Re: 2006 IRI - Thanks & Congratulations
 

A big thank you to the sponsors, organizers, volunteers, and participants. I had a great time, not just because it was my first FIRST event ever with no family, team, or volunteer responsibilities. If I'd have known my schedule in advance I would have loved to help out.

I'd also like to thank all of the kind folks who said they wished rest of team 85 was there. Maybe next year. I think the last time was 2001.

Congratulations to all of the teams. I found all of the matches exciting and the level of play to be breathtaking. The elimination rounds were absolutely amazing.

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After reading the great comments here I can sum them up with a big WOW!

This by far was the best assembly of great teams ever. Strong competition, great organization and best of all another opportunity to meet, greet and talk to the great Community of FIRST.

One vision that will stay with me for awhile is the massive amount of balls all heading for the opening at the same time in auto mode. It happened several times that the goal just was not large enough to take the massive amount all at the same time. Quite a sight.

Thank you from Chief Delphi Team #47

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If you thought that was impressive from the stands you should have seen it from the player station. While going against 25/1114/33 in the quarters and watching their autonomous modes, I had mixed emotions between "wow, that was awesome" and "ugh, we're going to lose".

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Thanks to every one once again and them were some of the most amazing matches i have ever seen congrats to everyone. :)

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It really is disconcerting to hear those chains rattling above your head. I think there effect was psychological more than anything else.

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I think we may look back 1-3 years from now and see that semi-finals 1 was the greatest collection of teams in the history of a match (even better then the 2003 championship finals).

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This was a fantastic event and couldn't have been run better! What an amazing amount of effort, and it was much appreciated!

Thank you team 40 for the Vex field. Several of our "fish fry" took advantage and I saw some drivers in our teams future.

Thank you to teams 71 and 1625 for their kind comments, well wishes and helpful suggestions. You showed just as much GP at the Stl regional.

Thank you for making our catfish mascots feel special. In their eyes, robotic students ROCK!

Congratulations to fellow Missourian team 931 for winning their award! Our team would have been happy to have picked it up for you...

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WOW! What a tournament! The win at IRI was as exciting and as difficult as any competition we have ever been in. The planets were all lined up for us on Saturday.

Thanks to all the folks that made the IRI possible. It continues to be the premier post season tournament. You will have a greater clamoring of participants attempting to sign up next year.

Thanks to 1625 and 910, our alliance partners. You were great and we worked together superbly.

Thanks to all the fans that cheered us on, particularly some folks from team 25. After their loss (no one should have had to loose any of those matches) some of their folks came and sat with us and cheered us on. How is that for gracious professionalism?

Thanks to 107 who kept us in fresh batteries after we discovered our charger was not doing much more than putting out a surface charge and causing a loss of power during the matches. They would have been the next substitute team if one of the robots didn't go, but they continued to help keep everyone going.

And thanks to all the friends who came by and offered their support to me and especially those who climbed up stairs to visit with Marcy. All your good words are very, very much appreciated.

Mr. Bill and Marcy

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We cheer you on because we love your team. You manage to do well no matter what sort of machine you produce.

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woops.....269
That's not the first, and probably not the last time, I'll flip those numbers around. >_<