Memorable Moments
 

Nationals was great this year, but everyone already knows that. My personal favorite had to be the slow motion wave in the mezzanine level.

Also, congats to all.

Re: Memorable Moments
 

my favorite was having Dean sign our robot.....and getting this really funny photo that i will post soon:rolleyes:

Re: Memorable Moments
 

Mine had to be the look on my sophomore drive team's face when they saw the crowd during opening ceremonies when we came out of the tunnel. Even though it was my fourth year on the Georgia Dome floor there is still an eerie feeling looking at a crowd that big.

That and all the looks we got from this big "No Traction Control." sticker that was put on the side of our robot (thanks again team 816 for making it for us!).

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After the social, my friends told me that Woodie was at the fountain, and I was by CNN and I seriously ran from there, across the park, and through the fountain to get there. The fountain just happened to be the quickest route ^_^

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My favorite part was... All of it.

I really liked seeing the chairman's videos.

(the old and new winners)

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I gotta say, one of the most memorable moments for us at the Championships is when we got Dean to sign on control board. He was just about to leave the Newton-Galileo practice field when we caught him. He took one look at our system, smiled, and said, "That's got to be the coolest control board I've seen in years," and happily signed it. We were quite ecstatic after that.

Other note-worthy events were chatting with HOT (we totally need to have another picnic with you guys. You may be World Champions, but you can never take down Frog Force in volleyball! :p) and Simbotics about Chairman's, then returning to the Simbotics pit literally five minutes later and happily discussing elimination strategies.

Re: Memorable Moments
 

The whole championship event was very memorable to me. This season was my first year on the drive team, and it was the best experience of my life. I will never forget the energy on the field during a match, and the feeling of excitement through the crowd. Our team made it to Einstein as part of the alliance that won Newton Division, and the best part was being able to work with 177 and 1507 to get there.

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Looking from the side of the field up into the stands durring the selection process and seeing someone from Wildstang holding up a white board saying "971"

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Being there was amazing in and of itself. But the most memorable moment for me would definitely be managing to actually TALK to someone. Not just the "hey, your robot's cool, how's it work" talking, but actually making friends with someone from another state and getting emails and keeping in touch.

Also, being able to say that all the waves, including the slow-mo wave, started at my team is awesome, even if it was a dude from another team that was running the show. We just happened to be at the very end of the nosebleeds

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my favorite moment would have to be our second match in curie when another robot latched onto our for the whole match. we had control of them the whole time since all six of their wheels were off the regolith.

it was either that or the fountain incident

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Watching 188 roll back their hood and shoot a Super Cell plus one Moon Rock over a defending robot and put both shots into their trailer.

Gotta love the out of the box thinking on that one!

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I have a couple of memorable moments from Championships. Grant it I was in the FTC program, I got to cheer on our "older brother" team on Saturday.

One of my most memorable moments was during the FTC opening ceremonies before Dean went to speak we had a sharpie ready down on the field so Dean could sign our robot. We didn't get him on the way in but on the way out. So our robot was signed by Dean!!! But that's not all... we also had Woodie watching one of our matches! So, we got Woodie to sign our robot right next to Dean and Woodie kissed it as well! I got to talk to both of them and will never forget it! I have to mention that the part of the robot that was signed we are getting framed. :p

Another memorable moment was walking out of the tunnel and getting the chills, for being my third trip to Championships, finally competing this time it wouldn't be as amazing, but being on the dome floor was an experience that I would give anything to do again. :D Words can't explain the feelings and thoughts that run through your mind when you see everyone around you and all the other teams ;)

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In Galileo, down by 30-or-so points and then three supercells in the last five seconds. Nuff said.

Not our team, but is was awesome seeing it happen.

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Having Dr. Flowers take my phone so he could ask my son Steve why he wasn't there in Atlanta

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How did Steve Answer him? :cool:

I think I night have been there when that happened! At one point when I was waiting for 1511's giant orbit ball to be signed by Woodie, I saw him take a cell phone from someone and start talking!

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By far my most memorable moment in my 17-year history as a FIRSTer happened this year. But let me start with a story I was told before my moment even happened.

----------
A few years ago, a group of students found themselves in an elevator with Dean Kamen and his parents (my grandparents). At the first stop, Dean got off, but the students, as well as Evelyn and Jack, stayed on.

Student: Oh my god, was that Dean Kamen? (turning to my grandparents)
Evelyn Kamen: Yes it was.
Student: You have NO idea, without him, I wouldn't be here!!
Jack Kamen: No, YOU have no idea...without us, HE wouldn't be here. :)
----------

Jack Kamen was a great influence on the man all us FIRSTers consider an inspiration. (I mean, come on, he raised the guy!) Unfortunately, he passed away this past August. It was a great loss to our family and to the FIRST community as a whole. This year at the Championship, FIRST and Dean made the decision to present the Imagery Award in his honor.

As Jack's granddaughter, I was asked to make the award presentation. In front of 25,000 + people. It was an honor and a privelege, and has become my favorite FIRST memory. I know he was looking down on us proudly.

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That was actually a HOT Team member, after the decision was made between Wildstang and HOT alliance selection teams.

The give and take between HOT and Wildstang was incredible. We both had opinions on robots and teams, and the ability to combine those thoughts and lists was a very memorable moment. Quite possibly the defining moment of the Championships for 111, 67, and 971.

Re: Memorable Moments
 

When team 118 members came over to our pits to ask questions about our swerve drive. The masters of the swerve were asking us questions? We found out why later on, sort of checking out the bot before thinking about the pick. Thanks again.:)

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I guess my favorite robot memory was the last match before elims. A robot (sorry, forget the number) came screaming down the field and hit us at full speed. We almost got flipped over backwards.

This would freak out most people but when my friend called me from the pits and told me that nothing happened to the robot it was an awesome feeling. In all of our matches we only had one part break and that was a sensor bracket that got destroyed when we hit 1501 (Sorry for the dent. It hurts to see such a beautiful robot get even the smallest of scratches.) in a full speed head to head collision.

This is a huge difference from last year. It's great to see our team continually improving. I hope that trend continues.

*Plus it made a great essay topic for a pre-AP English test...*

Re: Memorable Moments
 

'screaming down the field...' creates a terrific visual. I hope you used that.

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I think I remember watching that and laughing the entire time...

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I told him I had a midterm and a Space Grant presentation to give that weekend... so there was no way I could make it. At least I had engineering stuff as an excuse, so I didn't feel so ashamed. :p I have to admit that I thought my dad was playing a joke on me at first, since talking to Dr. Flowers on the phone isn't something I do very often! This qualifies as my most memorable moment this year.

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Mine would be in the 10,000 Lakes Alliance Selections.

Last year, we did so-so as rookies and this year, record wise, we've done a little worse but we were a much "better" team than last year, having a little more resources to respond to Pit Admin calls for needy parts and ability to show as a team and scout.

Anyways, 21 teams were already on the screen for alliance selections. Our hopes were down because the remaining alliances were 3rd, 2nd, and 1st seed. We were like "If we didn't make it earlier, too late now" but when Team 93, the oldest team along with Team 3007, a VERY VERY professional rookie team called us up to join them, it was exhilarating.

Re: Memorable Moments
 

Plenty.

In Minnesota, when 2826 was the first ranked seed and we got picked 1st overall, it was one of the happiest moments in robotics for me. We'd pushed our team to the top, and got to pair up with a really cool team. We were cheering with and for them all regional and it just seemed natural that we got to compete together.

At the same regional, we decided to all do each other's cheers as they read off our team names in the eliminations. For Wave, we linked hands and passed a "wave" through them. For More, we waved shop rags that we gave to the drive teams in the air. Then for Blitz Team we did this weird hand thing. It was a great way to get excited for each match.

Winning the semifinals in one of the closest, most intense matches I've ever seen got us all pumped up and ready for the finals. Then two matches later we squeaked out a win, and I can barely remember what happened next, it was dizzifying. I'm truly proud of my teammates and our alliance partners for those matches, the highlight of the season.

Then Atlanta came around and I had one goal: to do better. There were two matches that scared me when I read them, our last match (loss by 4 points), and versus 1625. Now 1625's kind of been the 800-pound gorilla for us; we wanted to give them a hell of a fight. The alliances were really evenly stacked; 1625 was checked by 2970, and the other two robots did about as much scoring as we and 842 had. We spent hours planning out how to run the match, trying to figure out what they would do and how to best counteract it. We figured they'd burn a partner on pinning 2970 and 842 would pin Winnovation, so it'd be our robot versus the opponents. Figuring with all the pins our human player would make more shots than us, we opted not to preload and went all-out. If everything went to plan, I honestly wouldn't have cared if we won or lost, it would have been a match to be proud of. Unfortunately, one of Winnovation's partners didn't move, leading our HP and 2970 to make repeated dumps. Quickly switching up our strategy, we double-teamed Winnovation and held them to one dump... and the final score was 96-70 us.

Re: Memorable Moments
 

Okay, 2 dumps for us and then WE turned to hassle 2970, and it was 96-72, with a dead bot on our alliance...that bot was also supposed to be our defense on 2970, so instead of being hassled they had a free trailer to score on.

I wouldn't exactly be trying to brag about beating an alliance with a dead robot, just saying


MY most memorable moment of this year probably has to be coming out of the toughest REGIONAL (not msc) Midwest with a win AND the chairmans award.
Also not being a student on the team anymore meant i was no longer responsible as a driver and team captain and i was free to meander as i pleased, this meant meeting some more people i've known from CD and getting to know people better.

Re: Memorable Moments
 

Yeah, I didn't mean to brag about that. It was memorable for us but far from fair. I really honestly do wish you guys had that third robot on so it would be a fair match (and almost certainly a loss for our side). Rematch at IRI?

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There were memorable moments at all the events I attended, including Atlanta, but this year but something in particular at the Midwest regional.

During our lunch break before our quarter final against 71, 1114, and 1000, our alliance (2041,1732, 1652) met to come up with a strategy. We devised a plan that involved us running empty cells the whole match. Our plan was so elaborate we even discussed a system of checking in and out of certain regions of the field so that we would not get in each others way. As for our part in the plan, it turns out we were really bad running empty cells. That kinda happens when you wait to try something for the first time in the elimination rounds. :) Needless to say, we lost our first match of the quarterfinals. It was at this time Jeff from 1114 says to me "That was some great defense you were running." It turns out we were so bad at carrying out our offensive objective, it was perceived as good defensive play. I then turn to the drive team from 1732 and we had a quick discussion that went something like this:

1732: "well, that didn't work"
Me: "Yeah it seems team 1000 focused more on defense than on running empty cells"
1732: "How about this, we will pin 1114. We think you and 1652 together might outscore 71"

And with that, the next two matches were ours. It was cool to see such exhilaration in every member of that alliance. But its not just the moment of triumph that sticks out, its that whole string of events. The frantic effort to prepare for the huge burden ahead, the unintended blow to the ego, and the effort to rework things as we go along all stick out in my mind. To me, it was a microcosm of the whole FIRST experience within the span of an hour or two.



On a side note, I was shocked how many members of 71 and 1114 came up to congratulate us shortly after the upset. Those teams are pure class all the way.

Re: Memorable Moments
 

My memorable moments:

-Winning Delphi Driving Tomorrow's Technology at DC. We knew we had a unique component (the "moveable feast", which shifted the 40 lb electronics board left and right to during turns for easier turning and dynamic traction redistribution) that had a chance of winning, so we very excitedly explained our design to the judges. They actually spoke to our head mentor and said they were impressed with how clearly we were able to describe the design to them. During awards on Friday, when the announcer had said enough for us to identify ourselves (after a very anxious build-up) as the winners, one of our mentors actually squealed (yes, squealed) so loudly, the MC momentarily stopped talking. Then, everyone in the stands turned and stared at us as the MC said, "hold on!". It was really embarrassing yet totally awesome at the same time.

-Going out on the field as a coach at Atlanta. My team ensures every member gets to go out on the field at least once during their years on the team. Since this is my senior year I got to be a coach. Walking out onto the Dome floor was really a breathtaking experience. The match was even better. The other two coaches on our alliance were running back and forth across the player station, coordinating our strategy. Kudos to them, and I apologize for my relative inexperience! We didn't win the match, but it was still an amazing experience.

-Watching our traction control system work as intended during our last qualifying match at Atlanta. I didn't think our open-loop traction control that we had used at regionals was good enough, so I proposed a new system consisting of two new encoders, four new PID loops, and 300 lines of new code, all to be written, wired, and tested at Atlanta. Our programming mentor didn't think we could possibly get such a system working in that amount of time, so he let me attempt the project on my own as pretty much a learning exercise. Fortunately, our mechanical mentor was more optimistic and agreed to build and mount the necessary follower wheels.

At Atlanta, I spent every spare minute debugging the new code and tuning the PID loops (very difficult considering how the practice fields were being run). Then, on Saturday, with just one match remaining and no time for a test on the practice field, everything was finally wired, coded, and ready to go. It was very difficult for me to convince our programming mentor to let me try to system on the field - I had to put in an override switch to go back to the old system and make the drivers swear to push it the moment they noticed something wrong - but he eventually agreed. The system worked flawlessly, we won the match, and the drivers came back talking about the much-improved driveability of the robot. That gave me a really good feeling of personal accomplishment. Although it was too late to really make a difference - we weren't picked for the elims and we probably would have won our last match anyway - watching the "impossible" system work on the field was a memorable experience.

-Watching the waves go through the Mezzanine level during Einstein. That was one of the funnest things I've ever seen. When the slow-mo wave came through, we thought it was great, but watching the super-fast wave response made me laugh out loud. We have one mentor who is very laid-back and difficult to get excited (i.e. he rolls his eyes at the Spirit Award), but when that fast wave rolled its way across the level, he was laughing and cheering louder than all of us. That made my day. Then, they started landing paper airplanes on the field...it was great.

-Winning Delphi Driving Tomorrow's Technology at Atlanta. Even after winning at DC, I couldn't let myself be optimistic enough to believe we actually had a chance at this. I mean, these are 360+ teams including all regional winners; surely one of them had a design more innovative than ours! This time, the announcer said a key word that made it immediately obvious that we had won. I looked at our head mentor - both our mouths hanging open - and said, "we won?!" I didn't see us on the screen or hear the rest of the speech, I was in such disbelief. Remember that excited mentor I told you about at the beginning of this post? Thankfully, when the announcer gave us our "clue", we had three team members restraining her, one with his hand over her mouth, smiling all the way, until it was time to cheer. I think those sitting around us still noticed, however. I can't think of a better way to end what has been a wonderful competition season.

Re: Memorable Moments
 

Only a couple :cool:

lets see...
being picked by the Thunder Chickens
making it to finals in our division,
winning our division,
getting to go down on the field (even though im a 3rd year student and a 2nd year veteran of the pit crew),
being on Einstein (a first for our 13 year team),
going down for our metals and having Woodie sign my jumpsuit(right under Dean's Signature :D)

and soo many more...

Re: Memorable Moments
 

lol. Its alright, we wrote "234 was here" on the dent. You guys earned a spot on our bot without even sponsering us lol. It'll only last until the sharpie wears off though lol

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I would have to say my most memorable on-field moment from this year's championship was when we knocked out the #3 seed on Curie. Up to that point 816 had never won an Elimination Match at the Championship and it was only our second time playing in the Championship Eliminations even though it was our Seventh Time going.

We were up Against the Power House Alliance of 175 and 254. Their third robot played pure unadulterated and effective defense so we knew that they'd only have two scoring bots. We decided that our best option was to "remove" 254 from the Match. I as the alliance Captain, Decided that we would play defense on 254 while 245 and 341, our partners scored. The strategy worked, not flawlessly and it wasn't pretty, but it worked.

Off the field though, I'd have to say that my favorite moment was when some students from 1089 came up to me and asked me for My AutoGraph. It was possibly one of the coolest things thats ever happened to me at any Robotics competition ever. Needless to say, I had a huge grin on my face for the rest of the day. (Fyi, I signed it as "TheFro"... No one knows my real name :D )

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While I did not attend the Championship this year, I watched a heck of a lot of it on the webcast. Not quite the same as being there in person, but it was enough to make me very proud of my team. Their improvement from our one regional was astronomical. From the first match they played, it was evident that they actually were working as a team, that there was communication between subteams, that team members actually respected each other and took pride in their own jobs-- the whole team was acting as one cohesive unit, something they had struggled to do just a few weeks earlier. Our drive team and the level of chemistry and respect was amazing. I could hear everyone cheering, even over the webcast. Everything got better with every match. Even though I was far away, my team managed to make me incredibly proud. First seeing them over the webcast is definitely my memorable moment from Atlanta 2009.

Re: Memorable Moments
 

Libby,

We need to rename the award permanently to the 'Jack Kamen Imagery Award' to honor his memory!

Re: Memorable Moments
 

That would be a wonderful change/addition. I'd be willing to join with you guys to help in any way.

Re: Memorable Moments
 

I thought that was permanent? I'd support that change.

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I would definitely vote to have this award become the Jack Kamen Imagery Award from now on.

There were two outstanding things that I remember from this Champs (besides winning of course). The first was being close by when John Novak was announced as the Woodie Flowers for 2009. The second was standing on the field when 971 was picked as our alliance partner and watching the entire 971 team go crazy in the stands.

Re: Memorable Moments
 

Co-signed.

Starting around 4:30 PM on Saturday at Palmetto, we kinda ran the gamut of emotions in some ten minutes. After losing out in the finals to superior firepower, we only had one hope left to punch our ticket in Atlanta. It was around this time that 3025 was announced as winning Rookie Inspiration, giving us a one in three shot at the honor. My tweet at 4:38 should say it all.

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I'm really glad you were close by...sorry for slobbering on your safety vest. Thanks for the pictures and holding me up :)

-

Re: Memorable Moments
 

On a similar note, one of my favorite moments was watching the webcast of the Galileo pickings in 254's pit with a couple of 254 students and mentors. When 971 was picked, everyone in the pit jumped up in the air, cheering.

Re: Memorable Moments
 

A couple of my favorite moments (from team 2970):

Having my picture taken by the NI booth, with my initials (Nick Iannone ;) ) on the back of my shirt, by one of the women who was operating the booth.

Not needing a signature by Dean or Woody, because I already have them both :cool:

Defeating Winnovations a second time this year (first time was in Minnesota, if I remember correctly) as a primary offensive robot on our alliance.

Moshing at Robot Prom.::ouch::

Watching two consecutive off-the-regolith bounce shots of super cells by the same team's thrower.

Getting to go out onto the field as the Team Media representative and get some great up-close shots of our robot in action.

Meeting up with all of the people and teams we've become friends with, even those who just came to cheer us on (Looking at you, 1525 ;) ).

Being in the presence of so much talent, charisma, and energy.

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Must have been Wisconsin, we've never made the trip to Minnesota (for FIRST anyways). :cool:

ps: congrats on a great season, you guys were great.

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Winnovation didn't go to either Minnesota regional. You guys were second to them in Wisconsin though. I really liked being partnered with you guys for a QM, that was fun.

I certainly enjoyed cheering you guys on in the Newton Eliminations! If you guys keep doing that every year you'll be a powerhouse team.

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We've played 2970 3 times, twice in the finals at wisconsin and once in qualifiers on newton

So, you've beaten us once 3v2, sorry i'm just not a fan of wrong facts being put out

you guys did awesome

and another question, its only your team ive heard it from, but why do you call us winnovation*S* with an s?....its winnovation :rolleyes:

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no prob, "Dustin" (if thats even your real name), that was pretty exhilarating i must say...


i totally agree with this, and would love to see it happen... im here if needed...


back on topic, some of my most memorable moments were the first time i walked into the GA dome... the sheer size, and energy blew my mind. other moments involved hanging out with awesome people at the wrap party, playing manhunt in our hotel at like 11 pm, cheering on my team, watching the final match of CMPs and just the energy, excitement, and fun that is always a part of a FIRST event...

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For me, it was seeing how thrilled some of the kids were after they were able to have Dean autograph their neckties.

And for the one who forgot his necktie at home, an autographed Drive Team button will do. ::safety::

-Paul

Re: Memorable Moments
 

Yeah your right....now that i think about it we do call you guys winnovations with an "S". hmmm i dont know

Re: Memorable Moments
 

Maybe you guys think Winnovation is a noun that stand for an amazing original robot or implementation. And they've done that repeatedly ?

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they were actually down by more, I think, and won by 12 points.
I was on the field for the match afterwards, watching it from the side!!
It was 296 who consistently put 2-3 empty cells to their stations, including one always during autonomous.
They teamed up with 45 in that match.

Re: Memorable Moments
 

For me it would atl in general. Also winning chairmens at davis. Along with meeting sean from 1771 and akash from 11.

Thanks guys.

-rc

Re: Memorable Moments
 

While in queueing for our last match with 75 and 3115 I learned the "stinky leg". You should see a overweight 40 year old guy try it! It was my best memory from Atlanta this year...Thanks 3115!

Re: Memorable Moments
 

Most memorable?

Enjoying a nice stroll with some friends until someone screamed my name and unleashed my entire team, soaking wet from the fountain, on me.

Second most memorable? Having Ray Almgren and Dr. Trouchard give me crap about having a swarm of soaking wet teenage girls attack me in the street.

Thanks 1923! :)

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Another one is when 27 human player threw the super cell in the last 5 seconds and made it all the way acrossed the feild!! Amzing Job!!!:)

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Qualifying, twice, for Nationals.
Working our way up from the bottom of Galileo
Sitting in the stands with no hope of Finals, only to watch team 40 decline two alliance offers, then choose us.:ahh:
Losing to 67, 971, and 111 in Semi's.
Competing and winning against low numbered teams, and experiencing the high levels of competition.

The waves were pretty awesome too.

Great first year experience in ATL!!

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Me and My friend started the wave in Atlanta...we are on team 353 and this was crazy how we got everyone to do it. When we got back to the hotel room we were more tired from that then the actual competition...we fell asleep during the chairman's award thats how tired we were

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Same here. And the entire build season experience... I sure didn't know what I was getting into when I signed up, but I loved it. :)

Re: Memorable Moments
 

i do :)

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hahah i can answer that. Team captian paul and i and true Wisonsinites. Thats where the *S* comes from. Rolls of the tongue better