Quote:
Originally posted by JosephM
Thanks Dave. I know my spelling is VERY bad, but sorry again everyone. Ditto for my math. Just want to also say this: I post something that disagrees with something everyone else belives. I post and try to explain things. And all I get is more headache. 
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Joseph –
Sorry, that was a “cheep” shot, and inappropriate. I apologize.
But I admit to getting very frustrated watching this whole thread stream by (Brandon – when was the last time a thread grew THIS FAST?). It seems that some people are absolutely committed to finding the grey lining inside every silver cloud, and it just gets tiring after a while.
Last time I checked, I thought people were trying to go to the FIRST National Competition for the COMPETITION, not for the theme parks, shopping malls, local restaurants, etc. Almost all of the discussion on this thread has focused on the secondary, or even tertiary, aspects of what happens at the competitions. Precious little has been discussed about how well the competition itself will run in the new venue.
FIRST, the sponsors, contributors, engineers, and supporting organizations are all putting an awful lot of time, effort and money into this program (and yes, I know that the students do too). Every one of them has had to make at least one argument (and sometimes many, many arguments) with their upper management that the program and teams should be supported, because it is a valuable and (in one fashion or another) brings an eventual return on the investment. Those efforts are severely challenged when we find out that students are more interested in the “vacation” aspects of the trips to the competitions than they are in the competition itself.
You guys want to get all huffy and indignant that you don’t get to go to Disney this year and have to “settle” with going to Houston? Fine. Keep that attitude when you stand up in front of your next board meeting with your sponsor(s) - like Infineon/Invensys or NASA/SUNY Stony Brook - and ask for several thousands of dollars from them to fund your trips to the competition. Then try and provide an honest answer when they ask why in the world they should spent corporate dollars to fund your participation in a program that sends you on a trip to an amusement park.
Additionally, I can virtually guarantee that no one on this thread knows all the details of the discussions, arguments, negotiations, and deal-making/breaking that FIRST went through leading up to their decision to move the competition. We can spend months second-guessing that decision. But the simple fact is, the decision has been made, for whatever reason, and the teams only have one choice to make: to attend or not. You can either spend lots of energy complaining about it and whining about how you don’t like the bus system or the theme park across the road or the food, etc., or you can try to figure out how to make a positive experience from the whole thing.
Maybe it is only me, but I think some serious attitude adjustment is in order here.
Flame off.
-dave (gets down off soapbox)