[mrnoble]

Regarding the actual topic at hand of bagging: I vouch for all the posts here of people who are bone tired, whose real jobs have suffered, and whose families are at the end of their patience. I NEED stop build or I will go crazy. A bit of practice bot work, or light show coding, is fine, but low pressure.

Regarding the zombie topic of how the spirit of FIRST is being lost, I will ignore most of it except the budget issue. My team's budget has never been as large as it currently is. It is beginning to approach about 1/2 of the number that was tossed out as ridiculous. Guess what? We still cannibalized last years bot. We spend our money on trips to explore technology fields, hosting luncheons for young women who meet with a panel of women with careers in advanced technology, paying for our school's Science Olympiad team to compete, buying a spare cRio to share with another team in need of one, and providing the ONLY funding for our school's teen mothers support group. And, for once, the entry fee for a second regional. I'll bet that other teams with large budgets and major sponsors are finding equally worthy ways to spend their money, probably even better and more organized ways.