[generalbrando]

I've seen GP discussed time and time again. I'm glad it is because it's a tricky issue. To begin with I just make a general suggestion: if you know how to act GP (you here have the right idea from what I've read) then do it. From my experience this is more important than recognition. (I hope anyone who knows what this next stuff is about specifically won't take this the wrong way) Last year when I started 1020, I have to say there were some very important people. However, for once I'll boast just to make my point: everyone on that team, myself included, knew that I was the driving force and the reason it got off the ground. I'm not saying no one else could have done it. I hate boasting, but I have a point: I received very little recognition outside of the team while others around me (who did help and thus deserved) were given great honors and respect, etc. It was frustrating, yes. But it's so much more important to me that the team got started and they were able to compete again this year. I'm drawing a parallel to the GP and parts issue. You had a part that you were willing to donate and the team that needed it got that part. Yes, it's frustrating that the middle-man got the recognition, but again - isn't it more important that the team got their part? I hate that this happens, but I just mean to say that if stuff like this happens, you shouldn’t let it upset you so much. Be GP as you are and then when you come back home, discuss it here calmly in such a way that you won’t have to mask your name.

BTW - if anyone wants to discuss that little story above more, feel free to IM me because the short version is a poor picture - I just used it to illustrate my point.

I'd like to add my frustration with the announcement of team sponsors, but let me elaborate. I don't think they should announce it all for every match. Some teams have such long lists that it would take forever. My team has four schools, a university, and several sponsors. My frustration is just that their inconsistent about it. It's really no big deal, but it's just kind of funny that they announce more for some teams during some matches and what not. Maybe what I'm getting at is just that they should announce it maybe your first time on the field and thereafter just say "Team 1020, The Prank Monkeys." Again not a big deal, but I do see some frustration there and I agree with what was said earlier that it is the teams’ responsibility to get sponsors' names out there. Ask them for key chains, buttons, pens, and mouse pads - handouts are the best.


Maybe I'm just as delusional as Dean is, but I personally aim to have an enormous and positive impact on the world. Maybe in 20 years, few will remember me, but maybe in 20 years you'll all come back to the forum archives and laugh at how people said I was nuts. Dean isn’t trying to cause harm. He's trying to motivate us. FIRST is not like the real world. That's the point! Dean is in some ways in his own little world. He saw a problem with society: people were aspiring to become things that were either nearly impossible to achieve or just simply not useful to society. I'm sorry for the humanities majors who want to take that the wrong way - I mean no offense. The humanities are necessary. But how can we turn out so many English doctorates when there are so many engineering jobs going unfilled? Dean wants to put us into another perspective. A world where science, technology, and engineering are more fun that anything else. This has been the truth in many scientists’ and engineers' lives in our real world, but society doesn't see it that way. I think that's what FIRST does - it puts you in a society where you see that these things are great. As for real world experience: because of my involvement in FIRST and what I have been inspired to do therein, I am able to perform lab experiments that most gradate biology students don't know how to do; I'm able to understand and create complex programming; I'm able to lead a large group of people successfully to goals and with enthusiasm; and I'm able to teach anyone I've ever met anything I already know. FIRST gives and inspires real world experience that makes any resume glow radioactively.

And I want to add one more: about the Segway of course: Dean did not envision lobbying governments to redesign their cities. He envisioned creating a market for his invention, by ensuring it would be legal first. Then he envisioned that over time, as people begin to see Segways as a useful part of their lives, cityscapes would have to be adapted to accommodate the overbearing Segway population. Let's not compare this to the automobile in everyway, but at least this way: When autos came out, they were regarded as despicable monsters that disturbed carriage horses and were extremely dangerous. Few liked them or thought they were necessary. That's a little different today, don't you think? Maybe I'll eat my hat later. Then again, maybe you'll eat yours.