[DougHogg]

Wow! We really enjoyed the S. Calif. Regional. Great venue and great company.

Our team was making some modifications on Thurs. and lost our first and third qualifying matches. It seemed like we weren't going to be leading an alliance, so we were pleasantly surprised to find ourselves 2nd at the end of day 2.

Congratulations to Team 69 for repeating their win in S. California. Interestingly, last year, we won with 69 against an alliance that included Teams 330 and 22. This year 69 won with an alliance that included 330 and 634 against our alliance with 22 and 968. I guess its Team 22's turn to win S. Calif. next year. :-) Of course Team 22 just came off a victory with us and Team 254 in Silicon Valley, so I don't imagine that they are feeling any pain.

In our first two matches in the finals, we tried some defence but didn't have much luck. Team 69 and their partners outscored us especially in the second match. It is only because of a penalty in the first match that we were still in the game. In the last match, we played offensively and it was an excellent match -- very close. We discovered later that Team 980 had gone to straighten a tetra that didn't need to be straightened as it had been bumped partly off by opponents, so we wasted some time there.

Battery management also became an issue. Two of our teams had batteries that went low in the final match, and 980 couldn't lift a tetra for the last 20 seconds or so. Live and learn. Last year, we borrowed batteries from other teams for the elimination rounds. For some reason, we forgot to do that this year. Time for us to make a team manual I guess.

In any case thanks to Teams 22 and 968 for being great partners. It was a great run--we almost made it all the way. And thanks to Teams 69, 330 and 634 and all our opponents! You can only have a great competition with great opponents, and we definitely had a great S. Calif. Regional this year!

Lastly thanks to Dean, Woodie, Dave Lavery, all the judges, referees, FIRSTers and the game design crew. You did it again! This year's game is once again a work of art. As I posted last year, I consider FIRST to be a higher art form because, as opposed to movies, we get to be participants who can influence the outcome of the "show". And every robot is a unique creation, and as such, is an art form. In fact a few years ago, we entered our robot in an actual art show at one of our schools with a price tag of $20,000. (No it didn't sell. I have it outside my front door to welcome guests. It's my watch-dog robot.)

For all the S. Calif. Regional teams, hope to compete with you again in sunny S. Calif. again next year. (By the way, Team 188, I am a Canadian also, although somehow I wound up living in Hollywood. Hope to see you back next year.) For those going to Atlanta, see you soon.