[cbolin]

I had a great time at Atlanta. I really enjoyed the entire venue.
I liked...
- The 2 practices fields...could we have one practice field for each division next time? Lots of teams could have used more programming/tweaking time.
- Overhead protection for our drivers (great idea!)...we almost hit our own drivers with our own out of control bot at one of the regionals :-)
- Lego. Two years in FRC and this was my first time to see Lego competitions. Enjoyed meeting teams from Norway, Germany, Alaska (is that a US state?), etc.
- VEX was really cool! Students and adults enjoyed winning T-shirts, hats, and driving those little bots. I am ready to start some robot clubs with these little guys.
- Judging...really nice people..qualified to judge and interested in robotics
- Volunteers...very gracious and kind
- 320 FRC teams...all cool and different. My wife spoke to all of the teams about their stories, teams, she related several of them to me. Keep it up.
- Team buttons...we collected nearly 140 of them...gonna create a robot wall for my family...really neat.
- It wasn't too bad walking between pits and stadium. Last year it seemed to take a lot longer to walk around...am I remembering correctly?
- Patent and Trademark Office speech...good reminder that we should protect our intellectual property rights...Google speech made us speculate on cool ideas to make us that first 'million'..
- Woody's smile. Always gracious and friendly...kids really dig him.
- The end of Dean's speech :-) He was thought provoking in stating that the next great thing in 10 years probably hasn't been thought of yet...any of us have a chance.
- Team 342. Our students worked very hard from setting up our elaborate pit, competing, talking to judges, strategyzing with other teams...made me very proud to be part of this team.
- Team 342 mentors...you guys are so cool! You know how to mentor and encourage kids to get excited about all of this...without it seeming like such a chore.
- Our sponsors for providing $$$ for us to travel to 3 competitions this year.

Regards,
Chuck