[Travis Hoffman]

I would like to echo everything that's already been said about the IRI and the people who help make it one of the best experiences of my robotics year. This event is absolutely wonderful, and it is by far the best bang for your buck you can possibly obtain at a FIRST-related competition. In my experience, your organization, preparation, and execution of every minute detail is rivaled only by the Canadians at the Greater Toronto Regional. The level of volunteer support at these two competitions is just phenomenal, and it is no coincidence that these two events are my favorites.

A few specific thank you's:

FIRST of all, thank you so much to Paul, Scott, and Dan - the three Team 48 students who worked so hard before the trip to upgrade our robot and serve with me as the Delphi E.L.I.T.E. contingent at the event. This was really a "rogue" event for our group - we financed, prepared for, and traveled to the event on our own. Competing as part of a four-person crew instead of the usual 30 or so really was an eye-opening experience. These three kids did an outstanding job getting the robot ready and performing roles they weren't used to performing. Facing much stiffer competition, we eliminated many of our bot's most glaring design problems and greatly improved on our Atlanta performance. We played the game hard with a good mix of defense and improved offense - the Team 48 way, we had a lot of fun, and I can think of no better way for four old Team 48 vets to end the 2005 season together.

A huge thank you to Amanda Morrison and Karthik Kanagasabapathy for serving as 2/3's of Team 48's drive team during the mentors' only round. Amanda, you did an outstanding job - going above and beyond the call of duty to resupply those tetras at the human player station as co-pilot Karthik methodically dropped them over and over (and over and over and over and over) again. But hey, K-man gets an A+ for persistence - we finally did cap that right center goal, bud, and it secured the center row for the alliance. Huzzah! I only wish I could have envisioned this scenario sooner - it would have made for a great comedy act for the Talent Show!

Thank you to Andy Baker and the refs for once again setting the performance standard to which all other refereeing crews should be held. You constant efforts to keep teams in the loop and communicate to everyone in attendance was truly appreciated. You LISTENED to us just as much as you informed.

Thank you to Teams 1114 and 1305 for once again coming down to U.S. turf and showing everyone what Canadian FIRST teams are made of. If only more American teams would return the favor by coming up and competing at Greater Toronto and Waterloo. Ask Karthik or anyone on my team - it's really not that difficult to cross the border to go to these competitions. I think we need to try and balance the flow of teams to competitions in both our nations, because right now, the Canadians are whooping our butts in their efforts to attend events on "unfamiliar" turf.

Finally, my apologies to all of those people I recognized but failed to introduce myself to at the event - I get so caught up in the competition that I often neglect to socialize with people on other teams. In the future, please do not let my team-centric ways get in the way of our introduction - feel free to butt right in and say hi.