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Re: How many days have you lost to snow or other inclement weather?
I seem to recall that several years ago ('04 or '05, maybe), FIRST extended the build season by about 2 or 3 days due to excessive snow in New England. To be fair, ship date was extended for everyone. I lived in Massachusetts at the time, and the team I was working with had had 2 or 3 snow days, so that worked out for us.
I moved to the DC area about two years ago (first to northern Virginia, and now I'm in Maryland) due to job changes. The team I am working with this year has now lost an entire week due to snow days, including two whole Saturdays. We work out of the school, so when school's closed, we can't work. Yesterday was a holiday and the school grounds were closed, and today is also a snow day (even though the snow's only on the ground now instead of falling from the sky). For the first time the team was allowed to work a shortened day today. I have not been to a FIRST meeting since last Monday the 8th, which is now over a week.
I am very worried about our team making ship date with all these snow days.
All this for an amount of snow that, back in New England, wouldn't have affected things very much. I laughed at my co-workers panicking about the coming snow, then I was forced to eat my words when I found out that this area just doesn't have the equipment or the experience with snow to clean it all up properly or quickly.
I'm not sure at this point if FIRST is going to extend the build season. It is a rarity, but it has happened. If an extension is granted, teams that haven't been affected by the snow would then have an unfair advantage, but an extension isn't granted, many mid-Atlantic teams will be at a disadvantage. The vast majority of teams in Maryland, DC, and Virginia are all in the same boat with snow days. (Word from my friends in New England is that they haven't gotten as much snow as usual -- so the folks at FIRST HQ will just have to take our word for it, I suppose.)
I guess this all falls squarely under the "life just isn't fair" column.
__________________
Tom C.
Software and Controls Mentor
Team 2849
Prior team associations: 1418 ('08-'09), 1100 ('05-'08), 811 ('02, '04-'05), 246 ('03)
Last edited by tckma : 16-02-2010 at 15:50.
Reason: minor nitpick
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