I have been involved with FIRST for 4 years with 2064 and 558, and before that watched my cousin work his way up on team 237. Over the years, I feel that FIRST has effectively ruined some things for me. I'll elaborate, with the years. Keep in mind, I was 9-12 for the FIRST few years listed here.:
2001- I now have to balance on any see-saw I find...anywhere
- I wondered for years why *our* schools didn't have those nifty ball bins!
2003- I never want to have anything shipped...ever again, those poor crates!
- I learned to appreciate regular lighting, and to this day still refuse to use camera flash if I can!
- The idea that a DDR pad sent robots crashing around ruined that game for me!
2004- I just gave up on chin-ups in Gym.
- Dodgeball got a lot scarier for me...dumping all those balls!
2007 (My rookie year!)
- I finally found a use for Binary math! And I *USED* it
- Tic-Tac-Toe just wasn't as fun
- I used the scoring system to breac tic-tac-toe ties
- I wanted a lift kit on my car to get up on any ramps I could find
- I painted a white ring on my pool tubes so nobody took them
2008- I hated universal remotes
- I had an easier time finding the remote on my robot than on my couch
- I felt that NASCAR would be more entertaining with giant blue balls falling from the sky.
- I grew a new appreciation for the Dung Beetle (see 558's 2008 bot for details)
2009- I fear my bathtub...it's the same material as regolith!
- I have a new reason not to wear white after Labor Day
- I learned why purple Neon goes UNDER the car and not on top of it
- I want, no, need proximity sensors on my trailer. I hate unwanted cargo.
- Have you ever seen a robot skid towards you, and can't do anything about it? I hate the outpost.
- I only wear black or gray shirts to robotics, my vision code tends to chase shirts!
- All balls should be solid, period
- Willie Wonka now creeps me out (our theme that year)
2010- I feel that if there were more balls on the field, people may actually watch soccer
- My robot now knows how a flipped turtle feels.
- I have a new appreciation for segways
- I need to ball-proof my workspace at home, too
- every time I walk up to an autmatic sink, I expect a light to turn on. If I can do it, why can't they?
- I'm looking into mechanum drive for my car, would make parking a LOT easier!
- I need to adopt a small child for fundraising purposes, they're quite effective!
Does anyone have anything else? I want to compile a list. It's always kinda fun looking back on things like this!