[Chris is me]

The IRI was fantastic once again.

Thanks to Basel A of 2337 and team 1114 for their support in the Vex event. When my trip costs rocketed up at the last minute and I couldn't afford the parts I needed, 1114 happily had a box of stuff ready for me when I got there. Basel did a pretty awesome job driving the thing around and letting me yell at him. When he gets behind the wheel in FRC he'll do fantastic. The event ran beautifully, with a nice and relaxed pace that allowed teams to watch matches and kill a half hour doing a Talent Show audition. I'd love to do something like that again.

I loved the elimination matches! I didn't even notice that they took 4 hours. While there were some sore spots (the pointing thing, I was upset that the #5 alliance was knocked out, it made tipping seem like the right strategic choice), the elims were intense and varied. Every alliance there could have won a division.

Thanks to the generosity of several key people, mainly Billfred and Andrew Schreiber, as without the rides and rooms I would have had a very boring time at the airport.

See you guys next year!