You know you're addicted to FIRST when...

[EStokely]

...when you realize that you can't explain to non team members what the feeling is like to crate a robot.(not a typo, I meant crate not create)

...when you laugh outloud at your desk reading this thread

...your dog growls at you when you come in at 2 am. And even after sniffing your hand isn't quite sure

...over 75% of the phone numbers on your cell phone are your team or someone elses team

...You realize that Dean IS changing society with FIRST and you love the fact that you are helping

[Katy]

…when you have three robots you assembled in the background and you can not figure out how to run a microwave
…your teachers no longer talk to you in front of the class because they are afraid you will embarrass yourself by talking about “that loser robotics thing” again
…you half expect food to appear on the table in the corner at regular intervals by itself even at home
…you tell time only by knowing the following hours: 9AM 12PM 5PM 10PM and 2AM and only because that is when you are hungry every day
…when you know the staff of at least three fast food places by name and face
…when you figure out if Home Depot has an item faster than the staff person who you asked
…when you think it is perfectly rational for your team to lock you in the crate so you can get the measurements perfectly on the inside braces of the door
…when you can tell types of motors by sound
…when you can tell if something isn’t pure Al by weight


also you know you have been on team 360 too long when

…you are afraid of
1. Mike on caffeine
2. Saint Christopher
3. The lady at Home Depot who mixes paint
4. Anybody who works at Lowes

…you know how to say the following things correctly
1. My spoon is too big (repeat)
2. I am a banana
3. DOYOUUUU!!! YOYOOOUUUU!!!!!
4. Tuesday is coming, did you bring your jacket?
5. I live in a giant bucket
6. Sprockets!
7. Can we use mirrors?
8. Silly smee burning people is wrong
9. TOUCH MY MONKEY
10. I am feeling fat and sassy
11. Do you want to see a movie?
12. Life is good

…you know what the following things/people are
1. A small screwdriver
2. Illhar
3. the magic white smoke
4. Chuckles
5. the autonomous dance
6. a tappa tappa
7. Rejected
8. the special chain company
9. dance of joy
10. the “dog monkey”
11. sanity buddy (bunny)
12. What we don’t tell Paul about

[jzampier]

when you think twice before replying to an Andy Baker post on CD with a correction/suggestion....

[Alfred Thompson]

You're in Reno NV on business. There is a casino and a bunch of places to eat and you are sitting in a free internet area reading Chief Delphi and going to miss breakfast because of it. And you don't care.

[AlbertW]

when you respond to EVERYTHING with

"I'll _____ your _____ yesterday!"



http://www.penny-arcade.com/images/2002/20020222l.gif

[Sean_330]

When you refer to anything hard as "Crunch Time"

When you have enough team and crew shirts to last a lifetime without wearing any of them twice.

[Duke 13370]

- you know all off the spotlight quotes on this site without looking at the list
- Robotics withdrawl symptoms are so bad, the patch just isn't enough

[Amanda Aldridge]

--you can talk to a bunch of 8 year olds and their parents (i.e., the kids probably can't multiply!!) and make them explain why you are knocking bins down, why you want them stacked up, and why you want some bins on the other side too. and they actually understand. sort of.
--teachers at school know that for six weeks out of the year you will do nothing even remotely resembling homework, and still give you As. Even though this is your first time in their class...they just heard it through the grapevine. (omg, who's old enough to remember that song??)
--every person that walks into the office that you work at when you're not at FIRST walks out with a deeper knowledge of robots and dean kamen.
--your coworkers at aforementioned office are shocked -- and reward you -- when the phrase "it's not battlebots!! " does not come out of your mouth at least 3 times a day.
--best non-FIRST friend dis-owns you...again, and you don't care, because you have the robot.
--you hug your robot, and nobody laughs at you.
--you tell your friends that someone tried to run you over with the robot, and everyone asks is the robot is okay.

[Pierson]

Originally posted by angel55
--you can talk to a bunch of 8 year olds and their parents (i.e., the kids probably can't multiply!!) and make them explain why you are knocking bins down, why you want them stacked up, and why you want some bins on the other side too. and they actually understand. sort of.

How true this is...
When teachers ask how was your weekend? and you respond by explaining the whole game to them and pulling drawings, sketches, and pictures from your ____ (fill in the blank: pockets, binder, backpack... etc or all of the above.)

And if they still understand, explain to them last years game and what your robot did.

[Dick Linn]

- when you drive around town day and night in the snow the last 5 days and nights before ship day with a bright blue 6 foot tall crate and all the tools in the back of the pickup, ferrying people around and looking for places to work because the school workshop is closed...and your boss asks "What's that in the truck, a porta-potty?"

-when you are still posting on this site after a week like that.

-when your older son goes to college after two years on the team but you also have an 8th-grader who has 4 more years left on the team...

[Simeon]

when you realize the price for real film instead of using your digi cam for robotics pictures would have totalled double the price for your digi cam

when you're the guy uploading robotics photos and can't see the end of the list of the photos being uploaded...

when you realize you have over 800 photos for robotics within 2 months

http://gallery.litespeed.ca/album07

when someone tells you that you look sleepy...
and you reply " Sleep? what's that?"

when you can tell the exact size of a bolt by just smelling it.

when someone calls you a "nut", u wonder what they mean by calling you that.

when things don't fit, the hammer is your best friend

when you can't feel the angle bracket (or nuts,bolts, screws, etc.) you've been sitting on for the last 10 hrs.

realize that the cup of water you have been drinking has a shade of yellow... and then shrug and continue drinking

when you become pleasantly amused when someone says "po tae to"

when you realize your socks are coloured silver from the aluminum shavings

when you start naming the hacksaw

when your backpack for school contains nothing but tools.

when your teacher asks for the answer of a calculus question and you tell him how his desk is missing a bolt.

when the pizza store/donut store no longer charges you tax.

[Lauren Hafford]

...When you write a tribute to last year's robot after you had to cannibalize it for L-brackets.
...When you cry every time you read the tribute.

...When you have a very confused look on you face when someone in math class says, "3/10ths" as an answer, and say out loud, "don't you mean 300 thou???"
...when you think that an oily, ragged, smelly drop cloth is a suitable blanket while briefly napping during an all-nighter when the batteries are charging

...when you burst into the school lunch room screaming "SHE DRIVES!! SHE DRIVES!!! AND SHE IS SOOOOO SEXY!!!" three hours before ship and nobody at your school is surprised.


lauren

[Elyse Holguin]

Originally posted by Simeon

when someone tells you that you look sleepy...
and you reply " Sleep? what's that?"

i hear that!

more:
..when your eye starts twitching involuntarily the saturday after ship from withdrawl

..not only do you hug your robot, you drive the robot around to hug other people with it so that they may feel the love (2001 bot).

..when your addiction rubs off to the 8th graders at your joint middle/high school and they all begin following the game and anticipate being freshmen.

..when one of those eight graders comes to meetings so often you clock him in.

you know you've been on 71 for too long when...

..you start saying chicawgo
..you giggle when you watch mr. bill late night on comedy central
..you know what will happen to you if you touch/ talk/ bother Elyse (me) before she's had her coffee in the mornings
..you giggle when you see a clothespin
..you have a newfound love for the walmart men's department

[Stephanie]

...you take apart your mom's brand new toaster, the day after build, and when it doesn't work again, hit it with a hammer, and use duct tape to fix it

...when your team says, randomly "duct tape, zip ties, and industrial strength velcro!"

...when you go to physics class, and half of the females there understand when you make a karate-chop motion with your arm, while making pneumatics noises, because they are on the team too

...when you look at a team mate who has just announced that they are dating a non-firster and start to explain to them "nonono you don't get it. they'll be lonely during the build. you have to end it now, and find someone who will understand..."

...when you would never even remotely consider dating a non-firster

...when you have to say goodbye to your boyfriend during march and april because he is working as a crew member at at least two other regionals

...when epoxy has become the inhalant of choice on the team, and results in conversations involving much giggling and sexual inuendos

...when wetzel calls on jon's cell to tell him our team mate is in the chat room, while we are at home watching 101 dalmations with my little sister...

[Specialagentjim]

...when you start saying, without even realizing it (and having to have other people point it out) "Zip tape and Duct ties"