T'was the night before Ship date

[Marc P.]

Sorry everyone... I read the title to this thread, and couldn't help it-


Twas the night before ship date, and all through the shop,
everyone was working, trying to beat out the clock.
the drill bits and taps placed on the shelf with care,
In hopes that the electronics team soon would be there.

The programmers fell sleep, reading Chiefdelphi threads,
while vision tetras and autonomous code danced in their heads.
Heads on their keyboards, dreaming of how to cap,
They'd just figured out how high they can stack.

When out from the practice field came such a noise,
They awoke, looked around and said "what's going on guys?"
Off to the player stations they flew like a flash,
"Looks like the robot's software just had a crash."

The "Code error" light gave off a red glow,
while a smoke plume curled up from a fisher price below.
When much to surprised eyes should appear,
but the ghost of Dave Lavery, with the toys of an engineer!

With CMU cam and calipers firmly in hand,
We knew in a moment it was really the Mars Man.
More rapid than a free speed CIM his tools all came,
And he whistled and called them all out by name:

Now bridgeport! now wire strippers! now random drill press!
On grinder! on lathe! on welder and band saw!
To the top of the arm! To the top with the sawsall,
Now chop away! chop away! chop away all!

As aluminum shavings flying off the mill,
when they met with a problem, they'd break out the drill.
So up to the tetra grabber with design changes they flew,
With Inventor printouts, and Lavery too!

And then with a spark, they made the decision,
They'd have to rebuild the entire transmission.
The fisher prices ended up being useless,
With them in the drive, they kept blowing fuses.

There still was the drive system that came in the kit,
And it could be assembled in just a little bit.
A bundle of CIMs were flung on the table,
They just hoped their chasis was stable.

The chain, how it twinkled, the sprockets so sturdy,
As the gears came together, they began to not worry.
The dual CIMs all locked right into place,
And as time rolled on, their hearts began to race.

The ring lugs were screwed on the Victors so tight,
and the pneumatic fittings didn't even put up a fight.
The breaker was switched on, and the fans started to spin,
And alas! No smoke! There's a good chance they can win!

The robot was tall, and had a high CG,
Who ever said these six weeks would be easy!
With a wink of an eye, and some much longer chain,
The arm's motor was on the drive train's plane.

Dave spoke not a word, and he started to work,
And tensioned the chains, with a quick little jerk.
When he was done, out came some Krispy Kremes,
and I knew at that point, it was all just a dream.

As I awoke, I heard a loud bang,
And Dave drove away like a synapse in my brain.
But I heard him yell out, and it gave me a fright,
"Happy Ship Day to All, You'll Sleep Well Tonight!!