Mayhem in Merrimack, Final Thoughts

[Pamela]

FIRST off, I'd like to give a huge thanks to everyone who made this day happen, the volunteers, the teams, the parents, and the mentors. You guys are what made Mayhem run so smoothly all day, you guys gave us the enthusiasm and energy all day long that made everyone have a fun day!

Thanks to WPI for dropping their second robot so everyone could participate in the finals, we all appreciated it. Thanks to the teams who replayed the final match, it was very gracious to not win on a penalty. Thanks to the teams and staff that participated in the "clone wars", we're still talking about your sneaky scheme. Thanks to all the refs, announcer, DJ, field resetters, judges and everyone else who made this day spectacular.

The students on the teams who came to Mayhem I'd like to thank you also, you guys delivered high energy, fun loving enthusiasm all day. You made running my first event easy and fun, I can't thank you enough for being so amazing all day!

Mayhem was a bigger success then I could have ever have imagined. After wanting to walk away from this program you have all renewed my faith in the future of FIRST. I saw for the first time in years the same gracious fun-loving spirit that has been sorely lacking. FIRST needs more kids and mentors like those who were at Mayhem. It is truly amazing how many people at the drop of a hat volunteered their time and effort into making this event happen, people I had never met before walking in and joining our little Merrimack FIRST family. Thank you to everyone who helped plan this day and who participated in this day, you guys have renewed my faith in FIRST, once again taught me why I loved this program so much in my years as a student, and how FIRST has changed me and countless others into not only responsible adults, but adults with a passion for technology and an understanding of gracious professionalism that will extend far beyond our years in FIRST.


Sorry for the wordy-ness. Thank you all so much for participating in Mayhem, I hope to see every single one of you next year!!!!

Before I leave you all with this, in preparation for next year please leave me what the good was, what the bad was, and what the horrible was, so next year Mayhem can be an even larger success through your suggestions!

[Jessica Boucher]

Mayhem was, and now I see, always will be, the hidden offseason gem. I had a fabulous time, and will definitely come again!

Above all, I loved that 166 took the time to genuinely thank everyone who made it possible. Every other offseason I've gone to does awards, does verbal thank-yous, and (understandably so because everyone is hot and tired) wraps it up as quick as possible. The raffles, the pictures, the flowers, really made it close up nicely.

As I said there, you guys were really prepared, handled the eventual curveballs flawlessly, and were all really pleasant even as the day wore on. I was thoroughly impressed.

[lsmith243]

I'd also like to thank everyone involved that made Mayhem possible. I was so sad after nationals ended and wasn't sure if I could make it almost a whole year until regionals again, so it was great to have the opportunity to re-connect with the people within the FIRST community and do something I really love. It was a fun competition, and although everyone on my team that showed up was working nonstop in the crazy heat all day (I only lasted about a half hour in the cardinal suit, though), we had a great time doing so. I hope to see everyone again soon!!

Thanks so much from everyone that participated from 811!!

[Steve Howland]

My entire team also had a fantastic time. Thank you to everyone that made the event possible - it ran extremely smoothly. Thanks also to 190 for taking out their second robot so that one team did not have to be left out of the elimination rounds.

Great job by all queuers getting everybody in place at the right time. The refs and judges did a terrific job. Andy Grady was an amazing announcer (though it did take him the whole match to notice our little switch in Clone Wars ).

Once again thanks to all for an amazing event. My team had few complaints (a few people did not like the excessive techno music) so we will probably be attending again next year.

[Ryan Foley]

Speaking of the clones wars;

For those who werent there, heres a quick explanation.
Teams 549, 571 and 190 all brought 2 robots to the event. So, before eliminations, we had all 3 teams have their primary robots on one alliance, and all the secondary robots on the other. Apparently, they all decided to switch around. To my understanding, all the A robots were started on the correct side, yet their control systems were on the other side, so we would think the bots were correctly alligned; the B bots were switched in the same way. So you can imagine our confused state of mind (refs, Andy, etc) when the robots started scoring for the wrong alliance.

The match ended up being 90-10 red, however we ruled that every time a robot removed an opposing tetra from the auto-loader, it was a 10pt penalty, so after all the penalties, it was a 0-0 tie.

After further reviewing, the teams using the HP zones should actually have been disabled (since loading a tetra on a bot that isnt your own is grounds for disabling both robots). Although, the control systems were on the right side so that the bot actually was disabled, so we let it go.

It was quite the match.

Suggestion: more qualifying matches. I was having so much fun it was rather dissapointing that we were done that quickly.

Anyways, Mayhem was amazing. I had a great time reffing the event, and I commend 1058 and 549 for agreeing to replay the last match, as to not win from a penalty. All the teams did an amazing job.

Thank you to my fellow refs, I had a great time working with you. Of course, thank you to 166 team for hosting the whole thing, you did an amazing job. You were very organized, helpful, and friendly. You also did a great job of taking care of all the little things that helped really make it a great event, like Jess said. I really look forward to coming back in 2006.

[Macdaddy549]

Thanks to all for putting on a great rumble. We had a ball. It was great to see everyone again. The tempiture for the day was somewhere around 95 and no one complained. Lets do it again next year.

[Steve Howland]

Originally Posted by Ryan Foley

Apparently, they all decided to switch around. To my understanding, all the A robots were started on the correct side, yet their control systems were on the other side, so we would think the bots were correctly alligned; the B bots were switched in the same way. So you can imagine our confused state of mind (refs, Andy, etc) when the robots started scoring for the wrong alliance.

Close - that probably would have worked better. What we did was set up each robot and control station correctly then as soon as the match started went to the other side and picked up tetras from the other team's autoloader or human and capped for the other team. The other way would have worked better because as it went, whenever the opposing team was human-loading (on our side), we lost all power to our robot (which explains the two mysterious power losses that did occur and I had no idea why). So pretty much every robot should have been disabled but the match didn't count for anything so we decided to have a bit of fun.

[tckma]

Originally Posted by Pamela

It is truly amazing how many people at the drop of a hat volunteered their time and effort into making this event happen, people I had never met before walking in and joining our little Merrimack FIRST family.

Ha! But you've met me now! And I bet your life will never be the same!

Hopefully next year I can coerce my team to register. Though I did enjoy volunteering -- I've always wanted to get up-close and personal on the field... being a mentor, I've never been able to drive a robot in competition (which is as it should be), and this is the next best thing.

I think it went very smoothly considering this was your first time hosting the competition. My only recommendation would be to order more staff shirts.

I also think I sweated off about 15 pounds, but hey, that's environmental factors beyond your control.

[Pamela]

Originally Posted by tckma

Ha! But you've met me now! And I bet your life will never be the same!

Hopefully next year I can coerce my team to register. Though I did enjoy volunteering -- I've always wanted to get up-close and personal on the field... being a mentor, I've never been able to drive a robot in competition (which is as it should be), and this is the next best thing.

I think it went very smoothly considering this was your first time hosting the competition. My only recommendation would be to order more staff shirts.

I also think I sweated off about 15 pounds, but hey, that's environmental factors beyond your control.

Haha, the wonderful staff shirts.... We totally did not have enough money to order any more, between shirts, ryder trucks, food, and janitor fees we're pretty much in the hole as far as expenses went. Next year we'll have to figure out a more viable entry fee, don't worry kiddies, it'll still be one of the cheapest off-seasons out there! (as you can probably tell, we were in it for the fun, not the money )

Maybe next year we'll have to have a mentor match instead of clone wars... any teams willing to let some of your kooky mentors have a spin at the wheel?

Yeh, it was quite hot all day, as those who were planning it with me knew I was in Vegas till Friday morning, I wanted to go back there to escape from the NH heat!!!! The fact that it was 95 instead of 105 can be blamed on our lovely janitor Jerry (he's the man!) cause he borrowed us a jumbo sized fan to attempt to cool the gym down! Maybe next year the school will install air conditioning *crosses fingers*

Oh by the way, you owe me $150 for those 15 lbs you lost, you've now become a Pamela crash diet success story!!!!

[tckma]

Originally Posted by Pamela

Haha, the wonderful staff shirts.... We totally did not have enough money to order any more, between shirts, ryder trucks, food, and janitor fees we're pretty much in the hole as far as expenses went. Next year we'll have to figure out a more viable entry fee, don't worry kiddies, it'll still be one of the cheapest off-seasons out there! (as you can probably tell, we were in it for the fun, not the money )

But you did give us free shirts... they just didn't say "staff" on them... soooo... yeah if you'd given those to us in the morning, we could have made a duct tape "STAFF" label which would have looked nice on the back.

Ah well. Hindsight is 20/20, I suppose. And I really have no complaints.

Mentor match, eh? I actually drove my team's 2005 robot for the first time tonight (we had our open house)... and I made a few mistakes but overall I think I wasn't too bad. I'd love to do something like that in competition.

[tckma]

Originally Posted by Pamela

Oh by the way, you owe me $150 for those 15 lbs you lost, you've now become a Pamela crash diet success story!!!!

The check's in the mail.

[Elgin Clock]

Where is that pictue with all the crew, refs, and volunteers that was taken late in the day after the event was over?

[tckma]

Originally Posted by Elgin Clock

Where is that pictue with all the crew, refs, and volunteers that was taken late in the day after the event was over?

Our team's main driver, to me:

"Did you see the picture on Delphi when the refs got bored and were playing with the tetras on the autoloaders?"

My response:

"No... and I was doing field reset all day, more specifically manning an autoloader, so I think I would have noticed something like that."

...unless it happened during lunch.

I came here and looked when I got home, but I didn't see the pictures. I'm not exactly a Delphi addict, though.

[Elgin Clock]

Originally Posted by tckma

Our team's main driver, to me:
"Did you see the picture on Delphi when the refs got bored and were playing with the tetras on the autoloaders?"
My response:
"No... and I was doing field reset all day, more specifically manning an autoloader, so I think I would have noticed something like that."
...unless it happened during lunch.
I came here and looked when I got home, but I didn't see the pictures. I'm not exactly a Delphi addict, though.

Hehehe.. I think it was either on Friday night, or very early Saturday morning.
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/pi...le&picid=11488

And during part of the lunch at least, I was chillin' (literally) in the Theater across the hall from the gym where it was like.. maybe 55-60 degrees F... Ahh.. the perks of being a ref.

[Heretic121]

Originally Posted by Elgin Clock

Hehehe.. I think it was either on Friday night, or very early Saturday morning.
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/pi...le&picid=11488

And during part of the lunch at least, I was chillin' (literally) in the Theater across the hall from the gym where it was like.. maybe 55-60 degrees F... Ahh.. the perks of being a ref.

you guys let elgin be a ref!?! =P

*back to topic