You know you've been in the shop too long this weekend if:

[Nica F.]

... when the first thing your mom does after seeing you is laugh and say "you smell like aluminum."

[Simon Strauss]

when you begin accusing zip screws of being antisemitic because they wont go in right for you

[Gundamx92000]

when your dad says "don't make it a late night" it means come home before he wakes up to go to work

When everyone in the machine shop is standing on a table with the robot working on it, rather than putting it on the floor, to save the time it would take to get it off the table. mentors too! (haha i have a picture of this one if you want to see it)

when you are replacing zip-ties with needle and thread because "zip ties are too heavy"

when you wear safety glasses on your head durring the school day, through all your classes, and nobody bothers to ask why anymore

when you have tools in your pockets throughout the schoolday just to save time finding them later

when you know the part number of every componenent, even screws, on the robot, where to find its cad file, its dimensions for placement, and where it belongs in the grand scheme of things

when you know the size of the screwdriver, wrench, and allen/hex key needed for EVERY single piece of hardware

when you can do the calculations for how much wieght will be lost by lightweighting a material because you have the densities for almost all of the materials memorized and can do the d=mv calulation in your head

when you tell people to stop painting things to save weight

when "the big manly drill" is a commonly understood title for a specific drill

when you find yourself and your best friend standing atop a 10 fool ladder, eating gummybears out of a bowl, simply because you can, and then realize simultaineously "you know what? i.. really don't even like gummy bears.. like .. at all..?"

when you decide to hold the radar gun "ghetto style"

when you pay more attention to the fact that a chain is loose rather than the fact that the cheerleading team is practicing in the gym right next to you

when the janitor knows you by first name and knows to leave the lights off in the cad room when your working in it

when every meal in the past 4 days has come from a fast food place, despite the fact that it was only 4 or 5 meals anyway

when your justification for washing you hands AFTER you eat is "you can get robot on your food, but you can't get food on your robot " (that is a quote i am often heard saying"

when you can't tell if its caramel on your hand, or chain grease, and you just eat it anyway

when your parents realize that you spend more time at the school doing robotics then actually doing school "Yay days over!" "well.. for me the day has just begun "

when you're spending your lunches and studies at school working in the shop

when you realize that you've spent the 2 days after the robot has been crated up recovering from the 4 days prior.

when the difference between breakfast, lunch and dinner has nothing to do with the time but the order in which they are eaten

when you're so sick of pizza that you eat it just to get it out of your sight

when you look at a picture of a robot on a computer screen and try to hold the middle mouse button to rotate it (CAD people probably understand this one)

when 4 of the 5 team members in your physics class are absent on tuesday and the one that isn't calls you to complain about it

when you consider sanding off the paint to save weight

when you mount the camera exactly where your mentor said he would slap you if you put it there, just to keep the software team happy

when you realize you know as much about the electronics as the electronics lead, and sometimes more

when your software lead shouts "your safety is becoming less and less of a concern to me!" because he wants to test the software while your working on the robot

when taking a break means taking your safety glasses off

when your justification to your parents for working even though you're sick is "my body can heal itself, the robot can't!"

when in your sleep you are thinking of ways to lightweight things

when the electronics box has gashed up your arm so much that you consider documenting your blood as part of the robot weight weight

when you are the single reason the medkit is low on band-aids ("..lowsy electronics box... darn master link...")

when your mom joins the parent group (the people who bring us food on weekends) just to actually see you
---
alright im sure I can come up with more but thats it for this post

[AV_guy007]

Originally Posted by Dzdconfusd

The Police show up to find out why there are cars at the high school at 5AM and the first thing you ask them is to borrow their radar gun. <--Really happened Friday!

Coming Soon: A time lapse of the last 48 hour of the Bobcat Robotics build.

yep heard about that.
one of mine is leaving the shop to go eat and then on the car ride back relise you are still wearing safteys

the time lapse is coming i just need to get back to school some time

[AV_guy007]

2 more:
the day after the robot ships, looking in your wallet and realizing how much money you spent on fast food and energy drinks
Friday i had 50 some dollars now i have -2 dollars
also when its 4 in the morning and someone says "wow your up awful Early" and you respond with "nope technical I'm up awful late!!"

[macgyver]

when you stay after school even though you already shipped the robot just because you have no idea what you are suppose to do when you get home anymore.

or when you have a caffeine withdrawl and your friends think that you have a hangover

when the janitors tell you how to get into the school at night without a key

when you realize you are almost failing most of your classes because you forgot what homework was

[FreakyAntelope]

When you look around your shop and think to yourself "you know, maybe having five teams in one room isn't too much afterall.."

When you spent 90% of your last four days (awake or asleep) in the robotics lab (I actually did out the math on this one).

When you realize that this is the only the fourth day in the past six weeks I haven't been to the robotics room..

When the word "magic" is applied to about 6 different tools in the shop, 4 of them being "the magic wrench" and everyone on the team still knows which one you mean.

When the only reason you aren't still programming the robot is because ALL of your batteries are too dead to shoot consistently.

When you have just spent more time in the school in one weekend than you would in a normal week.

When you are so deep sleprived that... zzzzzz

When you have fallen asleep every time you have sat down today.

When autonomous mode really just doesn't seem that important any more. And not because you have more important things to do, just because you're too tired to bother.

When you realize that you've been running your robot for the past 24 hours *without bolting down the shooter* (D'oh)

When you haven't eaten a meal at home in 5 days (and you usually eat at least two every day), and you haven't eaten at all in 18 hours.

When wednesday morining comes around and you decide that you're too tired to bother starting your homework for the weekend.

When you're browsing chiefdelphi instead of sleeping.. even though you desperately need the sleep and are staring blankly at the screen even as I type.

When the robot *actually* *works*

- Toby

Overclocked, 246

[Amanda Morrison]

- You're tired of standing and lean against a drill press, and fall asleep (oops)
- Class? What class?
- You eat pizza out of the fridge when nobody knows how it got there, or how long it's been there
- Showering is for the weak
- The cleaning ladies bring you copies of the paper, with your robot on the front page... while you're still testing at 7 am
- You nickname the overweight robot 'Tubby' and the entire team convulses with laughter
- You paint the crate beautifully... upside down
- You have eaten a whole loaf of bread's worth of PB&J in one week

[Andrew Y.]

When the programmers decide to go on strike, because they wantto test their code.

Parents call at 3 am to see what time you will be coming home tomorrow morning

Have to do off-roading to get the cars past the locked gates.

[StephLee]

When you can't remember your last actual meal.

When EVERYTHING looks like a robot.

When washing your hair in a sink is a viable vanity option.

When you start discussing new and unusual uses for the practice poof balls.

[pyroslev]

Originally Posted by macgyver

when you stay after school even though you already shipped the robot just because you have no idea what you are suppose to do when you get home anymore.

When the dog doesn't bark at you when you get home before midnight and you realize she's ok.

When you tell the cop that pulled you over why you ran through that stop sign (Making a Caffine Run!) and who it's for and he gives you an escort!

[santosh]

You are at the shop more than you are at school

The machine shop floor feels like a bed

You cant find your keys, and dont really care because you are going to be in the shop so long it wont matter

you have imprints of your safety goggles in your face

your grades plummet

[dubious elise]

When a team member is speeding home and runs a stop sign at 9:45 at night and gets pulled over only to be let go with a warning because, earlier in the day, one of the engineers on your team had asked the same officer to stop by the school with his radar gun. (yes, another true story ~ Andy can tell you all about it)

[NeedMoreEngines]

- When you blurt out "I NEED THE WRENCH THAT FITS!" and EVERYONE knows which one it is.

You blow a fuse because you're using too many tools at once. (Happened a lot)

[the_short1]

-when you acually come HOME from school (instead of going to robotics) your parents say welcome back like in that mase song
-you have thrown at least one object across the room in frustration
-you cross your fingers when you press the "download" button in ifi
-your so tired cofee doesnt work anymore
-youve huged your electronics board on first power up when it worked.... <me> she is sexy this year! lol
-you wrote names on several parts of the robot (brings up funny conversations when you call the 'ball smacker' a parents name)
-team bonding time is always centered around food
-food is served and your starving, but you rather finish a certain part on the robot first and food is the reward