Palmetto 2006 Thanks and Congrats

[Billfred]

First, the obligatory thank-you to everyone who came. Palmetto is my favorite event of the year, and it's because of all the great people.

Big ups to Donn Griffith for receiving Volunteer of the Year. The man lives and breathes this stuff (and he's safely contained with the rest of the geeks at the Swearingen Engineering Center ). Without Donn, 1293 wouldn't be here.

Thank you to all our alliance partners, who stuck with us even when things got messy over the regional. We wish we could've scored more this year, but things just didn't pan out that way.

Congratulations to Team 1398 (Keenan Robo-Raiders) on winning the Chairman's Award. I keep hearing great things coming from across town, and it was great to see them break out the Peter Gabriel for y'all. I hope to see you in Atlanta.

Further congratulations to Team 1959 (Aye Aye Robot). They started off a little rough, but they came together to bring home not only the Website Award but the Rookie Inspiration Award. (There's an odd link between 1293 and 1959--one of our teachers used to teach students on their team. Truth is stranger than fiction.)

Finally, I have to give thanks to all of those folks on 1293 who stuck with us through thick and thin, wins and losses, bad shooters and good defense, and all of the rollercoaster that was today. Down 2-4 at the end of Friday, the team fixed the few issues with the robot that lingered and took on some of the best in the business today to bring home three straight wins and our first winning season to date. It might not have panned out in the end the way we wanted, but I think this season was a great experience for everyone involved.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go schedule a haircut.