AAAAAARRRRRRGGGG!

[Hieb]

Sorry, I just had to vent a little frustration.

Although this is my 4th year in the FRC, I am teaching at a new school this year and have started a new team. Unfortunately the dynamics with this team are vastly different from my previous team, and it's driving me crazy!

With 1437, I was one of 3 teachers involved and we each had our areas of expertise. One teacher handled all of the "Business" of the team--fundraising, PR, sponsorships, and working with vendors. Another teacher handled the "Mechanical" subteams -- drivetrain, chassis, etc. That left me to focus on electrical, pneumatics, and programming--all areas with which I had some experience. We did all work together, contributing to all areas, but we each had a primary focus.

This year, 2 of the 3 teachers who were "definitely" going to be a part of the team have backed out, and while the 3rd has been a great help with his fabricating experience, he's also a rookie to this and is still feeling his way through the process.

So, this has put overseeing all aspects of the team/build on my shoulders. I think where my stress is coming from, though, is that this doesn't let catch mistakes before they are critical, and I can't spend as much time teaching this team of rookies with the amount of detail I would like. As an example, we finally got around to testing our drivetrain last night, but as soon as we turned it on, the circuit breakers started popping. Now we get to spend a day trying to figure out where our short is, and although I believe it is in the power distribution block, it's the fact that this could have been avoided that frustrates me.

Well, as I said--I just needed to vent a little frustration. Thanks for "listening."