Missing valuable work days!

[Sunshine]

I'm bummed!

We've had one snow day (no school) and now school was canceled today because of extreme cold weather. We may have school canceled again tomorrow. Our district policy is if we have no school you can not meet with students. We are behind of schedule. Anyone else having the same problems?

[KathieK]

Unfortunately this seems to happen somewhere in the country during Build season every year. We've had several school closures in the past couple of weeks here in CT.

[Uberbots]

Thats the danger of living in snowy regions my friend!

What the Uberbots used to do was meet in a secondary meeting location and do things that were non-robot related, though for obvious reasons if we were behind on the build this didnt help much.

[MrForbes]

We're suffering from excessive warmth and sunshine....it's hard to get motivated when it's so nice out

(sorry!)

[Jared Russell]

I certainly sympathize!

I do remember (I think it was 2003?) FIRST once postponing the ship date because of inclement weather. I spent two days (and the night in between) snowed into our shop, frantically finishing our robot.

It was awesome.

[MamaSpoldi]

Due to a fire at our high school on December 30th, we were unable to work in our regular work space until January 12th! Thanks to a local business man (who also happens to be a team parent and mentor) we were able to meet for the kick-off on the 3rd (just to give them a plug... it was Precise Circuit in Shelton, CT ). No one (except cleaning staff, not even teachers) was able to go into the school building for more than a week after the kick-off. Fortunately we were able to make arrangements to get our control system cleaned and out of the building on the 3rd... and we were even more lucky that it had not been damaged by the fire, smoke, or water. This sponsor also opened up his business for us to work in both of the last 2 weekends... although it was not like being in our usual space it was still a big help for us to have somewhere to meet and begin work on our design and strategy. We are still a little behind... but we are working to make a strong comeback.

[Elgin Clock]

Originally Posted by Abwehr

I certainly sympathize!

I do remember (I think it was 2003?) FIRST once postponing the ship date because of inclement weather. I spent two days (and the night in between) snowed into our shop, frantically finishing our robot.

It was awesome.

I think that actually happened 2 years in a row. 2002 & 2003 if I'm not mistaken?
It's rare, & we kind of were looking forward to it happening again the nest year, but alas, it was not to be.
Oh wells.

Something you can do to make up some time in the first couple of weeks during a missed night is to have an online meetng, or teleconference, or just meet "unofficially" somewhere other than your school. There is nothing wrong with meeting with friends after school at someone's house.
Keep safety in mind though, & if it's a blizzard or frigid cold out, use common sense & your best judgement.
Building a robot is not more important than risking your life or anyone elses to get to a meeting.
The robot may be lonely for a night without you, but it will wait.

[paragon571]

we have that problem to but we cant work at our schools they hate us

[Engineer]

Some of the school districts in Western Minnesota are closed also. I'm a mentor and I have not heard from any of the teachers if we are meeting today. I'll have to assume not.

It was -25F and dropping when I left my house this morning.

[Doug G]

I think it was just 2003 that had the ship date postponed 2 days. I remember getting that e-mail early in the day (Sunday?) and then putting off telling the students until later in the day, simply because they were working so deligently and I didn't want them to slow down. I felt really guilty about it.

The weather issues as well as numerous other situations and such are always affecting some teams more than others. It is not fair but nonetheless, I feel it provides students with more real world experience at problem solving. Companies too deal with many issues outside of their control (even weather), but still have to stay on a timeline. Students that must go through these problems will have gained valuable lessons in project and time management.

[Jon236]

Originally Posted by Engineer

Some of the school districts in Western Minnesota are closed also. I'm a mentor and I have not heard from any of the teachers if we are meeting today. I'll have to assume not.

It was -25F and dropping when I left my house this morning.

So you use your driveway as a playing field?

[Jon Stratis]

What, you guys don't own snowmobiles down south?

We occasionally have similar problems here - school is almost never canceled, but when there are bad conditions out we go out of our way to either cancel the meeting our caution students, parents, and mentors to use their best judgment (or let their parents drive). Yeah, missing a day of work hurts the build season. Missing a student for the rest of the build season and competition hurts more.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Elgin Clock

I think that actually happened 2 years in a row. 2002 & 2003 if I'm not mistaken?
It's rare, & we kind of were looking forward to it happening again the nest year, but alas, it was not to be.
Oh wells.

'03 and '04. '03 was weather; '04 was due to delays in getting KOP stuff out. I remember trying to figure out how to do something at some ridiculously early time the revised ship date--if it had been on the normal day, I would have been in bed hours before.

330 used to have a little issue with film crews in the facility where we had our build site during the last couple weeks of build. We'd move out for a day or two, then move back in. We finally moved for a while into another facility.

[Engineer]

Originally Posted by Jon236

So you use your driveway as a playing field?

Driveways, parking lots, roads and highways can all be used as a playing field if you have a working robot. Everything is frozen. Any colder and we might be able to have a "super conductor motor" in the robot.

It's fun to take a pot of hot water and throw the water in the air. No water (or ice) reaches the ground, it all floats away in cloud when it's this cold.

BTW the snowmobile but but you have to dodge all those cars and truck sliding into the ditches while trying to get to work.

[ebarker]

One of the huge benefits of being in Atlanta is the weather is lousy enough to keep you inside, but almost always good enough that you can get around, so the calendar works out great.

We have probably one snow day every 5 years.