Because I need to share with someone who understands (part 2)

[EStokely]

Please pardon my self indulgence but a few years ago I posted a short blip on my teams Portland experience where I won the WF award and I knew it would be hard to share that with the rest of the world. And I find my self in a similar position now.
On monday I will be heading into work and will be asked the normal question of "How did you guys do?" I suspect I will try to say "We did well, we seeded in the top 8 and had a strong alliance, we won a team award " They will say "great job" and that will be about the end of it for them.

But not for me.
At the Microsoft Regional I saw a lot of stuff. I watched a member of team 1318 make excuses to his ride home while writing code for a rookie team.
I saw 64 teams packed into a space for far fewer, but everyone maintained composure.
I saw a 183 pound robot go to 112 in about 3 minutes with the help of at least 3 other teams (thanks 488 and 1983 )
I watched my Captain, Sarah, speak in front of the crowd Saturday morning, sharing her experiences. (I knew what she had to say and it still brought tears to my eyes)
I saw a team from Turkey get more out of this contest than should be allowed :-) (2905, we have been working with them since last year when a couple of students and a teacher came to Tacoma for the Regional to try to understand how to do FIRST. We also sent students over in the Summer as well as an Alumni of the team during the build)
I watched my team Alumni doing volunteer jobs like Pit Announcing, Game announcing, FTC Assistance, VIP, as well as running their own teams.
I watched a Rookie Teams nomination for the Woodie Flowers Award honored with Mike Criner from 2922.
I made new friends.
I saw teams pull parts out of mechanisms to share a bearing or special bolt with a team they had just met the day before.
I saw a laser light show at the team social. It has been years since I have seen one of those. It ended with the FIRST logo in laser light.
I watched most of the matches be web cast because of the efforts of one of my Alumin and friend, James Byrne.(please do not hold him responsible for the mistakes on the site, he was busy keeping the field running to end ahead of schedule!)
I watched my team act as a unit, speak to the public that came through, judges, other teams. Send out tools, parts, Lexan and what ever as needed.

And to who ever yelled out "We love you 360" during Awards. Right back at you!!
I was a proud mentor.

So how did our weekend go?
We seeded 5th. Picked a strong alliance they didn't quite get through the quarter finals (thanks 2046 and 955!!!) Watched some amazing teams play. Saw team 1425, 488 and 1569 win a hard fought battle to take it all.

And yeah, we won a team award.
The Chairman's !!!
Baby!!!!!!

Thanks for listening. See some of you in Atlanta