SCHOOL CLOSINGS !

[dcarswell]

Hello, I'm from team #3359 and I just wanted to say to the other teams that are in the Hampton Roads Area of Virginia, we feel the same way that you all do. To the other teams little do you know we have had a snow storm this past week beginning Saturday evening. So yeah thats three days we haven't had to work on our robot. Talk about being BEHIND !

[wilsonmw04]

2106 feels your pain. Trying to get some info here:
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...threadid=81736

[dcarswell]

Oh okay. Great !

[scottydoh]

Don't complain, theres alot of teams that go through this every season, I know 810 has more than once. Heck, I even remember seeing a thread about an Israeli team that got their KoP 11 days late, now thats behind.

Better of being a little behind, instead of risking your safety on icy roads.

[dcarswell]

Oh wow, 11 days late !

Yeah, maybe it is better being behind than being at the risk of getting hurt .

[scottydoh]

Originally Posted by dcarswell

Oh wow, 11 days late !

Yeah, maybe it is better being behind than being at the risk of getting hurt .

Yea, really...

With that said, is it really that bad? Im assuming this is the storm that NY will be seing sometime tomorrow...

[waialua359]

Situations like these are precisely why we have a 5 week build season.
Shift happens.

[dcarswell]

Considering those who live up North and for those who live down South; for the South, its bad.

Because, evidently were not use to all this snow . So we don't have the equipment to deal with this storm, (lack of plows, salt, etc..so the news-channels say) . The roads have just been slightly cleared yesterday and the storm happened on Saturday. The whole problem I still think is affecting us going to school is the "BLACK ICE" !

[TD912]

Yeah, up here in northern NJ it can be pretty dangerous to drive during a snowstorm, even with snowplows and salt trucks constantly attempting to clear the roads.

Even when it's not snowing out, leftover snow can melt and refreeze and cause icy patches on the road.

Although it is fun tuning into the local radio station to see if the schools are closed... (aka. Snow Day!)

[Stephen of REX]

Snow days are great because we get to work all day.

[Dick Linn]

I can remember a number of years back moving the Team 975 build to the warehouse area of my workplace. Had the tall shipping crate in the back of my little Toyota pickup for days - it looked like an outhouse.

[Phoenix Spud]

Our team just got our batteries yesterday! And, our KoP got delayed for 3+ days in customs. So, don't feel to bad. There are a lot of international teams out there who have to deal with being behind (and waiting extra long to get orders, or imperial parts) every day. Plus, our team is attending a week 1 regional, so we don't have the option of shipping late. If we shipped late, we would not compete. If I was a judge, I would want to hear how your team dealt with not being able to meet during a severe snow storm--for your area of the world. I can't imagine what would happen in we got snow here in Sydney. Making do with any situation is what wins awards. SO, work extra hard to catch up!!!

[Peter Matteson]

Every year we have several meeting cancelled due to snow. Last year we even had a meeting cancelled due to a bomb threat at the High where we meet. This stuff happens and is uncontrollable. We've learned to live with it and make up the time later here in the Northeast.

In one well publisized and discussed instance in 2007 we had school cancelled on the Friday of the Connecticut regional, The kids prents drove them to the event and we were competing until the Superintendent of schools found out the kids were there and sent a message that if the kids continued to participate they would be suspended. At least one other team has this issue as well. To prevent our kids from getting in trouble we borrowed the drive team from our friends Aces High to finish our matches for the day without getting DQ's and hurting our alliance partners.

[JesseK]

With more snow in the forecast this weekend, we're thinking about powdercoating our robot white and calling it "Snowpocalypse". It's been a miracle that we're doing something simple this year, and it looks like now it'll take another miracle to even get the simple things done.

For teams that are used to the snow, well, perhaps they could give us pointers rather than saying 'deal with it'. In VA we're used to perhaps 4-5 days of it, yet this year the schools will be closed for the equivalent of double that at least.

[Racer26]

Its always so hard for me to feel sympathetic to the northern (or mid-north anyway) US teams when their schools close. Many schools will allow their FRC teams to operate, EVEN if the school is closed, but up here in southern Canada, where in less than 2 hours I can be in Buffalo, NY, our schools almost never close. It would have to snow at LEAST 12" in a single night before they'd think about it. This year, its been eerily mild. I dont know whether to think winter is going to be done soon, or if we're gonna get slammed with a couple feet in March.

EDIT: My recommendation: go in anyway, if your school will let you, and if they won't, take the robot to a team member/mentor's home and work on it there.

RE-EDIT: Or CAD/Inventor work, or work on your website, or if you can't get the robot out of the school, build some subsystem that you can bolt on when you DO get access to the robot again.