You know you're addicted to FIRST when...

[Alaina]

When you notice that one of the answers on the exit exam is 192, and you write "GRT!" next to it in the test book

[Specialagentjim]

...When you now have a SigmaC@T engraved silver plated mouse given to you for being "Dr. Animation"

[Jonathan M.]

...when you've gotten at least 10 new people to join the team since the last competition you went to.
...when almost ALL your friends are in FIRST now because the one's that were'nt have mostly joined. And the rest well don't have a team YET but would join If and when they get one.
...when you're taking a survey and it asks "Favorite Month?" And you put January/Febuary. Only because that is when the 6 weeks of building takes place!
...when you had to take a second exit exam for research (didn't count) and once again all the starting time's ar 8:45 and you find this extremely cool.
...when you might cancel some summer plans for the team
...when you might cancel some summer plans for another team's team member who might come and visit. (Here's to hoping!!)

[Marygrace]

..when you have eight team shirts from ur team, one from another, and five from raytheon and wear them regularly...lol

[Josh Hambright]

... While working and counting the change to open the cash register you notice when the numbers are the same as somones team number. "Wow we have 135 in nickles, thats the same as penn number"

.... When you notice the totals of things you purchase or other people purchase are the same as a certain team number and freak out and save the receipt.

[Katie Reynolds]

... When your family plans a vacation to New York City and you tell your parents, "Yeah, plan on me being gone one day because I have some friends to visit," and your parents say, "Oh, from FIRST? Just let us know when!"

... When you tell a FIRST friend that you're going to New York City instead of New Jersey and, instead of forgetting about seeing you this summer, he says, "Oh, that's too bad - cause I hate driving to the City!" (Mike, you rock! )

- Katie

[Hailfire]

...when 10 years ago, you dream of something of which you had no idea what it meant and on the day of Nationals, you finally realize what that dream meant. It's interesting that whenever I dream of something, it usually comes true. Other than that, I don't have any dreams at night. So far, every dream I've had came true except one.

[Specialagentjim]

...when you just hafta know if the robot fits in the PT Cruiser. Comments from thinking about it: "I think it will...with the seats up and..yeah...maybe"

...when you prove it really does fit

[Alaina]

When you have a dream that you lost the pins you've collected.


*attaches pic* Do I even have to say anything? =|

[SkitzoSmurf]

When you consider hack sawing a form of stress relief.

[Alaina]

When you can go anywhere and see things that relate to robotics...even a home and garden show...and you love it.

[Ashley Weed]

when you attend a banquet sponsored by your church in honor of your graduation... and everyones paper agenda thing has a number for a later doorprize drawing... and you search for an hour trying to find 84.... or when they draw them, you think of hey, wonder what (team number here) is up to now?

[Krystine T.]

when you carry allen wrenches around in your pockets, and try to convince your non-robotics friends that its normal

[Wetzel]

Originally posted by Marygrace
..when you have eight team shirts from ur team, one from another, and five from raytheon and wear them regularly...lol

16ish from your own team, 7ish from other teams, 5ish volunteershirts...

All FIRST shirts, all the time.

{edit}
HAD 16ish shirts, then freaked out when your mom gave 8ish to goodwill.


Wetzel
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tri-regional volunteer

[Redhead Jokes]

When your 18yo daughter figures out she'll be working 294 hours at her summer job and you both look at each other with eyes lighting up in delight.

[Amanda Morrison]

...when your list of guests at your birthday party is overwhelmed with FIRSTers, and your outside-of-FIRST friends complain because 'you'll be talking about robots all night'.

Robots all night? yay!

...when you delve into the depths of delphi to revive this post
...when you still post on this post
...when you figure you've spent close to 700 hours on FIRST this year
...when that last statistic makes you smile
...when you have more than three reasons your a FIRSTaholic
...when that stastic makes you smile too.
...when you learn trig so you can make better mill patterns for the wheel
...when other team members tell you that you talk about FIRST too much
...when you plan on posting in this fourm again
...when "you" happens to be me.

[shyra1353]

Originally posted by mgreenley
...when other team members tell you that you talk about FIRST too much

i so do that. everyone tells me that i talk about robots and other teams way too much.

Originally posted by shyra771
i so do that. everyone tells me that i talk about robots and other teams way too much.

...when you quote someone who's quoting you about being addicted to FIRST just to re-prove your point
...when you check CD enough to see your post with only 1 more reply and feel the need to re-reply
...when you edit your own quote to answer a quote of one of your posts that was proving the point of being addicted to FIRST that you are now quoting (this is getting too confusing, i'm logging off now , or not.)

[computhief263]

.....when u begin to figure out ur teams control system for next year even though the season doesnt start for 6 months
...when u bring up welding so much that the freshman of the team is convinced ur going to weld him to a desk
....when the sheer thought of battlebots angers u
...when u seriously consider a LAN party as a fundraiser
.... u time the cycle of a ride at astroworld( the Dungen Drop, yes i know i spelt that wrong)
...when gaining full control of the robotics server makes u pyscoticly happy

[shyra1353]

...when as soon as you start talking your brother leaves the room because he knows what you are going to say has something to do with FIRST/anything robotics related and he doesnt care
...when you get mad at your brother and yell at him for almost an hour for not caring about FIRST and anything else robotic related

[Specialagentjim]

Originally posted by computhief263
.....when u begin to figure out ur teams control system for next year even though the season doesnt start for 6 months

...when u seriously consider a LAN party as a fundraiser

Control system fabrication for next year has already gone under brainstorming, diagrammming, and we're about to order our parts!



...and we ARE having a LAN party fundraiser, 6 days from now! ::laughs manically (sp?)::

[hacksaw692]

When at baccalaureate mass, you represent your robotics team using the regional championship trophy and control board as symbols.

I had to walk down the church aisle carrying that trophy... over my head!! All the while moving at a rather slow pace so that people before me could place their symbols down. We had the biggest display of every other club/team. Most of them brought like a basketball or a t-shirt, generally something small. HaHa we went all out Oh! all this while wearing my white gown and my lovely red tips redyed to contrast nicely...

[Katie Reynolds]

Originally posted by mgreenley
...when you quote someone who's quoting you about being addicted to FIRST just to re-prove your point.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking!

- Katie

[shyra1353]

...when you stop reading in your book at a certain page, and rather than remember the page number that you were on, you remember the team name that corresponds with the number

[Hailfire]

...when 8 people just got added to your 10 member team. Yay!

...when you spend an hour and a half trying to figure out this problem:

(csc^2 x + sec^2 x)(sin 2x) = ?

A. csc^2 x - sec^2 x
B. sec 2x
C. 4 csc 2x

and turns out that the answer is C just because of one little thing I didn't pay attention to.

[Breanne M]

we learned that stuff in precalc/trig a few weeks ago... i hated it!! but yeah, anyway...you know you're addicted when...

....you are on the phone long distance with your best friend from chicago and you end up reading him posts from CD because you couldn't tear yourself away from it!! (yes i actually did thisand i kinda felt bad afterwards for unsing up his phone bill just to bore him with my obsession with FIRST)

Originally posted by Hailfire
...when 8 people just got added to your 10 member team. Yay!

...when you spend an hour and a half trying to figure out this problem:

(csc^2 x + sec^2 x)(sin 2x) = ?

A. csc^2 x - sec^2 x
B. sec 2x
C. 4 csc 2x

and turns out that the answer is C just because of one little thing I didn't pay attention to.

...when you learn this type of stuff for fun just so you can mill the hole patterns in the wheels

[Elyse Holguin]

Originally posted by shyra771
...when you stop reading in your book at a certain page, and rather than remember the page number that you were on, you remember the team name that corresponds with the number

yeah! i do that all the time! like, i'll just tell myself to remember that i ended on cyber blue, robodawgs, or whichever team i end on... which my mom finds strange, and will ask me why i just don't stop at the end of a chapter.,, but that's just no fun.

...when you look at problem above and shudder because your precal class learned that while you were away at either a regional or nationals, and you were forced to learn it too quickly and don't like triglike things now because they cut into robot time.

...when you realize you don't like a lot of classes because they cut into robot time.

...when you are sad because nobody on your team is in any of your classes so you pester your friends that don't know anything about robotics 'til a couple decide to join.

...when you get REALLY mad for not going to a fundraiser for an off season competition you can't even go to because your mom thinks you're sick. and you insist you aren't.

...when you KNOW seven weeks is long enough to spark enough interest to start a team in Germany. (hehehe... when there's a team coming out of Krefeld, Germany this year or next you know who to blame.)

[Ashley Weed]

Originally posted by hacksaw692
When at baccalaureate mass, you represent your robotics team using the regional championship trophy and control board as symbols.

I had to walk down the church aisle carrying that trophy... over my head!! All the while moving at a rather slow pace so that people before me could place their symbols down. We had the biggest display of every other club/team. Most of them brought like a basketball or a t-shirt, generally something small. HaHa we went all out Oh! all this while wearing my white gown and my lovely red tips redyed to contrast nicely...

you get to have 'symbols' at your baccalaureate? can you elaborate on that a little bit more for me?????
....hehe... when you are asked to be one of very few who speak at your graduation... and your first thought is 'How can I realte this to Robotics', and end up writing a speech regarding Douglas Adams. [It is entitled 'So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish'.... I will have to post it sometime! ]

[Specialagentjim]

Originally posted by goosefrom71
...when you KNOW seven weeks is long enough to spark enough interest to start a team in Germany. (hehehe... when there's a team coming out of Krefeld, Germany this year or next you know who to blame.)

There's my "get jim to germany while elyse is there" excuse! I need to bring the sigmacat robot for demonstartion..and this will of course take a week...

Okay...ive managed to get teh robot into a PT cruiser...

Next: The Overhead storage bin...muaahahah...

Kay...im done with the weird evil laughter...back to aim now

[shyra1353]

...when you get really excited because you see the doctor on simpson's (i cant remember his name) riding a segway and you run to your computer to post this post

[Matt Attallah]

...When you think of how to make something you have used for years better by slapping a Victor 884 on it...

...When you wish you can see/drive in one last match so badly...

...When you look foward to being a FIRST Mentor...

[Alaina]

When you can't stand your current school because it doesn't have a team. And you don't care how short summer is, you just can't wait for school to start again because you'll be at the school with the team...I mean, I've already called it "my school" since building season...

[shyra1353]

....when the background on your computer is a picture of you and your robot

...when nine of the threads on the front page in this section have been last replied to by you

[Meredith Rice]

When you are walking through the mall and you see people's shirts and think to yourself "what team are they from?" or "hey look, its someone from team...." just becuase their shirt looks like a robotics team shirt. I must have thought that at least three times today.

[Hailfire]

...when you made the "Questions Only" Thread and you're surprised by how many replies there are in 3 days while you were gone.

...when you show your relatives what you made in robotics that remain them speechless.

[Elyse Holguin]

Originally posted by Fireboidsgrl
When you are walking through the mall and you see people's shirts and think to yourself "what team are they from?" or "hey look, its someone from team...." just becuase their shirt looks like a robotics team shirt. I must have thought that at least three times today.

I WISH more schools around here would show more interest in robotics....

i want to go to a mall and look at people wearing team shirts.... on mother's day i went to lunch in valpo, indiana, and saw a guy from wheeler's robotics team and i was jumping around b/c it was the first time i'd ever bumped into another FIRSTer outside of competitions or expos and stuff.... the closest teams to us are wheeler, 461, any chicago teams and wildstang, and all of those aren't too close.....

i think i'm going to take over the neighboring school districts and force them to start a team. they'll thank me later.

[Ashley Weed]

hehe... the greatest thing I ever saw... where our team is 'centrally' located in Towanda.... we are near nothing... so we drive into the nearby cities (about 1-1.5 hour drives) for adventures..... a couple of weeks ago, went to Binghamton to go to dinner at Hooters..... I thought I was going to fall off my stool when I saw someone walk through with a Championship Event shirt on!.... I wish I had the guts to ask him where he was from... becuase he sure wasn't from our team.... and there aren't any really close teams around here!

[Alaina]

When you forget your boyfriend's phone number due to the fact you haven't called him in almost 2 months since you saw him at robotics meetings every day.