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

[BlondeNerd]

When you spend your entire weekend running a FLL tournament so that you can go to your team's competitions

When you really did it so you could hang out with your FIRST buddies!

When all you want for Christmas is some safety glasses that fit

[NerdPride_1212]

...you can't seem to letter in your sport but somehow manage to letter in robotics...that's new this year at my school...pretty cool i guess

...you're writing your essay for the air force academy and can't think of anything to write about except robotics

[Athleticgirl389]

Originally Posted by BlondeNerd

...you have decided that going to nationals is more important than looking at colleges over spring break (theres another week off school before nationals anyway...)

Who needs college when you have robots that we can build to go to college for us


You might be addicted to FIRST when you're talking to your moentor about where the team (digital) camera is and another teammate says "its right here" and pulls out the light sensor camera.

(Happened in my team 2 days ago!)

[johnnymath360]

you know more about mechanical physics than your physics teacher,

Buzz words like chamfer, I.D, projected, etc. find themselves in conversations really not meant for those words.

The night before ship night you stay till 7'o clock in the morning, pickup your backpack and go to class the "next day"

you are tri-lingual - English, German and C+

Inventor is used for more than just robotics - includes school projects

^^^your friends come to you to make designs for them - including a boat...with potato gun cannons on it

Everyone automatically thinks your going to go into engineering, but you are actually going into medicine.

[230Robokid]

-You come back onto the team even though your in collage
-Your a mentor
-When you talk, sleep, eat, breath Robotics
-When you talk, sleep, eat, breath robotics even though the season hasent started

[woody]

- When even the other students on your team mock you for being way to attached to FIRST.

[Sgraff_SRHS06]

- You update the FirstWiki pages even though you have a few problem assignments due for your college classes.

[StephLee]

- When you open the glove compartment in your mom's van and a few robotics buttons fall out.

[MattLi]

-Whenever you hear the word "chair" you think of food (recipe for sucess)
-Whenever you have a cough drop you think "man announcers have a hard time."
-You go to a basketball game and you think something's missing and you pull out sheets of paper and start writing out what the players' strenghs and weaknesses are.
-You come back from national and you can acually take detailed notes in history class

[amos229]

when people call u not by a human name, but chickenman, check out the photo if you havent seen me at the championship, http://robotphotos.org/v/first/finge..._9178.JPG.html

[JBotAlan]

when you find yourself posting on a very old thread on ChiefDelphi while listening to Weird Al's "Weasel Stomping Day" while thinking about how the heck you are going to align the robot with the spider legs.

when you hear someone at school mention Paris Hilton and crack up.

when your c:\FIRST folder clocks in at 5.2GB.

when you have a c:\FIRST folder.

when you know the phpbb tags and put them in without thinking about it.

[synth3tk]

...you find yourself reminding everyone else when the next build meeting is.

...your homepage turns to chiefdelphi.com and you're always on a FIRST related site

[mtaman02]

You begin reading the Spotlighted posts (or as I like to call them the pearls of wisdom) b/c all the open threads have been read. - I got to page 3 and then I started cheating a bit and skipped to Daves name to read the pearls of wisdom he had offered - most of what he said is true and the others was showing his funny & good sense of humor side.

You begin to Google Dean Kamen, Dave Lavery and Woodie Flowers to read their Bio's and whatever other articles are associated with them. - I wouldn't say I was completely bored, I just needed something to do to take my mind off of the build season (not like it weighs a whole lot on my mind to start with ), My online PS2 Gaming and such. So I googled Dave Lavery - Got the phone number to his office and a mailing address =) Have no clue if it is still the same or not, and then I goggled Dean to read some stuff on him, I had no clue he had his own Island of the Long Island Sound and that it is its own unofficial country complete with currency and flag. Sometime today I will google Woodie and read up on him.

[Gabe]

When you're on ChiefDelphi at 3:27 instead of cramming for finals like you should be.....zzzz.....

[Josh_VK]

- When the only thing you ask for, for christmas is a holster for vernier calipers

- when your phone number ends in you team number

- Your email also contains your team number.

- At one point your Debit Pin num was your team number backwards

- When you hear the word "Gat" and you think of sodering...

-when you spend x-mas holidays, 400 km away with a girl from another Team

-when at one point she says that she Graciously Accepts.

-your grandparents no longer care how your cousin's hockey game went because they are tring to pay attention to what the challenge is this year

- every story you tell March through June begins with "During robotics....."

-when you actually think all 95 pages in this thread are cool.

[Simon Strauss]

You know your addicted to FIRST when your Rabbi calls you to fix his computer.

[joshR515]

when you call everything that deals with the robot 'sexy'

[amos229]

when u build a 3 foot tall snow first symbol. the nieghbors giv me strange looks now

[sarah118]

all of your jewlery was made in the machine shop...

you have a 'no dating during season' policy.

[Éowyn]

When you see a geeky NASA shirt and think "That would be nice to wear to a regional. . ."

BTW, I bought that shirt and am planning to wear it to St. Louis.

[StephLee]

...You get the "you can only post once every 47 seconds" message three times while trying to post once. (I hate that message. I know it's necessary, but I get it too often...fast internet + fast typing.)

...You forget your purse somewhere and you aren't worried about not having your keys or wallet...just your safety glasses.

[Éowyn]

You know you're addicted to FIRST when. . .
-Your hands are a permanent shade of gray/black from all the dirt and grease.
-You have a grease stain on you arm from the beginning of build season.
-You look at your clock, which says 10:32, and immediatlely think of screws.
-You haven't changed your clothes in who knows how long.
-You suffer from withdrawl when away from the machine shop.
-You start singing "I love to lathe" to the tune of "I love to laugh". (hasn't happend yet, but give it time )
Edited to add:
-You forget to take off your safety glasses when you're out of the machine shop!

[waiakea2024]

[quote=Trashed20;133621...run out of freshman to file things
[/QUOTE]

i agree. i am a freshman and i tend to do a lot of fileing!

[BlondeNerd]

...Your mom just rolls her eyes when you send a zip-tie through the wash

[NeedMoreEngines]

Originally Posted by AJ Quick

Seriously.. they do.

ABSOLUTELY.

...when you can transform anything anyone has ever said at any build meeting into a "your mom" joke...and it's still funny.

...when everyone knows the different between "the wrench that fits" and "the other wrench that fits"

...when every tool set you've ever owned is missing a 7/16'' wrench, a 1/4'' drill bit, and an 11/32 allen wrench.

...if the phrase "hey, freshman, come over here and put your head right here in case this hits me in the face." is ever said.

[Hiteak]

when even when you are sick at home, you call people who are at robotics at the moment, just so you can see what is getting done and to say hi to team mates.

[insomniac6688]

Originally Posted by Philmont629

When your watching the Super Bowl while on Chief Delphi.

Tomorrow will take the cake though, well be watching the Super Bowl in the shop while atempting to get our bot ready to hand off to the electrical team.

[insomniac6688]

when you have a myspace and an email address (MTHSRobotics@Gmail.com)

[StephLee]

...When your first thought on hearing your school is closed for the day is "Hmm, I wonder if we can meet all day today..."

[waiakea11]

you know youraddicted to FIRST when...

...you look at you Tobasco bottle cap and wonder what size bolt it will fit on, mistaking it for a nut.

[Caseavong]

....You Give up going to indoor track sectionals to work on your robot.
....You give up indoor track completely.

Sure was worth it though

[penguinsrock018]

...you feel sorry for the GM robot while watching the Superbowl 41 commercials and actually take the time to think up ways that you would have helped it find a job.

[RedHeadRobotics]

...when you figured out that you spend almost thrity hours a week working on robots and the rest of your time thinking about robots.

[waiakea11]

...you notice that anyone who isnt in FIRST has no idea what your talking about...

...you notice that after you explain about FIRST to someone, they still dont know what your talking about...

...you wonder how much more time you have in school before you can work on your robot...

[Mister_Juggles]

you see the little gray box around the text-space in openoffice and think immediately of your robot's dimensions....(I like to call it the magic box)

[NeedMoreEngines]

...when there's a "You Know You're Addicted to FIRST when..." thread that contains over NINETY SIX PAGES OF ADDICTIONS...and you can relate to every single one of them.

...when there are more nuts in the shop-vac than on the robot.

...when your excuse for texting in class is "I have to work on my hand-eye cordination for...um...robotics" - and you're not kidding.

...when you meet someone named Victor and you immediately think of speed controllers.

...when build season is finally over and you feel like you have no place in life anymore.

...when you think of all the teams whose team numbers can be clock times, and get angry because mine can't be. (1279)

...when you take one of those weird-angled Myspace-type photos of yourself, and it's really just for CD.

...when you still wear the free (but AMAZING) safety glasses from nationals

[NeedMoreEngines]

...when you're at the security checkpoint at Newark Airport on the way to nationals and the metal detector goes BANANAS because you've got THE WRENCH THAT FITS, two allen wrenches, 1/8th inch keystock, locknuts, and replacements for the only three metric bolts on your robot, all in your pocket.

...when a girl on your team holds up the line for the security checkpoint at the Atlanta airport because she has to take the 100 some-odd buttons off that have been periodically pinned to her jeans throughout the course of the weekend.

...when your crate is over the weight limit and you're frustrated because you think "gee why don't we just drill holes in it", and then realize that you can't.

[waialua359]

WHEN YOU LIVE IN HAWAII BUT CANT WAIT TO ATTEND THE NEW JERSEY REGIONAL IN FREEZING WEATHER.

[mormannoob]

...you try to figure out how every appliance/machine in your house is programmed

...you finally realize why dew is the greatest drink ever

...you wonder why your friend dragged you into robotics then you remember you need to program some random function that involes a look up table

... you hate the semi-colon ";"

...you have no life (or sleep) between january and april

...you wish there was an FRC,FVC,FFL chanel (besides NASA TV)

[StephLee]

Originally Posted by penguinsrock018

...you feel sorry for the GM robot while watching the Superbowl 41 commercials and actually take the time to think up ways that you would have helped it find a job.

When you laughed hysterically at that commercial and immediately texted a team member asking if he saw it.