What have you given up for FIRST?

[cardinalman86]

i actually haven't lost my girlfriend, like most people say they have, but i have lost time to talk to her. i did quit football just for FIRST, and my little almost non existant social life.

[Eugenia Gabrielov]

So I'm in macroeconomics class this quarter - and we're reviewing trade-offs, opportunity cost, all those fun things.

Sure, there are other things I might have done in high school were it not for Robotics team. I had to pick between some events and band events, between band trips and regionals, but to me those costs have been worth it. After all, it's it's easy to look back and think about what you could have done, but why do that if you're loving it now?

[Computermaster]

I think I've given up alot of my social life. As a freshmen, giving up my self esteem on the first day was inevitable...but the gains FAR outweigh the losses.

-Computermaster

[Bomberofdoom]

Concentration on other important things, sleep, general concentration, free time, hobbies, a few friends....
I doubt it's related to FIRST, because it DID come before the kick-off, but I'd say grades (getting Cs).

But I'm doing all this because I'm looking forward for having a successful FRC season, I'm looking forward to the success of the team and our project.

[swaknight]

um, let me think, my life, sleep, sanity, free time, personal time, family, friends (not in FIRST), band, the list goes on and on

[otomerobot]

For starters agree with DarkJedi613, I think that everybody has given up their lives for FIRST for the next six weeks. But yet again, you are also gaining a lot more so its worth it.
Also their is much sleep loss.

In my team we have theory, when its building time the six weeks, we tend to GAIN about ten pounds. Comsuming on those nights only fast food, mainly pizza.

During competition, we end up LOSING the pounds we gained. The fact that most everyone on our team cant eat because of the nerves. OR the running up and down from the PIT to the field.

I think its rather funny.

[galewind]

I love this thread.

Let's see, where to begin:

Yeah, the whole "sleep, sanity, money, time with my family... " thing holds for me too.

I have given up advising another successful team (Debate team).
I have given up going to weddings with my wife (she wasn't happy).
Our wedding was scheduled around competition season (we got married week after championships in 05).

Oh, and last but not least...

I have given up a pair of pants while being drug across a carpeted floor while we tested our autonomous mode for the first time during our rookie year, as our robot crashed through a bolted down cubicle wall, while not knowing that all we had to do was disconnect the Operator Interface to stop it from moving.

Friction + strong robots + melty slacks + rugburn = fun .... or not

[GoldenAI]

Well...not much really. First just puts me behind a computer which is where I belong. Computers are my life.

Oh and in some cases FIRST has both destroyed and built relationships, so
its all good.

~The Wind Comes And The Wind Goes. The Same Goes For Everything That Looks Like Me~

[petek]

Things I've given up for FIRST:
Over a month of vacation and personal days
Way too many ski trips
Any chance of becoming a couch potato
The joys of being a grumpy old guy

[LightWaves1636]

Sleep, a relationship, theatre, and excessive free time, but the people I've met, the new friends I've made, and the kids I've helped inspired; stepping back and looking at the work I've done with and for FIRST, I'm pretty satisfied and happy currently. Being in college, most of my old friends back in high school go to liberal arts colleges and don't like math so I really rarely see them anyway but we keep in contact through the web no matter how technologically inept some of them are(I have one friend who runs away from computers because she doesn't like using them).

[Nate Edwards]

I gave up sleep, my american legal studies class, tennis and some other minor things, but the things I have gained obviously out weigh the things I have gave up.

Nate

[JoeXIII'007]

For FIRST, I've given up 5 weekdays for 6 weeks for a very good bot. It was well worth sacrificing the time and effort on something else other than my homework. :-) And I even got that stuff done!

Other stuff I gave up: Time with family, playing video games every day, afternoon naps (with the same amount of nightly sleep [7 hours]), and my overall daily schedule.

[crazyone]

Let's see
*money,
*sleep,
*food,
*gas for car, and
*brownie points w/ some teachers
(i would also include my sanity as mentioned by others, but i never had any to begin with. How can you lose something you never had to start?)

But on the other hand i did get more than i lost such as rewarding expriences and stories to tell.

[lagoonfreeze]

I have given up most of my free time and i have neglected my friends for the past three months. I swear to god i started to live at the shop

[Alex Pelan]

My February vacation (or at least 8-11 hours a day of it) and countless other hours, that I probably would have spent doing nothing productive anyway.