chuckle Sorry. Thank you for representing. We may be able to go 2006 after supporting San Diego regional.
We would go but its a huge trip, we go to championships each year and are hoping to go to 2 regionals next year… If we work hard enough our second regional might get to the midwest… I don’t know, its really hard to fundraise out here, with a lack of big companies, but maybe we can get some of the big companies is Portland to sponsor us, Nike, Addidas, And Reebok all said no… so it doesn’t leave alot of options.
Nate
Well in 2003 it was -12 degrees two mornings in a row and i know there was at least one case of frost bite on my team :yikes: 
…probably doesnt help that we stood out side verizon for and hour and a half before the doors opened either though.
-Pat
Pat mentioned one case of frostbite…well I think there were at least a few and I think there were like five or six cases of colds and such. I think it was worth it though.
(/me is still cold)
Friendly people is an understatement. It is impossible for your team to feel uncomfortable or unwelcome in Canada. That’s part of the reason 48 goes up north every year. That and of course the outstanding competition! It really is one of the most organized and well-staffed events FIRST runs.
We’d love to see more American teams come up to the Canadian Regional, it makes the whole event more exciting.
While we’re on the topic, I’d like to invite teams to come up and attend the 2005 Waterloo regional. The event will be held on the campus of the University of Waterloo, which is only 45 minutes southwest of Toronto’s airport. The venue will be nice and intimate, and the town is a great place to visit. I know it’s early, but teams should definitely keep this in mind. Plus I’ll be there, what more could anyone want? 
Well we went to the canadian regional…and all I gotta say is we had a blast! Team 188 hosted us, making it more cost effective, and a lot more fun too. Yeah, we had to pay a good deal for shipping and airplane tickets, but it was well worth it.
We started off heading over to team 188’s member’s houses. They were hosting us, so 2 southern californian kids per canadian family that was willing to host (11 students and the teacher came alltogether). They took us sight seeing on wednesday. We went to Niagra falls, where a few of us saw snow for the first or second time in our lives (no joke!). After that, we went to the top of the CN tower, where one of our members conquered his fear of heights. We had dinner in the revolving tower, and then headed to the raptor vs. golden state game.
The next 3 days were the competitions. Our teams were very friendly with eachother, and we constantly went back and forth to see how the other was doing. We would help where we could, loan tools, and just hang out in the bit of spare time we had. Saturday, 188 ended up being 8th seed, and alliance 6. They turned down an invite from a higher seed, and ended up picking us as their first alliance partner! We went on to the quarter-finals with our alliance, and sadly lost to the winning regional alliance in the tiebreaker. Unfortunatly, our robot’s arm broke, as did 188’s hanging mechanism. However, 188 won a few awards! They won the sportsmanship award, well deserved! They also won the website award for the second time this year, and I hope they can take it home at nationals. Their mentor, Mr. Anderson, won the Woodie Flowers award as well, and from what I saw, nobody would be more deserving.
We headed out to dinner with 188 that night and had a pretty good time there. Sunday they took us shopping at the Eaton Center, and we hung around with a few of their team members. Monday they took us to school with them, and beside the below freezing weather, it was fun. Our school systems are actually different in a lot of ways, so it was interesting to see how.
All in all, we had a blast! We could not have come up there without 188’s support and help. They opened up their homes to us, and made sure we had a good time. We ended up in talks of a rotational system, where they would come the next year, then we would go to Canada the year after, etc. I cannot thank 188 enough for all of their help. As you can see, we stuck together and actually became good friends with their members.
I hope other teams take this lead and begin the hosting process, because it takes the cost of hotels out of the factor, enables some sightseeing, and makes the experience better alltogether.
I am already counting down the days until we can visit Team 22 in California next year. Adding onto what avarik said, which was a fantastic and really humbling post, we were EXTREMELY glad to be able to host Team 22. When the first few people signed up for hosting we were not exactly sure what we were getting into. Yet right from the first night when we picked them up at school, it became clear just how great this experience was going to be. Forget about staying at the same hotel at a regional competition, the same houses, strategy and scouting meetings with two teams there, it was just a unique and truly wonderful experience that Team 188 enjoyed as much as Team 22 did coming over here. The culture at times is so different from the United States’ and then at times so similar. (Milk in a bag versus our own 5-6ft high lockers, combined science and math courses in grades 9 and 10, the fact that we refer to grades 9 and 10 instead of freshman/sophomore). This goes beyond robotics as well! Take into account all the exchange and work placement programs you have heard about at school, add a dash of FIRST robotics and gracious professionalism, and you have the International Robotics Exchange Program, truly something that exemplifies the spirit of FIRST.
I don’t know if y’all would like us playing out east - we would win too much. 
j/k We would love to but money is always an issue. Anyway, we might meet the challenge by heading out to IRI this summer. It depends on how many people on our team are going to be in the country at that time, I can only count on about 4 right now including myself. Then of those people, how many could actually go. It might just me me, my tools, and the robot. LOL! Anyway, we are planing on our first ever Championship event for next year. Its about time, we will be a 5th year team.
I noticed that at the time the 2005 Purdue Regional wasn’t really around but now the teams from the West can come to a “well known” college and compete, and maybe do a little sight seeing around the campus. Hopefully the Purdue Regional will have teams from North, South, Canada, and maybe even Brazil. I say we pack the Purdue Regional as full as possible and make it a “Super Regional” in 06 with like 2 playing field and twice as many alliances in the eliminations. 
Hopefully we can see your team at the 05 Purdue Regional!
-Kyle