In life there are many trials.(I believe) Currently, I am in college and I feel it is definitely a trial. A trial of fiscality, of intelligence, of resourcefulness, and of patience. Some might call it the trial of knowledge. I’ve given this some thought, and I’ve been thinking…what kind of trials are you currently facing?
Sorry if this is a bit of an out there kind of question, I’m a bit of an out there kind of guy.
Not to state the obvious, but:
The Trial of FRC!
You pose a pretty neat question.
I’d say my big trial right now is my big move back to school - for the first time I’ll be living off-campus instead of in the dorms, and really having to think hard about what happens when graduation comes, where I’ll end up, etc. That and maintaining contact with family - my brother now lives across the country, and I’ll probably be adventuring far, far away soon too.
My other trial, connected to the first, is maintaining contact with old friends. It’s incredibly easy to let meaningful relationships just slip away, and much harder to rebuild them after you do.
Let’s be careful with this one, boys and girls. We don’t want:
(a) posts claiming “my life is tougher than yours”
(b) too much information given - either things we don’t need to know, or things that are too personally indentifying.
I think that this is an interesting thread.
I look back on my life and I don’t remember anything being a trial…
I do remember challenges I had to face… some I did better with than others.
Decisions I made that changed my life … New directions I got to try out…
I think that the word trial … I think the definition is something like:
the act of testing or trying something… hence ‘TRY’ al
You could also use the court/legal definition… but I don’t think that is what is meant here.
I think we should think of it more as what new things do I get to try this year?
How will I challenge myself?..How will I challenge my team?
If we want to look back… What new things did I get to do last year?
What new things did I learn about myself?
If we keep it to these kinds of ideas about trials this could be interesting.
I, too, don’t want to see this become a game of one-up-man ship about problems overcome or foreseen.
Let’s hear what you have done that is new… how did you stretch yourself??
How does FIRST allow you to do this?
You really want to know… okay,
I’m in the middle of one of the biggest projects I’ve ever been a part of.
Problem is I’m not allowed to do any of the work but just test it as to meeting standards. But its all on my head if the roadway passes or fails and if the contractor (which is my friend and former boss) get paid 100% or 50% of the contract. We’re talking millions. Lot of eyes watching me all the time.
My personal life seems to be going downhill…someone I really cared about seems to have lost interest in me or is too busy to even think to say happy birthday. So be it. Usually when things are like that I throw myself into my work… but with all this rain I end up sitting around thinking of them.
The robotics group project I’ve been wanting to start to encourage kids with a parent in prison to stay in school and break the cycle of prison seems to be hitting one brick wall after another. We got the funding but the group that was going to work with us has had some setbacks and pulled out.
I’ve also developed some health issues… I’ve a heel spur that been making getting around painful and my blood pressure been jumping around like a out of control boiler.
But I just keep taking life’s little trials as they come.
If life was easy, people wouldn’t be dieing to get out of it. 
Thankfully paving season will be over soon… We’ve got a lay us off banner in the lab already… little early but me and my crew been running 24 hrs a day , 6 days a week and are all looking forward to some down time.
I feel a road trip coming on 
-p:cool:
Ok, first time coming back to read this thread for a while. I’m a bit apalled. Not by what was said. Not by the one-up-manship ‘problem’. But by the fact that a well-thought out post was removed due to intimidation. Boiler’s post gave me a bit of a different perspective. It allowed me to remember that someone always has it worse. This is not a thread for pity, it is a thread for self realization. A way of looking at people in a new light and understanding that we all face trials. It is as simple as that.
With that being said, I don’t want this to become a debate either. I just wanted to clear up why I started this thread. I won’t be on enough to argue my point, so please just take this as a sincere apology to those who might have been offended by the ‘problem’ and to anyone else that might have been silenced.
Okay a little update;
I’ve been through a Trial of Life today… faced Tropical Storm Hana… the engineers said I had nothing to worry about. Only had eight unfinished bridges I was worried about… and a few hundred thousand tons of asphalt road and two asphalt plants. We’ll the engineers were right, everything rode the storm out fine and we spent the afternoon slinging mud in our 4x4 pick up’s 
What I thought was going to be a bad day actually turned out to be a fun afternoon… even if I did have to get pulled out of a mud hole by my woman lab asst. Going be hearing about that one for a long time.
Just goes to show sometimes our trials of life aren’t as bad as we thought and can turn out good.
Now if I can get just as lucky with Ike…:ahh:
Maybe this time I’ll listen to the engineers … naw that wouldn’t be me. :eek:
-p