Actually getting to sleep in today, after a long week of competition we rolled out of bed around 9:30 and started re-packing all of our belongings. We were all excited about going home getting to see our families and we all kind of missed the cold air of Minnesota. Never having been to the beach before, Donovan decided to take some sand home with him in a water bottle. Without thinking he had put the bottle in his carry-on luggage. The image of the bottle looked suspicious on the x-ray screen and so the TSA stopped him. After about 15 minutes he was let go, and got to keep his sand! The flight from Santa Ana to Minneapolis went very well, and we landed safely in Minneapolis around 6:30 cst. With a three and half hour layover, we hit the arcade and walked around the airport in search for food. After eating at a Chili's we headed towards terminal A6 and waited for our plane. During our short wait to board the plane we discovered that we had forgotten our banner somewhere in the vast airport. Shalin set off on foot to the arcade we had stopped at and retrieved our banner, just in time to board the plane. Compared to the 4 hour flight from Santa Ana to Minneapolis this flight was short and sweet, taking about 45 minutes. It was a beautiful sight seeing all the small towns on the border of Minnesota and North Dakota lit up at night. After landing, we waited for everyone else to get off the plane, because we were in no rush. Getting off the plane we were absolutely ecstatic to be able to see our breath as we stepped off the plane, all of us taking a moment to stand in the cold air an enjoy the feeling of it. After mistaking another schools Tahoe for our schools Suburban we loaded all of our luggage into the correct vehicle and were on our way home.
It was bitter sweet when we arrived at the school. Robotics was finally over for three of us and we were all sad, but grateful we got to end it in such an awesome way. We would like to thank everyone in our community and the surrounding areas, as well as family and friends from other parts of the country for supporting us and making this possible. Donovan, Shalin, and Alexis couldn't have asked for a better way to end their high school career a better way. Thank you. -- Team #4149G, The Iron Chargers.
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Blog entry by Alexis On the way to our pit this morning we ran into a fellow Gryglian, John Polansky. After asking us a few questions about our robot and making sure to get our match times, he was off to watch his cousins up coming match. Our first match of the day went incredibly well, and brought all of our spirits up. After heading back to our pit area we got a visit from, our favorite Vex Volunteer, Andrew Dahlen. We decided that we would head over with him and watch the NCTC Robotics team's next match. After cheering them on, we went back to our pit to prepare for our last match. Checking to make sure everything was in place; no screws loose, and swapping the old battery out for a freshly charged one, we were queued and off to the other side if the arena toward the Arts Division Competition field. This match was a close one, we were up against two spatula bots as well as being allied with one. We had lots of support in the audience; Andrew and Arron (both Vex Volunteers from Minnesota), The NCTC team, Donovan's parents, John Polanksy, as well as all of the people watching the webcast cheering us on from home. During the match our allies bot was not working correctly, but successfully got in the way of our opponents robots. It was up to just us to score, and it was a very close call but we ended up winning 111 to 80. Bringing us all the way up to 37th, with a 5-5 record. Being overjoyed with our accomplishments, we went to cheer on our friends, the Windom Eagles and the Boss Botz. Although no Minnesota teams made it into the finals we were all excited about how far each of us had come and all sat together to watch the other teams compete for the win.
After a long day we packed everything up and went on a search for food. Walking down the road we decided on the local buffet and ate until we were stuffed. We spent the rest of our night in the company of our Minnesota friends, the Windom Eagles, walking around Anaheim. We couldn't think of a better way to end our week stay in California and left off with one last group hug, enclosing the very claustrophobic Alexis in the middle. Blog entry by Alexis Today we went 3-2 with little to no problems after we changed our design to a four-wheel drive, rather than two-wheel drive. Although the day flew by, we seemed to have lots of downtime today getting caught up in conversations with the other Minnesota teams, as well as our new friends from other countries! Our group talking with Austin and Tanner from the Boss Botz. Walking back to our hotel with a few of the Windom Eagles; Ryan, Isaac, and Nicholas. Today was also the day they revealed the new Vex Robotics Competition game, Toss Up. If you would like more information on the game and how its played, click here to watch the official game reveal video.
Tonight we decided we wanted to go and sit down at a restaurant and much to our dismay, there was a very long line at the Cheesecake Factory. We decided we would go to a new restaurant, McCormick & Schmick, completely unaware of how under-dressed we were to be eating here. After dropping about 30 dollars each on a steak, we walked around the mall for a little bit before deciding it was time to go to sleep. Blog entry by Emilie Today we decided to veto a large breakfast and just stopped by the 7-11, grabbing junk to nibble on as well. We were all quite excited; it was our first real competition day. We would actually be in the matches and using our robot. But only perhaps twice; there are so many teams there that trying to shove all of our matches into one day would be impossible. And then, as soon as we entered our booth, we discovered a 'hateful letter' from one of befriended teams, the Windom Eagles. It made us all smile to see this. Then, we were all called into the main tournament area for a Drivers Meeting. Only the drivers were required to attend, but the whole team went just to experience it. Though not everyone from each team was in there, it was still amazing to see. After the meeting, we left to go and program our robot.
For like, 2 hours. But seriously, we sat and worked at that practice field for around an hour and a half. Once we were finally satisfied with what we had accomplished programming wise, the matches began and the rest of the day flew by quickly. We ended up not winning a match due to mechanical problems we ran into. So, we spent the majority of the night fixing the darn thing. Blog entry by Alexis After breakfast, we started assembling the robot to it's normal state. Once this was done we packed everything up and headed over to the Anaheim Convention Center. We had showed up rather early so we killed time by catching up with the two other Minnesota teams that are also here in California, the Boss Botz and the Windom Eagles. Once we were registered we headed to our provided pit area and hung up our banner as well as setting up our charging and working station. We decided, last minute of course, that we needed to change our autonomous mode. Autonomous mode is a time in the competition that your robot has to work on its own. Programming this mode has been a very confusing area for our team. Luckily Andrew Dahlen and his NCTC college team were here to help us out. Working on the autonomous programming took all night, and well into the next day. Thankfully we have a working autonomous mode now, which we can score 15 points in the troth with. We also made tons of new friends from all over the world, just on the first day! One that we have particularly gotten close with, Jessica, is from New Zealand. Now I would like to apologize fro taking so long to update you guys on what we've been doing, we have been quite busy with little to no wifi. Thank you for still supporting us through all of this! You guys are lovely!
Blog entry by Emilie Today was really just great. After we were kicked out of our warm, comfortable beds, we made our way over to Ihop, where we all ordered a delicious breakfast before we set out in style We figured that as long as we were renting a car for the day anyways, why not one we could enjoy such as a Camaro? So, now with our luxurious ride, we set off in search of the vast ocean. This would be the first time for all of us, save Alexis, to view it. We were pleasantly surprised when we arrived to see all of the waves crashing in the blue water; much larger than those of the cute little lakes back home. Emilie happened to get some splashed into her mouth, and was both surprised, yet unsurprised at how salty it was. Once we were done frolicking like children in the cold waves, and were more than a little soaked, we left the water in search of higher, drier ground. But, with the search of drier ground also came with it a very sandy predicament; you should have seen Donovan's jeans. Yes. Donovan wore jeans in the ocean. But, what more do you expect of us Minnesotans eh? Once we were done playing in the sand while we dried off, and Mr. Kvasager almost got run over by a bicycle, we all squished back into the Camaro and set off for lunch. We found it at In & Out burger, which had been recommended to us by an old Californian. Yes, Alexis insisted visiting the delicious burger joint. We were glad she did though; good food and cheap prices. We went to the hotel once more, changed out of our wet, sandy clothes, and headed off to another highlight of the day; a go-cart track. This was fun. We put on our 'head socks' and helmets and hopped into the little battery powered carts that were capable of going 45 mph. It was amazing to feel the speed of the cart as we slid and drifted on the turns and occasionally bumped into the other racers. Of course all of our skills ranged from one person to the next, going from the fast and furious Mr. Kvasager, who decided taking it easy on children was a ridiculous notion (He came in first every time) to the sweet and timid Alexis, who felt that if someone wanted to pass her, they should. We finally finished our 3 races, and headed out once more in our beautiful black Camaro. Now, the day was winding down to an end and we headed back to our hotel, refreshing ourselves for a moment before we were off again, on foot this time, with the Garden Walk in our sights.
We wandered throughout the mall for a bit, making a few purchases, before we headed back to the hotel for the last time that night, picking up random meals once more at the strip mall. Then we all settled down for the night, watching The Breakfast Club together before we went to bed. If you want more pictures from today, they are found here! Post by Alexis On Monday, April 15th we all woke up early in the morning and headed for the happiest place on Earth, Disneyland! Upon entry of the vast park we saw both Mickey Mouse and Goofy, with long lines of people waiting in line to take pictures with them. We decided that it wasn't quite worth it to wait in line just for a picture. As we walked past Downtown Disney and deeper into the park we caught sight of the he Star Wars themed ride, Star Tours. Right away Mr. Kvasager and Alexis, both huge Star Wars fans, decided that was the first stop in the park, despite the 30 minute wait. When entering the Star Wars ride you walk through and see many characters from the movies such as R2D2 and C3PO. Then you grab a pair of "flight glasses" and head to the Virtual 3D part of the ride. In Alexis' opinion this was the best part of the whole entire day. In this ride it is as if you are on a spaceship from Star Wars and right away you get into conflict with Darth Vader and he says he want you to give up the "rebel spy" that is on board the spaceship. They then show a picture of one of the passengers on board and it turned out it was Alexis! Her enthusiasm could not be contained for the rest of the day, and she even bought a shirt that said "I am the rebel spy." Much to her dismay she did not get to meet Darth Vader in person, although she did see him fighting young Jedi Knights through out the day. After the Star Tours ride we took the Disney Monorail around the park and decided where to go next. We went on the Nemo Submarine Tour ride, and then decided to take a look at Tony Stark's Iron Man suits. Emilie, Shalin and Mr. Kvasager went on the Alice and Wonderland Teacups while Donovan and Alexis watched. Next we went on the Its a small world and Splash Mountain rides along with many other rides throughout the park. After spending 10 hours at the park we decided to head out earlier than planned, and without realizing we walked right into the Disney Parade, so we stayed to watch.
To check out more pictures click here. Blog entry by Emilie. Today, we left our small hometown of Grygla, glad to know that we had bright, blue skies in our sights. Especially with the impending snow storm at home. So, we packed all of our luggage into the back of the school's suburban and headed off towards Grand Forks, where we would take a plane to Minneapolis. Stepping on the plane was quite a challenge for Emilie; she was frightened of flying. But, after being told her fears were not relevant, she was able to board quite easily. Then, when we were finally ready for take off (A first flight for all of us, in fact) it was Alexis who was nervous. But, all went well and we were in the air, taking pictures and reveling at the sight of the far away ground like the tourists we are. We finally landed in 'beautiful' Minneapolis! It was actually quite gross outside; raining, slippery, and grey. But, it was still better than Grygla, that's for sure. At least there was no snow. And then, we had to wait a 2 1/2 hour overlay. But, we found that the time passed quickly as we took in the sights of the HUGE airport, and stopped for a bite to eat at T.G.I. Fridays. After we were full of good food, and had become acquainted with an interesting waiter with killer nails, we were off once more, heading towards our correct terminal where we boarded a larger plane (Much more confidently might I add), and took off on a 4 hour flight, which was delayed in the slightest; 25 minutes. But, the landscapes were beautiful, and the time, though passed slowly, was well worth the wait. We finally landed in beautiful Orange County, California! We took a shuttle from there to our hotel, and headed out for a meal. We found it at a small strip mall; we each had a random meal from a random shop. Afterwords we headed back to hotel sweet hotel and slept heavily after our long day of travel.
More pictures can be found here! |