As part of our demo day prep, Rebar, Shannon and I went down to see my good friend Dave D at Mainly Metals.. Dave operates a water jet shop down in Bristol with 3 big machines. We used them to build the Time Cycle back in 2009 (here’s an  old post from then ) 

Today we just had to cut out a piece of aluminum to finish off the top off our battery demo.. 

It was SOOOO good catching up with Daves life and work. He’s such an interesting and kind person. He was able to make time in his schedule to do this simple part. It was fun watching the machine work. It’s the closest thing to a light saber you can actually find !

We headed back to South Burlington about noon.. it had been a really great field trip !

Max is on his way to Vietnam right now with friends. Wishing him happy and safe travels !

Night all. nite sam !

-me

Gosh.. really nothing much happened today.   We are heads down at work preparing for our study hall wine, dine and demo on Wednesday. we have 3 new demos to finish, test and document.. it’s really fun work.. and so nice to be working with our hands so hard..

I’m heading to Portland on Thursday and really looking forward to seeing Diane, gabe. Sammantha and nova… I’m doing a decent job of eating, sleeping and exercising.. but it’s much more fun when diane is here 🙂

nite all, nite sam

-me

started the day with a very nice hike with my friends Nina and Micah.. and their 1yo daughter daughter Helena and dog Skios. We picked up in the Huntington town forest which was beautiful.. and easy walk . I haven’t  seen them in a while  and it was nice catching up !

From there I headed in to work to help;p on decorating the BETA bus.. It goes in to service tomorrow. I worked on the lights .. They’re sound activated and look pretty nice when music is on. We had a pretty good crowd there today.. Kyle. Katie, Ruby. Mary, Rebar, Kristina, Lochie.. lots of fun.. and even some test dancing !

Cant wait to ride !

nite all, note sam

-me

today was the Vermont FIRST Lego League Championship, the biggest one the State has ever held with nearly 30 Teams competing from all over the state. The event was in the Shapiro field house  at Norwich University in Northfeild VT . My ferried Ray and I left early from Richmond and got down there about 8. Mike C and his team had done a *fantastic* job at preparing for the event. The field house was packed with more than 500cheering  kids, coaches, parents, judges and officials.  There really is nothing like an event like a FIRST championship for showing how fun STEAM (science technology engineering art and math) can be !

The event began with some opening remarks from Mike C and a few visiting dignitaries.. Then the competition began !. The teams took turns competing and cooperating to navigate a course and perform as many of the predefined tasks as their robot could accomplish. 

There were soooooo many friends of mine there. .. many folks I hadn’t seen in years.. and some new friends like Carlos, Elisa and Genje

After a day of competition.. it was time for the awards.. The excitement in the room was incredible !

We have another event coming up on Saturday Feb 11 at CVU from 10-3. . This time it will be  the Vermont FIRST Tech Challenge Championship . Bigger teams, bigger robots.. and lots of cheering kids. 

Please come join us. !. I guarantee it will leave you smiling !

nite all, nite sam

-me