Happily not much at all happened today..After a crazy week and a half of travel  it was so very nice to be back home, work around the house a bit and get outside . The big news of the day is that we discovered Polar coconut seltzer.. it’s certainly different.. might even be good.. but still trying to decide on that 🙂 

nite all, nite sam

-me

 

Today was nice and slower compared to the energy of yesterday.   I spent the day . I spent the time walking around meeting teams, visiting the other Vermont teams (We had 4 there this year at worlds which is fantastic).. And visiting with some  of the FIRST leaders.

 

One of the things I was doing is exploring interest in an idea .. which we’re calling OnBoard to get more kids interested in the electronics part of making robots by helping them learn to make their own custom printed circuit boards (PCBs) .  my friends Zach and Max at Hackclub are interested in it too. We all met with soem Hackclub members there to get their ideas. I ran into my friend Kevin.. a super sharp high school kid  i met at a hackathon when he was still in 8th grade. Kevin i*already* makes his own circuit boards.. I think he’s going to be a key collaborator on this.. !

Then I said good bye to FRC 9101 team toast.. THey’d ended up as the top rated rookie team in the Artemis division.. one of the top leagues. We are so proud of them and their coaches !

Then back to the airport.. on the plane and another great ride home. I got to talk more to John, Alex (great getting to know him !) _ , Christine.. and then  Zach and I went to the back to begin working on how to get OnBoard  off the ground. I am SOOOO psyched about it !

 

Thanks so much to John for making this trip  possible !  … and for that matter for helping make FIRST possible !!!

nite all, nite sam

-me

Today was amazing. I woke up early and drove to Heritage air. My freind John had kindly offered to fly a few of us down to the FIRST World Championship in Houston to see the Vermont teams compete. I was the last oen onboard… in addition to John were my friends Zach, Christina and Alex, the new president of Champlain College. I’d not met him yet, but was looking forward to.. this was a great chance to get to know him. 

The flight down was fun and full of good ideas. John is an amazing mentor. I always love spending time with him. He’s passionate about innovation and education.. He was one of the first Executive Directors of. FIRST robotics and through the Argosy fund is helping us grow FIRST in Vermont.    It was also great getting some  quality time with Zach and Christina. Zach is the  founder of http://hackclub.org, an organization that  helps kids in high school create self organized software and making teams. Its’ an amazing organization and Zach and his growing team including Christina moved to Vermont during covid. Christina is a war correspondent turned development lead and is full of stories from her travels.. super nice and interesting.  I’ve been watching them grow for the last 3 years and have always wanted to do a project with them.    Zach and I started to shape a plan I have for getting more students to see the fun and beauty of electronics. … that turned out to be a theme of this trip. 
The flight passed quickly with a quick refuel in Missouri we did to avoid a storm on the way down. 

Meanwhile my Boss Kyle flew down with 5 more beta freinds.. So Beta was goign to be represented in force !

We got to IAH then drove to the Championship venue. It was amazing. I heard that there were 43,000 kids there competing along with their coaches, mentors, refereees etc. It was a massive geek fest.. everyone was weraing team costumes, robots were everywhere. 

We got there just in time  to see the “Dean’s List” lunch, where FIRSt’s leader My friend (and BETA board member)  Dean Kamon announces ten winners of the Dean’s List award. for exceptional leadership.. The ballroom was packed with kids nominate for the  Deans List . 1 by 1 we heard form the sponsors of FIRST,  The FIRST Execs and Dean Kamon then we met the 10 winners. 

It was great to see Dean in his element.. he’s a rock star here for sure !

From there we dove into the pits.. we found our team, watched some matches and met a gazillion excited kids and coaches. This is the first world event I’ve been to in nearly 20 years. I was amazed at the energy of the teams and the sophistication of the robots they built !
First stop was to see our new FRC team 9101 .. “Team Toast”… (named because it looks like a piece of toast). They are doing really well for a rookie team. They ended up ebing the top Rokie Team in their Division (Archemedis) 

Thats where we met up with all our BETA friends.. we went and watched Team Toast compete.. 

I said goodbye to my friends and headed off to a VIP dinner.. .super fun talking to other sponsors and the FIRST leaders..  Later on I met up with my friend Michael from FIRST NE

Long and super fun day. I’m so excited to be working with FIRST !

 

nite all, nite sam

-me

We had an uneventful trip  home.. I  find still love the time between places … when I’m on a plane.. neither here nor there…it’s a great time to think. . Today i was thinking on the origins of 420..  .. the day we celebrate marijuana..  it turns out that there are many stories about the origin.. but the most authoritative. Explanation is that it began  at. San Rafael High School   .    San Rafael ?!.. we just came from there.. how cool is that ? ( I later learned that my Frind Mike S actually went to that high school !!!!!)    Isnt it amazing how an idea .. even a silly one.. can take hold and bring. So much fun to that many people !

I hope those of you who partake celibrated 420 in a way that was meaningful and fun.. 
nite all, note sam

-me