A Robotics kind of weekend


#6378---Marcus spent the entire day at the gym on Saturday, helping with “Flag Ninja” duties, match after match, for about 10 hours. He also occasionally helped with the field reset, and a little bit with the tear-down process.

By Allan Olson

This weekend was exhausting, working as chief photographer and media representative at the robotics competition held in Cass Lake on Saturday, I took quite a few photos, talked with a lot of people, and assisted where needed, when needed. One of the FIRST robotics event leaders told the group in the morning meeting that he takes about 25,000 steps at one of these regional events. At about 3 p.m. I checked my FIT app, certain that I was nearing that mark and, to my dismay, I wasn’t even close. As a matter of fact, I didn’t break 10,000 steps for the day! I don’t know how, because I felt like all I did was run from one part of the gym to another, taking photos of the many different facets of the event and the people involved.
At lunch time, I emptied my memory card in between bites of Red Lake Walleye and got ready for the games to start again. There was so much excitement in the air, and this was just a “little” Robotics event, with a mere 17 teams taking part, compared with over 60 at most regional events. Still, the teams and their fans were all hyped up and happy to be showing off their robots one more time, and for many (most?) probably the last time.
At the end of the event, I was shooting the final match, hoping that the CL-B boys’ robot would climb the last foot and signal the light to forge ahead for the win. When it didn’t, I stood there with a big smile on my face. Sure, I was disappointed, but I was excited, too, because all the teams played hard and left everything on the field. 
It was an exhilarating, crazy run, but it made no sense to get so wound up over six machines racing across this small field, grabbing and delivering plastic gears or shooting balls into a boiler to earn points and to race to grab ahold of a rope to climb the tower in the final 30 seconds of the match. No, it really didn’t make any sense at all. But then again, neither does chasing a little white ball all over fairways and greens, or rooting for a bunch of guys chasing each other all over a hundred yard-long field, or people literally getting into fights over their (insert your preferred sport here) team losing. 
For me, I really got into Robotics during this past build season. I finally got to see the main competition. I watched the team start the project from scratch and followed them from beginning to end. I know the hundreds of hours they all put in together, only to be paired with two other teams randomly at every event in which they participated. A team standing next to them in an alliance in one round as their comrades could be competing against them in the next round.
That was my Saturday, and it was exhausting. I felt it on Sunday.
I woke up early Sunday morning and promptly went back to sleep. It was my only chance to sleep in for the foreseeable future, and I really wanted to take advantage of it. The next thing I knew, it was 9:30 a.m., and I only woke up then because one of the kids wanted their electronics device which was locked in our room. Noting the time, I figured I’d better get up and have a steaming mug of tea to fend off any impending caffeine headaches. I made a breakfast sandwich for momma and me, and tried to get motivated to do something. Instead I found myself back in bed reading a book. Later I went outside and stowed the mower, put the lawn furniture away and took care of a couple other things that needed to be done out in the yard.
I am disappointed that another summer and fall have seemed to slip by so quickly. With our crazy busy lives, it seems that we really didn’t take the time to enjoy our backyard and our fire pit. That means we are going to have try even harder next year to balance our schedules in the summer and take advantage of those precious few moments while we can.
I got some more work stuff done on Sunday evening, and when I crawled into bed I decided I needed to finish my book. That brought me to midnight, which sure made Monday morning come awfully fast.
For this weekend, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that I will be joining the brigade of blaze orange and heading into the woods to chase the elusive whitetail. Hopefully this year my aim will be true and I will bring home some venison for the crockpot and fry pan. Even if I don’t score, I’m sure it will be fun hunting with my family again and reliving the same old stories we’ve all heard a thousand times – we still enjoy them just as much as the first time we heard them! For everyone who is going hunting – be safe, and have fun.

Please remember to watch out for the buses that will be carrying our most precious cargo. Also, snap a photo or two to preserve a lifetime of memories. Thanks for reading, and have a great week! Feel free to drop me a line at cltimes1@arvig.net or stop by the office for a visit.

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