Basketball and Robotics

Basketball and Robotics

Alivia sporting some of the team pins she collected during the Robotics competition.

By Allan Olson

My first week back at work after vacation was very busy – by any standards.
First I had to play catch-up, and then I had to work on current stuff. And while I think there are still a few lingering catch-up items, for the most part I was able to keep on top of things while on the road, or the main office was able to handle it while I was gone.
The rest of the week flew by. Of course, it started out with a brake failure on one of our vehicles – that was fun!
The busiest days were Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Thursday was the first, and I guess last, game of the CL-B girls basketball playoffs in Fosston. It was a hard decision for me to go to that game. Abigail was making homemade lasagna (with some assistance from her mom) and I knew that we would be hitting the road early the next morning for Robotics. Still, I would’ve felt bad if I hadn’t gone, so that’s what I did.
The game was pretty intense and physical, but our opponents were able to build just enough of a lead to keep us from advancing, and so the Lady Panthers season ended.
We hit the road really early on Friday morning for the Robotics Regional event in Grand Forks. I wanted to be there for the opening ceremony, and I thought that was at 8 so we left at 5:20. I didn’t take food stops into account, and so our trip took closer to 2.5 hours than two hours, and I thought we were going to miss it – but we didn’t since it was at 8:30 a.m.
We watched several rounds of Robotics competition and saw our teams falling in the rankings, thanks in part to some unlucky pairings in the alliances, but they carried on and continued to do their best. We took a lunch break and then went and did a quick road test on a newer, more fuel efficient and lower maintenance headache vehicle. It was loaded to the hilt, but it wasn’t in the price range we were looking for, and the dealer had no interest in negotiating, “because they are a best price dealer.” I’m sure that’s what they say when someone goes to trade in a vehicle, too.
We found another vehicle at a different lot, closer to what we wanted, but it was in use that day so we said we would be back Saturday. When we returned Saturday to drive it, I discovered I had messed up and looked at the wrong one; it had many more miles on it than I wanted, so we didn’t drive it and moved on.
The rest of Friday was spent at the Robotics event, although I did find time to attend a geocaching event at the local mall with Abigail. That evening, the kids and I – mostly the kids – went swimming; I also visited with some other Robotics mentors.
Saturday was more Robotics – the final qualification rounds were held and the final alliances were eventually selected, with our teams chosen as reserves.
We watched the awards ceremony, and when our girls’ team was selected for an award it really took us all by surprise. It was very exciting.
After the awards ceremony, it was time to pack things up. As much as I wanted to just grab Nikolai and head for home, it would’ve made me sick to just walk out and let the others do all the work. So we put the old adage “Many hands make light work” into action and everyone who was still around grabbed stuff and started hauling it out to the vehicle.
On Saturday night I told the kids that their parents were officially off duty until 10 a.m. on Sunday, so please save their fighting and questions and injuries (if any) until after that. Surprisingly, they did leave us alone until that time. I got out of bed, found some food and then went back to bed to apparently enjoy some more much-needed sleep. I told the girls to wake me up before 12:30 p.m. so I could take them to a birthday party (of course, I set my alarm just in case).
While the girls were at the birthday party, I loaded up on caffeine at a local coffee shop, used their wi-fi and did some work.
My plans for this weekend (aside from basketball playoffs) are uncertain. I know the next couple of weeks are going to be busy with basketball, and soon baseball will be on the calendar, but I wouldn’t have it any other way – bring on spring and spring sports!

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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