Aerial Assist

Gather around friends and family. In less than 48 hours, robots are going to take the field and throw exercise balls high into goals, and area high school teams will be working hard to win the FIRST FRC Chesapeake Regional!

Another of six-week long build season has come to close and we are well into the competitions. This week is week #6 and the Robodoves of Western High School will be competing at our local regional. Here's a picture of our robot from a couple weeks back at the North Carolina regional competition. We came home with the Judges Award!

This Friday & Saturday (April 4 & 5), the Chesapeake Regional is taking place at the Comcast Center at the Univ of MD in College Park, MD. The event is FREE and open to the public. There is a lot to see and watch. There will be 54 teams from all over MD, DC, and VA plus a few from out of state.

All day Friday and on Saturday morning, the teams will be competing in qualification matches. Our robot, Joan of Arcs, will be in a number of matches across that time. After lunch on Saturday, the elimination matches are played and we are looking forward to be a part of that. Below is a schedule of events plus information about FIRST Stop which is a guided tour through the pits and arena. It's FREE.

There is more information online about location, directions, schedule, parking, etc. Check out: http://www.mdfirst.org/programs/first-robotics-competition/chesapeake-regional.html.

If you do come out -- come find me and the team. Look for Team 2528 - Western High School Robodoves. I'll be in the pit or on the field competing.

Lots more pictures on the team Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/RoboDoves-Team-2528/64728866444

Thanks for reading!
~J^3

Ready to Rumble?

Q: Do you enjoy watching basketball?
A: Sure.

Q: Do you like robots?
A: Sure, they are cool.

Q: How about robots built, programmed, and controlled by high school students?
A: Intriguing. Tell me more.

Q: How about these same robots playing basketball?
A: Really?!

This week - March 9th and 10th - come out to the Baltimore Convention Center and watch 40 high school teams compete with their robots at the FIRST Robotics Competition Chesapeake Regional. FIRST is a national (and international) program which promotes science and technology for kids all of ages. FRC (FIRST Robotics Competition) is all about high school teams building robots to compete in a new challenge announced each year. Every team has only six weeks to design, build, program, test, and ship a robot ... and they start from scratch!

This will be my third year as a mentor for a local Baltimore high school team. This year, I am proud to mentor the Western High School Robodoves, FIRST Team 2528! The girls have a great robot and I am excited as they are to see it in action.

I would love to have you (the reader) come out and support us and the rest of the competitors! Attendance is FREE and open to the public. It is downtown at the Baltimore Convention Center. Check out the flyer below. Not only will you get to see the robots compete, but you can tour around the pits and meet the young, intelligent, and energetic kids. Our future sure looks brighter after you see what these kids can accomplish.

More information is online as well. There is a Game Animation which explains the game and the rules. Very helpful is you plan to stay and watch the competition. Hope to see you there!

UPDATE: You can also watch online: http://robotics.arc.nasa.gov/events/2012_frcwebcasts.php#webcasts

Thanks for reading!

~J^3

Words of encouragement & words of comfort

Last night I stopped by one of my favorite bars in Hampden, Golden West. It was a night like any other with a buzz in the bar. The bartenders and servers were whipping around serving patrons various elixirs. I did start to notice however a solemness about the bartenders. I asked and was presented with shocking information - one of their good friends and co-workers had suddenly passed away the night before.

Over the past year, I have come to know many of the employees and friends of GW. It is not hard since they are a welcoming bunch. Sit at the bar long enough or play pinball, you pick out who is GW staff and who is not. Being who I am, I tend to build relationships. There was occasionally this tall, broad shouldered guy. He seemed to be a quiet, reserved guy who worked as a server. His name was Mike. With his tattoos, height, and pleasant demeanor, Mike was hard to miss. I recall a smile or a nod every time we would see each other. And those will remain my memories of Mike.

A little after I heard the news, I was in conversation with a couple discussing Dali, Gaudi, art, Internet, and youth with cell phones. About this time a gentlemen saddled up to the bar between us to get a drink. He wasn't getting noticed, so I attempted to signal one of the bartenders. He quickly told me not to worry - they were having a rough night. I realized he knew and could tell it hurt him too.

What would you do? Do you say 'Sorry' or 'Feel better', and walk away? My reaction was to offer comfort, encouragement, humor, and when they are ready - topic change. Over about 30min, I learned a lot about David and was happy to hear that our conversation eased his thoughts and mind. He told me that his day was hard and he expected to have a rough night. Fortunately, we met, talked and he felt better.

I wrote this post not to brag about me. The events of last night remind me that we don't choose what happens around us - we only choose how react. David told me that news of Mike's death caused him to contact his loved ones and let them know how much he cared for them.

In today's age of 'connection', do you really know what is going on in your friends' lives? Do you care enough to ask, to help, to encourage, to comfort? I know that I will try better to do so.

I also want to express my condolences for Mike's friends and family. May you find the peace you are looking for.

Thanks for reading,
~J^3

** UPDATE **

Mike's Viewing and Funeral Service will be Wednesday, 09.07.11 and Thursday, 09.08.11 from 3 - 5 pm and 7 - 9 pm at Peaceful Alternatives, 2325 York Road, Timonium, MD 21093. Friday, 09.09.11, the Funeral will begin at 11 am at the same location.

In lieu of flowers, we request donations be made in order to help others suffering from addiction.
Please send pictures ...to siska.miller@gmail.com.
...
He will be wearing his dancing shoes.

More bike riding!

Hello all to a sunny, cool fall Saturday. What a great day to break out the bike and ride. So I did. I packed a lunch, grabbed some water, my camera, and decided to check out a new place: Lake Montebello.

The ride there was great. From my apartment, I head out towards Johns Hopkins and the Waverly Farmer's Market. Another mile or so past is the man-made lake. It is a beautiful setting, much like Druid Lake. There is a nice track around for bikers, walkers, runners, dogs, and whatever else. It's apparently 1.35 miles around the lake.

What was cool was after I arrived and took a spin around, I found a nice shady area to have my lunch. Thanks to Mom for the idea! Lunch was a nice tuna-fish sandwich, some coffee cakes, and an XS Classic. Post lunch, I took another ride around the lake and headed back.

It's funny how you see things more when traveling via bike or walking versus driving. I stumbled upon a labyrinth right off 33rd. It is the Stadium Place-Thanksgiving Place Labyrinth. I was re-introduced to labyrinths only recently. There is one at the Delaware Art Museum in Wilmington, DE. This one is very pretty and complemented with a bell tower. I stopped for a little while and walked the path and reflected. Very cool.

One of the fun places in Waverly to check out is The Book Thing. Since I hadn't been in a while, I stopped by. You really can't go without picking up some books. I came away with four. One or two will probably end up as gifts.

The ride back was nice. The hills was a bit challenging as I working on building strength in my legs. But, I got through it. Each time it will be better, no doubt.

Oh, I tracked my progress with GPSed again. You can check out the route and some pictures I took along the way: http://www.gpsed.com/track/395697906001622736.

Thanks for reading. Have an awesome weekend!
~J^3

A Baltimore First

So I did it. After nearly seven months living here in the city, I finally did it… I took a bike ride. Oooo. Ahhh. OK, so maybe it is not that exciting to you. But since bringing my bike down here, I was excited to finally take it out and use it. Back in Delaware, I would ride the bike about once a year. Typically, it would be on the fourth of July. I would ride down to the reviewing stand and help setup the sound system and podium. The reason I rode my bike was that at some point the road would be closed for the parade and there was little need to bring my car there. But I digress.

So in a recent post I mentioned that I would write stuff in no specific order. So you might ask, “When did you take this ride?” Today – Saturday July 24th, 2010 - reportedly the hottest day in Baltimore this year. According to wunderground.com, it was between 99 degF to 100 degF outside. And I biked almost 9 miles in that heat.
Was I thinking? No. Did I at least prepare for a hot ride? Yes. I was smart enough to wear shorts, a t-shirt, a ballcap, and bring water. It really didn’t hit me though until I was 20-30 min into my ride and about 3-4 miles away from my apartment. First, I am getting into shape (positive talk), but I do have some way to go. So biking even that long wore me out. Plus it is warm out. Fortunately, I was not racing nor had a timetable. Also fortunately I was biking in a park with benches. I stopped a few times to catch my breath, breathe, and walk the bike a little. But mostly I powered through it. That felt great.

The route was nice – I wasn’t biking through the streets of Baltimore. From my apartment it takes about ten minutes to get to a bike/walk entrance of Druid Hill Park. The signs read for the Jones Fall Trail. I followed that into the park, past the Maryland Zoo, in front of the Conservatory, and down to the Druid Lake. There is a nice 1.5 mi path around the reservoir which I did twice. The ride back to the apartment started out rough. I was pretty winded so I took my time. At certain point though I was feeling better and was able to power through the rest. You can check out the route I took at GPSed.com here. GPSed Lite is a cool, free app for my Blackberry which uses GPS to record my path.

Recently I was having a conversation with my friend Sara where I told her about a high school incident where I managed to scare a fellow classmate (Kayvon) through my driving. She noted that most high school boys have this ‘invincibility’ idea that nothing can ever stop them. I don’t know if Mrs. Hitchens still teaches at AIHS and whether she still runs the Math League team, but if you wonder why no one is allowed to carpool to offsite matches, you can thank me. Because of the incident, students would either use the bus or go alone.

One could argue that I still believe I am invincible in a few areas of my life. Chalk it up to being single, unattached, and still alive. I think my decision to bike on the hottest day this year goes right along with this notion. But I survived. Thank God for that. Next time, I’ll be a bit smarter and start with shorter runs to build up endurance. I must add though, when I got back to my place, I had two things which helped my body recover very quickly: endurance cubes (berry flavor) and an antioxidant twist tube.

So that’s it. I was able to start biking and I hope I can make it a habit.
Thanks for reading,
~J^3