CONGRATULATIONS TEAM NXT GENERATION!

I just found out that our friends in Denmark have been notified that they are going to be competing in Atlanta at the FLL World Festival. Nice work NXT Generation!

I just updated my Brickshelf page with some images from JMMB, plus you can check out some of the other stuff I've built.

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?m=roguefx

Holy cow, I won!

I competed yesterday at the Junior Master Model Build-Off at LEGOLAND. Me and 9 other adults squared off at 2:00 PM and had one hour to build something with the theme "space". I had a few ideas before going in but that was the extent of my preparation. After sizing up the available parts (we all started with identical bins and had several other bins to dig through) I had to throw out my first two ideas of a LEM and astronauts and an Apollo rocket. I moved on to do a space station. After building for a while I noticed my scale seemed too small for a space station and it was looking sorta like the Hubble. When a spectator asked if I was building a Hubble I knew it was time to shift gears again. So knowing that our dear Hubble is entering it's golden age I decided to build the next generation space telescope. We all build feverishly for one hour and everyone did an amazing job. When I saw the other models I have to admit my heart sank a little. I didn't think I had any chance. The judges came by and we talked about my creation and then they reset for the awards. After watching the other age catagories it came time for us. We all lined up and got our trophies and certificates. Then they announced the winner and I was totally stunned to hear my name announced. I won!!!

My prize package included 4 one day tickets, 4 resort memberships, 4 LEGO sets, a hat, a shirt, a book, a keychain, a meet and greet with a master model builder and a mosaic of myself. And of course, the trophy :-)

Thanks to my family for cheering me on and to LEGOLAND for sponsoring such a great event. Congrats to all the other builders, you all rocked.

Season 2009 announced

Hey FLL fans!

FIRST has announced the theme for next year's challenge: Smart Move. It's all about transportation, and sounds like it's going to be very cool.

I've uploaded pictures from LEGOLAND, click here to see them

LEGOLAND was a blast!

Well, it all came down to luck this weekend, unfortunately it wasn't the good kind of luck. All missions have something that can go wrong with them, and we seemed to be having that more than we would have liked. I believe our final ranking was 12 out of 56 which is nothing to be ashamed of and we had very high marks on our project. You all did an amazing job on Saturday and I am very proud of you all.

I spoke with Lynn Crockett from LEGOLAND yesterday and she said she heard our name a lot the day before so you all made an impression, that's very good.

I will upload my pictures soon, if anyone else took pictures or video please let me have it so we can share.

I owe a big thank you to those that helped so much. Mickey, you were an awesome coach and a much appreciated companion, thanks. Theresa, you taught the team so much about sea level rise they are all experts now. Dianna, your help on the project was amazing, and thanks for letting us take over the garage and the house. John, Gayle and Dawn, thank you so much for your financial support, it means a lot. To all the parents who shuttled our team to meetings, got them to do their homework, pushed them to help out and schlepped them down to LEGOLAND, thanks.

Unless we attend the LEGOLAND invitational in Jan or Feb our work is now finished. Good job team, see you next season!

That's what I'm talkin' about!

That was an absolutely amazing meeting last night, you were all on fire! Not only did we successfully combine two missions, we re-thought another and built the attachments and programmed it in one night! I am very proud of you all.

Today's meeting starts early, basically after school for everyone that can make it. I'm afraid you'll be on your own at the table however, neither me or Mickey can be there until after 6. Dianna can help you with the project stuff, but she doesn't know anything about the table.

This is our last meeting tonight, make it count.