I know all of you guys aren't visiting the website regularly. But I want to reward the ones that are. The first person at a meeting to use the code phrase "Red brick plus blue brick equals not enough bricks" will win a LEGO prize.

In other news FLL has posted some Q&A rulings. They have added several notes on the table that will help us and clarifies some setup. Check them out here.

That's more like it!

Last night's meeting was WAY better. Busy bodies building bots!

As we discussed last night our new weekend meeting time is Saturdays 4:30-7:00.

See you then!

THANK YOU DAWN!!!

One of our past sponsors, Dawn Williams (aunt of Austin, Morgan and Rawley) has once again made a generous donation to the team. Thank you so very much!

The meeting yesterday was interesting. As an experiment I decided not to give specific directions to any of the team members. The results: almost nothing was accomplished (at least on the surface). Granted we were several team members shy yesterday, so I didn't expect us to make much progress, but still...

Team members, you need to start taking an active role. It's easy enough for me to say "connect this to that" and then "no, make it bigger, like this" but what is really happening then? The results are me building a robot with someone else's hands. I want you to create it. I know it's daunting, I know some of the challenges are mind boggling, but it's supposed to be. Expect it not to work the first time, or the second, or the eighth time. That's part of inventing, that's part of designing. In my tinkering yesterday I went through 4 different chassis configurations, none of which worked very well. That doesn't mean I failed 4 times, I just discovered 4 ways not to build a robot for this challenge (yes, I'm plagiarizing Edison :-)

Some good did come out of the meeting, nick experimented with Technic building, and whether he knew it or not he was learning about the mathematics of LEGO, stored energy, inertia and kinetics. Austin did some experimenting with mounting a ultrasonic sensor, and discovered at least 3 ways not to do it. Connor learned about drag and friction. And of course we spent some time talking about the project and learning about climate changes. So we're accomplishing something, you guys are learning.

I'd also like to say thanks former team member Morgan for hanging out with us yesterday. It was great having you around again, even if only for a visit.

This weekend's meeting will be on Sunday, 2-5.

I ordered a rechargeable battery for the NXT today. They're a bit pricy so I only picked up one and a charger for now. We'll give it a go and see how it works. It will pay for itself in a couple seasons and it allows us to build our robot in such a way that we don't have to worry about removing the NXT. All we need to do is make sure the buttons and display are clear and we can access the charger port.

Hey Team,

I thought this video was pretty cool, and pretty inspiring.

Excellent first meeting team!

Well, we certainly have our work cut out for us. Some of these challenges are pretty strait forward, some are absolutely baffling. But they'll all be fun to figure out. Please try to visit this website often for updates and news. And if you aren't on the mailing group already, give me your email and I'll invite you.

Everyone remember your homework, visit your assigned website and report back on Wednesday with your findings. Give some thought to the climate of the central coast, what other problems can we identify?

Also, think about who might make a good addition to the team, we have up to 2 more slots if you know someone interested in science and technology.

Nick and Forrest, welcome to the team.

Meeting Change

Although the challenge details are being released this Friday, we're going to have our first meeting on Sunday from 2:00-5:00. This day works better for more schedules. That doesn't mean you have to wait to look at the challenge details though. Log in to the FLL site after 9:00AM on Friday and check out what we have in store for us (you can bet I'll be there at 8:59!). I'll make sure the field is fully set up before the meeting. We'll have snacks and drinks.

See you Sunday!

James Kelly from The NXT Step was kind enough to send me his and Jonathan Daudelin's new book First LEGO League. I know that we get a lot of visitors here and I thought I'd post a mini review.

This book is awesome! I wish that it was available 3 years ago when we formed our team. Even with 2 seasons under my belt I still learned a ton from it and I feel better prepared for the upcoming season. The book covers nearly everything you need to know, from finding members and forming a team to building and programming a robot. It covers all four aspects of FLL with enough detail to be informative, but not so much that it becomes cumbersome. There's even little stories and anecdotes from real teams sprinkled throughout. This book is a wealth of information and is the perfect compliment to the official coach's guide provided by FIRST. It also gives some great insight from a judge's perspective.

If you are an FLL coach, team member, mentor or parent you NEED this book!

The challenge details will be released next Friday. We'll have our first meeting and brainstorming session that day, Sept 5th. I've added that date to the member calendar. In other news, team mentor Alan introduced me to a potential new member, Nick. Hopefully he wants to join us this year and will be at the meeting.

Good news!

My wife Dianna has generously donated her old Toshiba laptop for team use. After some clean up and optimization (and a new desktop image of course) I installed the NXT software this morning and tested it. It works great! I still have to test bluetooth with it (need to get the dongle from the Rowes) but I'm pretty sure it will work fine.

We have a small, portable programming station now.

Build party 2008

I was a great party everyone, thanks for coming! I've uploaded some pictures from yesterday, head on over and check them out.

Build party 2008

Our season is officially underway. We won't know what the challenge or the project is for another month or so, but we have some general ideas of what's ahead. I'd like to welcome our newest member Forest. Unfortunately Austin and Morgan won't be back this year, we're going to miss them.

Party Time!

We're going to have a season kick-off build party tonight (Saturday)

I know it's a bit last minute but I haven't been quite sure where I'd be working this week and had to play it by ear. Turns out I'll be working at home until the end of the month so let's break out the bricks!

We're getting together 5(ish) at my house. We'll go to at least 7 and have some kind of food and snacks. Everyone is welcome so bring the family. If you want to bring something feel free. Give me a call if you have questions.

I'm also posting news to the member page, do you remember your login and password?

See you tonight!

Our Field setup kit is here!

The Fed-Ex guy just dropped off the boxes. Take a look at the pictures.





The kit is smaller than last year, more like it was for Nanoquest. The base is in the corner again too. Lots of balls in the kit, along with several minifigs. There's a polar bear in there too :-)

Fundraising
I wanted to open the discussion of fundraising for the team this year. In the past we haven't been very successful getting any help from local businesses. I was wondering if anyone has any ideas on where we could find some sponsorship. Or if we want to do another fundraising activity. All attempts at getting some press in hopes of attracting a sponsor have failed as well. I will contact KCOY again this year, but I don't have very high hopes they will respond.

Things are ramping up for the 2008-2009 season, Climate Connections! I received an email from LEGO Education that the field kit has shipped. According to the Fed-Ex tracking numbers it should be here Monday!

It's time to call the team back together and see who's in this year. We also need to decide if there's anyone we want to invite to the team. If you know someone who you think would be a valuable asset to the team, let us know.

Well, I didn't win the Lipton contest (bummer)

But...I competed this past weekend at LEGOLAND in the Junior Master Model Builders competition and I won!

I'm posting a link to my new Brickshelf page, you can see my entry there. It's the couple enjoying a picnic.

My Brickshelf page

Woo Hoo!

I'm a finalist in the Lipton Free Your Y contest on YouTube

Please visit and vote for me! You'll have to cycle through the entries until you see mine.

This is the link to the contest...

Lipton Free Your Y

Hey Team!

We're officially registered for season 2008!

This year we are team 94 (gets smaller every year). I need to hear from everybody if you are participating. I also need to know if you have any friends who are interested in joining the team.

The team had a great time at RoboChallenge. We saw some great robot designs and were inspired to compete next year. We'll be back with a few of our own robots next time.

ROBOCHALLENGE!

Here's the plan for this Saturday if you didn't get the message on your answering machines...

We're meeting at my house at 8AM and leaving very shortly after. One parent per child can attend as well. I put all team members on the list as well as siblings so everyone is welcome. My van seats 7 and so far it's just me and Austin in it (Connor has a birthday party to attend)

If we get there by 9 we will get in for free (normally it's $10 for admission to the Strawberry Festival). We enter at gate 7.

wear your Bricks For Brains shirts, we want to look like a team.