GSR thoughts...

What a weekend. We're always in the company of strong teams at GSR, and so it isn't surprising that our machine didn't fare too well. We played the game as best we could and have been thinking of ways to improve the machine for battle at the Chesapeake Regional. Finishing the weekend in the middle of the pack isn't a bad showing, IMHO.

The feedback from the Chairman's review was positive, illustrating that we're a strong team, but need to stretch our influence beyond the local area. I suspect that the things we have done to help the teams we met in Wisconsin wasn't stressed heavily enough... there's always next year.

We did win the Rockwell Automation Innovation in Controls award, presented on Friday. The judges were certainly impressed with the controls our software team built. Their eloquent explanation clearly demonstrated that the students designed, developed, coded and tested the entire package, with mentor guidance and coaching. This was all theirs.

Lastly, I was nominated for the Woody Flower's award. Again, running up against strong competition, the winner, Kristen Kelso, is clearly more deserving than I for all the things she has done over her 13 years with the FIRST program. That award couldn't have gone to a better person, and I am honored and humbled to be considered in the same company as those who were this year's nominees.