Work Day at Hooper's

Kelly and Rick are going over the plans for the new crate and also providing Allysa and Jeremy some important safety pointers. Be sure to scroll through all the pictures to see the finished crate in the last picture.

Vic, in the gray sweatshirt, is giving Jeremy some welding instructions.

Chris and the other boys are getting pointers from Vic, too.

Peter is welding as his dad and Chris watch.

After getting instruction from Kelly, Allysa cut all the 2x2's to size for the crate.

After lunch break we played a version of our game with the RC cars. The weather was warm and sunny so we were able to play out on the driveway.

In the game, the teams used the cars to deliver items between the team members at opposite ends of the driveway. Here some of the players are waiting for mail to be delivered to their mailboxes.

Mia and Peter in a moment when he wasn't chasing after her.

Here is the gang with our new crate. A great big THANK YOU to Dennis for hosting our team for the work day.

Battery Safety Quiz

Before we begin at Hooper's to work on the crate and battery charging station we should be thinking about safety as we are working.

I have a $10 Target Gift Card for the Tigerbyte student or mentor who can answer all the questions of this quiz correctly before we start working at Hooper's Monday morning.

Quiz Question 1
What page of the FIRST Safety Manual starts the section about Battery Safety?

Quiz Question 2
What three items should each team keep readily available whenever working with batteries?

Quiz Question 3
Can batteries be shipped in the crate with the robot to competition?

Quiz Question 4
Who is the Tigerbytes' 2009 Safety Captain?

Quiz Question 5
What is the one item that teams must supply, bring and wear at competition?

If you can answer all 5 of these quiz questions correctly by the time we start work at Hooper's Monday morning you will receive the gift card.

Dec 29 Game Clue

While we are out at Hooper's we will be working on crate building and welding together a battery cart. We will also play another version of our game using the RC cars. This is the only clue you will get for this Monday's game - good luck!

Tigerbytes Build Season Calendar

Here is a calendar with key dates and events for the Tigerbytes upcoming build season. Click on it for a larger view.

Happy Holidays!

Over the holidays the Tigerbytes will be getting a new button maker - we hope that special things are coming your way as you celebrate the holidays!

Work Day on December 29th

Kelly, Rick, David, Chris and Jeremy are discussing their strategy for building the crate on the upcoming work day on the 29th. We will also be working on a battery charger station on that day out at Dennis' workshop.

Here's a shot of a couple of the guys welding at last year's work day at Hooper's.

We are to meet at Hooper's at 9:00am and Ivan has the safety glasses from the Robotics Room - If anyone needs more information about the workday and or directions, please comment below or email Dennis, Ivan or me.

"The Game" on Wed Dec 17

"The Game" on Wednesday turned out to be a relay using radio controlled cars - a Barracuda and Chevelle. The clues were pictures of the barracuda fish and Chevelle, a band from Chicago.

Although the cars did not drive as well as expected, everyone seemed to have a lot of fun. It was too hard to keep score for all the crashing - but both teams got the maximum bonus points for team spirit. If you can remember the two team names from "the Game" on Dec 17, be the first one to list them in a comment here on the blog before the end of the school day on Monday - you will receive a Target gift card.

"The Game" will happen again at the work day at Hooper's on December 29 - watch out for clues - they will be posted between now and the 28th.

Chocolate Bites a Success!!!

The Chocolate Bites to support the Tigerbytes was a success for raising funds - we raised more than enough to pay for supplies* needed for the FIRST Kickoff on Jan 3rd.

In only 5 days we were able to get our "Bites" out to folks at Hallmark and at LCPA and by the end of the week we had sold 150 pieces - we still have 30 more out in merchandisers as potential sales still until the Christmas holiday.

The success of this week's fundraising effort is not only a success in dollars, but also shows how our simple, bold approach in using the "bite" is establishing the Tigerbytes with a very memorable identity.

Stay tuned for more Chocolate Bites for Valentine's Day.

* Supplies = printer supplies & refreshments

Hallmark Tour December 19 @ 3:00pm

Here is a map showing the easiest route from Lincoln to Hallmark. The parking lot is accessible from Gillham Drive at the corner by the Catholic church.

Meet Dennis at 3:00 at the entrance at the south corner of the parking lot behind the church.

Chocolate Bites Update!

We have collected over $100 so far from the Chocolate Bites. This money will go toward donuts, pizza and other refreshments for the Kickoff on January 3rd.

A big THANK YOU to all our sales people and those of you who have purchase or donated to our fund raising.

No one has taken Ivan up on his offer for FREE chocolates with your order for others (and I will negotiate a special price for the Tigerbyte making the order). An order can be for only one, too.

Thursday Parents' Meeting Cancelled

Due to some scheduling and weather issues the Parents' meeting for December 18th has been cancelled. We hope to reschedule some work days for the parents to join us for dinner, too. We will post the rescheduled dates as they are determined.

Team Meeting Today @ 3:00pm

Today's meeting is still on for 3:00pm - meet in Mr. Pogue's room on the 4th floor.

There has been some water issues in some of the rooms at the school and we may have to move once we are all assembled.

Tigerbyte Game Clue #3

When you get your KOP you may be missing some parts.
Don't worry, no need to visit Mr.Goodwrench or AAMCO.
Find the mentor with the beard and he will help you out.
Just put it all together and you'll be ready to go.

Tigerbyte Game Clue #2

Here is clue #2 for this week's game.

Tigerbytes Dec 17 Game

As mentioned in the previous post we will have a game at this Wednesday's meeting for everyone to participate in. I am hoping to incorporate variations of this game at meetings throughout the season. In several ways the games will be similar to our Robotics competition - one is by having clues.

For the game this week there will be three clues posted before 3:00pm this Wednesday.

Here is clue #1 for this week's game.
Any guesses about this fish?

Team Meeting on Wed Dec 17 @ 3:00

Please be sure to attend the team meeting on Wednesday. We have a full agenda of things as this will be our last team meeting before the FIRST Kickoff.

We will start off on Wednesday to discuss the structure of our meetings going forward. We are going to start to have task teams give regular updates on the status and progress of their tasks.

We also need to discuss attendance requirements and making sure we have a good and efficient way to keep track of attendance at meetings.

Other items on the agenda for Wednesday are making sure we have things in order and planned for these upcoming events:
- Parents' Meeting on Thursday, December 18
- Team Tour at Hallmark on Friday, December 19
- Work Day at Dennis Hooper's on Monday, December 29
- FIRST Kickoff on January 3

...and one more thing - A GAME! Something to get everyone involved and fired up for competition. Stay tuned - there may be some clues posted to give you hints as to what the game may be.

See you Wednesday!

Chocolate Bites

These delicious Dove chocolates in a clever hand-made package make a perfect holiday gift - only $1 each or 6 for $5. All proceeds go to support the working budget of the Tigerbytes.

The standard packaging is Tygerbytes Blue but custom orders for red or green packaging for the holidays will be available (minimum custom order is 6).

To place your order add a comment below and the Tigerbytes will get back with you for more details. Orders of more than 6 will be available 1-2 days after the order is placed. Delivery will be negotiated when your order is taken.

Memorable Team Identity

Here is a team look that is definitely simple, bold and memorable - and I am sure very hot.

These guys play for the SC Langnau Tigers, a professional hockey team from Langnau im Emmental, Switzerland. I hope they only wear these jerseys for games in very cold rinks.

I already checked - these jerseys are not available for purchase.

Clue #2 - fact or fiction?

"Good Morning Teams,

Take your machine out of the shop on Colorado in Paramount;
stop by and get connected on Central in Phoenix;
drive by and make a pickup on Minnetonka in Minnetonka;
then head to the field on Evergreen in Dover.

23 Days until Kickoff
See you then
_______________________________

It isn't on the FIRST website, but it is on Bill's Blog. Some think that pretty much means that the clue is valid. There are already over 250 comments on the Chief Delphi site.

Upcoming Important Team Events

Wed Dec 17 @ 3:00pm - Weekly Team meeting @ LCPA
Thu Dec 18 @ 6:00pm - Parent's Meeting and Dinner @ LCPA
Fri Dec 19 - Tigerbytes Tour @ Hallmark (time TBD)
Mon Dec 29 - Workday @ Dennis Hooper's Shop
Sat Jan 3 @ 9:00am - FIRST Kickoff Webcast @LCPA

Tigerbytes

This is our basic look for 2009 and we are going to be striving for consistency in a simple and bold team trade dress through out the season.

2009 Game Clue #1

Check out close to 800 comments on the Chief Delphi site for discussion about Clue #1.

Welcome to the new Tigerbytes blog

As of December 10, 2009 we will be using only the name "Tigerbytes" to identify our team - because of this we have created this new blog site for our team communication.
The old blog using the name Lincobotics will no longer be used.