There’s something I’ve needed to share with you that I haven’t remembered to do when updating the blog.

The Geeks want to give an extra special THANKS to Rhonda Tiedemann and Carol Cameron.  We have gotten so many positive comments on our propeller hats and the wings that Carol made up are better than perfect.  Thank you ladies for putting in all the time and effort I know you did for us.

Randy

Well, today was a huge rollercoaster.  We started out the day watching a team from another country practising on our practise table.  It was amazing how similar their robot and programs were to our own.  It was obvious that our videos didn’t show the light sensor assemblies very well, because they didn’t get those correct, the but the rest of the robot was very, very similar. 

 This really got our kids down, but we had to realize that “imitation is the best form of flattery”.  It is just painful that they are one of the 400 point teams right now and we haven’t done one yet.  I told them it would be really great if we ran against them in the finals.  At least our design would be at the top.

After getting down about that, the kids had their research project presentation – they were flawless.  I’m still not sure we have the strongest research project in the field (there are several teams who are there simply because of thier research projects), but the kids did better than anyone could imagine.  We should at least get some credit for having an interesting presentation.  But the best part was that every one of the kids rose above their own ablities and did a knockout job.

After that, we ran our first table mission.  The problem was that the referees didn’t follow up on the agreements that were made with the coaches the night before.  They did not allow our entire team to go up to the table for “tag teaming” the round, something the kids practiced on a lot.  They miss counted our score for “dumping the dumpster” because there were still 2 dirt pieces in it.  Finally, they run the clocks backwards.  Instead of starting at 2:30 and counting down to 0, they were starting at 0 and counting up to 2:30.   At one critical point, I looked up at the timer and saw that we had 45 seconds.  I took that as having :45 left and we ran our PGM 2 backup which takes about 45 seconds to complete and skipped the backup elevator which would have given us another 40 points and could have been done in about 20 seconds.  All that to say that we could have done better.

After that, we switched to the Blue robot and were able to score several 400’s on the practice table.  So then we had to go to technical judging.  This was the first time in all of our competitions that the robot ran the perfect 400 in front of the technical judges.  The judges were literally yelling “Wow” at several points and they were all smiling broadly and shaking their heads.  I couldn’t really hear what the kids were saying from where I was standing, but the judges were very impressed.

Next, we went back out for our second time at the table.  This round was a lot better, we left 2 pieces of dirt in the fabric (which would have cost us 4 points), but then the “blue table of death” caught us.   On the white atom we push off in front of us, it was a little too close to the edge and instead of toppling off, it was pushed out to the edge of the table where we couldn’t reach it anymore.   At this point, we had a score of 386, but knew we would need at least a 390 to make it  into the finals, so we tried a backup mission that had worked with some success before.  If we were successful, we would have been in really good shape with a 396.   Unfortunately, it was not.

So that’s where we finished the day.  If we stay true to Flying Geeks form we should start getting better and better through the finals.  If we don’t, then we’ll be done tomorrow morning.

Other than that, everyone is doing great.  Everyone went to bed early – I think mostly because of emotional exhaustion.

Please continue to pray for us.  We have made some interesting friendships and this has been an awesome experience.

Randy

Hello Everyone!!

We are having sooo much fun here in Bodo. I have met so many people from other countries like England, China, Norway, Japan, Jordan, Turkey, and (AMERICA!!)

We did so well on research and technical judging!! The only thing that we have not done is scored a 400 yet but that is okay. God brought us here for a reason and he will use us in his way.

I want you all to keep us in your prayers and especially Mr. B for his back to heal up. I cant wait to see you all when I get back.

In Christ,

Haley

Well the first day of the competition went by and we were kinda bummed at the end because we did not score a 400. The top 16 out of 70 teams make it to the finals and right now we are not one of them. We need to score a 390 or above to make it. We have to just put our faith in God and whatever he decides goes.
I was really discouraged cause we came in and there was a team that copied our attatchments,robot and basically our software. I just talked on the phone with my dad and he said read this verse  Philipians 4:6-7 “Do not be anxoius about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts in Christ Jesus”. That is perfect for this situation.
I hope all of you back home are keeping us, Mr Bohannan and the other teams in your prayers. This is hard for me to think we worked so hard to get here and we cant get a 400. But anyways I can’t wait to get back to America but at the same time I dont want to leave Europe because we are having so much fun here and these guys are like my second family.                   

                                                    In Christs love and grace,Jon

Today went well,we practiced with our robot at the pit tables and the blue and yellow robots scored 400. The grey scored a 398 consistently. We ended up giving away at least 200 braclets. There were games there and you could climb a ladder that went up pretty far. You could play soccer, floor hockey or anything you wanted basically. It was really fun interacting with all the other teams. The Risbotics look pretty tough and cool. We were talking to them for a while. 60 out of the 70 teams were there and you could collect so much stuff. After all that we were pretty tired BUT we needed to get dinner and to get dinner we had to hike up to the top of a mountain and then wait for 30 minutes. It was maybe a 30 minute hike.  It was so fun and we ran and jumped off rocks and spinned in the air. So we are all doing fine and thanks to the Lord most of us are healthy. Mr Bohannan hurt his back so I ask you to keep him in your prayers. While im typing this it is 4:00 over in the US but it is 10:00 over here. Im typing and watching a movie with chuck norris in it. Ya good times. Thats all i have to say so good luck and keep praying.

                                                                                                                                                                 IN CHRIST, JON

Today was a day of practice and preparation for the competition that starts tomorrow.  They have a great setup where every 4 teams has a practice table to themselves.  And we were sharing our practice table with 3 teams from China who didn’t show up for the day.  That gave us the practice table for the entire day.

We ran the yellow and it scored a 400, then we ran the grey robot and it had some serious “pulling  to the left” problems.   Then we ran the  blue robot and it scored a 400.  We basically spent the entire day working on getting the gray robot working and doing demos for the folks who wanted to see the all-in-mission run.  The kids did a great job, the format was very similar to what we did at BAE and Rockwell.

Everyone is expecting us to run 400’s every mission.  That scares me, but I hope we can do it.   I saw several other teams score 400s during their practice rounds, so it won’t be easy.

The kids have made quite a few friends with kids from other teams.  One young man told me tonight that they really like our team because we were “nice”.

So, continue with your prayers, we all need them.  In case you can’t find them, here’s the schedule for tomorrow:

Saturday:  11:24 Bodo time -  Research Presentation.

Saturday:  12:15 Bodo time – Table match 1, Table 3A

Saturday:  1:40 pm Bodo time – Technical judging

Saturday:  2:20 pm Bodo time – Table match 2, Table 1A

Sunday:  9:00 Bodo time – Teamwork judging

Sunday 10:50 Bodo time – Table match 3, Table 2A

The final rounds will run starting at 12:30 pm Bodo time.  So make sure to get up early and watch us run at 6:30 am Nashua time!

 Randy 

This one is a little late.   The rest of the team headed off for Oslo while Jennifer and I stayed another day in London.  We were able to go to the Leed’s castle which is built in the middle of a lake.  After that, we went to Dover and had lunch overlooking the English Channel.  Finally, we went to Canturbury and went through the Cathedral. 

Of course it rained everywhere we went, but Jennifer was thrilled with being able to tour the castle and the Cathedral, we have some really cool pictures.  She was also able to fill some of the picture requests.

 Here’s a picture of the inside of the Canterbury Cathedral…

Attached is an email from Coach Greg giving an idea what the team did in Oslo.  Tomorrow we head on up to Bodo!

Hey everyone, 

Just a quick update on our activities.

Got to Oslo yesterday without much trouble.  Randy and Jennifer stayed behind in London to continue touring London.  We had to get up at 4AM in order to get to check in to our flight.  No trouble getting checked in for the flight with still a couple hours to spare.  Got there so early the restaurants were not open for breakfast, so ended up having muffins, juice and coffee at Starbucks.  Well the adults had the coffee.   Worked out fine.  No one was really hunger just tired.

Arrive in Oslo and checked into the Hotel.  Everyone was feeling the effects of the jetlag and getting up so early, and it was another rainy day here in Oslo.  So, we ended up doing some small walks around the city and then hung out in our room.  Kids played Uno and watched a Starwars movie.  It was good to take it easy for the day and recharge our batteries.  Ended up going out to dinner at Peppe’s Pizza down the block near the park.  Good to see that even though they were all tired, they didn’t lose their appetite.    

Today was a spectacular day here in Oslo.  Woke up to this big bright yellow thing in the sky.  Ah yes, thats what the sun looks like.  1st time we have seen it.  Oslo is a beautiful city and the people are very friendly.  Walked up to the Royal palace and around the main park in the center of town.  Lots of statues, parks, and flowers.  The lilac bushes are all in bloom so occasionally you walk thru a cloud of lilac perfume. 

Yesterday, Roger recommended a great set of museums for our activity today.  So after breakfast we ventured off to find the boat ferry to the museums. The boat took us across the Oslo harbor and dropped us off close to the Museums.  On the way we had a great view of the City, surrounding mountains, and the yachts and freighters in the harbor.  Oslo is gerogeous from the water. 

We spent the remainder of the day touring the Norwegian Folk Museum and the Viking Ship museum.  Norwegian Folk Museum was an area set up with homes from various periods in Norway’s past.  The highlights were the Stave Church and some small Farm Houses made entirely out of Logs.  The kids really enjoyed the history lessons and were very engaged with the people in the various buildings asking lots of great questions.  Met a charming woman from Minnesota who is Norwegian and now working at the museum.  See the picture attached.

The Viking Museum was cool as feel.  Saw 3 different Viking ships that were uncovered and some of them restored.  It was a fascinating view into what the Viking life must have been like.  The other picture attached shows the Viking ship. 

Came back to the hotel and laid low before dinner. Just got back a little while ago from having Mongolian Barbeque.  That was an experience.  I don’t think the kids were too wild about it at first.  After the food was served it got real quiet.  I thought they didn’t like it.  I looked down the table to see that everyone was too busy plowing food into their mouths to talk.   

Overall, I’m amazed at how well the kids are doing.  We walked thru a wet London with very little complaining.  We dragged them to Oslo at an un-godly hour and then walked them all over Oslo today.  They are doing wonderful.  They are eating things for the first time.  Everyone is getting along great and having fun.  Everyone seems well rested and in good spirits for our trip to Bodo tomorrow. 

We have another early start tomorrow so I will sign off now.  Hope to send more updates later in the week.  If you need to talk with any of the kids don’t hesitate to call my cell phone and I can let you know when a good time to chat will be.

Greg

Day 2 in London was pretty dreary.  It rained on us all day long,  but we still made it to almost all of the sites either on the double decker busses or by walking (a lot).  Everyone’s trying to deal with the time differences, so I think we were all glad to get back to the hotel tonight.

 Tomorrow, everyone except Jennifer and I will be flying to Oslo and will be leaving for the airport at 4:45 am.  Jennifer and I will follow on Tuesday.

One prayer request, my sciatica has erupted again and is making moving around very difficult.

Otherwise, things are doing great. 

Attached, you can see the geeks in front of Big Ben.

Phase 1 is done!

The Flying Geeks have flown the coop and are now in London.  It was a pretty uneventful flight – except for Haley and Jennifer who were invited to go into the cockpit and meet the pilot and take pictures…

 And then getting on the wrong bus – but talking the bus driver into taking us across town…

And then not getting into the hotel early enough to get into the restaurant….

And then walking to that great bastion of English cooking -McDonalds….

And then finding out that they closed the dining room and we had to all walk through the drivethrough….

Yep, pretty boring stuff so far.

 For any of the teachers out there, you would be proud.  Almost every one of the kids were doing homework during the flight.

 More to come later…

Coach B