Coming back...

I got back from FLL at 4 am...it's a long drive, even with company.

Went to the Atlanta LEGO store and spent some time there talkkin with Scott Lyttle and his manager. A lot of fun, and d ten we ate at a Thai place - very good food!

I drove through a storm front, so it was pretty intense driving at times. Just after Atlanta on I-85, I was going at a pretty good clip and saw a truck some distance ahead of me brake and swerve. I tapped my brakes and kept my eyes on the road and ahead I saw some large round objects, and I slowed down toget a better look and get ready to avoid - and I did.

The SUV behind me wasn't paying so much attention and slammed on thier brakes...and through the rear view mirror, I saw the vehicle spin a couple of times and stop. Tommy (my navigator) heard the skid and looked back - he missed the whole thing.

And that kept me awake for an hour or so...

More later, includingpics!

FLL Day 2

Busy day this time, with competition heats going on....

Today was the day the senior leadership staff of the LEGO group showed up, as I met (in no particular order) Soren Torp Laursen, head of LEGO Americas, Lisbeth Vallther Pallesen, Executive Vice President, Community, Education, Development, Jørgen Vig Knodstorp, CEO of the LEGO Group, Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, owner of teh LEGO Group, Steve Canvin and Soren Lund of LEGO Mindstorms, and quite a few other staffers - I'll list them all as I remember them. And all of them asked me about BrickJournal and what was up with the mag, which was nice.

The  floor games were intense today, with teh final competitions being done - there were a total of three runs on the floor, with a maximum of 400 poinst for each. by the end of the day, three teams didn 400 points for each run! I was photographing one of teh teams, and it was simply amazing to see how the robot and  team worked...

Also met up with KK Quah and talked to him about some odds and ends.

I also got to meet Jim Kelley of teh NXT blog again and we talked about some stuff - and also was asked about possibly doing an article for ROBOT magazine....um, maybe:-)

Most of the day was spent on the event floor, so the day went a lot faster than I expected. And teh awards were done at teh end of the day, where all teh teams gathered at one of teh ballrooms.....so many peopel!

And I slipped in with Bryan Bonahoom and sat in right by the VIPs, which was pretty nice..until we got kicked out - turns out we were in assigned seats. oops!

But the awards were really great because anyone could pick up on the energy in the room. This year, many of  the awards went to international teams, and it was really impressive to see so many different teams  with this year.

Afterwards, I met up with Tommy and Scott Lyttle, and we hung out a little bit....


More later!

FLL Day One

Well, I'll start out by saying that we (me and Tommy Armstrong) arrived late. Traffic is bad going to Atlanta during rush hour. And this time there was a wreck. No fun, and a long drive.

And at the last intersection, we witnessed a car wreck when a car tried to run a red light...it was not a high speed wreck, but both cars were torn up.

But once we got to the event at the World Congress Center and Georgia Dome, things just got busy...at the LEGO NXT booth, Bryan Bonahoom of BrickWorld was one fo the volunteers showing off robots. From LEGO, Steven Canvin and Vince Rubino were present as well as other staff from Education.

All the teams were settling into their spaces, so decorations were coming up as the day went on. And one of teams was gnome-based:



so naturally, one of their sponsors was Travelocity:-)

By the LEGo Booth, LEGO Education had a table with Jim Kelly from the NXT Step blog showing off some stuff, like:



and NXT Segway or Legway - designed by Steve Hassenplug and built by Jim! It uses a HiTechnic gyro sensor to keep it in balance.

Speaking of Technic stuff, one of the FLL teams had a Great Ball Contraption at their space:



At the Georgia Dome,there was practice heats going on, and teams waiting...



and teams playing...



And after all this, there was an ice cream social with entertainment bythe teams... so one team did a rap



another team did a rubik's cube-off, with Scott Evans, one of teh challenge designers of FLL helping out



Another team from Denmark gave out lyrics to a song that they sang



EDIT: I have the lyrics to the song from the Danes:

Dear
Ladies and Gentlemen
Young and Old
Girls and Boys

Hope you will sing with us

Hold your hands above your head
And clap along

And now we sing

Hey NXT - Nano
We are a teaaam - Who likes the FLL
Hey U.S.A. - Nano
We are many here, right here - Who likes the FLL

Our team is NXT
Generation is part of it
What we love is to make
Make this day oh so great

Hey NXT - Nano
We are a teaaaam - Who like the FLL
Hey USA - Nano
We are many, right here - Who likes the FLL

Our robot is looking so great
Program it is very very straight
Driving left and right and back again
Oh we hope its working working well

Yes we are the greatest team
We are sweet and we are cool
Nobody can drive us off
We are NXT GENERATION yes

Hey NXT - Nano
We are a teaaaam - Who likes the FLL
Hey USA - Nano
We are many here, right here - Who likes the FLL

Hey NXT - Nano
We are a teaaaam - Who likes the FLL
Hey Hey Atlanta - Nano
We are many here,
right here - Who likes the FLL

Hey Everybody - Nano
We are the teaaaam who wish you all a good day



The Haitian team did a nativ dance, and there were many more...but a nice performance was done by a team that did a sonng that was based on theBrady Bunch theme - that wished all the other teams good luck...


and at the end they all held signs that said good luck in all the languages that were at the World Festival...that was really nice!

And teh best way to sum up the day?



Just bubbly:-)!

Off to FLL!

wearing my Hawaiian shirt that was given to me by the SPIDERS team in Hawaii!

I figure I will be pretty distinctive!

What the...:-)

Way to go, Arvo!

You can see the entire car at the gallery.

It's a beaut, but it's Arvo, so that's kinda expected:-)

Certified Professionals At Work...

Nathan Sawaya has a display in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and the local paper has a story.

A little earlier in the month, Sean Kenney was in New York building an alligator at FAO Schwarz.

Progress on website...

I added graphics to three more articles, and an extended gallery. There's a long way to go, but I got a couple of articles that actually look like something I want!

I created a web article for the Squidmen that not only has a photo gallery, but also has video from the creator's films he did for BrickFest last year!

The photos are going to kill me, it appears.

If you are wondering what all of this looks like, drop me a line, and I will invite you to the test site. It's very much a work in progress, though.