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Thursday, April 15, 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Icesolation
A class assignment in my Robotics class back in grade 10 started a relationship between Beaverworx and I. The project was to build a simple Lego Robot and compete with other robots in a Sumo-wrestling tournament. Everyone had equal number of motors and amount of power supply to keep the competition fair and square. My robot design easily won the tournament; it incorporated a clever large front roller that suspends off the ground and rotates backwards which "lifts" opponent robot upon contact, thus decreasing its F(g) and hence F(f).
I'm not an engineer, never was. But the teacher put me on the team because I can solve problems creatively. Since then my relationship with Beaverworx flourished. I climbed to the top of the ladder in no time, picking up the responsibilities of a captain. I knew the robot inside and out, I knew the team from top to bottom. I'd appear in every presentation to figures from Ontario Premier to corporate CEOs. In the first two seasons of Beaverworx's existence, we consecutively qualified for the World Championships, picking up two champion titles, and along the way 6 other awards in quality, creativity, top-seed, rookie top-seed, Rookie All-Star, website award. At peak, Beaverworx is ranked top 15% internationally! Of course it wasn't all because of me we had these accomplishments, it's because of the teamwork of Beaverworx, a young organization with all the right pieces well on its way to be world-class.
In year 3 of my involvement with FIRST Robotics, my relocation to Montreal, Quebec ended my relationship with Beaverworx. My love for robotics and mentorship, however, kept me involved with the competition, a new relationship with Loyola Northern Knights 296 formed. My last encounter prior to joining Loyola was from the playoffs quarterfinals, the 1st-seeded Beaverworx easily "smoked" (pun intended, their motor blew up) the last-seeded Loyola team.
What irony is it to be "traded" from the top team to a bottom team? It's like if I were a player on the Washington Capitals and got traded to the Edmonton Oilers for a 28th round pick (which doesn't exist). Nevertheless, that was the call. I am now a Northern Knight of Loyola.
The hardest part of my transition to my new team is making use of the available resources. We lack the machines and raw material to manufacture, which is the critical step in transferring blueprint to cold steel. At the same time, I had to establish my reputation and credibility. They see me at first as no one other than the opponent who put away their dream for a first-ever championship.
Now as a part of Loyola Robotics, six months later, our work is showcased at Waterloo Regionals and what a different result we had compared to its previous season! This year we were part of the 1st-seeded alliance while my former beloved Beaverworx is seeded at second-last. Loyola went on to be undefeated in the playoffs and was later crowned as tournament champion for the first time in the 10-year team history. How worthy a celebration..
To describe my feeling, I flipped through the dictionary looking for a suitable word...couldn't find one. So I invented a new word, and hopefully you can share my understanding of this term.
My first season with Loyola was treasured with memories and experiences that were both exciting and, at the same time, "icesolated". It sure felt great to win, but on a deeper level, a feeling of icesolation shadowed over the celebration when I witnessed the destruction of a fine and respectable organization that I was a founding member of, a team I am so familiar with. Yet this time around, I'm addressing "Beaverworx" as "them", and "Northern Knights" as "us". I'm the one getting the cold-shoulder from a team I used to call my own.
If anything, I wish both teams could win. But there's nothing I can do about it.
It's icy cold.
I'm not an engineer, never was. But the teacher put me on the team because I can solve problems creatively. Since then my relationship with Beaverworx flourished. I climbed to the top of the ladder in no time, picking up the responsibilities of a captain. I knew the robot inside and out, I knew the team from top to bottom. I'd appear in every presentation to figures from Ontario Premier to corporate CEOs. In the first two seasons of Beaverworx's existence, we consecutively qualified for the World Championships, picking up two champion titles, and along the way 6 other awards in quality, creativity, top-seed, rookie top-seed, Rookie All-Star, website award. At peak, Beaverworx is ranked top 15% internationally! Of course it wasn't all because of me we had these accomplishments, it's because of the teamwork of Beaverworx, a young organization with all the right pieces well on its way to be world-class.
In year 3 of my involvement with FIRST Robotics, my relocation to Montreal, Quebec ended my relationship with Beaverworx. My love for robotics and mentorship, however, kept me involved with the competition, a new relationship with Loyola Northern Knights 296 formed. My last encounter prior to joining Loyola was from the playoffs quarterfinals, the 1st-seeded Beaverworx easily "smoked" (pun intended, their motor blew up) the last-seeded Loyola team.
What irony is it to be "traded" from the top team to a bottom team? It's like if I were a player on the Washington Capitals and got traded to the Edmonton Oilers for a 28th round pick (which doesn't exist). Nevertheless, that was the call. I am now a Northern Knight of Loyola.
The hardest part of my transition to my new team is making use of the available resources. We lack the machines and raw material to manufacture, which is the critical step in transferring blueprint to cold steel. At the same time, I had to establish my reputation and credibility. They see me at first as no one other than the opponent who put away their dream for a first-ever championship.
Now as a part of Loyola Robotics, six months later, our work is showcased at Waterloo Regionals and what a different result we had compared to its previous season! This year we were part of the 1st-seeded alliance while my former beloved Beaverworx is seeded at second-last. Loyola went on to be undefeated in the playoffs and was later crowned as tournament champion for the first time in the 10-year team history. How worthy a celebration..
To describe my feeling, I flipped through the dictionary looking for a suitable word...couldn't find one. So I invented a new word, and hopefully you can share my understanding of this term.
My first season with Loyola was treasured with memories and experiences that were both exciting and, at the same time, "icesolated". It sure felt great to win, but on a deeper level, a feeling of icesolation shadowed over the celebration when I witnessed the destruction of a fine and respectable organization that I was a founding member of, a team I am so familiar with. Yet this time around, I'm addressing "Beaverworx" as "them", and "Northern Knights" as "us". I'm the one getting the cold-shoulder from a team I used to call my own.
If anything, I wish both teams could win. But there's nothing I can do about it.
It's icy cold.
Wait....ing...wait what?
You know...now that I think about this topic of "waiting" a tad more, waiting isn't such a bad thing after all. I'm saying this not because of the fact that I got to the Bus terminal at 10PM hoping to catch the 10:30 bus when the ticket I bought was for 20:30PM departure...Brilliant?
Nah..it wasn't so bad after all. I've had a really good conversation with a guy throughout the entire time; it made the 2-hour wait seem momentary.
So what good is waiting? Well, imagine life without the wait. Not only it'd be chaotic, there will be no life.
Picture a day when you don't have to wait for anything. All green-lights from home to school or your work, no more waiting for the ladies enter before you do, no more waiting in the elevator. Sounds good to me, but in fact, if you eliminate any sort of waiting, you'd teleport to your office, and that weekly or biweekly cheque for alllll your hard work you've been waiting for? Boom, it's instantaneously deposited into your bank, no more waiting in line at the bank. And that day you meet a special someone? That'd be now, no more waiting! As a bonus, you two get married, have kid, and all the sudden, they're in college and you're planning retirement..but as soon as you planned that, you're dead. Time didn't wait for you... As you can see, the ideas are starting to get a "little" pathetic.
Without waiting, there ceases to be the existence of time; but I'll leave that for someone mathematician to prove.
Without waiting, there will not be that anticipation for Christmas morning when you open the box with an iPhone inside, or that that heart-pausing suspense as you sit uncomfortably at your desk waiting to see your grades on that English paper, or the nerve-wrecking when you see a long separated someone. Waiting makes us appreciative of these moments, be it worthwhile or a waste of time.
There are certain moments we wait for, I'm pretty sure you have many of your own that you're thinking of right now. As "painful" as the wait could be, waiting gives rise to opportunities to those who are prepared to take the risk. We are constantly waiting for the right moment..the right moment to speak, the critical moment to stand up, the exact moment to act, and that moment to... the one you've been waiting for since you're 15.
It could be as a simple conversation with a friend you have just met while waiting for a bus, or the proposal that could increase the company profit by 400% that you've prepared for months to the board of directors , what we decide to do during the time we wait..that's when this thing called "life" takes place.
Nah..it wasn't so bad after all. I've had a really good conversation with a guy throughout the entire time; it made the 2-hour wait seem momentary.
So what good is waiting? Well, imagine life without the wait. Not only it'd be chaotic, there will be no life.
Picture a day when you don't have to wait for anything. All green-lights from home to school or your work, no more waiting for the ladies enter before you do, no more waiting in the elevator. Sounds good to me, but in fact, if you eliminate any sort of waiting, you'd teleport to your office, and that weekly or biweekly cheque for alllll your hard work you've been waiting for? Boom, it's instantaneously deposited into your bank, no more waiting in line at the bank. And that day you meet a special someone? That'd be now, no more waiting! As a bonus, you two get married, have kid, and all the sudden, they're in college and you're planning retirement..but as soon as you planned that, you're dead. Time didn't wait for you... As you can see, the ideas are starting to get a "little" pathetic.
Without waiting, there ceases to be the existence of time; but I'll leave that for someone mathematician to prove.
Without waiting, there will not be that anticipation for Christmas morning when you open the box with an iPhone inside, or that that heart-pausing suspense as you sit uncomfortably at your desk waiting to see your grades on that English paper, or the nerve-wrecking when you see a long separated someone. Waiting makes us appreciative of these moments, be it worthwhile or a waste of time.
There are certain moments we wait for, I'm pretty sure you have many of your own that you're thinking of right now. As "painful" as the wait could be, waiting gives rise to opportunities to those who are prepared to take the risk. We are constantly waiting for the right moment..the right moment to speak, the critical moment to stand up, the exact moment to act, and that moment to... the one you've been waiting for since you're 15.
It could be as a simple conversation with a friend you have just met while waiting for a bus, or the proposal that could increase the company profit by 400% that you've prepared for months to the board of directors , what we decide to do during the time we wait..that's when this thing called "life" takes place.
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