The worst that could happen, happened, in spite of my constant admonishment to have a Plan B and C in case things went wrong.

The team and their work simply fell apart, the wheels came off at full speed.

Meaning: four team members up and left in the middle of practice for a birthday party, without as much as Hi, Yes, No before departure.  One of the team members who’d left has been a prima donna the whole course of the way, insisting that everything runs his way to the exclusion of other equally talented team members.  He managed to mess with another team members program before bailing today.  He saved the changes OVER the previous program, chewing up the file so badly that we can’t backtrack or recover the earlier working versions.

Basically, we’ve lost every bit of work we did for the last six weeks because of this one kid.  These kids actually had a chance to qualify for the state finals – until today.

I am furious.  I am so peeved at myself for not collaring this prima donna and ejecting him sooner; I figured we were so close to competition that we’d just choke it out.  Bad move.

I don’t know now whether to simply walk into the competition tomorrow and withdraw, or to have the kids “attempt” a run with the botched up program we have now, for partial credit. 

Whatever I finally select, the kids who left today in the middle of practice are benched.  They will not make any of the presentations in the meet, will only be allowed to assist away from the competition arena.  They are going to have to grit through a lecture about the lack of teamwork that brought all our work to crashing halt before we even decide what to do.

Live and learn.  Annoys the snot out of me right now, but I’ll bet there will be a few upset kids and parents tomorrow after I’m done coaching.

The worst part is that the kids who did remain behind made a valiant attempt to try to save what was left, putting in effort well beyond the call of duty.  There’s no way to make it up to them, coming this close only to have it all pulled out from underneath them.

Grrr…

10:39:43 PM    comment []

Jeepers, I can’t believe I missed a landmark here!  I’ve been so busy I missed the 50,000 page reads milestone!

Thanks very much, all of you, who’ve dropped in to visit in the last fourteen months.  You’ve been a blast to chat with here; you make it worthwhile.

Thanks again!

10:21:06 PM    comment []

I woke up this morning in the middle of a dream that consisted of going through all the stuff we need to get done this afternoon/evening and tomorrow morning for the regional competition.

The kids are suffering from nerves and a spate of incredibly good weather; they’re jittery, jumping all over each other, and chomping at the bit to be outside as if afflicted by spring fever.  Unlike previous afternoon practices, they had to have two breaks to get fresh air yesterday, chewing up valuable programming and presentation preparation time.  They just couldn’t stay with it.

What’s the worst that could happen tomorrow?  I’m trying not to think about the possibility that these kids could go to the state finals…I can’t imagine trying to pump them back up and getting back on their game for that next level.  Somehow that seems more threatening than one of the kids dropping the robot just seconds before starting their heat tomorrow.

Maybe it’s just that I’ve seen the robot dumped a few times now that it no longer scares me.  They pick it up, dust it off, reassemble with a flurry of nimble fingers when that happens – and it’s all up to them.

Were they to place for the state finals, a lot more would fall on my shoulders right smack in the middle of pre-Christmas hype.  Try keeping elementary kids thinking about work they’ve been doing for eight weeks when Santa and the promise of goodies are being pumped into their systems every minute of every day between now and Christmas.

<sigh>

If they place, then the competition really begins, in earnest.

Go, team!

11:26:30 AM    comment []

Hello grandma.I got your E-mail you sent me.Things are going well but it is cold out side.We don't know what we're going to do over thanksgiving breakbut I know Ican't wait for the turkey dinner.I like the fish idea I am going to try to see if I can get more fish for less money problems .So how are things in Flordia? Are you having a good time?

Well thats all Ihave to ask! I am looking foward to your next letter.

Love, [your granddaughter]

So begins "the writing project" -- my mother is trying to encourage my daughter's writing skills that need a lot of work.  My daughter is a lot like her older step brother and her father, a whiz at math and science but challenged with spelling and grammar.  Grandma thought that starting a pen pal program might help a bit since it's an opportunity to practice without the pressure of being homework or grading.  We'll see how it goes.

Unfortunately, every silver lining has a cloud; Grandma wrote in her inaugural email that she's studying feng shui.  She told her granddaughter it was better to have nine goldfish -- eight gold, one black -- if she wanted good luck.  Begging for additions to our current population of four fat and bored goldfish will begin anytime now...

Wonder what Grandma will write about next time?  Want to bet it involves a cat?

12:33:24 AM    comment []