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A bonus year with Team 95!

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I felt like this year I got a bonus year of FIRST Robotics! Lex joined in 9th grade, R joined a year later, and E joined this year! She was a little up and down all season, but she stuck with it, had some new experiences, discovered some new skills, and formed some new friendships.

The team went to three events, as usual, but two of them were new events, one in Maine and the other in Vermont. Vermont’s first FRC event! Grasshoppers had to represent!

Cutie little grasshopper
Smart little grasshopper!
Alan and I went up to visit.
Preparing for alliance selection.
Team 95 invites…
Captain E

The UVM event had a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream robot! Alan and I went up to spend the day with E on the last day. Our ice cream robot picture was photo bombed by the guy who took Eve’s senior pictures. He takes a lot of sports photography for the school and other events. He was there photographing a sporting event at UVM and stopped by to get a few pics of robotics too. :)

It was really cool to see how important she is on this team. The coaches were frequently asking for her input and advice on alliance selection and other teams. She helped with organization and was the brave one who led the alliance selection team at each event.

Big smiles! Lex was happy to be back for an event.
R2D2 is a pin collector too.
The alliance select team, heading to the field. I love this picture!

For the district championship Alan, Lex, and I all went down to spend the final day with Eve. Districts is a bigger, longer event and Eve rocked it the whole time. She made it her goal to collect swag from every single team (she made a spreadsheet!) and wore the swag the whole time. There was a Star Wars group there (not sure if they were a team or something else), so there were R2s and Storm Troopers and other Star Wars characters wandering around the event.

Despite the fact that she complained about practices, dreaded going to events, and fussed a lot, she ended each event on a total high and made lots of friends. The coaches and freshman boys love her. She spent the whole drive home from the final event sad that the season was over and thinking of ways she (we) could continue to be involved in the future. :)

One way may be to continue making buttons for the team and maintaining the teams website. I’ve been doing it for the past few years and Eve took over this year. In the past the team had a tradition of giving away Keebler Grasshopper cookies to the other teams, judged, volunteers, etc after each event. Sadly Keebler stopped making those cookies (or changed something, I forget) and one coach decided to make cookies instead. She asked for volunteers to help, so of course I volunteered!

The season is now over. They had their “unpack the truck” meeting tonight. There will be a few other “off-season” and recruiting events over the summer. Eve is excited for all of them. I’m excited that she found something she enjoys, people who respect here, and, I got an extra year of robotics fun! Yay!

A Sunday of ups and downs

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Last Sunday I took R down to MA to catch his bus back to college. He had a very busy spring break, so it was nice to have some time to catch up with him before he left for school again. We had a good trip down, despite the on again, off again rain.

After dropping him off, I made a spur of the moment decision to zip over to Worcester to watch Lex march in the St. Patrick’s Day parade. It was a total spontaneous trip and I loved it! The weather was perfect, the crowds were varied in all ways, and suitably drunk for noon on a Sunday. LOL. The WPI marching band was early in the parade, but I parked near the end, so I walked along with the band as they finished up the route. There was another band mom there too (probably more than one), and she was following the band the whole way. We joked that we are “with the band” and therefore must be cool. 😂

This is a playlist with five videos. Not the best quality, but fun anyway. Dad — watch until the end! I took a video just for you! :)

I met up with Lex at the end and we got bagels for lunch. He said several band members didn’t make it to the parade, the bus never came, and he had to play two drum parts, but otherwise he had fun. Alan had just brought him back to WPI on Saturday, so it hadn’t been that long, but it was still nice to see him. 💗 I also enjoyed the walk back along the parade route. The energy was high and it was fun to be part of it.

On the drive home, things took a turn for the worse. I was routing to a charging station, cruising along, then suddenly started getting an error message saying “Vehicle may not restart. Service is required.” Umm… ok. I kept on to the charging station. When I got there, I plugged in, the car said “charging” for a second, then “stopped charging.” Threw a few more random error codes. I unplugged/replugged a few times, but no change. So I decided to move to a different plug, but when I tried to put the car in drive, it didn’t work. Just threw a bunch of more errors. So now it won’t charge, won’t drive, and is spewing error messages across the screen. I then spent the next few hours researching error codes, calling Tesla, calling my insurance company, calling Eve, calling Alan, and calling a tow company. Not necessarily in that order. In this time the battery died completely, with the window down, and the wind whipped ahead of an impending storm.

Eventually, about four hours later, the tow truck came and towed the car to the nearest Tesla service station. Alan picked up Eve and they came down to pick me up. Alan thought maybe we could replace the 12V battery and get the car going again, so we went to the service station. He and Eve braved the winds to do some diagnostics, then we went to WalMart (the only place open at that hour) to buy a battery and some tools. Back at the dealership we got the old battery out, the new battery in, and the car started. Yay! Lights on, screen on, windows up… but still no drive. Each time we tried to put it in drive, we got all the same slew of error messages. So we gave up and Alan brought us home, after a quick stop to recharge our bellies and his car. We drove home in heavy wind and think fog. It was a late night for us, especially him!

The Tesla service center was able to diagnosis it today. I was hoping it was a big battery issue, because I have another year left on that warranty. But, alas, it was not. It’s a “PTC heater failure.” Apparently that’s an important thing and part of the “high voltage” circuit thing and no longer under warranty. 😭

Tomorrow, E and I are taking the day off from work/school and going back to MA to pick up the car. Maybe we’ll swing by and see Lex again. LOL.

Life update

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Hey all, it’s been awhile. I’m debating if I should keep the blog going, now that everyone is almost off and away. Maybe through E’s graduation, then stop. I’m not sure. Anyway, for now, life has been busy. Somehow I got a calmer job and feel just as busy — though I am getting more sleep than before, so that’s good!

Here’s a photo gallery of updates. E is at an FRC event (she’s loving FRC this year!) and I’m on my own for the weekend. I’m celebrating that by doing practically nothing at all! LOL. I turned down a few plans and have been enjoying the day at home.

We’ve had a very wintery winter this winter! Los and lots of snow!
We took the ferry to Plattsburgh. Half the lake is frozen, but they broke enough ice to keep the ferry moving!
SUNY Plattsburgh
We visited Lex and saw an excellent WPI game and pep band. :)
Love these kids <3
I ran a most excellent puzzle competition at work.
And a most excellent spelling bee!
FRC requires closed toe shoes, so I bough E a pair of Cons and she decorated them.
Sharks…
and dinos.
Acrylic on canvas

I got a new job in the summer of 2023, then I got a new job at my job at the beginning of this month. I’m now the head of the tech services department with two people reporting to me. It’s actually a pretty high up position at the library. It’s keeping me way busier than my previous job at this library, though not as busy as teaching! Not many professions keep you as busy as teaching! I had a few programs left to finish up as part of my old job though. A puzzle competition that went super well and a spelling bee that was a blast. Now it’s all tech services from here out. I’m learning, on the job, that tech services really involves a lot of accounting!

We’ve been busy visiting colleges for accepted student days and to watch awesome music. We watched the WPI pep band support their basketball team to a win, then watched Lex perform with his Video Game Orchestra at a WPI talent show. It was a busy day for music and we loved it. I always love watching him perform!

Eve has been accepted to all four of the colleges she applied to. One she changed her mind on, but the other three are still contenders. We are doing the “Accepted Student Day” for all three, then she’ll make up her mind.

I’m driving a giant rental SUV again. This time is a brandy new Chevy Blazer EV. The Bolt that I bought for the kids last February died. Apparently Chevy is having a problem with the 2020 Bolt batteries giving out. The dealer didn’t have an rentals available and their reimbursement rental program was a total joke. It would have cost me over $5K up front and only about 70% of that reimbursed. It was super annoying and frustrating, but I channeled my inner “Um actually, I need to talk to your manager” and got things sorted out. However, because the teens are teens, they can’t drive the rental, so I’ll be driving it for the next few months while Eve drives my car. I kinda want to swap out the Tesla for something else anyway, but that will have to be another day, and after another raise.

Eve is off at an FRC event this weekend. She tried to join the team a few times off and on over the years, but didn’t feel welcome. There are a few new coaches now that made a difference to the team dynamic and she’s really liking it this year. She’s been doing some social media, some hands on fabrication and mechanics, and some logistical organization. She has come home from each practice in a pretty good mood and her texts from this weekends events have been positive.

Hmmm…. what else? I think that’s going to be it for tonight. Let me know if I should keep blogging. Maybe June is a good time to wrap it up? Maybe not? Thoughts?

A most whimsical day

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A quick look at the blog shows that I’m a wee bit behind on blog postings. I’ll catch up eventually, but for now, here’s a little post about a truly whimsical day Eve and I shared today. We drove R down to MA to catch the RIT bus back to college, then we went adventuring!

We started at the Dr. Seuss Museum in Springfield, MA, one of the five Springfield Museums. We went to the science museum too, since we were there anyway. The first thing we saw was a super cool and active wood turtle. We watched it work very hard to get over the (fake) rocks to reach it’s food. It was probably the most active turtle I’ve ever seen.

I made several short videos instead of one long one. That decision resulted in me missing an exciting moment that caused everyone watching to gasp! See if you can figure out where it was. LOL.

The rest of the science museum was pretty cool too. The gift show, however, was just meh.

Then we ventured out into the Dr. Seuss sculpture garden. There were several fun sculptures, including a Horton Hears a Who sculpture that double as a play structure for little kids.

The Dr. Seuss building had various themed rooms, lots of characters and play places, and the whole upstairs was historical documents and stuff from him. Theodor Geisel doodled on everything and the museum had lots of random things collected with his doodles. He also had a lot of correspondence, all on Cat in the Hat stationary he drew. They also had his baby book on a video display. That was neat to see. The whole place is pretty interesting.

I’m having trouble getting the photos uploaded here properly. If you want to see lots more photos, here’s a Google album.

When were done at the Springfield Museums (or at least the two we were most interested in!) we headed a few towns over to visit the The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. The whimsey started right in the parking lot with a Hungry Caterpillar bug.

The Eric Carle museum is smaller and a little more museum like, but no less interesting. The open center area had huge wall art done by Carle on his studio floor with paint brushes and rollers. There were several side galleries with different displays, a reading room with loads of picture books, a studio for creating art, and the best gift shop! I wanted to buy everything there! I restrained myself… but barely.

We had a great day full of whimsey and fun. <3

Happy Thanksgiving – 2024

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Another Thanksgiving has come and gone. It was a quiet one this year, delayed a day due to snowy weather.

E and I picked up Lex from WPI on our way. R decided to take a ridiculously long bus ride home to visit his friends instead of joining us for Thanksgiving. We went to the movies, had yummy dinner, and enjoyed the family time.

Apparently I only took dog pictures this trip. LOL. You’re welcome, Joyce!

On the way home we met up with Alan in passing, stopping to charge the cars and swap some family updates. Then the kids and I did some holiday shopping at the very crowded mall before dropping Lex back at college and heading home.

I am thankful for this family I have. I am a lucky daughter, sister, mother, and friend. 💛

Leadership training

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My bosses at work think I’m leadership material. Seems obvious to me. 😏

I spent the past few days at an intensive library leadership workshop held at a retreat center. It was a beautiful place with quaint accommodations. They fed us three squares a day and filled our brains with information.

Now we wait to see if I get a leadership job. Actually, as they clarified, we are all leaders, so now we wait to see if I get a management job. :)

The Page Turners go to Maine!

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I have an awesome book group that I started two years ago, fully inspired and based on Rosy’s book club. (I’ll give her credit every time!) We have eight members now and really enjoy each other’s company. Also inspired by Rosy’s club, we decided to take a vacation together. I booked an ocean front house for the weekend. Seven of us spent the weekend reading, talking, laughing (so, so much laughing!), singing, and relaxing. It was great. We carpooled there and back in two minivans, which gave us even extra time to chat and laugh, and a chance to stop for donuts on the way home!

A beautiful moon to guide the way.
Six of the seven Page Turners (one friend was a little late).
The house was AMAZING!
And the view…. <3
Put seven capable caregivers in a house and the food will be plentiful and delicious!
Breakfast on day two.
This was one of my goals for the weekend. Drink tea on the porch, overlooking the ocean, with my book. (I read some of it too, of course!)
Hello ocean. We drove for a few minutes to get to the beach, where we found beautiful views and so many clam and oyster shells!
My goals number two for the weekend — blueberry martinis in custom martini glasses.

We are already planning next year’s trip(s)!

A few more colleges

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I was wrong in my April post. That wasn’t our last college tour. We decided to do two more this month. Last week we visited Hofstra University and SUNY Stony Brook. Both have marine ecology programs that she’s interested in, plus significant art departments. Both are bigger than the other schools we’ve looked at. She was initially very excited for Stony Brook and Hofstra was just an extra while we were there. After touring both, her opinion has swapped!

We started with a morning tour at Hofstra. They had a whole recruiting event going on, so there were lots of people (students, staff, high schoolers, and families), plus balloons everywhere, snackies, and live music. It was a really fun event! The campus is located in a pretty urban area, but the campus itself is a pretty cozy place. Hofstra is a registered Arboretum, so the plant life was diverse and really interesting. Eve loved it. Their science department had pretty awesome fish tanks, and they offer scuba diving as PE credits!

There are these metal statues in interesting places all over campus, plus moss on building walls, and a labyrinth!
King Gerald waving to his buddies.
Hofstra’s mascots are lions, Willie and Kate. Students are called The Pride.
We like Willie and Kate.

After we were done at Hofstra we decided to swing by Northport to revisit our old stomping grounds. A lot has changed, but plenty has stayed the same. We went out on the dock, ate at the Shipwreck Diner, explored all the cute stores, then went to look at the water some more. Petting dogs along the way. There were so many dogs out!! I don’t know if that’s a normal day in Northport, or if it was “bring your dog into town day,” or something. LOL.

The next day we hit up another diner for breakfast. Long Island is like diner-land. They were everywhere. I always thought it was a Grandma thing, but maybe she was just a product of her location! :)

Then we headed to SUNY Stony Brook. The campus had some nice parts, but overall it was HUGE and had large swaths of concrete and paving (roads, wide walkways, random paved areas, etc.) I might have been a little cranky because we were late and the directions didn’t work properly in the car (routing us to the wrong place on campus) and the tour guides were terrible! All of us were tired by the end. I had scheduled a follow-up tour with the art department and with the science department. We did the art department tour, but Eve wasn’t super impressed. We then had two hours to wait before the science tour, but we were too tired and cranky to wait, so we bailed on that appointment.

Eve actually applied at Stony Brook and at Plattsburg at the end of October when SUNY had a free application week. She applied to Hofstra in the car on the way home from Long Island! Now we wait for the acceptance letters to roll in so we can compare offers.

Throat procedure – round 3 (?)

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This is a little old, and also boring, but I want to document anyway. After several years (4ish, I believe) and several steroid injections (three, maybe?) I went back in for another subglottic stenosis procedure on November 5th. Election day! It was a good day to be sedated.

I went back to my DHMC doctor, instead of going to Boston again. My local guy is doing the injection procedure now, so I was ready to switch back.

The process went well and I’m feeling better after it. He also did a steroid injection at the same time. Hopefully it lasts awhile!

Can you tell the needle spots from the freckles? :)

Voting!

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This year Lex and River are both going to be at college for election day, so we all voted by mail together. (This was a few weeks ago, I just forgot to post it then.) It was nice to be able discuss the ballot together, talk about the candidates, and let the boys hear my thought process. Alan was there too, so they got some of his insight as well. Of course we all made our own decisions and completed our own ballots.

My first time voting was at the campus center at Syracuse University. I went into the booth and pulled a big lever to vote for Bill Clinton. That was probably a more memorable experience that Lex and River got, but I think this election is more critical! I’m glad they both got the chance to vote. It’s their first presidential election, but, let’s hope, not their last!