We set off with bagels in hand this morning, determined to get to the dome by 6:15AM to line up at the doors, waiting for our chance to rush in and claim the best scouting seats in the house.We were, yet again, among great Canadian friends–team 1114, team 2056, and team 610 were there.  We’re not sure what time they wake up to ALWAYS be first in line.We’re glad to see one of our Cyberfalcon friends in the crowd.
Our strategy succeeded, the early morning was worth it.  We got our great seats again in the stands.  In the pits, the robot was all ready to go.  We tested out a few things, including our shooter.  Safety is important, and we don’t want to shoot the balls all over the pit area, so this time we brought a fishing net to keep everything under control.Our scouts worked really hard to keep each match documented on sheets which are filed in a binder after being transferred to a database.  Electrical outlets can become quite difficult to find.  Lucky for us we’ve got friends on 610 who had a great big powerbar for us to plug into.  Thanks guys!Matches were exciting today, there’s a very high level of competition here.  The robots are doing great things.  It’s been a bit rocky for us, and at one point we were very low in the standings (95th).  We then played a really spectacular match.  It was one of those matches where everything goes right.  We shot in autonomous and scored.  We did what we needed to do on our alliance, and then we balanced the bridge too!  This led to a dramatic increase–we were in 48th after that game!
We wrote postcards to our sponsors today to thank them for all they do for our team.  We hope that they get safely to their destinations.
People have been commenting on our hats, and in particular the many hat pins that our friends and family have been knitting for the last few months.  It was nice to meet a few fellow knitters in the crowd today.At the conclusion of the day we had dinner and then had our scouting meeting.  We’re excited to see what will happen tomorrow with our last match, and to see who ends up in the elimination rounds, and who will eventually play in the finals on Einstein.