CHECK DUE

Okay guys. Here's the deal.

The head of BotsIQ, Nola Garcia, SPECIFICALLY contacted my dad asking whether or not we are bringing Copperhead out to San Francisco. Apparently, a LOT of teams have been asking whether or not we will be competing. We are the team to beat in the 120 lb class. Copperhead is now a high-profile bot, and will go down in Battlebots history. There is a good chance we will see a lot of Copperhead clones in competition, because we proved how successful a drum bot can be.

According to Nola, there should be over 20 15 lb bots in the competition, including another brand new spinner that won Best Engineered bot award at Rumble @ The Rock in MA, and has recently received a lot of attention. The Carrolton school in Miami is building 15 battlebots at the same time, so we will have some competition. There is a chance we will drive down to Miami on Saturday. Nola has offered to let the team stay at her house for free (we said we were bringing around 8 people w/ sleeping bags... ). We will know more in about a week when we get a list of definite attendees for miami. Nola said she would get passes for all our team members so that we can enjoy this Miami Youth Fair in addition to just competing, and this is going to take her some time, so we can't wait too long to give her the list of people.

Now. I just want to give you the rundown on the San Francisco trip. This trip is a big commitment. It's a big undertaking for everyone. It's not something that you do because "oh, i think i might want to do this." Either you really want to be a part of this, or you don't. I apologize if the numbers are really fuzzy. At this point, we are planning a trip, and, as with all trips, the costs involved aren't definite. At this point we know this for sure:

Every PERSON going with the group (including parents) owes a $300 check to Mrs. Dreher (Alan's mom) to secure the plane tickets, hotel reservations, and rental cars for California. This is NON-REFUNDABLE. For example, my father will be traveling with us, so I owe her $600. Justin Bounds is traveling with us, but his parents are doing their own thing, so he owes $300.

PLEASE HAVE YOUR CHECKS BY MONDAY. If you're lazy and not reading the blog, I guess Tuesday is acceptable. I know most of you don't read this. DELAYING SCREWS US ALL OVER.

The longer we delay, the more expensive this trip is going to get. Over the last week, our plane fares have increased over $50 per ticket.

Once Alan's mom has received the checks, she will make reservations, buy tickets, and finalize everything. She will be handling all the logistics of the trip.

The other thing is that some of us are considering extending our stay in CA to do some sightseeing. Brian, we don't know what to do with you. We need to get EVERYONE (students and parents) together in one location at the same time and discuss the trip details. I will talk about this on Tuesday. Hopefully we can arrange this before March 1st because we need to sign the release forms which are fairly involved because of the televising.


At this point, Connor is no longer able to go.
The list is:

Myself
My father
Julien (mom?)
Justin
Alan
Alan's mom (dad?)
Brian

Mrs. Dreher needs to get $1500 by tuesday or she can't do everything she needs to do. If Julien's mom travels with the group, then she needs $1800...

REMEMBER: I NEED FULL NAMES, BIRTHDATES, ADDRESSES and a HEADSHOT PHOTO of EVERYONE GOING TO SAN FRANSISCO! PARENTS INCLUDED! this is required by the event organizer. In order to register the team and the bot for the competition I need a headshot for everyone and a birthdate so that we can get pit passes that are essentially photo ID's for admission into the pit areas. I haven't received ANY from ANYONE.