Graduation is on the Horizon!

 Good day readers,

It has come to my attention that I have not posted in quite some time. Perhaps I was too busy? Who knows?

Anyways, I was reading through a recently discovered blog. I think it's hilarious that I have never found this before given the authors! Check it out if you have some time!

Moving on to what has happened; let's see if I can summarize it in one really long sentence, because why not?

After receiving my recognition, the idea of leaving my schoolmates and teachers behind really hit me, but not like a brick, no; instead, I like to think of it as a really friendly and aggressive slap in the face, making part of me want to sit down and riminess, and another part of me want to run away as fast as I can, and this goes for most of my teenage experience; for example, both robotics and work are incredibly vulnerable to this line of logic; after working countless hours at both robots and work, it dawned on me that a part of me would not miss the grind.

So I hope that disgusting sentence helped you understand where I have been, as well as what I've been thinking recently. In case it didn't however, I will go into more detail. 

So I have totaled close to a thousand dollars in earnings recently, so if that doesn't give you an idea of how much a part-time, weekends-only worker works, I don't know what will. Sure there were a few weekdays here and there, but those were only five hours, which isn't too long compared to the classic 13 hour shift I usually work. Lastly, let me make it explicitly clear that I died after that vaccine! I was up till about five AM with an awful fever and muscle aches. Unfortunately, as you may have guessed, I missed the Food Truck Trek, but I heard good things. It seems in about five years our teams gonna be really big!

Now that work has been explained, let's move onto robotics. I suppose I should start off with senior night?

First off, it was a blast, so thank you everyone that did attend, or at least attempted to!

Next, it is unexpectedly important to say that I did not cry! Unlike a lot of seniors, I did not stop showing up to robotics. I need to attend to teach people, fool around, learn, and grow, in that order! Last night, a student from the class of 2020 created the ultimate drift bot using a Cheap and Dirty Radio Control set from Andy Mark. We have been working on perfecting the drifts for a long time, and I think we got it. The best part is, it can pull +3 people! It also can seat one of them on its chassis!

Now, moving towards a more focused and questionable task, I am almost done with my part of the driver station! I have completely remodeled the way this team programs robots in Python, making the process more user friendly and more modern! Again, very sketchy, very questionable. It is certainly possible that the poor RoboRIO will be trying to do too much at once, but hey, it wouldn't be questionable otherwise! I am really excited to see the final product of the driver station, using my exciting networktable-value publishing system and another student's ingenious web design and backend abilities! Wow, that is going to sound really bad out of context. Here's a graphic for understanding backend:

So apart from an absolutely fantastic senior night, nothing has changed too much there; still questionable! Moving onto the Sunday after senior night, May 16th, 2021!

For those who didn't know, this Sunday was the Drydene 400 at the Monster Mile, or Dover International Speedway! This was my first NASCAR race, and boy oh boy was it a blast! I had the time of my life and definitely learned to appreciate my hearing! From the moment we saw rip-off Chase Elliot to the moment Alex Bowman crossed the finish line, I was in paradise. The race was also very special because it was the first time in Hendrick Motorsports' history in which they earned a 1-2-3-4 finish, meaning that their four drivers conquered the top four positions. What made this even more remarkable was the fact that only two of the drivers had excellent starting positions. While William Byron and Kyle Larson both had optimistic starting positions, the other two were not so lucky. Chase Elliott unfortunately had to start from the rear, and Alex Bowman had a solid start in the middle of the pack. After an exceptionally fast pit stop, Alex Bowman was able to get out of the pits and take the lead, passing who I think was Kyle Larson. 

When I came to the race, I knew I wanted some Chase Elliott gear. I think every Hendrick Motorsports fan has some sort of Chase Elliott gear! But I also wanted some of Jimmie Johnson's which would be harder to find since he was no longer racing in NASCAR (he drives the #48 Carvana in Indy Car, also really cool!).But I did however find a piece to remind me of his Lowe's sponsorship!

Back in 2001, Lowe's partnered with Jimmie Johnson, who was a nobody at the time. Why? Great relations with Hendrick and a promise from the legend Jeff Gordon, former Hendrick Motorsports driver of the #24 car, claiming that Johnson had great potential. 

Some people think Lowe's left because Home Depot, the classic Lowe's rival, bailed in 2014. It is certain that the reason they left had to do with business however; Lowe's loved Jimmie!

Anyways, after I saw Alex Bowman in Jimmie's famous Ally car cross that finish line, I knew that although the drivers have changed, my favorite car has not! I think it's time to say I am a proud Alex Bowman fan after that day; or better yet, a fan of the #48 car!

I also had all of my AP tests over the time I was missing. I absolutely wanted to die on the Calculus BC exam, but the Physics I and the Computer Science A exams went very well! Yesterday, I finished all of my finals, except the second part of my calculus one. Ironically, apart from my computer science and English exam, I did the best on the calculus final! Or so I think!

Now on to a little more discomforting subject. Last Saturday, as much as I hate to say it, my grandmother passed away. She was a legendary cook and a legendary grandma! She always loved given whoopins', and I'm sure those will be carried on by my cousin! I never went to Disney World with my dad's parents, but I do know my cousins did, and boy oh boy did they have a blast! It makes me happy to think that my hardworkin', firefightin', grandpa and his good boy Tawny have been joined by my grandma so they can feast at the big table with the big man!

As an introvert, I find funerals very uncomfortable however, so I am a little concerned about that, but I know it means a lot to my dad and the rest of my family, so I'll tough it out. 

I still remember where I was when I learned that my grandma died; my mom told me that morning that they were expecting it soon, and that was all I could think about on that beautiful, Saturday drive to work. When my brother hauled his lazy butt in later that day, I told him to be cognizant towards the fact that she might pass, and he seemed a little shook, but seemed to manage himself well. Later that afternoon, my brother went on break, and returned to tell me she had passed, apparently she had left us earlier that morning. I still remember sitting in the back room, making about a dozen money bags for my clerks. I was a little shocked because I thought she had a little more time. I guess not. 

But people die, and that's life. I think I've talked about this unfortunate subject a lot at this point, so I'll shut up now. 

All in all, my eventful absence has been filled with ups and downs, but I think I'm going to use the "ups" to look at the good in the bad in the "downs", if you catch my drift. Oh, that also reminds me, I'm now practicing skateboarding at robotics! But that's a story for another day!

Congratulations if you read this far, but like always:

Thanks for reading, 

The Questionable Programmer

"Ups and downs in life are very important to keep us going, because a straight line even in an ECG means we are not alive"

- Ratan Tata

COVID-19 Vaccine!

 Hello readers,

Yesterday, around 11:30, I received my COVID-19 vaccine. It was the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, known as the Janssen vaccine. I had work later that day, and was fine going into my shift. I could tell my brother was a little uneasy, but not too bad. About half way through the six hour shift, my brother told me he was not doing too great, and was considering going home. Our boss knew we got the vaccine today, and she was perfectly fine with us leaving. About an hour later, my brother decided to leave. He struggled a bit to get to my mom's car to say the least. I decided to tough it out and finish the shift. By the time I got home, I was pretty dead. I had a light fever, soreness, and a little bit of nausea. I laid on the couch until about 5 AM, when I decided to go to bed. My brother was already out, and I was exhausted. I woke up today around 12:30 with a light fever and a little soreness. I unfortunately could not attend the 2021 Food Truck Trek, which was really disappointing because I was really looking forward to attending. I might call off of work tomorrow. I don't know. 

Anyway, I am happy I got the vaccine because that brings us one step closer to herd immunity; even if that means I have to take one for the team!

Thanks for reading,

The Questionable Programmer

2021 At Home Season and Catch Up

Hello readers,

I'd first like to apologize for my disappearance once more; I have been awfully busy with work events as well as robotics of course. 

As most of you know, the FRC 2021 season is a little special, to say the least. Rather than hosting the typical build season with in-person events and a World Championship (which we attended in 2019!), they decided to create three different challenges encompassing both those who have access to their robot, and those who don't. 

For those who are interested in FRC Game Theory and Design, there was a challenge for that. There was also a product design challenge for team's who are more focused on universal and community impact. More information on these two challenges can be found here.

Personally, I took more interest in the third challenge: the at-home challenges. These were challenges that involved the robot and its capabilities, such as cycle speed, accuracy, driver skill, and autonomous potential. 

Long story short, we were randomly assigned a group of 29 teams to compete with, and it seems pretty good. 303, Test Team, was the only team I recognized from the FMA district however; all the others are new to me. 

We generally have really strong scores across the five challenges. Not perfect, but good; in fact, maybe good enough to win our group? Maybe. We are interested to see how other teams do, but so far no team has compared to our scores. Until now. 

FRC Team 3130 of Minnesota is here with some good scores, and it's rather frightening. We are about even, and I have yet to see them post scores to the two shooting challenges. I need to get the autonomous challenge faster to secure a win however. Nevertheless, there are less than three days of competition left. All scores are due on the eighth by 3 PM Eastern. Tomorrow I plan on speeding up that auto, and taking Wednesday if need be. 

Nevertheless, we are going to do the best we can, and if we cannot beat them, too bad so sad. Nothing much we can do about their score. But I remain hopeful. I look forward to updating you all on the eighth. 

Small rant time. Skip if you want. 

So when I first started the season, I was excited to see FRC's unique take on the 2021 game/games. My opinion of the 2021 season gradually declined however. To be honest, I feel as though it is a lot more tedious and frustrating than a normal season. I also really dislike the way FIRST is handling the scoring. For two of the scores, they state that if you over-score yourselves, accidentally or purposefully, they throw your score out. If you underscore it, they do nothing. It's like The Price is Right. Yet unlike The Price is Right, this infuriates me. I think it's stupid that one small mistake or difference in opinion is a throw-away of what could maybe be the best score ever. It's not like teams would argue; they basically have no valid way of arguing since they have no idea who scored their piece. 

Although the Power Port challenge, a challenge which includes 60 seconds of cycling and shooting is exciting, it is, in my opinion, almost ignorant of the robot's skill compared to the skill of the human participants. 

By forcing two people to collect the same three balls from either behind the power port or in front of it (depends on which configuration you used), you are testing the robot's aim, and that's about it. Speed of the robot does not play a huge role, but human speed and hand-eye coordination do. FIRST prides itself on offering activities that give the competitiveness of sports, but also the joys of robot skill and performance and not the physical potential of team members. Speed of the robot is typically regardless because humans will usually take longer than the robot. This challenge also frustrates me because the challenge incorporates little of the robot. For us, it was really only the shooter and the aiming components. We didn't need the intake and the climber, and that goes for most challenges to be honest. It was always these systems. I felt disappointed in the challenges we received. To prevent being overly hypocritical, let me lay down a few suggestions: a speed-climbing challenge, an auto challenge which involved shooting, or a color wheel challenge. 

Although my proposed challenges present a plethora of difficulties, isn't their job to overcome these? I don't think the challenges are that difficult to implement, and I certainly think they provide a better alternative to the 2020 game people were looking forward to playing. Shooting these yellow dodge balls repeatedly is quite boring, and drivetrain skill is certainly nothing new. 

All in all, I feel as though these games are the "tip of the iceberg", and that this season could have been so much more if they put more effort into these at-home challenges. 

However, what's in the past is in the past, and I certainly can not change it. 

End rant. 

In early March, I managed to earn myself a promotion at work. In fact, I am now an assistant supervisor. My tasks are much more different than what they used to be, but they still revolve around the same core concepts: respect, treat guests well, and honor our founder. I look forward to dealing with the Karens and helping out my coworkers across the park! My first day is this Sunday, although it was originally supposed to be the past weekend (one of my close friends and team members got COVID-19 [he will be ok]), so hopefully I can inform you when I also inform you about FRC Team 3130 and our performance. The shift also happens to be a double shift, 0830 - 2100 *excited nerd noises*!

Easter was also yesterday, so it was nice to see most of my family together and healthy too. 

I have a lot of stress on my mind with these challenges, so the sooner its over the better I suppose. Just gotta do my best! 

Again, sorry for my disappearance; just know that I'm still here, and still coding. 

Just kidding! Look here for my most recent work involving Bezier curve generation and following. If you wanna see the inner guts of it, trace it back to the swervedrive.py file in the subsystems folder and locate the methods you are interested in (which is most likely the slope finder of higher degree Bezier curves!) This code certainly lives up to my name of, The Questionable Programmer. 

And with that ladies and gentlemen, I bring this to a close. Thanks for sticking with me once again, and I look forward to writing to you all very soon. 

Sincerely,

The Questionable Programmer

"It always seems impossible until it's done." 

- Nelson Mandela

COVID-19, Swerve, and My Brother's Decision

 Good evening readers,

As many of you know, my last post discussed the new project my team was facing: swerve drive! If I must say so myself, the project is going fantastic! We had full teleoperated functionality within just four days of the drivetrain assembly! It was really awesome to see the swerve work, as swerve drive has always been one of the most captivating pieces of FRC robotics for me. 

Now that I got that out of the way, let me move on to the COVID-19 situation. As of now, my mother has a pending COVID-19 test, but she seems to be doing just fine. She is an elementary school teacher at a private school, and has been sending kids home sick recently. I imagine she caught whatever it is she has from there. Whatever it is, I don't think it's COVID-19; here's hoping! 

My grandma has it as well. She lives in a nursing home, which was on lockdown, so I find it very concerning and frustrating that she was somehow exposed to this virus. However, if she is anything like the rest of the family, she will certainly pull though! 

My cousin, who is an elementary PE coach at another private school, also caught COVID-19. If I heard correctly, the school did not require students to wear masks at the time. I do believe that is why he caught COVID-19. Thankfully, he is a very healthy man, and managed to beat the virus. 

These are all the cases in my family which I can remember or know of. I know there are and were some potential cases on the team, but I will not disclose any information about that. 

I will say, programmer attendance has been really poor recently, and it does make me concerned about the future of the programming department. The team needs programmers. But if students don't show up, they won't stay engaged, if they're not engaged, they don't wanna stay on the team, and we then have no programmers. Anyway.

Now, onto my brother. As you people know, I decided a little after Christmas. My brother; however, plans on deciding by the end of January, which is tomorrow. Frankly, he still seems unsure. He is deciding between Pennsylvania State University and Michigan Tech, the school I'm going to. He crossed out West Virginia University about a month ago. Yesterday, we were looking at Penn State's reconstruction plan. This seems really exciting, but he's concerned that he won't get the experience and education he wants while this renovation is occurring. 

All in all however, I think he is going to go to Michigan Technological University. Again, mark my words: Michigan Tech. I will inform you all of his decision tomorrow!

Thanks for reading, 

The Questionable Programmer