College is Fast Approaching!

Hi readers,

I first want to apologize for my disappearance again. I've been very busy at robotics and work, as usual. I promise these aren't empty lies! I truly think my hard work paid off somewhere, but we will get into that later. 

First, let's revisit some stuff from other discussions. Two blogs ago, I discussed my grandma's passing, but I did not mention that she suffered from dementia. Dad, if you're reading this, please skip the next few sentences. Anyway, many of you know my brother is a big fan of country music; one of his favorite songs is called "Numbers On The Cars", by Riley Green. On the way home from work, my brother would often play country music, and he would almost always make sure this song was in the queue. The more and more I listen to it, the more and more I realize how perfectly it described my grandma's state. So. Kudos to you Riley Green. 

Anyway, great country song, highly recommend. 

Moving on, let's discuss the competition: CHSy Champs. Ever since the end of the official 2021 season, my team has been preparing for this offseason. I've been showing up as often as I could, programming autos, practicing, climbing, and addressing issues as they appear. Going into the competition, I felt really confident in the robot, and myself, which was something I hadn't seen in a long time. All in all, despite the fact that the competition was outside of FMA, lacked interesting competition, and we didn't win, I still had a great time. I personally feel like the team had a rocky start, but greatly improved after the second match. Our performance was enough to put us in second and ally ourselves with the first alliance captain, another out-of-state team from Rochester, New York: Team 340. Unfortunately, a combination of disappointing second picks and an unlucky round robin, we went home without a win. I still believe we were the best robot there, and I think the numbers hold to prove it. Here is the Blue Alliance page for the event, as well as the Twitch live stream link. I definitely recommend looking for our close, yet successful, triple climb, as well as our highest scoring match (198)! I can't say I didn't perform without a little help however: 

Yes, that's right: the powdered root beer made a return for my last competition! For those who are unfamiliar, my team has been doing a "ritual" where the driver, or drive team, drinks this disgusting powdered root beer purchased from a specific Dollar General in York, PA. Now, my friend told me that this root beer was not from that specific dollar general, which therefore resulted in a lack of additional luck. Perhaps this is why we lost?

Work has also been very stressful, as it seems as though I have a bit of a mutiny on my hands at times. All I'm going to say is that employee morale has been quite low, and that put's a lot of stress on me as a leader. We did just have an employee party, so I hope that brightened the general mood. It was my brother's first time on Storm Runner, and it was also one of the last times I'll ever see my one friend Aidan. Aidan and I have been pals since the beginning of high school, and now he's moving to Missouri. I just hope God gives him some sense of direction with his life, because he got potential and drive! So, this next Coke is to you Aidan. Cheers!

I've also been spending a lot of time at my internship, which is currently testing the working, prototyped wind turbine my boss has been developing. I've done a lot of algorithms and generator setup, which has been proving more and more useful as I gain more and more direction in life. Go support them for funding round two!

Now that I've talked about that, let's look forward. My graduation party is on the 7th of August, and I was very hesitant to give out invitations, because these parties stress me out. I get stressed when I feel as though I am being judged, and for some reason I feel almost selfish for hosting a party to celebrate myself. I know when you put it that way it sounds weird, but nevertheless, is that not what's happening? 

I also just received my AP test scores back. It seems as though the universe is trying to improve my lack of self-confidence, because apparently, I did incredibly well on my tests. My scores from this year and last year are:

1. English Language and Composition: 4
2. Calculus BC: 4,  AB Subscore: 5
3. Physics I: 4
4. Computer Science: 5

I'm very proud of these scores, and they will certainly help me cut off some credits. In fact, with these scores, I'm qualified to start in Calculus III! That would be stupid though, so I'm probably going to start in Calculus II. 

Moving onto how I feel about college. As college gets closer and closer, and relationships just happened to get more stressful, I began to put two and two together. I'm not great at sensing emotion, making friends, or just expressing myself. Combine this with a faraway college full of people my age, and it gets a little scary. I'm gonna do my best to build self-confidence and become more extroverted at college. I can promise you that. 

There. I think I covered about everything. I'll touch in again after my graduation party!

As always, thanks for reading,

The Questionable Programmer

P.S. That questionable invention is still in the works, but substantial progress has been made!

"Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something"

- Plato

Graduation and American Legion Senior Award!

Hello readers, 

Well, today was the day. I graduated high school. It was really nice to see everyone one last time. I said my goodbyes to my outstanding AP Comp Sci teacher, as well as my friends who I probably won't see again. My grandparents came over to see me graduate and share some wisdom; they reminded me of the time I once said I would be amazed if they made it to my high school graduation. Thankfully, they both did!  

Although I was honored to receive my diploma and wear my NHS cords, I was even more honored to display my FIRST cords. Why? Well. 

In my opinion, FRC and its sister organizations teach much more valuable concepts than some of those taught in school. Not only that, FRC also provides experience with real-world applications. You ever hear people complain that schools should teach how to do taxes instead of dependent clauses? It's the same idea. 

What was a little ironic and concerning was the fact that the FIRST cords looked remarkably similar (red, blue and white) to those worn by the people entering the armed forces! I got some odd looks when they asked those who were entering the military to rise and I didn't! That's ok though. 

Back in 2016 and 2017, I wrote in a time capsule. Possibly the heaviest thing of the night was looking back at each of those. In the 2016 one, I was actually able to predict the election! My gut still hurts from laughing so hard! I said that I thought Trump would win, and that he would build a wall. One disappointing part was when I compared the 2016 and the 2017 one; you see, in the spring of 2016, my grandpa passed away, and when I wrote the first one, I asked myself if my grandparents were alive. And as I expected, the 2017 one then brought up the sad fact that he did pass. 

All in all, it was nice to look back at those and see my predictions, questions, and expectations. I proudly answered most of the questions; for example, one asked if I was going to be an engineer, and I happily confirmed that! Another asked if I was going to PSU, and we all know how that went!

Anyway, what's left? Oh yeah, my mom was crazy emotional. I guess I understand it though. 

Lastly, I emailed the people who gave me the $1,000 scholarship at our PAHS award ceremony! Here's what I said: 

I don't want to keep this one super long, so I think I'll wrap it up!

As always, thanks for reading,

The Questionable Programmer

P.S. I have another VERY questionable "invention" on the rise! Keep watching!

"All gave some, some gave all"

- Howard William Osterkamp

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

My Brother's Decision

 Hi all, 

As promised, I returned with news of my brother's schooling. Noah will be attending Michigan Tech as well. 

Frankly, I am not surprised, and saw this coming a long time ago. Often Noah and I would talk about college, and I would bring up a fact about Penn State, or a con of Michigan Tech, and Noah would be quick to make an excuse for why he should choose Michigan Tech. 

At the end of the day, both PSU and MTU are great schools, and you just have to go with your gut. 

Thanks for reading, 

The Questionable Programmer

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