VIM (Very Important Memo)

The year of the Elephant has ended just in time for the new OotM year to start. Of course, a new Odyssey project calls for a new blog, so check it out!

http://35545.blogspot.com

Post-World

World was great. We had lots of fun. I don't know what else to say.
...

Reader polls just in indicate that the above paragraph is not long enough to be a post. Well, you readers are too demanding, but I'll say a bit more.
We placed 25th out of 41 Division III Tech Transfer teams. I believe we scored 102 on long-term, which is better than we have ever scored in the past. At state, we scored somewhere around 80, and at regionals, we scored much worse than that. So although I know that objectively, we did badly, it was a learning experience for everyone, and we did better than 39 percent of the world! Yeah, that's right. We are better than 39% of the world. Hooray!! Just kidding; don't sue me, lower 39 percent.

Anyway, back to something of at least a little importance...
We transferred four (4) items during the performance, which is more than in any previous competition. But we transferred all 20 items during practice 15 minutes before the competition. Grr.
I have a feeling that one of the wires broke while we were moving the elephant into the OS. It was this connector.

Well aside from the competition, there was a lot of sweaty and exhausting great stuff to do in Iowa, which is now my least-favorite state. There was no air conditioning (in the entire state, according to some disgruntled visitors), and we had to take 57 steps up to our rooms. (Thanks to Anthony for that number). By the end of the trip, everybody was in better shape, and Kris was much faster on the stairs. But I digress.
There was a Creativity Festival with lots of fun stuff to do, including basketball, fake baseball, rock-climbing, and hypnotism. Anthony still doesn't know that there is a videotape of him in hypnosis. And of course, there was pin trading galore! I couldn't walk 100 feet without seeing a pin trader. There were some cool pins from other states and continents. I still don't understand why pin trading is so popular, but it is, and it's not going away any time soon. But why couldn't they have chosen something easier to trade, like Odyssey Pokémon cards? To trade pins, you have to carry around a huge towel, and the pin backings always fall off and get lost on the bus, and you have to use two hands to remove the pins from the towel, and blah blah.

This is probably the longest post yet on this blog, and possibly the last, as the elephant nears its doom.

All of our sponsors and coaches and donors and administrative assistants have been indispensable to our success. Thank you.

Elephant Post #2

The elephant is not dead, because we have to show Mrs. Stahl, but after that I say we should blow it up. Another option is to continue working on it. Or the Mayas could keep it forever. Or maybe you have an alternative, equally radical idea for the elephant's future. Vote here, by clicking "comment" at the bottom of this post.

Elephant Poll #1

I was thinking...Our world-class team brought along Judge Alex Espinosa, so is he a world-class judge? Post your comments, lovely readers.

Multimedia message

Done by Staci Rizner with a dull pencil in a bumpy car.

On the road!

Major Problem

The entire trunk broke off tonight at practice. But we've got a plan. As a Beatle EDIT: "Tom Petty" once said, "It'll all work out."

FYI for the technologically challenged

There is a part of Blogger.com (the host of this blog) called "comments." Comments allow you to give feedback or post your own opinions about each post. I hope everyone knows what a post is, but if not:
Large text on this page is a title of a post. The small text following the title is the body of the post. The title and the body together make up a post. "Post" can also be a verb, as in, "post a comment."
Anyway, at the bottom of each post, there is small green text that says, "0 comments," or however many comments there are on that post. You can click on that link to add a comment or to read other people's comments. If you have a Blogger.com account (like I do), you can log in so people will know who you are. You can even add a picture of yourself if you want. If you don't have an account, you can go to www.blogger.com to make one for free, or you can simply type your comment and then click "other" and type your name in the box. Or, if you like, you can simply click "Anonymous" to post anonymously. But I like to know who is posting comments, so please don't do it anonymously.
At the bottom of this post, it should say "1 comment" because I have posted a sample comment for you to see.
I want to see a lot of comments because that makes this less of "my" blog, and more of "everybody's" blog.

Also, at the bottom of every post, it tells you who wrote it.

errors?

I have ben infourmed that they're are spelling and/or gramatical erors on this blog!  If you find any, pleese comment abowt them.  (Click the wurd "comment" beneth the post)