Robotics Trip to Atlanta - Day 2

Well, well, what a day! I've been fueled solely on caffeine today. I'm due to crash anytime now. So I'll have to make this quick. The run-down:

• Got woken up at 4:30 a.m. when the mentor I'm sharing a room with finally arrived. I knew he was getting in on Friday, just not that he was getting in at such a unbearable hour.
  
• Tossed and turned 'til 5, got up ran 3 miles on one of the hotel treadmills, watched Sportscenter on (yes, on) the treadmill. Remember how we're staying in this posh hotel that even has TVs built into their treadmills?
  
• Met the team, went to breakfast at the CNN center food court (it's miserable to have fast food for breakfast although I did enjoy one of those "Chug" chocolate milks), got to the Dome around 7:30.
• About 8 a.m.: Robot Parade! Just what you'd expect - a gaggle of nerds meandering around the playing fields acting... well, nerdy. Parade included too many people and not enough robots. 'nuff said.
• Opening ceremonies: blah, blah, blah... not really interesting to me.
  
• 9:28 a.m.: First qualification match: Us 52, Them 2 - we rocked.
• 11:03 a.m.: Second qualification match: Us 271, Them 46 - we really rocked. 271 points scored in one game turned out to be the highest for our field for the day. Our flight crew is awesome.
  
• 2:12 p.m.: Third match: Us 0, Them 128 - we through a chain and immobilized ourselves. Ugh. That was a tough one to watch.
• 2:42 p.m.: Fourth match: Us 82, Them 4 - Back to dominating. We were seriously the best robot on the field in this match. At this point, we were ranked 5th out of 86 teams in our division.
  
• 4:54 p.m.: Us 2, Them 54 - another tough loss. We were workin' like robotic beavers, but didn't get any help from our alliance partners. One broke down in the wrong place (and needless to say, at the wrong time), was penalized, and cost our alliance 10 hard-earned points. The other alliance had two former world champions. I could tell from the get-go that we were in for a drubbing. Final ranking: 38th. We're definitely better than that ranking shows and the other teams know it. It means though that we'll really have to market ourselves well tomorrow.
• Team photo in the bright sun with the robot. I may have gotten sun-burnt.
  
• Call my babe. (I miss her!) It's amazing how I've only been married for eight (eight!) months and I already miss sleeping by her.
  
• Dave & Busters: OK food, fun games, good times.
  

Up for tomorrow: Our final two qualification matches, alliance selection, tournament, and glory! We won't rank high enough to get automatically into the tournament, but we should be selected. Keep your fingers crossed!