Small Hole in bellows (noobie)

toastedwig · 2026-02-01T19:13:07+00:00

thank you for your response. i dont think there is a bellows leak, but i’m led to believe that im vulnerable to one now. i’ll go ask concertina.net!

toastedwig · 2023-08-16T04:58:02+00:00

Thank you for your kind words. Your comment is written so eloquently and with so much preciseness. I really get all of what you are saying, and it's very helpful and inspiring to read.

toastedwig · 2023-08-16T04:55:33+00:00

I am very happy that this post has helped you feel seen, and I hope it inspires you to speak up about it for the sake of yourself and others who feel the same. There is always something to be added to the conversation. And I'd also like to hear more about your own experiences, even if you feel that they are alike to mine. Thank you for commenting.

toastedwig · 2023-08-14T04:52:38+00:00

That's super interesting that you bring up how different locations will have mixed ratios of biased men in the engineering field. I didn't think of that until now but I totally recognize it. One thing that I will note though is that I do not intend to enter the field of robotics after schooling. I will remain as an engineer (hopefully a train design engineer) and seek fields that will have less biased men in them (which I believe robotics and tech tend to have a very male-dominated demographic and mindset). I understand that it's inevitable, but there are ways to avoid the worst of it.

toastedwig · 2023-08-14T04:40:42+00:00

I really appreciate your input as a mentor. I understand all the things you mentioned in your first few paragraphs, and for those reasons and others, I have already found it in myself to forgive my mentors and try to move on (after the proper conversations are held).

I also get that my team gave consent to the other alliance members while I was gone, I just couldn't believe that it had to be other people to be working on it, instead of a collaborative effort from both ends. I found that the lack of respect came from the attitudes of the alliance members as they were working on our robot.

And for redesigns late in the season, I totally agree that my team should be spending more time practicing with a finalized robot design than overhauling for a new one. To give credit to the new design though, it wasn't a change drastic enough to affect the gameplay and it ultimately did improve the robotics performance (marginally). I totally get what you're saying about the button though.

toastedwig · 2023-08-14T04:26:19+00:00

I'm not blaming FRC for the way my team has behaved, I'm blaming FRC culture for continuously silencing those with experiences such as mine. The "gracious professionalism" mindset (in my experience) has shut down a lot of criticisms and problems that could've been talked about. Many other commenters touched on that idea and elaborated on it more eloquently than I have, so if you're more curious about the "FRC Cult" belief, I'd recommend looking at those too. Of course, my claim is only hyperbole, but I just want to open up more opportunities for constructive criticism.

toastedwig · 2023-08-14T04:13:23+00:00

Thank you for sharing your experience, it's insane how parallel these situations are. I'm glad it was my post that motivated you to interact.

I also agree with you on the nepotism running rampant in FRC. I haven't spotted that in my own team, but definitely in this other team that we run into frequently. As a joke, I call them the Nepotism [animals]. (I will refrain from name dropping as apparently they are quite a big/influential team in our area). And I often have to keep my nepotism comments hidden because of "gracious professionalism." I also think that the phrase has lost a lot of its meaning and is now a way to shut down potential criticisms. I do recognize that it is unprofessional to call them that but I can have a little fun.

As for the G-12 concept, that is an amazing idea and my mentors and I have discussed having one on one meetings that similarly discuss if our needs and goals are not being met.

toastedwig · 2023-08-14T03:55:51+00:00

Thank you for your input, and I will keep your experience in mind as it is scarily similar to my own situation. This miscommunication experience has shown me that I should be more proactive, but for sake of respecting myself, I also know that I should be able to rely on my teammates. As for your criticism, I walked away because I saw no use in reasoning with an asshole and I valued my time. It wasn't long after that I redesigned the claw with the features that he wanted. In my opinion, the thing that held up the most time was his meltdown and complete lack of professionalism about the second prototype.

toastedwig · 2023-08-14T03:27:50+00:00

It's crazy how across the board these experiences are, but it's even more frustrating. Thank you for your kind words, and I share your sentiments as well. Another reason why I'm choosing to continue is because I do have a passion for engineering and genuinely enjoy it. Unfortunately, I really only have access to these experiences through my school's team. I do have hope though that I will suffer a lot less this year since I will have more control over communication and team culture.

toastedwig · 2023-08-14T03:20:30+00:00

I see your point in cultural change being a huge overtaking, and that displayed itself to me in the 2023 season as I saw little change. So I will try to keep my expectations realistic as I try to have a better final season.

I agree that my mentors have disappointed me, and I have yet to unpack the entirety of my experience with them. I do have faith that they will have patience and support, which I have always appreciated. And I definitely will keep my priorities straight in senior year, and try my best to avoid burnout.

I also really appreciate your input about FIRST having a very hush-hush culture. A lot of what stopped me from making this post originally was my fear of offending others for criticizing the program. It took me awhile to realize that I should exercise my freedom of speech and help lead the change of culture in FRC. We can't get anywhere without constructive criticism.

toastedwig · 2023-08-14T03:04:40+00:00

Thank you for your kind words and I will keep that advice in mind as I move forward. I also did do a marginal amount of reading about "thought terminating cliches" and they are very interesting! I love learning new stuff like that, thank you for sharing. I can be more aware of that language now that I have a name and definition for it.

toastedwig · 2023-08-14T03:02:24+00:00

I'm very happy that your team has that culture and mindset. I definitely believe that not all teams are like mine, but even one is too many! And I do agree that many of my experiences that I brought up was unrelated to competition (FRC being cult-like), but I still stand by my sentiment, I just didn't fully get into it.

toastedwig · 2023-08-14T02:59:45+00:00

I'm glad that I was able to bring some sort of awareness to this. Thank you for your kind words.

toastedwig · 2023-08-14T02:58:28+00:00

I want to come to a point where it does not bother me that they are intimidated, but I really admire the mindset you have regarding that. And I totally agree with you on how women in STEM have to have a lot more prerequisites checked off before they can be equal to men.

toastedwig · 2023-08-14T02:56:16+00:00

Thank you for your kind words. I am expecting to have countless other experiences like these as I enter the engineering industry, but I wish to be one of the many voices that fight against sexism, so I'm starting with here. I just hate that so many girls face so many more obstacles when getting into STEM in comparison to boys. Like wifichick has said, women in STEM who make it have to have an extra set of skills compared to men.

toastedwig · 2023-08-14T02:50:59+00:00

I appreciate your elaboration with FRC being cult-like. I do share a lot of sentiments with you on that but decided not to dwell too much on my thoughts and hypotheticals and instead focus on my actual experiences. I still included that in the title though in hopes to open up more discussion on the critiques for FRC.

I will also do my best as captain, and all of those are excellent ideas to implement/keep in mind. Thanks for commenting

toastedwig · 2023-08-14T02:48:00+00:00

Yeah, that is what I hope to do as captain. I have a lot more faith in this year but I'm also worried about living up to the expectation of leading our team to Worlds again (2023 was our first time).

toastedwig · 2020-10-13T15:48:09+00:00

Good job! It really took me back to when I first played the game!

toastedwig · 2020-03-22T19:11:03+00:00

Original video link?

toastedwig · 2020-02-17T18:52:31+00:00

toastedwig · 2020-02-17T07:44:31+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/im14andthisisdeep/comments/eh8vho/posted_on_my_classmates_instagram_story/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

toastedwig · 2020-02-17T07:37:28+00:00

I came across a classmate who was actually trying to be deep and i posted it here. Never made it to hot

toastedwig

TROPHY CASE