You can find more information on the tour on the Downtown Raleigh web site.

What started out as stopping by periodically to help and offer support, turned into a “mentoring” role.  I really had a lot of fun and like the FTC program.  The FTC program uses the NXT and many Technic elements but introduces the Tetrix system which is non-LEGO and mostly aluminum.  There is much more of a mechanical aspect to FTC than there is with FLL which brings in another whole set of skills.

After a very hectic January and February, particularly February, the Apex Androids went to the Aggieland Championship at NC A&T in Greensboro, NC.  The Androids got off to a rough start due to communications problems.  Their robot didn’t move for the first two matches!  In the end, they got it straightened out and performed reasonably well.  They had dug themselves such a hole that the only way to move on was to get into an alliance which they did, being the last team picked with the assistance of the other Apex HS team, #3735.

The Alliance was quickly eliminated in the first round but the kids (and parents too) were all thrilled with how the day ended up.  Particularly after how poorly it started.  During the awards ceremony the Androids were stunned to win the prestigious Inspire Award and with it an invitation to the World Championships in Atlanta.  Wow.  Expecting the Robotics season to essentially be over after the Aggieland Championship, the Androids now had a whole new challenge ahead of them.  In addition to improving their robot, the team and parents had to figure out how to raise enough money to get the team to Atlanta.

I have continued my involvement with the team, working with them 2-3 days a week, usually two afternoons after school and one day on the weekend.  It all culminated in the trup to Atlanta last weekend.  While the team didn’t place well, they had a great time and learned a lot.  Many of the teams that did well have been around for a while and have quite a bit of experience to draw upon.  The team is already speculating on what the challenge might be for next year.  In the end it was a lot of work but a lot of fun and I expect to continue on with it.

I have been drifting a bit in the LEGO hobby, I just don’t have the drive, enthusiasm, or time to engage in the hobby as I once did.  The CEO of Rockwell-Collins (who is a fantastic speaker) talked about how being at the FIRST Championships was rejuvenating for him.  I felt much the same way.  I had a great time and am ready to dig into it again.  In fact, I expect to also get an FLL team started for my youngest daughter who has been dabbling with Mindstorms since the Androids have been coming to our house to work on their robot.

So while I don’t see myself doing much traditional building any more, I do expect to use my basement full of LEGO with an FTC and an FLL for the foreseeable future.  I am already scouring for a hand me down FLL field so I can set it up at home!

AFOL A Blocumentary from AFOL on Vimeo.

What is it about the term AFOL (Adult Fan of LEGO) that I don’t like? It is hard to put it into words but it is the word “Fan” that I don’t care for.

I am not a “fan” of LEGO but I enjoy creating things out of LEGO and I enjoy the LEGO hobby. I refer to myself as a hobbyist or enthusiast but never as a fan. In fact, there is a lot of things about LEGO that I am probably not a fan of (e.g. the lack of product offering in the $5 – $20 range, the inability to buy train cars individually, etc.). Despite my feelings about the term “AFOL”, it isn’t going to go away and the video is well done.

Unfortunately there are no pictures of the 2010 trains.  At least none that I saw in my quickl scan through.  Link to ASM’s Toy Fair Coverage:  http://toyfair10.asmzine.com/gallery/lego/

But times change and Cary has phased out of the LEGO hobby and TrackDraw, while it still works, hasn’t been updated in years.  At one point I could build it from source myself but about a year ago I tried to build it and was unable to.  So the version I have running is from the RailBricks site and includes some custom parts in the library.  TrackDraw still has some oddities and will crash from time to time.

Recently while working on the 2010 LEGOPalooza track plan I couldn’t get text to work correctly so on a whim I decided to try BlueBrick.  I had looked at BlueBrick about a year ago and dismissed it as it had some real limitations.  However when I looked at it again, most of my issues had been addressed and it works pretty well.

I have not tried to create my own parts yet but probably will soon but I do like the layering model in particular.  I recaptured the NCLTC layout I am doing for 2010 LEGOPalooza in BlueBrick and did a couple more iterations using it.  I really wish the layout area had scroll bars and I really miss the TrackDraw feature to add a bunch of elements using the numbers on the keyboard followed by clicking on the part you want to place but other than that, I don’t have any real complaints.