Michelle and I exited the lot and later made our way back across town before picking up some breakfast sandwiches at a drive thru.  Fried chicken on a biscuit is very southern, but also very good.  Shelly and Raine had largely been sleeping in our absence, although Michelle and I were forced to come clean when pressed about where the sandwiches had come from.   Our call for the afternoon match required us to be back at the training facility by noon, giving Michelle and I a chance to get a small nap in later that morning.  Finally, around one in the afternoon, we again rode with the team in the minibus back across town to the convention cent

Just like the previous match the other day, we had our moment in the spotlight.  Even though the lights were just as hot as before, this time Michelle had taken one of the maintainer pills.  Perhaps the FBI would be a little less antsy this time. As I tested the controls for the Mermaid, I glanced upward to take a better look at our opponent for this round.  The Psycho Killer was a little spin bot, mounted onto an upside down wok and painted purple, much like Ziggo from Battlebots except that Ziggo was painted black and had a tall flag on the top.  The other notable difference was that the Killer was mounted with several spiny weapons, like

 From that point on, time seemed to go by fairly fast for me.  The next thing I knew, we had ridden in a minibus across town, gone inside as a group, and checked in with the judges before being quarantined within our shop area.  Since we were forbidden from activating the robot beyond testing individual servos or circuits, there was no more training to be done.  Before long, an official crewmember wearing a headset and carrying a clipboard arrived at our shop. “Manic Mermaid?” the short fellow who sounded almost mousy asked. Griggs nodded.  “That’s us.” “Time to report for your match.  I see there are fi

 Lucky for us, the door inside was not locked and we were able to head back inside with our momentary absence largely unnoticed.  Perhaps Raine was responsible.  Apparently, the appearance of a real mermaid - or at least one thought to be in costume - was enough to remove any hope that we wouldn't be noticed among the competitors.   There's little else from the event that I remember, and I suppose we had our moment with the judges before returning to the hotel.  Shelly and Raine were given clearance from the FBI to use the pool, and Michelle went to join them, hoping to find a moment of repose.  I stayed in the hotel room, however.  I wanted

 After sending a text to Annabelle, I spoke with her over the phone and was able to negotiate for a quick wish, repairing the bed, the floor, and ensuring that anyone in the floors below us who thought they might have heard something did not.  While I might had been tempted to use a third wish of the day to ensure that Michelle had a chance to lighten up, she instead popped a melatonin tablet and went back to sleep.  Raine slept in the tub, and soon I was back in bed myself. Shelly had been woken up, if only a little, and kissed me with a nod before rushing to the bathroom.  Guess someone else might have taken the disruption differently.  Ho

 While I'm not entirely certain that Summer's excuse held up all that well - Jason seemed to nod and ignore the comment as he continued to explain the controls - Shelly and I spent the better part of the day learning what the bot could and could not do.   Steering the machine was not difficult, as the bot moved forward or backwards with one side of a standard remote control joystick, while the machine could be steered using another joystick that allowed for up to eight directions of movement.  I was really impressed by the speed of the bot, discovering that it could traverse the box quite quickly but not to the point where it was almost too m

 As our flight had landed earlier in the afternoon, we had some time to ourselves before meeting with Griggs at a local Mongolian Barbecue restaurant.  Jason had driven the latest model of the Ford Mustang, which thankfully would be a lower profile than his usual ride.  He met us out front and made sure I knew that there wouldn't be a 2017 Ford GT or any other supercar in the lot while we were in town. "We've got a lot of company cars in the area in a lot north of town," Jason said as he shook my hand, "But I figure some expenses related to this trip aren't worth going crazy on.  Glad you all made it." "We're happy to be a part of it," I re