Write It Do It B/C

[Gemma W]

Anyway, whether you like it or not, it is still a useful event to know, since it comes up every year.

[QuantumLeaper]

I agree with Gemma. WIDI requires good communication skills that have to be used in not the most favorable situations. In the scientific communities, scientists have to communicate their results with one another, even if it isn't easy. This event usually isn't everyone's favorite, but it's still good to have around.

[Gemma W]

Thank you.

[QuantumLeaper]

No problem. I'm going to see if I can convince my partner to give WIDI another try. We need redemption! I also have to work on my writing skills.

[Sherry Berry]

Haven't been on this in a long time, and a lot has happened.
Didn't do as well this year in WIDI... 18th place at State, a MAJOR downgrade from last year's 4th place. Oh well. And it was all because of a stupid gummy bear. I am never eating a yellow gummy bear again.
Eh. There's always next year.

[Gemma W]

Yeah, since there probably won't be any changes to the rules at all.

[Sherry Berry]

Yeah, probably not.
I'm just hoping that they'll stick with K'Nex this year. The random junk thing was harder than it seemed. In WIDI, detail is everything, and trying to describe the exact way a blue pipecleaner is twisted around a cup is difficult. Even where a bead is positioned - near either the head or tip of a pin - is important. I'm the writer, and usually if I finish early, I go back and check for anything I missed the first time around. If I do, I add more steps to the end of my directions, then make a reference to them from an earlier step.
Like, if Step 14 is and add-on to Step 6, I put SEE STEP 14 at the end of Step 6.

[Gemma W]

Oh, that's a good idea. I usually add an additional information section at the end clarifying certain things that might have been unclear or confusing.

[Sherry Berry]

I wish I had done that with the gummy bear...
Also, there's a website that gives you the name of each K'Nex part: http://www.balmoralsoftware.com/knex/pieces/pieces.htm
But I usually just call the round connectors "snowflakes," and "half snowflakes," or "quarter snowflakes," etc. instead of connectors, which is what I call the orange connectors. They actually connect two things. Next year, though, I think I might try using North, East, South, West directions.

[Phenylethylamine]

I wish I had done that with the gummy bear...
Also, there's a website that gives you the name of each K'Nex part: http://www.balmoralsoftware.com/knex/pieces/pieces.htm
But I usually just call the round connectors "snowflakes," and "half snowflakes," or "quarter snowflakes," etc. instead of connectors, which is what I call the orange connectors. They actually connect two things. Next year, though, I think I might try using North, East, South, West directions.

I used the snowflakes designation for a while, but it takes a really long time to write out "half-snowflake" repeatedly (of course, I could have just abbreviated it, but I never figured out an intuitive way to do that, so it took me almost as long to remember to use the abbreviation as it did to just write the word out). I eventually switched to just saying "8-slot" or "4-slot" or "2-slot", leaving "connector" or "snowflake" implied, and only specifying the color if it was ambiguous otherwise (e.g., "purple 4-slot" vs. "green 4-slot").