UFH: Karthik Kanagasabapathy

[Andy Baker]

Karthik,

It was great to finally meet the legendary Karthik in Atlanta last year, as that was one of my highlights of my year. ... or was it good to see Karthik's highlights in his hair? Definitely, both are true. You are a good man, Karthik.

You have done much for not just FIRST in Canada, but the entire FIRST community.

Keep up the singing, and keep doing your math.

Congrats,
Andy Baker

[Travis Hoffman]

Originally Posted by Steve W

You deseve it Karthik. I just wish that you were "Unsung".

HAHAHAHAHA you beat me to it, Steve.....

Everybody now! Snap your fingers and sway back and forth with me!

"You never shut your mouth, anymore, when we're in the pits.
All you ever do is talk, and it really gives me fits.
You're trying hard to annoy me
Karrrrrrrrthik.
But K-man....you just end up inspirin' me.

You've got that ment'rin' feelin'.
Whooooooooa that ment'rin' feelin'.
You've got that ment'rin' feelin'
And while you still can't sing
Your love of FIRST's the thing
whoa-oh-oh-ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh."

Congrats, buddy.

[Amanda Morrison]

This is probably my favorite Karthik story.
Somehow or another, although I was dead broke and had never been to Canada before, Karthik enticed me (after only meeting him once!) into coming up to Wonderland. I drove the four hours to Detroit, then hopped in a truck for the next four hours with Brandon Martus and made our way to Toronto.

Brandon and I didn't know what to expect when we came to Wonderland, but it turned out absolutely AWESOME. A robot competition in a theme park? Who'da thunk?

So finally, after sitting around for a bit (and having Steve W. publicly introduce Brandon and I when we were sitting in the seats watching competition), we made our way down to the field during a break. We talked to Karthik and Steve for a bit. THEN, randomly, we laugh about Karthik having to sing to me. The next thing I know, Karthik switches on his microphone and starts singing. Everyone in the bleachers is watching, and you can hear the speakers clearly throughout that end of the park.

I melted into a puddle of embarrassment into the pavement.

That's just the kind of guy Karthik is. He loves Seabiscuit (mentioned it no less than 80 times during announcing), likes embarrassing me, and loves doing math. He's a great guy, and well deserving of this award.

[tiffany34990]

Congrads!!! You deserve this award since you are so great. Congrads again!

[Josh Hambright]

I will forgive the extra 'u's and say congrats karthik. Your an amazing resource to FIRST in Canada and the entire FIRST community around the globe. Thanks for everything you've done, and i hope to eventualy get to meet you.

[Vince lau]

Originally Posted by Amanda Morrison

So finally, after sitting around for a bit (and having Steve W. publicly introduce Brandon and I when we were sitting in the seats watching competition), we made our way down to the field during a break. We talked to Karthik and Steve for a bit. THEN, randomly, we laugh about Karthik having to sing to me. The next thing I know, Karthik switches on his microphone and starts singing. Everyone in the bleachers is watching, and you can hear the speakers clearly throughout that end of the park.

I melted into a puddle of embarrassment into the pavement.

I think I remember that part, now what was that song he was singing hmmm.

anyways congrats again Karthik, see you at Mississauga and maybe Waterloo if i can make it

[Holtzman]

First of all, as Karthik's Friend and nominator, I feel it is both my duty, honour, and privilege to tell some ridiculously embarrassing stories. So gather around, its story time!

(authors note: most of the good stories are far too graphic and explicit for a public forum, so I'll keep it pg-13)

Karthik Kanagasabapathy AKA Caption Beauty Sleep, is not your average mentor. You'll rarely see him with a tool in his hand, and if you do, watch out! You see, last year, when the rest of us were building a robot, he was either supervising, or working on his "strategy" in the office. I've never met someone who could strategize so well laying on the couch with his eyes closed, and snoring. The story doesn't end there though.

We're at the Pittsburgh regional. Its Thursday night, and 1114's extended family is sitting in the hotel room discussing Thursdays practise matches and strategy for Friday. After about an hour of talk, everybody's pretty tired, and out of the blue, Karthik puts on the theme from Rudy. And starts going on about how this second year team, in their 3rd regional ever, had a shot at winning this regional. After that speech, there wasn't a doubt in my mind that we could do it.(We ended up finalist in Pittsburgh, but went on to win the Long Island Regional the following weekend) It was one of the most inspirational speeches I've ever heard, even if it was one of the corniest at the same time.

Look forward to a new funny Karthik story every couple of days while hes being honoured as UFH. Congratulations Karthik, you deserve every bit of this award.

P.S. could we get Kanagasabapathy added to the spell check? or will it not handle words that big?

[Andy Grady]

If some year there is a FIRST "dream team". Karthik would be number one on my list to do strategy. Not only does he have amazing knowledge of the game year after year, as well as knowledge in the history of FIRST, he knows how to sell his robot and is a true gamer...not to mention one of the strangest yet most fun people I have met in all my years of FIRST! Keep up the good work man.

-Andy Grady

P.S. Karthik, you were awsome when you made your cameo appearance in "Mean Girls"! (for those of you who have never seen it, pick it up and watch it...tell me that dude on the math team isn't Karthik!)

[Jay Trzaskos]

Congrats Karthik. You definetly deserve this.
You may not like this but i have to tell my funny story also.

Last year in Atlanta we(229) invited both Andy Baker and Karthik to a Clarkson dinner that was being held after the pits had closed. I remember Karthik sitting in awe hanging on to every word Andy said, as every one at the table was doing. The funny part of the story was that Karthikcould barely talk from yelling through competition. so there we all were Listening to Andy talk and Karthik is sitting with a pad of paper and a pen writing down questions and scribbling them out and then writing down another.

karthik, i advise you to bring some chloreseptic drops to competition this year.

[Kyle Love]

Congrats Karthik, keep representing FIRST well in Canada.

(My favorite Karthik quote: "Silly rabbit, tix are for kids....and Karthik."

WAY TO GO MAN!

[JVN]

Karthik,
Though I only met you last year I feel like I've known you forever. You're probably one of the most talented strategists in FIRST. Going into Long Island last year, I told my kids: "we want to work with THEM". That entire weekend was a great experience, which wouldn't have been the same without you.

Basically... NOTHING has been the same since I met you.
You change the FIRST experience. All those who know you, understand what I mean. The countless individuals you've touched through this program, lining up to sing your praise is an example of this.

The true reason Karthik is as amazing as he is, is his incredible energy and enthusiasm. It is truly contagious.
http://www.team229.org/video/single/25

Congratulations buddy. You truly deserve this.

Your friend,
JVN


PS - Chicks dig the UFH. It's hard to keep the ladies off. Really.

[Chris]

Congratulations Karthik,

You truly deserve this award, I've never dealt with a team that was as helpful and friendly as the Simbots are and Karthik i know was/is a huge part of that.

Thanks for making FIRST great.


Congratulations Again,
Chris C
229

[Mike Schroeder]

Way to go Karthik

It was an honor to crush you at atlanta ;p

[Ian Mackenzie]

Wow...there's late, and then there's LATE, and I most definitely fall into the latter category. Not only was I on Karthik's team in high school, and had the honour of being co-General Manager of Simbotics (1114) last year with him, I've lived with the guy for the last half year at university.

I think my sentiments most closely match Andy Grady's comment about the "dream team"...it's now hard to imagine being on a FIRST team without Karthik, and if it ever happened, I would be very, very afraid of meeting his team in competition. (I'll be honest, though - it would be sort of fun, too).

That being said, I'm continually impressed with Karthik's complete dedication to FIRST, whether it's long-distance mentorship through Chief Delphi or MSN, running around to local teams, or organizing stuff for the Waterloo Regional. He's truly an asset to FIRST, and I hope I have the privilege of continuing to work with him in the future.

As for stories, I remember Karthik quite well from my early years on Woburn Robotics (188), where he frequently took the time to talk to me and inspire me to be more and more involved in the team, and to keep raising the bar.

And Jay, if you think the writing on notes was funny, you should have seen our strategy session in the hotel that night. Karthik installed a text-to-speech engine on his laptop...priceless. I'm laughing right now just thinking about it.

Congratulations again Karthik!

P.S. If anyone wants to hear a genuine recording of Karthik singing (he didn't know I was recording this - PDAs are handy):

www.eng.uwaterloo.ca/~imackenz/karthik.wav

[rourke]

As I tell the story, I tell people that I met Karthik by accident. As fate would have it, of the 5,000+ people that were in attendance at the 2003 Canadian Regional Finals, I just happened to sit down beside Karthik while I was waiting for our rookie team 1114 GM/Simbotics to compete. Karthik was discussing the ins-and-outs of the competition with a friend of his. What immediately struck me was that Karthik seemed to know everything about everything in FIRST. And I mean that in a humble way. It was clear after listening to the conversation for a couple of minutes, that here was a very unique, talented, intelligent, and passionate individual. We struck up a conversation, and a friendship began that has taken us down some pretty exciting paths. The growth of FIRST in the Niagara Region has its roots in Karthik's leadership and inspiration of students and mentors during the 2004 season. And it continues today. Congratulations Karthik. Well deserved recognition!!!

Steve Rourke
Director of Engineering
GM Canada - St. Catharines