I always thought that a tattoo should be viewed as an extraordinary piece of art, and it should reflect something important in that persons life. FIRST alone was something that had a very big influence on my life. You could say FIRST is my Anti-Drug. With out this program I have no idea what I would be doing with my life. I was introduced to the team in late stages of our first rookie year and was sad that I missed the opportunity to become a part of it our first year. I made sure I joined the next year. Along with the competition being held in Columbia University for the first time, it was also my first year as a driver. The team went on to take a trip down to Epcot where I think was the turning point of my addiction to this program, had one more year as a student and then graduation. FIRST helped me gain scholarships and entrance into Polytechnic University. Here wanting to do more for FIRST, I landed a role as Game Announcer for New York, with training under Blair (The Voice of FIRST) he left and put me in charge. Announcing games since 2003, this year I felt like something was calling me not to announce, but help to stay with my team. So I stepped down and let George Ackly take the role. With that came Regional Winner of the 2007 in NYC. I had to get the tattoo!! Contacted one of the best known tattoo artists in New York and Brooklyn, Lou Anderson. I told him that I need the Innovation FIRST robot controller, the Team number in the controller, (TEAM 354) and I needed skull and cross bones, cause you know… we are the Westinghouse Pirates. So 3weeks, of drawing, and 3 hours of needle work, this is what I got. I need to return to finish the number, and add the color to the tattoo, its missing some chrome and more shading. Some teams know who I am, some don’t, but I will be in Atlanta, Archenemies field, stop by tell me what you think, or let me know on here. Thank you FIRST and all the teams. Sorry for the pictures being blurry, I had to resize them so I could post them, check myspace and Facebook for better pics.
This is so awesome!
:yikes:
You gotta wear shorts for the next five days in Atlanta (cold or not cold).
Best Wishes.
You’ve got some guts man. Very cool.
You are KING of geek-dom… it’s a complement!
I saw this and i was like… no ****in way, you gotta be kidding me, but, wow thats awesome. very original too… bet your the only one in the whole wide world.
-q
Thanks : )
freakin sweet bro.
Mike, that tattoo is wicked. FIRST my Anti-drug [too]]. Without FIRST, pshhhh, I’d probably being doing nothing special at all. Just living, that’s all. But when I finally joined the team last year I was more than living. I was learning. I met you guys ] You guys are like my family now. And I’ve learned so much! I didn’t really know anything before. I just knew what a screwdriver and drill was ]. I didn’t even know what lexan, wonderful lexan<3 was. But I learned! This world of Science and Technology is the best thing ever! And you, Mike, the super mentor! I pretty much learned everything from you. I thank you so much! Without you, I wouldn’t know too much, and I probably still wouldn’t know how to take the initiative to try to do what needs to be done. Thank you FIRST, thank you Mike, thank you team =D
Man, when you are 75 years old, that IFI on your leg is going to look like some pretty outdated technology 
Hmm, maybe he can upgrade it in a few years, more memory or something.
No, seriously, I’m not a big fan of tatoos, but that one is very cool, one I’d almost consider myself…if I wasn’t such an old fart.
Don
Wow. Robotics is my life-saver as well I guess, if you want to call it something. I went from blowing my life on an online video game that I was addicted to, to stopping cold turkey. Mostly I have my mentors and my cousin to thank for that, and with the amount of time I spend on Chief Delphi or on multiple other robotics websites or other research projects, I can proudly say that I am not wasting my life to pixels, but rather teaching myself tips and tricks of a profession that I hope to be involved in one day.
As I have said before: robotics is one of the healthiest addictions/obsessions you can ever have, because you always have room to learn and improve even the most sophisticated designs.
I like the art on that tattoo. Unfortunately society does not accept tattoos as a “dignified” form of art, but the skill required to design, draw, and ink them far surpasses anything that paper and paint could ever do.
Please post pictures when it is 100% complete as I am waiting to see the final outcome.
Godspeed.
Pavan.
Thats pretty sweet, really creative and really well done too. I just went for a plain “Team 41” on my arm lol. But it was a great way to sum up 4 years of experience, people and places that had such an effect on my life and where i am now.
I don’t know if anybody else noticed…
but your tattoo was on all the screens (even the Einstein field screen) during some of the last matches.
Awesome.
Saw you point to this as the camera went by you on the webcast. Very impressive.
I saw you on the camera at Einstein, very creative and full of awesomeness!