Here too! Hack Like Heck: MilLs Dj
Better Late then never 
...I found out about this whole contest this morning.
It was hard to express everything in 60 seconds, but I covered a good summary of what I do (sorry for a such rapid speech, I'd replay and pause to see some of these photos)!
I'm Andrew Miller, 22 years old and I'm a Senior at Millersville University. I have a 2 Majors which are Applied Engineering & Technology Management with a focus in Robotics and Control Systems and Entertainment Technology.
(a mouth full amirite?)
A Brief history of my experience becoming a portablizer is me starting to build with Legos and make Domino tracks as early as age 5. It wasnt until I was 8 years old when i picked up my first soldering iron,
and burnt myself.
I quickly found a passion for taking everything that was electronic apart to see the guts and glory (butchering tons of remote controls basically).
I grew up playing Nintendo 64 and Original Gameboy/Color games with my older brother; also played the Genesis, but that was more his style.
It got to a point where I played too much and I became a basement dweller. My parents told me, "Stop playing so many video games!"... so I started building video games (Best loop hole ever).
Taking this route with electronics was very different from the knowledge my parents and siblings had. My brother played, but had no interest in building, my sister and mother were not into it much at all, and my Dad, being the very intelligent man that he is, barely knew how to turn TV with a Comcast box on. I helped with computers, electronics, and appliances around the house for them; and still do.
Highschool had no programs with building video games hardware wise, the closest thing was wood shop and Visual Basic. Everything that I learned was from experimenting and creating myself. Since it was a small school district, I found very little friends that could even understand a fraction of the creations I was constructing. I've taught myself the majority that I know with portablizing, modifications, and builds and it lead to where I am and what I'm doing today.
This is actually one of the first times I'm using a forum too. I only posted very little to Facebook, Youtube, Instagram, and chipmusic.org (for chiptunes), and even now I don't post much. I mainly build for the absolute passion of doing so.
This contest interests me beyond belief and it saddens me I didn't find out about it sooner. I want to show that creativity and expressing passions is never the wrong thing to do, even when surroundings seem limited. I went from playing video games to building, hacking, coding, developing, and creating them. I even make music with them! I know everyone has ideas, but not everyone applies them to become real. That's the legacy I'm carrying on here at Millersville University and what I see should continue after Ben retires on his show. With my self taught abilities and double major, I intend to continue building past what is seen as "impossible" and show that if I can, we all can.
After everything, it's not about recognition or prizes. It's about the Thrill of the Build.
~MilLs Dj
Required declaration of intent:
- I intend to make a video that shows me creating a working project
- I will post the video on the element14 Community by the submission deadline
- If my video is one of the top 10 finalists I will receive $500 for my video
Thank you
