Geek of the week: Jesse Weaver

Understandably after a long day at school, most geeks do not want to even look at another equation until they finally have to break down and start their homework three hours before class starts. On the other hand, there are geeks who come home and immediately begin working on some extra-curricular project for their favorite subject. Enter Computer Science major Jesse Weaver, who loves to program in his down time and has equal parts blood, pixels, and midi-chlorians running through his veins.

[Oredigger]: Why did you choose your major?

[Weaver]: I’ve been programming for the past eight years and I can’t see myself doing anything else.
What has been your favorite class?

Physics I…but seriously, Applied Numerical Methods because I like math, I like programming, and my teacher is deliriously smart.

Are you a geek and why?

I’m absolutely a geek. I can talk enthusiastically about programming and [I] find it a horrible sin when someone hasn’t seen Star Wars. I make “yo’ mamma” jokes involving special relativity.

How do you spend your free time?

I’m not quite sure what free time is, being a Mines student, but if I had it, I’d spend it programming and playing Super Smash Bros.

What are your greatest accomplishments to date?

Not dying by the age of twenty, convincing a bunch of librarians to like computers, being a homeschooler without a recognizable anti-social personality disorder.

If you could be dropped into any fictional universe, what would it be and why?

“Scott Pilgirm vs. the World” because I want to be in a universe where even Canadian deadbeats have superpowers.

What is your favorite thing about Mines?

When I make the “yo’ mamma” jokes about special relativity, people laugh instead of looking at me pityingly.

What is your best nerd story?

So basically, I used to have this Linux programming book the size of the Denver phone book. I went to a social event with the book and my mom said, “Jesse, you’ll never meet a girl with that.” Just then, a girl walked up to me and said, “Oh hey, we’re studying Linux in school.” [My mom] never criticized me about my programming again.

Who would win in a fight between a herd of centaurs and a pod of flying whales?

I’m choosing to believe the whales are flying by flapping their flippers really fast, so in the contest of giant hummingbirds vs. magic beings, the centaurs win.

Do you have any plans for the future?

Future? What’s future? I have a test. No, I want to get a job where I can afford a loud car and a big computer.

Do you have any advice for fellow geeks and Mines students?

Caffeine can be converted to sleep, but the exchange rate sucks.

Do you have a favorite quote?

“All these cool kids going to clubs, they just haven’t discovered reverse engineering yet.” – Natalie Silanovitch

Would you rather fight a hundred duck-sized horses or a horse-sized duck?

I would rather duck under a hundred horse-sized fights.