Written by Jaime Fawcett
That’s Michael. He’s pretty great.
You may remember him from Rochelle’s blog on our 4th of July excursion to DC’s start up event 1776. He is also one of the star ping pong players here at Seva Call. More on that later though.
I’m excited to introduce Michael in our 8 Interns : 2 Months : 1 Office series, because he and I both go to Carnegie Mellon University! Which means I get to ask him all the deets about going to CMU.
Just look at the CMU Swag.
What exactly are you wearing in the photo above?
That’s my uniform for Kiltie Band (the CMU marching band). We are very serious about our kilts and uniforms, but not very serious about everything else. Playing tenor saxaphone in Kiltie for football games is one of my favorite things at CMU. We get to heckle and just be loud for the entire game. When we march, we all wear funny hats — wolf hats, bicycle helmets, just crazy stuff — but I have yet to find my own personal funny hat. It’s also pretty chill. They know the coursework at CMU is really strenuous, so they’re okay with us missing a couple of rehearsals, as long as it doesn’t become a habit.
What other hobbies or extracurriculars do you do? Inside or outside of school.
I went to a hackathon in April. Hackathons are these intense weekends where the hosts create an environment where you can be really productive and creative. The goal is to start from a clean slate and then create a working demo of your project in 24 hours. Sleep is optional. Myself and three other CS freshmen rented a Zipcar, drove to Princeton and brainstormed ideas on the road. We ended up making a game where you upload a song, and then the enemy ships fire at you based on the beats of the song. I learned a lot, but it was exhausting.
So you do development here at Seva Call. What are you working on specifically?
I’m part of the engineering team, so I work on the database and the website. Recently, I’ve been improving the admin panel which the Seva Call employees see, which allows everybody else to be more efficient.
If you could possess any superpower, what would it be and why?
The power to stop time. Because if you’re in a fight with a superhero or supervillain that had any other superpower, you would win. Obviously.
What do you get on your Chipotle order?
I get a bowl with steak, no beans, mild salsa, corn and sour cream. But it varies. Sometimes I get guac when I’m feeling adventurous.
Tell us about the photo down below.
That’s the fence. We painted it to promote the final Kiltie Band concert of the year. It was fun, but it was a bad night to be painting outside. Even though it was in March, it was below freezing. Every 10 minutes or so we would have to run inside to get warm and return feeling to our toes.
So you play ping pong here at the office, and you’re pretty good. When did you start playing ping pong. Are you a ping pong pro?
I can’t remember when I first played ping pong. I never had a table, so it was always just at friends’ houses. I’ve been playing tennis since I was 6 or 7 though.
Which Intern is your most worthy opponent?
I enjoy playing with Andre the most. We’re the most evenly matched.
Tell us about this Ping Pong Ranking system you’ve created?
In the office we each have our own mental rankings of the players. Matteo wrote down his own rankings on one of the whiteboards and proclaimed it official. I thought we could do better, so I made a google form so we can all input our own rankings and get a consensus. We’ll see where it goes and how it changes for the rest of the summer
Who do you think will reign champion in the next Seva Call Ping Pong Tourney?
Augie for sure.
Any weird hobbies or talents?
I built my own computer back in June. I picked the parts that I wanted and then put it all together in my bedroom. It ended up looking pretty sweet, and it runs a whole lot faster than my old computer.
Zombie Apocalypse Survival Team: 4 People. Ready. Set. Go.
Jaime, (Huzzah again! I keep telling my interviewees they don’t have to pick me….=P) because she’s awesome in every single way.
Umm…Let’s just go with a bunch of Jaime’s. Like Jamie and 3 clones of Jaime.
Hogwarts House?
Ravenclaw. I’m actually reading this really interesting Harry Potter fan fiction called Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality. The twist is that Harry Potter is a rationalist, and he has adventures while trying to apply logic to the magical world. It’s really clever, and I recommend it to everybody.
I will definitely have to check it out, Michael. So, Seva Callers, now you know all about our fellow Tartan fan, Michael. Be sure to check out the rest of the Seva Team and to like us on Facebook!
