steve kwan user experience designer

Worst...Hallowe'en...EVER.

(October 31st, 2004 - 3:19PM)

Let me summarize my Hallowe'en weekend.

Saturday: Was supposed to go see Mario's (one of my roommates) live show with Sarah. Sarah wasn't feeling well, and decided to stay home. I wound up sitting around the house playing video games.

Sunday: Was supposed to go pub crawling with Sarah and her gang. Sarah still not feeling well, so I called my parents as a backup plan. Parents say it's fine if I go see them instead. Mom calls back saying she's sick and I shouldn't come over. Sit on my ass playing video games.

A pretty disappointing Hallowe'en weekend overall. The kids might egg the house tonight because I don't have any candy for them (I wasn't planning on being home).

Updated my resume!

(October 30th, 2004 - 11:39AM)

My resume has been updated to provide a summary of my achievements on the first page, and a detailed list of skills on the second.

I'm still trying to decide if I want to do anything for Hallowe'en. I've been invited to a few events and I want to go, but I don't want to spend the money on a costume.

Pro Bush?

(October 29th, 2004 - 10:27 PM)

Madeline Albright was on The Daily Show a while back, and mentioned that if Bush is re-elected, then the Americans are validating his actions.

For me, that's the scariest thing: not that Bush will be in power for another four years, but that the Americans have chosen him for this position fully knowing what he plans to do.

At least in 2000, we were all able to take comfort in the fact that Bush's victory was possibly illegitimate. Perhaps the majority of Americans hadn't voted for him. But if Bush wins again in 2004, then obviously the Americans support his actions - both locally and worldwide.

Bush is so hated around the world that he was elected movie villain of the year by Britons. Prior to this election, at least world citizens can console themselves in the possibility that Americans doesn't support his actions. If he wins again, then there is no doubt that his will is the will of United States citizens. For me, that is the worst thing.

So dark!

(October 29th, 2004)

It's dark already. Hard to believe it's only 7:30.

So I'm at home on Friday night, eating cheese and drinking Kahlua and milk. This is the life!

Work is going great. Excellent progress was made on our software this week, and new business came in. I'm happy, healthy, and, uhh, healthy.

I'm a little concerned that Bush might win the upcoming election. The scary thing is, I've been bombarded by so much propaganda that even I'm starting to believe the Republicans might not be that bad. :(

Shelob

(October 23rd, 2004)

I woke up the other day to find that one of my housemates, Mario, had left this note on the kitchen table:

"Hey, does someone here own a Tarantula, because there is a spider in the washroom downstairs that is at least 3 and a half inches long. I'm not usually afraid of spiders but this thing is fucking huge. Mario"

I am not afraid to admit that I'm an arachnophobe. Generally, the larger a spider is, the more scared I am of it. Seeing as how there's a spider as big as Shelob (see Lord of the Rings) in my basement, I'm a little freaked.

I invited Sarah over for the weekend to kill it for me. I am not afraid to admit that I need a woman to protect me when it comes to spiders.

Shelob seems to have disappeared. She was last seen in the downstairs bathroom and now I don't know where she is. Once I find her, I don't know what I'll do. I'm thinking of letting Pucca loose on it to see if she kills it.

HAMSTER	VS	SPIDER

The fight of the century.

I found a roommate!

(October 20th, 2004)

Glad that I filled my house. I was stressing about finding a person in time. (If I didn't, I'd have to pay their rent because I'm on a lease.)

There are three kinds of people in the world.

(October 19th, 2004)

So Team America was pretty good - no surprises there. However, even though it had its funny points, I kind of get sick of Trey and Matt's kid humor after a while. I'd recommend the movie to anyone interested in seeing it.

Roger Ebert wrote a great review of Team America; it seems his biggest objection was the movie's message (or lack thereof).

"I wasn't offended by the movie's content so much as by its nihilism. At a time when the world is in crisis and the country faces an important election, the response of Parker, Stone and company is to sneer at both sides -- indeed, at anyone who takes the current world situation seriously. They may be right that some of us are puppets, but they're wrong that all of us are fools, and dead wrong that it doesn't matter." -Roger Ebert

Hey Roger, if you're not a fool, why are you looking for political sentiment in a Parker/Stone movie? These are the same guys who made a movie about a Mormon porn star.

World crime is at an all-time high.

(October 15th, 2004)

I'm going to see Team America: World Police tonight. Expectations are high. Might post review here.

Everyone else is making their website look like a help page for Windows XP. Should I proceed to do so, or does the black goth look suit me?

Riverside Secondary

(October 12th, 2004)

I got the day off work today because I was at Riverside Secondary in Port Coquitlam (my old high school) speaking about working in the IT sector. I got to speak to a bunch of students who seemed receptive to what I was saying, and got a free Riverside glass for my efforts.

While I was there, I was also able to speak to the librarians on staff and got some insight into what they require from their software. Perhaps some of what they said could be applied to Eloquent's products.

While I was talking to the students, I shared some ideas for job applications; perhaps I should post them here in case anybody finds them useful.

Cooking in Burnaby

(October 11th, 2004)

Hey guys, Sarah and I are looking for a cooking class in Burnaby. Does anybody have any ideas?

Also, Sarah has bronchitis. Anybody know how to cure it?

So I'm going out to Port Coquitlam tomorrow to speak to some students about the IT industry. I'm also going to speak to some librarians while I'm there to see how they operate (we make library software at Eloquent).

Sarah is trying to get my attention, so I'll end this post now.

Wow, I haven't updated in a week!

(October 7th, 2004)

I'm getting bad about these updates. Perhaps I'll try to do more.

I've been following the presidential/vice presidential debates (or rather, I've been watching Jon Stewart's coverage of them) and I'm really repulsed by the Republicans. It's so strange to consider that only a few years ago, Bill Clinton was almost impeached over a personal affair. That's nothing compared to what this American administration has gotten away with. Where are the impeachment trials for Bush?