Marcus Kwan: kwan family blog

Wow, time has flown...

Fri, 21 May 2004 06:15:17 GMT

We've been here 6 months now...whoa. There's no way to sum it up here, but it's been busy. Moved into a house in Redmond, great neighborhood. The rain thing is still a myth to me, I'm having to water the lawn and trees quite a bit. We're hosting the neighborhood happy hour tomorrow. Finally got the garage organized enough to get one car in. Kids are very high energy and growing fast. We think the boy said da-da for the first time the other day. Settling into work, lots of great people, I'm helping with the designs for IE, sharing and search. That's a lot of meat. At the end of every day, both Alex and I are exhausted! We miss our family and friends in Austin. We're looking forward to having Alex's sister come in for Memorial Day weekend.

Today is my last day as a frog

Fri, 07 Nov 2003 16:06:14 GMT

Well, this week has been nuts...as usual. Had a big update presentation with the client yesterday. I've been trying to help transition 2 others to fill my role. Sounds like they will try to play the zone. It is tough to have focus when you're a lame duck, but I've tried to be as professional as possible and dedicated to the team. It's been a good work week. frog has been a great experience. I'll miss it. Alex is a bit disappointed that I've had to work as much as I have this week....as usual.

So the biggest decision at work today is where to go for the good-bye lunch. I've had a bratwurst from the Best Wurst hotdog stand on Congress everyday this week so far. Mustard, onions, saurkraut and curry ketchup. I think I've had my fill.

I can finally make the announcement...Hook'em!

Thu, 23 Oct 2003 18:03:28 GMT

It's time for a new adventure. I'll be leaving frog Nov. 7. I was finally able to tell my current client yesterday in person. 5 years at frog, almost to the day. It's been a great opportunity for me and I've learned tons. I'll miss all of the talented people I've worked with there over the years. I'm totally grateful for the opportunity frog gave me and I'll be leaving on good terms.

So where am I headed, you ask?

I'm headed to Redmond. Specifically, the MSX team. Longhorn. Helping design Aero, the next Windows shell, the UI of Longhorn. Feels great to say it! It's a great team and I'm psyched about it! One of my passions is designing products that people use and enjoy, whether it's a t-shirt, a brochure, a website, a UI. What a unique opportunity to design for 93% of the desktop users!

It will be a culture shock, I'm sure. It's a great team, lots of talent, but there will be lot's of things to get used to. My first large corporation, my first experience being on the 'inside' and not a consultant, different process. I'll let you know how it goes.

So add me to the list of Microsoft bloggers!

The family and I will be moving up northwest the first week of December. Its gonna be tough to leave Austin. We love it here and will miss being near our family and friends. Alex, my wife, is incredible. She's totally supportive and excited about the opportunity, but I know it will be tough for her to be farther away from friends and family.

So we're busy trying to manage the swirl of family life, getting stuff ready for the move, continuing to be involved on my last project at frog, and trying to spend time with as many friends and family here in Austin as we can.

More later, I'm at home sick today.

Now that's what I call off the wagon!

Wed, 24 Sep 2003 16:33:35 GMT

I'm not dead and haven't lost the tablet. I've been swamped with work and considering some big changes. There have been some very interesting developments I'm in a fortunate spot considering the climate out there, we'll see how things turn out this week.

Dude, seriously, Media Center on the Tablet

Tue, 05 Aug 2003 20:31:23 GMT

I've been submersed in work and family. Kicked off a new project around digital music. Really exciting stuff. I'd be interested in how you use online music services.

I find this especially cool with the tablet. Loren talks about what to do with the tablet when your out and about. If you have full Windows XP with you all the time, all your stuff, jeez, there's tons to do. I think where tablets are lacking now is considering tablet use away from work. It doesn't all have to be work related. The tablet team should be thinking about work as 1/3 of your life. what about the other 2/3? Entertainment! Clock radio for sleeping! The goal should be to think about how the user can use this thing and never have to leave it. You wouldn't need an ipod, you've got all your music right there. On business trips, half the people i see using laptops on the plane are playing solitaire or watching a movie. The tough thing with the tablet there is having to prop it up or hold the tablet at the right angle, vs. a laptop or convertible where you've got a natural stand, whether you're using your lap or seatback tray. Oh yeah, heh, you'd have to have ripped a dvd to your hard drive, since most tablets don't have a dvd drive built in. :)

But I think the big problem is accessibility, namely starting up the functionality you need quickly, with a pen.

Standing up or walking around, you shouldn't have to invoke the start menu. I want simple taps to quickly get to journal, one note, or my media player. Standing up, windows management is even tougher. This is a problem. Instead, you should have the media center/10ft UI as a mode you be in to navigate to the functionality you want and need -- FAST. Media center perfect for interaction with a remote and I think the same goes for using a pen. Easy drill down model, big targets. That is key. But, you know what? I doubt it will happen soon because tablet's are stuck in the business market and media center is stuck in home and entertainment. Rather than thinking from the standpoint of a total user lifestyle in relation to a product, the user's life has been segmented to match a business model.

Good perspective

Mon, 16 Jun 2003 23:59:23 GMT

Had a great weekend with the family and friends, and a great Fathers' Day. Here's some pics.

Mon, 16 Jun 2003 07:56:14 GMT

Making Sense Out of Baby Talk: Interaction with Mom Influences Infant Babble

Tue, 03 Jun 2003 16:10:12 GMT

Ok, nothing to do with tablets or blogging, but I heard an interesting article on babies and speech development on the way to work.on NPR.

Tue, 13 May 2003 21:46:08 GMT

We just got our wifi adapter for the tivo, now we don't have to drag the 25' phone cord to across the living room anymore to update the schedule. Now all we need is another tivo to share info back and forth. Hmm....father's day is coming up.

Fri, 25 Apr 2003 07:47:12 GMT

Product announcement. The slick Windows interface for Radio from Social DynamX (a partner of UserLand) is now available for download. It should be up in the store soon. It offers the following:

1) Spell check.

2) A slick Windows editing surface.

3) Tabbed browsing.

4) Outlook style news aggregation.

5) Simple image insertion.

Here is a screenshot:

[John Robb's Radio Weblog]

Thu, 20 Mar 2003 16:00:06 GMT

Finally got the call yesterday. May need to send the tablet back or bring it up when we present. However, I'm thinking that it might be beneficial to them to have continued feedback about how to improve the tablet from a world class UI designer. I will make myself available to them, but will need the use of the tablet to do so.

Headed to Redmond

Sun, 16 Mar 2003 03:45:46 GMT

Sounds like our work (the reason why I have this slate) has been well accepted in Redmond. We've been invited up in a week or 2 to present the work to the design community. The venue will seat about 1000. All design managers and designers will be invited. Should be fun.

I'm back... and 2 is harder than 1

Sun, 16 Mar 2003 03:42:30 GMT

Wow, what a week. The baby is home and everyone's doing fine. We're getting 6 hours of sleep at night, but its cumulative: 2+2+2 :(

Our New Baby Boy was born at 5:50 am, 8 lbs. 6oz. 21 inches long

Thu, 06 Mar 2003 14:12:59 GMT

photos

Thu, 06 Mar 2003 04:12:58 GMT

Ok, I've been offline for a bit, was having some trouble with the network at home while waiting for the baby. And we're still waiting...

Theme change

Mon, 03 Mar 2003 05:18:42 GMT

Decided it was time for a change. The tablet may...or may not being going back soon.

Testing

Sun, 02 Mar 2003 04:52:18 GMT

Just trying to get last minute things together for our new arrival. Alex went to the doctor yesterday and was 3cm dilated, so really, i could be any day now. I hope she holds out till Monday, the due date, 03/03/03. Just in case, Alex's mom and my parents came in.

I was originally struggling with wanting the convenience of digital photos, but the quality of analog film. My recent thinking was that I wouldn't be willing to give up the analog film camera, in fact, I've been wanting a better quality 35 or large format camera. So i turned to looking into an under $300 digital camera, 2 MP, and top priority would be ultra compact to minimize the addition to carrying a regular 35mm camera, the mini-dv camcorder then this digital. So I almost lmost bought a new digital camera today, but I realized our Canon Elura 2MC has a memory card. So I saved $250 and bought a multi-format memory card reader to download pics. The elura brings in 640x480 photos, the above photo is reduced to 400x300. Levels adjusted in Photoshop and 30% overlay layer applied. Maybe that's still too much of a hassle. My main desire for the digital at this point is to be able to throw them up on the blog quickly, rather than having to wait for developing and the cd to come back. I'm not put off by the low rez, because it will be less storage....Looks like this solution will be just as fast as any other.

I still have pics on the card from the first day i bought the dv cam before Paola was born over 2 years ago. here's one of Alex:

Ice/Snow Day!

Tue, 25 Feb 2003 15:55:24 GMT

Our first and probably only snow day in Austin. A bit of ice and the city shuts down for the morning. I'll take the time to help get stuff ready for the baby, and take Paola outside.

One week to go!

Mon, 24 Feb 2003 14:28:42 GMT

Well, we've got 1 week until the due date for baby #2, 030303. This weekend was refreshing to spend with the wife and daughter and not work...much. We were watching videos of Paola's birth 2 years ago and were all getting excited at the arrival of our baby boy. This preganancy has gone better for Alex, hope the birth does too.

Last week was nuts.

Mon, 24 Feb 2003 14:25:55 GMT

We were on schedule to deliver the demo, video, and document, when... our editing slot got bumped for another project, yadda, yadda, yadda...then some long nights not seeing our families. Anyway we delivered the demo and a rough cut of the demo. Got a note this weekend that the client loved both. This week SHOULD be better.

Paola has her names for baby brother picked out

Mon, 17 Feb 2003 07:54:02 GMT

Trying to narrow the list of boys names this afternoon and Paola picked Pablo Nemo as the ones she liked for baby brother. She reiterated this evening before going to bed. She knows what she likes and has her mind made up.

Paola turned 2 today!

Mon, 10 Feb 2003 06:27:31 GMT

More pics on the Family Page

DV Stills from Paola's party yesterday

Mon, 10 Feb 2003 06:22:30 GMT

Paola's Birthday Bash

Sun, 09 Feb 2003 06:12:57 GMT

Well, Paola had a great birthday party. She had a lot of fun, but as with most 2-year-olds, was conflicted with being excited to have friends over, but not wanting to share her toys. I had had several worries about the party, 1) too many people, 2) not enough space, with the weather being inclement, we were going to all have to be inside 3) too much food. But all of my fears were unfounded, Alex and her parents did a great job with the party, everyone had a great time. Alex is a total trooper, being 8 months pregnant and putting on such a great party for Paola.

I'll post pictures when we have them. OR, maybe Alex will do her first blogging....maybe.

Guests arrive for Paola's Birthday

Fri, 07 Feb 2003 07:25:29 GMT

Alex's parents arrived Tuesday and Wednesday, Paola was so excited to see them. I think this is going to be a great birthday.