Ti Kan: Personal

Greetings, and thanks for visiting my web site. Here are some information about me that I hope you'll find interesting.

I was born in Taiwan and have lived in Singapore, Hong Kong and Hawaii. After graduating from Theodore Roosevelt High School in Honolulu, I chose to major in Computer and Information Sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz and California has been my home ever since.

I am currently self-employed as a consultant, but had formerly worked for Veritas Software, Lucent Technologies, Ascend Communications, Stratus Computer, Acer America Altos Computer Systems and Maico Hearing Instruments.

I have done many aspects of software development on the UNIX® operating system, including kernel, I/O drivers (SCSI disk, CD-ROM, tape and other peripherals), filesystems, utilities and special projects on fault-tolerance and continuous availability.

I am also active in high-end audio amplifier and speaker designs, and multimedia software and hardware projects.

I enjoy working out at the gym (I am also a part-time fitness trainer), computer programming, web design, and have a myriad of hobbies that makes me wish there were more hours in a day.

My main hobbies are computers, audio and cars. See my Audi Page about my cars, related photos and activities.

As for computers, I currently have eleven of them in my lab's LAN, nine of them running some flavor of UNIX or Linux operating systems, and several of them have multi-boot capability with multiple OSes on a single box. I use these systems for multimedia enjoyment, to develop and test free software for the community and to write web pages like this one. My Software Page has information about some of the multimedia applications that I have written.

I am big into hifi-audio and analog electronics. Although a software engineer by profession, I enjoy tinkering around with a soldering iron, multi-meter, oscilloscope and other test equipment. I have been designing and building my own high-end stereo equipment since I was in high school. The philosophy of minimalism in my latter designs have produced some of the purer sounding amplifiers around. I have also built many speaker systems. Some of these rival ultra-expensive commercial products, possessing excellent bandwidth, tonality, imagery and detail. The speaker building also involves a bit of woodworking which is enjoyable. The speaker-building have wound down somewhat in recent years, but I have found a renewed interest in building amplifiers and other components. Go to my Hi-fi Multimedia page to see details about my music systems.

I enjoy a wide variety of different music; classical (particular favorite is the baroque period), jazz of various forms, some new-age, progressive rock, synth pop, euro-disco and electronica. Being an audio guy, music is an integral part of my daily life. Browse My Music webapp (for the music on my PhatNoise® Car Audio System) and my xmcd Local Discography page (for my music collection on audio CDs).

I have a deep appreciation for the arts. When I was younger, I used to draw and paint, and have experimented with abstract designs and geometric shapes. I also found myself adept at graphic arts, poster and logo designs, as well as technical drawing. These days I do not produce art as much as I view and enjoy them, with occasional visits to the museums. See my Art Page for some examples of my work.

[Thelma & Louise] [Thelma] [Louise]
Thelma and Louise

As if that's not enough, whatever little time that's left is spent with friends, spectating at car racing events, roller-blading, going to the beach, eating ethnic foods, traveling, playing with my two warm and fuzzy cats, and plastic model building. I used to have a large assortment of models but have given most of them away. Now I only have a small collection of scale model Audis, and two spaceships (an Eagle and a Hawk, both from Space: 1999).

Space 1999 Eagle My Eagle model Space 1999 DVD box set Tron 2001: A Space Odyssey
  • Eagle Transporter from Space: 1999
  • Photo of my Airfix eagle model
  • The 16-DVD box set of the entire 48 episodes
  • Solar Sailer and Sark's Carrier in Tron
  • Space Station V in 2001: A Space Odyssey

Over the past few years I began collecting a small number of my my favorite films and shows on DVD. As you can see, I am into science fiction, and for some reason some of the films I like the most had relatively lackluster results at the box office.

Remember Gerry Anderson's Space: 1999, the science fiction TV series circa 1975-1977? When I was a kid in those days, it was my favorite TV show. While everyone seems to be into other sci-fi shows like Star Trek, there will always be a special place in my heart for Space: 1999. The entire 48 episodes of the show plus bonus content had been released on sixteen DVDs. Needless to say, I now have the entire box set and am in Moonbase Alpha heaven.

Another very cool film is Steve Lisberger's Tron. I have the 20th Anniversary Collectors Edition double DVD set. This set features a wealth of fascinating bonus material, including very detailed coverage about the making of this landmark film. There are extensive commentaries by the director, other staff, and the cast, as well as explanations on the computer graphics, animation, and other techniques used. It makes re-watching the film much more rewarding, knowing how much leading edge and painstaking work had gone into each and every frame. I am also a fan of Wendy Carlos, an illustrous personality whose pioneering work in electronic music with Robert Moog (1931-2005) led to the development of some of the earliest synthesizers. In the filmscore for Tron, she combines the synthesized and the orchestral to create music that perfectly complements the film, dazzling the ear and mind today just as it did in 1982. At the Wendy Carlos' official website, she describes how the badly deteriorated original Tron soundtrack master tapes had to be literally baked for (temporary) restoration, digital re-archival and its 2002 re-release on CD. I recommend spending some quality time at her website. It's filled with fascinating reading and photos that must not be missed.

I also think that Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey is one of the ultimate sci-fi films of all time. It doesn't seem dated at all today, despite the fact that it was released in 1968. The minimal dialog, and the deliberately slow pace of the plot are an antithesis of modern films, especially in the sci-fi genre. I have the digitally restored and remastered DVD, and it is awesome. The restoration work was superb, the picture quality is excellent for such an old film.

The renewed enthusiasm for these shows had led me to the discovery of various related web sites. See my Links Page for links! If you are a fan be sure to check it out.

I always approach everything I do with great intensity. Perhaps it fits in with my current personal goal, which is to do all that I enjoy doing, right now. Life is short, so why wait?

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Last update: 09/09/08 06:12:01