This month’s Tazzu Spotlight member is Peter, known as pkthree at Tazzu.

Typically a man of few words in the Tazzu Forums, I was delighted to his colorful responses to the questions I asked him.

Rather than rework the ‘interview’ I’ve simply copy and pasted it so we get the full meal deal – Peter Keung is in the house!!

1) Where were you born and – how did you find your way to Vancouver?

I was born in Mississauga, Ontario but I only think about it as the place where Kleenex tissue paper was or is made. My dad worked in banking, so he took the family along as he got transferred to Burnaby, then to Vancouver Island, then to Quesnel, and finally back to the Lower Mainland, where we settled. I attended the last few years of elementary school here, then also high school and university. So I don’t have many memories from before I moved here. Now that I’m old enough to decide where I want to live, I’ve already been spoiled by Vancouver, which will be hard to top.

2) Tell us briefly about your family (parents? number of siblings?)

My dad was born in Hong Kong and my mom is from Singapore, but interestingly enough, they met in Wales. By now they’ve spent more than half of their lives in Canada. I have an older brother and I used to always want to do everything he was doing. He always beat me in basketball and tennis. I figure I now have the upper edge in hockey, but he doesn’t play hockey…

3) As a child, what did you want to be when you ‘grew up’ — that is assuming you want to grow up!!

I wanted to be a news anchor or a sports journalist when I was younger. But I didn’t particularly try hard to go in either of those directions. Those dreams simply wore off and I developed other interests. In fact, what I was more sure of was the fact that I didn’t want to do anything with computers. I didn’t want to sit around for large parts of the day staring at a screen. Guess what I do now?

I don’t think there’s anything I particularly want to “be” — as long as I’m doing things I’m interested in and I’m in the position to help others in some way, I’m happy. And no, I don’t think I’ll ever grow up, nor do I want to. Although, when I was a kid I once emphasized that I wasn’t a little boy but rather I was a little old man. So maybe I was never a kid either.

4) What do you do for a living right now?

At my “day job” I have two main roles.

I am an editor for Norway-based eZ Systems, the maker of the Open Source Content Management System eZ Publish. I work on books, articles, case studies, press releases, documentation, and marketing material related to the CMS and content management in general. I never thought I’d get so passionate about content management, or about working to bridge the gap between the techies and the non-techies!

Locally, I work with two talented web developers at Mugo Web. I run the day-to-day operations and chip in with development when I can. Some of the websites we’ve worked on include Car and Driver, Life After 50 magazine, and local book publisher Theytus. We’ve also done some wackier things, like a sports statistics system for a South American baseball league, and a Family Feud-like Flash game that was used internally at American Express. We try to be as technically sound as possible while still speaking the same language as the customer.

5) Do you have any hobbies, or activities/causes you are passionate about?

I’m passionate about sharing what I’ve learned. It started when I had to share PayPal’s toll-free number because they used to keep it hidden. I figured somebody else must have wasted $10 waiting on hold on a long-distance call with PayPal. Then when I was first learning PHP, I discovered random tips and tricks. I needed an outlet to share this information and thus started a blog affectionately called “Peter’s Useful Crap“. It makes my day when someone leaves a comment to say that they previously had the same problem I had and that my seemingly innocuous post actually helped them. (Note: I also once told myself that I would never blog.) Somehow I ended up started a few other sites focused on sharing and community, such as one about a cell phone service provider (7-Eleven Speak Out Wireless — check it out if you’re a low volume cell phone user) and one about high interest savings accounts (which is becoming a misnomer!).

I keep active by playing tennis and roller hockey. Unfortunately, the roller hockey season is only 4 months long, so I spend most of the year anticipating the chance to start the roller hockey season again. I’m also learning how to swim — super fun but I’m a bit slow on the uptake.

6) If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?

I could see myself living in a variety of places, but don’t have a particular place I really want to be. I like to be wherever I am at any given moment. I’d love to travel more, like to Iceland, or the French countryside, or to Hawaii or the Caribbean.

7) Did you make a New Years Resolution this year? If yes… what is it. If no, why not?

No New Year’s Resolution for me. I don’t think I’ve ever made one. Instead, I try to continuously improve as a person, or become better at certain things. Current goals include learning how to swim; being firmer when dealing with clients; and going to bed by 11pm! There’s nothing particularly groundbreaking at the moment.

Where would you like to see yourself in 5 or 10 years?

As vague as this sounds, I’d like to really be in a position where I can help others in some way. This statement can cover a wide variety of things, which is fine by me.

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There you have it! Peter, thank you for sharing a bit about your life with us, and for all your valuable contribution in the Tazzu Forums!

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