All posts by mike.hochanadel

Who I'd like to meet: Ray Kurzweil, Jimi Hendrix, The Chemical Brothers, Jesus, Buddha, Alexander the Great, Orson Wells, Jack Black, Foxy Brown, and Laetitia Casta Interests: Computers, movies, music (listening, playing, collecting), football, games, puzzles, math, philosophy, poetry, reading, comedy, science fiction, billiards, video, podcasts Music: Radiohead, Black Crowes, Air, The Chemical Brothers, Daft Punk, Pink Floyd, Neil Young, Jimi Hendrix, Everything except new country, hip pop, ska/new punk, and 80's music. Movies: Cult movies, Star Wars, Science Fiction, Comedy, Independent, Foreign TV: Mystery Science Theater 3000, Red Dwarf, Dr. Who, Seinfeld, Conan O'Brien, Married: with Children, The Simpsons, South Park, The Chappelle Show, SCTV, The Kids in the Hall, Saturday Night Live (10 years ago) Books: Atlas Shrugged, The Foundtainhead, Cuckoo's Egg, All Michael Chricton books, Frankenstein, American Indian Myths and Legends, Star Wars books, Indiana Jones books, The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy From Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography, Artificial Intelliegence: A Modern Aproach Heroes: Neil Young, Thome Yorke, Ray Kurzweil, Edgar Allen Poe, Akira Kurasawa, Indiana Jones, The Chemical Brothers Sports: Billiards, Football, Kansas City Chiefs, Kansas City Royals, Professional Wrestling, Kansas State University Athletics About Me: What can I say? I'm usually there to give a helping hand and a laugh. A smart guy who is on his way to realizing his potential. I can be opinionated at times, though. But hey, if everybody thought the same thing, it would be real boring! Video Games: Myst, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Monty Python's Holy Grail, Hexagon, Quake III, NCAA Football, Wrestlemania 2000, Metroid Series, Mega Man Series, Super Dodge Ball

SXSW 2012 Day 02: South By South Wet

Yes, another wet day down here in Austin and I survived it.  This time around the buses ran on time and we actually ended up early to the convention center.  The rain came and went all day but it did not slow me down from catching some awesome panels.  Friday was more higher level talk in working and in design.  So Saturday I tried to hit up more technical workshops.  Some worked and some failed.  But I bounced where I needed to bounce and got some tasty amenities along the way. Continue reading SXSW 2012 Day 02: South By South Wet

SXSW 2012 Day 01: Let The Gauntlet Begin!

Okay so I mentioned earlier that this year will be a little different.  I was expecting it to be different on the fact that I was living in town, but I did not expect it to be different because of the weather.  Jinkies, that kicked my ass.  It also made me double think about the local transit system here in the city.  Nevertheless, I defeated that adversity and recovered rather nicely for the first day of SXSW 2012. Continue reading SXSW 2012 Day 01: Let The Gauntlet Begin!

SXSW 2012 Starts Tomorrow For Me And I Start Working For You

Yeah, that’s about all I have to say.  It seems like all I do is cover SXSW.  Well, I promise you that I will point y’all to my other interests on the other two blogs I have here real soon.  Yes, that’s right I’m running too other blogs.  At some point I will bring it all together.  Until then I will showcase them here as well talk about what I’m bringing to SXSW this year and to the blog afterward. Continue reading SXSW 2012 Starts Tomorrow For Me And I Start Working For You

SXSW And My Magic Carpet Ride: Vote for My Panel For SXSW Interactive 2012

I’m not going to go out on a limb and say that SXSW was the main reason I dug my roots out of Kansas City and planted myself in Austin, but it did help a little.  Well, okay, I interviewed in person while I was on vacation during SXSW.  I somehow managed to wedge it in between the Interactive portion and the Music portion.  The rest of the story happened ultra fast.  It went from feeling like I bombed the interview to accepting an offer in about 2 weeks.  My start date was a month after and I had to scramble to plan something I’ve never done: relocation.

I did my research and picked up a couple of handy tools along the way.  The whole trip went mostly perfect and I stayed well within a meager budget.  SXSW season just kicked off and I figured, what better way to enjoy another go at it than by sharing my experiences.  So I signed up for the SXSW Panel Picker and created an entry, “The Magic Carpet Ride: Relocation Made Easy.”  Voting began today and I’m asking everyone out there to register and vote for my panel.  There’s a ton of information to share for people who are thinking about relocating or booking their ticket tomorrow. Vote for it at http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/view/12321

Here’s the Description and Questions Answered:

After toiling long and hard to get your dream job, you finally landed it. The only problem is that it’s in another part of the world! Fortunately, there are tools both online and in the mobile world that can help. Mike Hochanadel will discuss the tools used for his relocation experience and share tips to help the tech centric crowd in their own magic carpet ride.

  1. What can my future employer do to help relocate?
  2. What is the most cost effective way to relocate?
  3. What are the stages of relocation?
  4. How I can seamlessly surf between the stages of relocation?
  5. What loose ends are tied up at the end of relocation?

My, What A Nice Set of Cans You Have

No, not those kind of cans, but the kind you can wrap around your head.  Okay still, I’m talking about headphones.  Since starting at my awesome new job, there have been some freedoms that I have been accustomed to that are no longer there.  One of them has been the ability to stream audio.  That’s all fine and dandy as I have an iPod Touch that I bought because I had to give up my iPhone from the old job.  So, what’s a somewhat young and enterprising programmer supposed to do?  Upgrade the ear buds to a portable audiophile rig.  Here’s what I did.

Continue reading My, What A Nice Set of Cans You Have