Well I’m a Computer Science student, but I don’t think I could sit in front of a computer for the rest of my life programming. I like being an engineer at Xtreme Radio because one day I could be fiddling with the mixer, one day I could be programming the website, one day I could be in the attic fiddling with cables, one day I could be on the computers fiddling with playout systems. It’s varied, it’s interesting, it’s fun.

I also get to broadcast! Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t think I’m the next Chris Moyles, Jonathan Ross, Richard Bacon or even Terry Wogan. But I enjoy it, and I put quite a bit of effort into it, and to trying to improve myself. It also comes back to my point eariler, I can do tech stuff and I can even broadcast… brilliant

Now i’ve recently become involved in Afan FM, a community radio station covering Port Talbot & Neath, and it’s great fun. The first live show I did there was very nervewracking, as it was the first time i’d broadcasted live on FM radio, a pretty big moment for me, and I was paranoid I was going to do something which I’d regret. Anyway hopefully i’m starting to loosen up a bit now, as i’m getting more used to the station, and i’m starting to “forget” about being on FM in a weird way, and just thinking about creating good radio. But on the same token, as i’m starting to become an IT Technician/Webmaster for the station, I can also fiddle with code, fiddle with websites and other stuff as well as be a DJ! What other job lets you have this much freedom?

I’m hoping to go into radio as a career when I leave university, but who knows where i’ll end up. Radio isn’t the best paid job in the world, hell i’ve not made a penny from Radio as yet, but I enjoy it, and i’d rather do something I enjoy but take a bit of a pay cut, then do something I hate but get more money, I mean whats the point in spending ~8 hours a day doing something you hate, just for more money?! Life is too short!

Sorry for the lack of posts, i’ve been so busy!

Xtreme Radio is doing well, and you can check out my Show 1-3 on Monday – Will probably be the last one this year however, and will probably get a different time next semester, but listen regardless or… listen again. THERE IS NO EXCUSE!

Anyway Xtreme turned 40 a few weeks ago and Zane Lowe came down to DJ. He was great, he really does know how to mix!

I’ve been a bit snowed under with coursework lately, but it’s the last day of term on Friday, yipppppie! Can’t wait to have a break, this semester has been really really tough, the courses are very hard.

So that’s a brief update on what i’ve been up to, i’ll try and post a bit more often over the holidays

Have fun,
Brett

So Google Chrome came out this week then, in fact I’m actually using it to post this! Luckily Google has changed their EULA that made all content posted via their browser usable by Google, not that Google would want to use this for anything but still. I’m quite impressed with Chrome, it’s fast, very fast, it looks VERY sexy on Vista, unlike Firefox (well by default anyway), and even better than IE7/8. I like the minimalistic style, and the lack of Adblock and a few other extensions doesn’t really bother me. Especially because I was beginning to disable it for a few sites that I visit a lot, as you know I feel bad using certain sites pretty regularly and then disabling their adverts. But anyway Chrome is great, I’ve been using it more and more recently, it is very nice.

You may have noticed a couple of new external links on the left hand side. I wondered if it was the right thing to do to put links to sites that perhaps say are not related to me, because it’s kind of a CV style site, but I decided to put them in as they are two very good sites that perhaps some people that come here may be interested in. They are twit.tv and the supersite for windows. Both of these sites are brilliant in their own way. I’ve been on and off reading the supersite for windows for years, I usually visit it when expecting a big release, such as Vista, and reading up about it before it’s publicly available, or just before I can get it. Although recently I’ve been visiting it more often, because it’s a very interesting site. I recommend anyone who’s interested in Windows and the future of Windows, and other Microsoft products I may add, to visit it.

Twit.tv is not a mild insult, but actually a very good podcast network. I first found out about twit, from Paul Thurrott’s Supersite for Windows, where I found out that he did a Windows Weekly podcast with Leo Laporte. I started listening to the podcast quite late on, but when I did start listening I found it very interesting and informative. I didn’t know who Leo Laporte was back then, but after slowly over the past year getting into more and more of his podcasts, like Security Now (with GRC’s Steve Gibson) and This Week in Tech (where TWiT gets it’s name), it is clear that he is a legend! I’ve also recently over the summer holiday’s got into TwitLive.tv, which is basically a live video stream of Leo recording his podcasts, often with user interaction via the Chatroom, especially in-between podcasts. As someone who is interested in Technology and Radio, this sort of thing really interests me, and so anyone else out there who is also interested in this kind of thing might do well to listen in. He usually starts at 6PM British Time (11PM Pacific, where he’s based). He even did a live Interview with Robert Llewelyn recently, you know that guy who does “Scrapheap Challenge” and the excellent “How Things Work”.

I’ve now officially passed the first year of University, which is nice! Computer Science, while often interesting, is a very hard course! I await the second year with nervous anticipation!

Anyway thanks for reading, you must have the patience of a saint