Candy Crush House Rules

Some of you may have seen a tweet that I posted last night about my parents arguing over who had used up all the lives of Candy Crush, and as a result of that interest I have started playing it too. I have always steered clear of it due to it's "addictive capabilities" and "impulsive in-app purchases" however I could hold off the curiosity no longer.

There is one trait that we all have as children of our parents. We cannot let them know more about something that is cool and modern. That would be BAD. This in the past has led me to learn all about how a computer works just so I can baffle them with jargon and things, and so when I find my mum and dad hopelessly addicted to Candy Crush, to the point where the first thing they do when they get up in the morning is use their 5 lives, I have to make sure I am ahead of the game, literally speaking.

Unfortunately I think I may just have ruined my life... ever since I downloaded it at about 6pm yesterday I have been unable to get off my phone. I have successfully run down the battery twice in one day, which would normally take me 2 days, and I have had to schedule things that I do in order to fit around life regeneration. Not only that, but it is SO frustrating. I have heard my Dad say on numerous occasions: "This game is fixed, all it wants is your money, I am never playing it again." Half an hour later he is sat on his iPad looking intently a several coloured squares, hoping, praying, that this time he will get past level 30...

There is one thing to be said though, for my Mum and Dad's new addiction to the iDevices, is that they seem to have created a new house rule. It reads: "The one who is playing Candy Crush, plays Candy Crush and is therefore excused of any other jobs."

It does make me laugh really that parents lecture you for the whole of your lives that there is more important things in life than games and computers and phones and TVs, and you can't let them take over your life. The sad fact is though, is that when my Dad gets up early to sit downstairs with his cup of coffee and play candy crush, is enough ambition for me and my sister to rip them for be "addicted" which I am content with, for the time being anyway!

Thanks for reading!

Follow me on twitter: @peachy146

Radio Fever

The first thing anybody will know about me, is that I am a massive nerd. No matter how much I try and disguise this by wearing my sunglasses on my head and buying clothes that are vaguely in fashion, I have to confess, I am the a massive geek. This I think is really quantified and solidified when it comes to technology. Not only do I have to be able to talk fluently about anything and everything to do with technology, that has involved hours and days of me sat, reading through the entire wikipedia website to learn about how a computer works and what all the funny little cables do, I also get far to excited about it when it comes to new gadgets. The perfect example of this is when we run Alrewas Radio. I spend hours and hours of my life just looking through websites at all the different kit, miss, mixers, software and broadcasting hosting packages to find out about them all and what all the features of the are and do.

There is something about the radio kit which fills and little hole in my heart with liquid honey and boyish excitement. This is very hard for me to portray to the regular listener, because it is so weird, but there we are. This is something which I am very proud of, mainly because I get really excited about it, and the circle repeats…

Anyway, I really want to tell you about what I have found out, in the name of Alrewas Radio. I have been speaking to a few people about upgrading the microphones that we use here at Radio Towers, as we currently only have 1. We would quite like 2, however that would require us to have the inputs via a mixer board, so we could use more than one microphone. Keep up with the thought processes… If we are expanding our inputs to 2, it seems sensible to try and get as many inputs as possible so that we can have plenty of inputs from guitars and other live musician type things, because we would love to get some awesome live music here on the Radio.

So I have been looking at a Behringer XENYX 1204 USB Mixer, which has all the FX sliders and controllers, along with 12 inputs, 4 of which are for microphones and then the other 8 are for things like guitars. The thought process behind this £160 bit of kit is that it will really allow us to be able to expand the Radio, maybe be able to mic up a whole band to play some awesome music live and local. This is something which excites me.

The next port of call after this is decided then is the microphones. Now originally I was thinking about a £120 condenser microphone, which is at an intermediate level, not the most basic by any stretch of the imagination. This was a thought that went along the lines of price is quality, however after talking to people about this, they have all advised me that unless we are in a completely soundproof professional studio, which would be lovely but is a million miles away yet, the difference between a £60 and a £100 condenser mic is pretty much non-existent. The very fact that it is a condenser microphone, means that the frequencies are much flatter and therefore beautifully realistic and crystal clear, which is what we want for radio. So that decided, we have our shopping list…

Apart from one more thing… We are professionals here at Alrewas Radio and we have to look the part as well as sound the part, and that requires some lovely microphone stands, which clip to our desk, and act like a boom scissor arm, which will stretch in front of our face and away from very smoothly, with the proper elastic suspension microphone mounts which allow us to not pick up any vibrations from putting your tea down on the table mid-link.

So our wish list has really shaped up, and I can't wait to be able to buy at least some of this kit! I told you I get excited about nerdy gadgets, well even writing this I am typing slower than I can think the post because I am that excited! Anyway I am off now to try nd find a rich person to buy us some stuff…

Thanks for reading, 

Follow me on twitter: @peachy146

Follow Alrewas Radio on twitter: @AlrewasRadio

#AlrewasRadio

My holiday productivities so far... And evidence!

Due the fact my mum had allowed my dad 2 rooms in our house which he completely takes charge of, the garage and the shed, you can not find any tools in the house. So when I come to assemble a few signs I have made, which I have mentioned before, I cannot find the cordless drill to screw the signs to wooden posts.

So this is what I did instead: I used a power drill to drill pilot holes in for the screws (talk about over compensating) and then a handheld screwdriver to put the screws in. Now this whole process in the end, after spending an hour and a half searching for the cordless, about an hour. for a job that required screwing in 8 screws.

(The fruits of my labour)

I have decided all this doing stuff that is productive and doesn't require technology is a bit too much work. I need a lie down now...

Follow me on twitter: @peachy146