It really has been ages since I last posted.
I haven't been terribly busy so I putting it down to simple laziness :)

The podcast is coming along very well indeed, I've had some excellent guests so far including heavyweights like J.C. Hutchins and Matt Wallace and the superhero duo that is Rick and Anne Stringer (lovely people). I'm really enjoying talking to all these people and getting the chance to thank them for filling my days with such high quality entertainment.

On the work end of things, everything is fine. I'm not in a very interesting job at the moment but the pay is enough to keep me going. I'm still waiting to hear back from the local university. It's been a bit of a mess really getting references back from my previous employer because they don't like to give out references and for anything more than a 'Yes, he worked for us' I needed to send them written authorisation! Apparently the references were put in the post last week so the uni should have them by now but I still haven't heard anything. I'm tempted to email the HR department again but I've pestered them enough over the last week just orgainsing the references. I think it's best to wait a few days at least before I get in touch again. The waiting is driving me mad. At this point I'd just like to hear back, one way or another.

In other sad news, my 12" Mac Powerbook is dying... One of the fans has started to fail and from what I can see online this can be expensive and difficult to fix. Its especially hard in Ireland as we just don't have apple stores and official repair centres. I got Isaac about 4 years ago and it has served me well all this time. I'm going to try using it less so as to increase it's lifespan. I'm also going to backup all the data to an external drive just in case. Maybe by the end of the year I'll pick up a shiny black Macbook as a replacement  but with college fees (assuming i get into my masters) money will be a little tighter this year.

Despite the job  hassle and the powerbook trouble, everything else is fine and dandy. I'm living with the love of my life and if I had nothing else then I'd still be deliriously happy :)

Okay! I must go to bed early tonight so that tomorrow I have the energy to work on my last research assignment for this year. Last night I stayed up tinkering with Tea and Chat and didn't reach my bed until well after 3. As a result of being tired (and also lazy) today I didnt feel like working on the essay so instead I set about making a promo for the podcast. The promo isn't finished yet and I know I'll want to work on it tomorrow so I'd better get lots of sleep so that I have the energy to do both (and lots of housework). Thanks to feedback on the promo from anyons and arken_thell, I now have a couple of things to change/improve. I have to be a bit strict with myself because I'd happily stay up all night working on this stuff.

Anyway, I bid you all a goodnight. Its only just after 1 so I'm over two hours ahead of normal bed time and no listening to podcasts in bed tonight either!

4 exams down, 1 exam and 1 research paper to go!

I can't wait to get these out of the way so I can get started on other stuff. The podcast planning is ongoing and I'm still playing with the sound,etc. Today I got my hands on a nice piece of software (recommend by Cian of the View From The Quad podcast) that allows me to record Skype conversations. I'll be using Skype to conduct my interviews with podcasters.

Speaking of interviews, I've been trying to come up with a list of podcasters that I'd like to talk to as well as a list of questions I'd like to ask. Here's what I have so far:

Questions:

How did you first get into podcasting?
Why did you decide to podcast?
Where do you see podcasting (and/or podcast fiction) going in the future?
What are you working on at the moment? / Whats next for you?
What podcasts do you listen to/ would you recommend?
Any tips for a first time podcaster?
Any writing advice for first time writers? (if the podcaster is also a writer)
Tea Person or Coffee Person?.... Whats your favorite Tea?

Dream Interviewees:

Scott Sigler, Steve Eley,Tee Morris, Mur Laferty, JC Hutchins, Jim Kelly, Mark Yoshimoto Nemcoff, Cunning Minx, Chris Lester, Matt Wallace, Rick Stringer, Seth Harwood,Cian Mac Mahon, Christiana Ellis, Matthew Wayne Selznick, Paul S. Jenkins....

I can't really devote as much time to this project as i'd like with the exams, etc but I'm hoping to get it up and running soon.

Any suggestions for questions or interviewees, please  let me know :)

So,as you know, I've wanted to podcast for a long time. I've decided to finally take the plunge and get set up for home recording. My new mic arrived on Monday, along with a shock-mount. A pop-filter arrived today so I'm pretty much good to go!