Other Hobbies

Was curious what everyone else around here does for hobbies? I figure that there are probabaly a few more threads common between us than just straights.

I used to be into pistol shooting but as I approach 15 years in law enforcement I am finding myself wanting to be further and further removed from work related fun time. Wheras I used to love to go out and practice at the range now it does not hold my interest like it once did. Though I still drool at the thought of owning a nice Kimber or Wilson I am not so sure thats where I want to spend my extra cash anymore.

I seem to spend all my non work or family time in front of the computer lately. Flight simulators and wargaming being my drink of choice. Kinda nerdy but fun as hell. I am also pretty heavy into any WWII history related (books, movies, scalemodeling...)

I also spend my early mornings at the gym... mostly due to the excessive time on the PC. :eek:

I head down to participate in local automotive racing events every now and then.
Once in a while it'll be at the nearest road course 3 hours away.

Wall climbing

and as of the past few months...shopping :o

Music/Guitarist (retired music teacher and band member). When I say retired I'm only 35 but post kids this hobby/job went by the by.

Gardening. Working with our local council and school to set up a Community Garden in our area.

The obvious two, but I've been into shooting and reloading for longer. I also like to do some varying craft work, like woodworking and the rare blacksmithing project. If I only had one of those ABS regenerative gas forges I wouldn't sleep much at all.




Wayne

Follow the link n my signature for my major hobby, dog training. I also target shoot, and do leather carving.

Hunting, black and white photography and darkroom work. Or if I'm realy stressed I walk out into the paddock and watch the chickens chase grasshoppers, sad eh!:shrug:

It's nice to see other LEOs on this site. I'm a Sgt. with a Sheriff's Department and a PT Police Officer with a nearby agency.

I enjoy just about any firearms related activity and, as far as collecting goes, I have amassed quite a collection of LE badges.

I also enjoy researching and collecting all things Masonic.

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Originally Posted by Aussie

Hunting, black and white photography and darkroom work. Or if I'm realy stressed I walk out into the paddock and watch the chichens chase grasshoppers, sad eh!:shrug:

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Is that photo one of yours?

I'm learning copperplate writing and I'm really enjoying it.

Steven

Engarde,

Have you tried WWII online? It is wargaming, and also has a very robust flight sim if you are into that. I played as a tanker for the majority of the time that I spent in that game with a group called 3rd Panzergruppe. Great bunch if you don't mind playing the Axis. :P I tried flying once, but once you start talking about flaps and things, I start crashing airplanes, and since the number of airplanes is finite, the people who can actually fly them start getting angry. :P

I have been trying to get myself into an actual triathlon for quite some time, but things seem to keep getting in the way; I am hoping to run several over the summer of 2007, run a half-ironman in the fall, with my eventual goal being an ironman completion in 2008. I still have a lot to learn in that sport, though, but I've got the basics down (swim, bike, run). I have not actually run more than 10 miles, or ridden more than about 40, at one sitting, though.

I'd like to give fencing a try when I get home, and I'm also trying to either get back into kyokushin karate which I studied for a few years, or Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Seems like there are a lot of BJJ places around me, so I may end up going with that.

I enjoy firearms-related activities as well, especially shooting clays, and I'd like to get more into the sport and maybe get some time in at a real range once I get back, though throwing them off your back porch at a mountainside cabin really is pretty damn fun.

I'm an avid computer geek, and I tend to play MMO's (Massively Multiplayer Online games) for the most part, though I do take time out sometimes to play particularly lauded single-player games. I've been playing EVE Online http://www.eve-online.com for quite some time, and that is one I highly recommend. I've also played Dark Age of Camelot, Asheron's Call, City of Villains, World War II Online, and World of Warcraft extensively, and Everquest 2, Shadowbane, Lineage 2, Anarchy Online, and Star Wars: Galaxies briefly. Yep, told you I'm a geek.

Last, I enjoy strength training, but I am not into drinking my meals or replacing real food with giant jars of powder. Perhaps this is why I remain scarecrow-ish, but I just can't justify the cost / pain in the rear of this routine which seems so common in the gym.

Oh yeah, and I enjoy straight razor shaving, although my chin still doesn't enjoy the ATG passes ;)

I'm into archery, IPSC shooting (USPSA here in the US), bowhunting, and fishing. I guess you could say I'm an outdoorsman. Also, the obvious common tie that binds here...although I haven't come down with a case of RAD ...yet!

Ray

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Originally Posted by drsch3

Is that photo one of yours?

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Yep that's one of mine, It's an old house on a property down the road. It's a straight scan from the negative so looks pretty ordinary although it really comes to life when it's hand printed.:D

Chess, bicycling, hiking and camping, watching birds when I can. Canoing, but not for quite some time. Since I am a city mouse, I tend to have more opportunities for the former two than the latter three!

Rollerblading, reading, Playing guitar, a little bit of stonecarving and kissing my wife.

The new self contained solar lighting technologies, LEDs, and Luxeon emitters fascinate the heck out of me. I work in the solar industry so it also ties in with what I do professionally. Eventually I'd like to help apply this stuff in developing countries, so I create little solar systems to test stuff out at my place first.

I'm a nerd, lol.


Dave

I used to be into alot of out door type stuff-rockhounding, bicycling, hiking, shooting ,but I have major neck problems so those are out so now I collect watches and do watchmaking and like to cook and bake and roast and blend my own coffee and of course razors

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Originally Posted by thebigspendur

I used to be into alot of out door type stuff-rockhounding, bicycling, hiking, shooting ,but I have major neck problems so those are out so now I collect watches and do watchmaking and like to cook and bake and roast and blend my own coffee and of course razors

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What shaves better the dark roast Dorko or the French roast Theirs?:roflmao

Ok I am going to publicly admit that I am a computer geek.
One of my hobbies is tinkering with low level systems software and device drivers, using C and C++.
I also hang out on the microsoft C++ forums to help others with programming problems. Kinda like the honemeisters in this place.

Very recently I have started to learn honing hand tools as a hobby.

Other than that, I like to read fantasy and science books.

Archery, handtooling leather and cooking.

And yes of course I have a mild case of RAD...:w

well, this all sounds a bit sad but i like a playing 8Ball pool for my local pub, and quite enjoy sitting down to a few rounds of Counter-Strike Source or something, also i have a few films that i start to watch untill i fall asleep, oh and swimming as i used to swim for my town/county

Nothing wrong with shooting a few racks. We had a table in our residence while I was in university and it was almost impossible to tear me away from it. I really miss it, especially since it won me quite a few pizzas from a guy who kept betting against me but couldn't back his money with his play :D

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Originally Posted by Yourmum90

well, this all sounds a bit sad but i like a playing 8Ball pool for my local pub, and quite enjoy sitting down to a few rounds of Counter-Strike Source or something, also i have a few films that i start to watch untill i fall asleep, oh and swimming as i used to swim for my town/county

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I love 8 ball! I used to be much better at it, unfortunately, as I took it as an elective when I was in college, twice! Bwaahaha! CS:Source is also a big hobby of mine, or was until I had to leave my dear desktop at home and gave up my X1900 XTX for a radeon 9600 mobility *sob*

Even geekier, I've been a magician hobbiest since I was small enough to fit in a top hat. Also a magician member of the Academy of Magical Arts - Magic Castle in Los Angeles.

I'm a pretty hardcore gamer. Cards, Boards, RPG, Computer, Video and LARP and even Dice. As long as it's a good game. My top 10 games list would be.

Cards, Boards, RPG, Computer, Video and LARP and even Dice. As long as it's a good game.

Like Chess and Pool a lot, mostly 8 ball & doubles, but 9 ball is a great game.
Cribbage, but Euchre if there's four.
Scrabble is fantastic
Poker was a great game until everybody forgot how to play it properly.

Board Games
Diplomacy (any of them) the more the merrier, but all 'weapons' out of the house!
Civilisation, but the Advanced Civilisation expansion version for larger groups
Republic of Rome and Settlers of Catan are great too.

Video
I'm old school, majored in first person shooters, but love driving games. One of my favourites was Twisted Metal because it gave me both in one game. Drive fast AND blow things up.

Computer
Doom II will always hold a special place in my heart (along with Choplifter *sigh*), but I like battle strategy like Myth and urban planning like SIM City.

My favourite RPG is Call of Cthulu. It's basically set in a time between the first two world wars when ancient extra-terrestial demons are awaking in the depths of the earth. It's a B horror movie. The funest feature of the game is the constant Sanity Check one has to make before their character finally becomes insane.
I prefer GURPS to all other Roll Playing Systems.

There's lots of great party games these days. Balderdash let's you practise BS-ing your friends and having them try and BS you, Cranium is a great time, Scattergories is cool too. It let's the whole room work together against the clock!

There's a bunch of card games springing up everywhere. You might remember they appeared with Magic and Pokemon? Well there's Munchkin, Chez Geek and Apple to Apples which is great fun for everybody. Whoever matches nouns and adjectives best wins! Tribes is a Great game too.

Two games I hate are Supremacy (because the only time I played it it ended in Global Thermonuclear War!) and cheating rules Illuminati for the paranoia (even though I won ;) ).

How many's that?

X

X,

My son asked for Halo2 for Christmas. Do you know ifit's any good?

When my ankle is totally repaired I'll be back to golf. A good fat mans game:D does not involve running or jumping.

Halo 2 is a really fun game. I've got it and played it for hours. Every now and then me and some friends get together with xboxes and play if for 4 hours straight together. Fun game and very addictive.

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Originally Posted by LX_Emergency

Halo 2 is a really fun game. I've got it and played it for hours. Every now and then me and some friends get together with xboxes and play if for 4 hours straight together. Fun game and very addictive.

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Rich, so if you want your kid to spend hours upon hours glued to the screen, get him the game :D

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Originally Posted by RichZ

X,

My son asked for Halo2 for Christmas. Do you know ifit's any good?

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It's brilliant! Likely the best first peson shooter on the planet. Not only do you get to run around collecting weapons and killing alien bad guys, but you can easily operate the vehicles and even with mulitple players in the same vehicle.

X

I'm a taxidermist as a profession but it also is a hobby too. Wildlife, hunting, fishing or just being in the woods! I'm a rudimental drummer and do tons of war of 1812 re-enactments. And of course I love anything War between the States, mainly confederate related.

Before coming here to this place to take up another hobby straights (like I need another hobby, LOL). I embellish factory made folding knives, make my own fixed blade knives, restore, make, build and/or collect most anything that peaks my interest. In short I'm a full time tinkerer