Thread: What else are you all into?

hobby n. , pl. -bies . An activity or interest pursued outside one's regular occupation and engaged in primarily for pleasure.

Well, sex and booze rank high on my list

My vocation is electronics and computers... it's hard to separate work and play sometimes. In my younger days I was an avid woodworker and home remodeler, but not so much lately. I still tinker with car repair too... it's satisfying to diagnose the problem and fix it, and not paying a mechanic a $1000 to replace a $100 part makes me ecstatic. But the work itself is not as satisfying as it used to be since you now have to tear apart half the car to replace a simple part... not to mention the special tools required. Why any car maker would put into production a design that require removal of the turbo and exhaust manifold to gain access to an emissions system vacuum control solenoid is just beyond me. Nonetheless, these are all things I enjoy doing, but are more acts of necessity rather than "just for fun" hobbies.

Gardening is a different story and is purely for my own enjoyment. When I lived in New Jersey I had specimen Peony and Rose gardens, many unique Azaleas and other Ornamental shrubs in my landscaping, and a nice vegetable garden. Since I moved to the desert (where almost nothing survives the heat of Summer) I've lost a lot of interest... peonies, azaleas, etc. won't survive here and tomatoes raised here don't taste like tomatoes. Annual flowers (petunias, snapdragons, etc.) do well here in the spring and fall, but its hard to make a hobby out of that. I do still have about 2-dozen varieties of Christmas Cactus (which spend the May - August indoors and Sept - April outdoors). I have also been experimenting with some plumeria the past couple years... they are tropicals and need special care since they stress when it's above 110F (which occurs frequently in July & Aug) and are not freeze tolerant (it was 21F here last week) so they need protection in Winter. I'm also trying to raise a mango tree (mangoes are not freeze tolerant) but the recent freeze may have terminated that endeavor .

Collecting scotch malt whisky. My wife shares this vice so I am essentially operating without a budget on this one

Hanging out in the Microsoft C++ forums and helping people with programming issues. I also like to write articles about deep programming stuff and posting them on my blog, a website or a magazine. These things earned me MVP status as a recognition. It means I get access to Microsoft people and inside information.

Honing hand tools, and recently I have taken an interest in restoring dead razor edges.

I also like to read books. a lot. all in English, since I hate translations. Mostly fantasy or

I read some (fiction). Work on my Antique Ford tractor a little. Shoot when I can fit it in. do a little home improvement as needed. I'm in the process of learning to horseback ride English style. But most of my time is spent training my dogs.

I'm another actor. See www.godsdrama.org for particulars on our company. Also collect smoking pipes (and smoke them), walking-sticks, hats, and knives. I'm treasurer for our local pipe club, www.tsptc.org.

Reading, Aggressive Rollerblading (like ramps and stuff), Playing guitar, a little bit of stonecarving, video editing (comes with the rollerblading) and at the moment I'm trying to create some colognes. I gave my first attempt to my mother today who was very pleased with the result.

I'm really into cycling. In fact, a couple of years ago, I strapped my panniers to my bicycle and cycled from CT to Los Angeles, then two years later, cycled down to Key West. Hence the Trekker nick-name. I road across country on a Trek 830.

I was also an actor for a while and did some off-off broadway work in a play called BACKSTAGE BITCHES and played the Sheriff in a road show of TO KILL A MOCKING BIRD.

I also write Civil War mysteries and had one published a couple of years ago in ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE. Currently, when not being a mortgage broker, I'm working on a series of novels based on the characters I created for that short story.

...too many things:


-Tae Kwon Do (second degree black belt)
-Running (I am slow, but my wife and dog do it with me)
-Heritage vegetable gardening
-Artisan bread baking
-Flintlock firearms (making and shooting)
-Coaching high school debate
-Coppersmithing



...and a day job...

Dave

Hunting and photography.

I've just converted a 20' shipping container into a darkroom and it's heaven just to lock myself away and see what comes up in the developer.