So what other hobbies do people have besides music/movies?

I just added flying R/C Helicopters to my list today.
I also enjoy MAME arcades, pinballs, and playing paintball with my team.

What about you????

Nick,
I absolutely love to water ski. The freedom of the wind in your hair, the feeling of magically floating over the water, the smash of water in your face as you fall forward......just can't be beat!

I don't get out very often anymore - in fact, it's been about 3 years now. I miss it.

If I had the time (and more importantly the money), I would like to take flying lessons.

Skiing (the kind with the really cold, white water)

Ping pong, er, umm, I mean table tennis -- I've taken up this sport with earnest now that my "office" building has a table.

General computer geekery

I've wanted to get a pilot's license for a very long time. I live less than two miles from a small regional airport, too. Maybe I should sit down and figure out exactly how much of an expense it would be, because I've been operating under the assumption that the cost would be prohibitive at this point in my life.

Astronomy, chess, football(now just watching; did a little volunteer coaching at high-school level), guns.

Sitting.

My number 2 hobby is fishing. Then it would be billards.

Used to do a lot of fishing--both freshwater and ocean. My buddy has a little tin can of a boat we take everywhere. Haven't done it in years, though.

Also like to go skiing. Before my buddy got married we'd go up to Mammoth every spring and do plenty of fishing and skiing.

Oh, and I like to golf. My dad and I are horrible golfers, but we have fun. Good thing we don't take it too serious.

And lastly, I like to read. Yes, I'm a nerd.

Been working too much to enjoy hobbies the last couple of years. Plus, they tend to come and go as I get older and try new things. A few things that I enjoy to do and have for as long as I can remember are: Playing chess, shooting pool, weigh training, building race engines, riding dirt bikes, back country / mountain riding (snowmachines), wood working, red wine and mixing cocktails.

I suppose being a caregiver for my 83 year old mother doesn't count so I'll give you the following:

Drag racing
Formula One
Photography
Long walks on rainy days
Gardening

Looking forward to trying a bit of veneering this winter.

Being a caregiver may not count as a hobby, Wayne, but, speaking from experience, it sure doesn't leave much time to enjoy whatever hobbies you do have. Good for you, sir.

I am a voracious reader/WW II history buff/Sports fan.

Four-wheeling, hiking, guns & shooting, sailing when I have time & money.

Used to enjoy masonry-type construction (brickwork, stonework etc..) when I was much younger, thinking about getting back into that and building some things around the new house (outdoor grill/oven, cold cellar etc..) when time permits.

I always loved flying and was always afraid of heights, but was never able to reconcile the two. Took flying lessons for a while until I found the exact point where the love of flying and fear of heights met -- tipped over in a stall with the windshield full of "ground". Spins were OK but I could never stop panicking in a stall, even in a C172 which has the most gentle stall you could imagine.

I always imagined I would enjoy blowing things up but have never had the chance, at least not since we were making nitroglycerin, gunpowder, and various other explosives in the high school darkroom

Tennis, and collecting original comic book artwork. I used to fish all the time when I was growing up in Maine and NH, and I miss that more than anything else since moving to Los Angeles.

>>>I always loved flying and was always afraid of heights, but was never able to reconcile the two. Took flying lessons for a while until I found the exact point where the love of flying and fear of heights met -- tipped over in a stall with the windshield full of "ground". Spins were OK but I could never stop panicking in a stall, even in a C172 which has the most gentle stall you could imagine.

Typically during a stall you should never see a windshield full of ground...whereas in a spin you probably will. John, you'll probably be quite surprised at the number of professional pilots who are scared of heights, myself included.

Flying used to be a hobby but I turned it into my profession, took all of the fun out of it. Riding and racing dirt bikes used to be a hobby but I got old and the tumbles hurt a lot so I don't do that anymore ... I've always loved salt water fishing but we don't have a boat anymore so I guess my only hobby at the moment is drinking beer and listening to our Axioms. Wife and I have already decided that a 25-28' boat is definitely in our plans for this coming year ... saltwater, of course.

>>Typically during a stall you should never see a windshield full of ground...

The operative word is "should". If you panic and push the yoke forward you see a lot of ground, which only makes things worse. It got to the point where I was having nightmares about stalling the plane.

There are some limited licenses you can get without having to demonstrate stall and spin recovery, but I still wouldn't want to be flying friends and family around if there was a chance of getting into a situation which I couldn't recover from but any competent pilot probably could.

Someone told me that the US stopped requiring stall & spin testing for a private pilot license because the testing was too dangerous.

I think I'm taking the thread off topic, sorry folks

I used to play tennis when I was young. As I can remember, I really enjoyed it, too. At this stage of the game, it might not be a wise choice.

Spin training was dropped years ago but stall training is still considered a basic maneuver and is required to be demonstrated prior to receiving an FAA licence. (US)
The FAA 'Recreational' license came about way after I got into flying and I'm not that familiar with the regulations but I'm not too certain that passengers can be flown with a person holding this license?

Early on I had inhibitions about getting the airplane landed, scared me to death ... now I put them on narrow roads and strips with just a foot or two separating the main gear and a canal. It just takes time and experience.

>>>> Now back to our regularly scheduled program <<<<

Thank you Google.

I like to collect toy trains, with hopes that one day I will be able to build a yard, in a room/basement. I have many engines/cars/track, but no where to put them yet.

I like photography...still learning lots, but it's a great hobby, which enables me to 'think' differently. I recently sold my Canon 20D, and am looking for a new camera, to continue the hobby.

Women are my passion...but, since I am married, the wife is my new passion... One can still look, though...hehe.

Listening to music, driving, cars, swimming, and travelling are all favorites as well.

My wife and I own a timeshare, as does my younger brother, and we love to take trips to different places each year. So far, this year, my brothers and I have gone to Vegas (my bachellor party), wife and I have been to Cozumel Mexico (our honeymoon), and my brother has been to the Berkshires. In time, the timeshare will be paid off, and then suites will be basically free (minus the monthly maint. of maybe 40-60 bucks a month). Just airfare, and food/expenses, and we are good to go. Hope that my retirement years will be good to me....

Generally things that require time and patience:

Building R/C planes.
Barbeque.
Landscaping our yard.
Home improvement.

My wife and I work pretty well as a team on the last two. She is a graphic designer and is super-crafty as women can be. So she has an artists eye. Myself, not so much. But I like doing the grunt work and I've learned to do the handyman/DIY construction thing pretty well. Wish I'd been gifted with my Dad's innate ability to just see how things work. He was one of those guys who, never having seen the insides of (car/boat/house/electrical cabinet/etc) would just say "Looks like we just need to do this here and that there and it should be dandy" and damned if he wasn't right every time. And he was an accountant. On the other hand, I've spent many hours learning wiring schematics and symbols and signal paths etc and still can't get some things to work.

Cool thread! I like to:

- collect comic books. 9000 and counting, mostly from the 70s and 80s. A few Silver Age gems in there too, mostly Amazing Spiderman (#4), the Incredible Hulk, and X-Men.

- collect Simpsons memorabilia, especially the Playmates line of action figures with the voice chips in the playsets

- collect animation cels, mainly of the Simpsons

- see every Rush tour since 1986, save for two

- play disc golf

Now I'm settling into Dad mode, with a one-year old. I need to update his web page, work on the yard, and post some pix of the HT on this site. You guys are my new hobby!

Nowadays, when I have time for myself, I like to:
Play tennis.....tough to do unless you do it regularly.
Golf
Surf
Volleyball

Other than that, it is being involved with the kids and their activities.

In my off-time, I enjoy cycling (light to moderate mtb trail riding), photography (digital, film, processing and printing - had a B&W white darkroom from the time I was 8 years old), sports (currently play recreational sponge hockey and pick up games of soccer and baseball), various motorsports (snowmobiling, quadding, 4x4ing with a buddy, motorcycle cruising when I get the chance), used to play tournament paintball (and was a licensed referee and airsmith), like to get in as much recreational gun use as possible without an FAC (at the farm - I don't have a cache of illegal weapons - this means you, CSIS), also like spending free time out at the farm, I find it somewhat relaxing to work on the machinery out there - everything's built to be fixed... and no small parts!

Bren R.

Looking after my kids(5 & 2) during the day is my number 1 thing to do right now.

I started running to lose some weight 4yrs ago, dropped 25 lbs that first year. I have now incorpareted weight training again. I may just get back to nearly the same condition I was in when I was 20 years younger.

Watersking was a huge passion for many years but no boats available for the last few years.

Building and rebuilding computers.

Would very much like to get a kit car, AC Cobra replica to build up sometime in the future

I am a member of the Canadian Ski Patrol, promoting safe sliding and providing EMS on the hills to unfortunate sliders. This is my major winter hobby, as I am lucky enough to travel North America skiing for free.

Recently my son introduced me to geology, and I have spent many days in abandon mines, quarries, and such, digging up rocks, minerals, fossils, etc. I took him - he is 11 years old - on a trip to Bancroft Ontario, and was amazed at how much I enjoyed myself!!!

I also golf, play basketball, and generally spend most of my time with my son, as he has just come to live with me.

This was an interesting idea, Nick....

When not watching TV or listening to music, i'm usually trying to get a game of golf, baseball or hockey in, depending on the season. If drinking and socializing count as hobbies then you can mark me down for both of those as well. There are plenty of other activities i enjoy, but i can't profess to doing them often enough to consider them a hobby. (Peter, you may take that out of context any way you wish )

Other things I do.... a good bit of reading fiction and non, lots of moves/films to watch, urban hiking (walking around SF never gets boring), indoor climbing (I enjoy climbing on real rocks, but I am at the mercy of my friends wanting to), PC gaming (World of Warcraft is a life suck), occasional console gaming (Guitar Hero is fried chicken flavored crack- do not ever play this game or you will become jobless trying to complete expert). There is more, but that's topping the list lately.

james

Let's see... well, there's the scifi/(some) fantasy reading, PC gaming (WoW for me, too...), computer tinkering, very occasional woodworking, and less and less SCA.

- Computer crap on my Macs
- Home Theatre (of course)
- My 2nd job of clearing out my HD Tivo shows (you Tivo users know what I mean)
- Vball league
- Running
- Cyclocross racing (though I'm not ready for the new
season)
- Road cycling (I'm no lance though)
- Adventure racing (just did a sprint and it was a blast. Kayak/Run/moutain biking)
- Keeping my 17 mo old from putting toys into my Hsu VTF2
- Gaming (mostly my DS Lite but can't wait for the Wii)
- Snowboarding
- Considering rock crawling as I just bought a 2007 FJ Cruiser. Looking for a lift kit and some armor before I head out.

I'm trying to find a way of mounting my M60 on my snowmobile helmet? Any suggestions.

ow.

>>I'm trying to find a way of mounting my M60 on my snowmobile helmet? Any suggestions.

Can't you put the M60s on a snowmobile trailer/caboose ? Back when we were young(er) and stupid(er) my friends would take turns playing electric guitar (with a battery-operated practice amp) while riding in a little trailer behind a snowmobile.

The idea started when we would use a boat (in the summer) to haul a few people and instruments out to one of those rocks which pass for islands in Georgian Bay and give impromptu concerts out in the bay for passing boats and windsurfers. We used a deep-discharge trolling battery and AC inverters to run the keyboards and amps. That lasted for a few years but evolved to smaller, shorter and colder trips to the same island (rock) in the winter.

I enjoy Golf quite a bit, also music is a passion of mine (I am a drummer by trade and make money working in the oil business!)

-Hutz

>>I am a drummer by trade and make money working in the oil business!

???

I think he meant it that way. Kinda like I'm a lazy slacker by trade but make money in the IT business.

Sorry, when I read Hutzal's post I had a flash image of some newfangled process for processing the oil sands using a drummer at every upgrader.

It's been a long week. Can you tell ?

Just finished dinner. The coleslaw tasted funny. Turns out I picked up cheap blue cheese ranch dressing instead of cheap coleslaw dressing on the way home. Not recommended, at least not for coleslaw.

It's time for a beer. Or 10.

Yeah, see you in the beer thread.

oh and straws are my hobby...

http://www.rk-productions.net/Assets/Photos/tc4507.jpg

Add dirt biking and photography to HT and I now know why I am broke.

Greg

Photography is my main hobby. I try to go out on at least 2 photo daytrips a month, though I used to do a lot more candid shooting when Stevie and Gracie were around. I'm considering taking a nice chunk of vacation time and doing a tour of the western National Parks. It'll probably be a while before that happens, but I'm thinking of hitting the Grand Canyon, Antelope Canyon (not a national park, but definitely on my list of places to photograph), Zion, Bryce Canyon, Yellowstone/Grand Tetons, Glacier and Olympic. Would be a lot of driving, but with all that pretty country to see it'd be a great adventure.

My Site

You'll have to go through Mt. Rainier between Glacier and Olympic. And also my house. Keep me posted.

Gaming (PC)

HTPC (it's a hobby for me)

I enjoy watching good TV shows with my wife and doesn't seem like we watch as many movie's as I'd like to.

I'm pretty lazy anymore when it comes to my hobbies. I spend more time chatting online than doing anything cool. I have a couple of websites (a Princess Bride fansite and a blog, since everyone has a blog), I read, I write (because pretentious is fun?), I draw (okay, not for a while), I play video games (poorly, except for Bejeweled 2, which I'm fairly world-class at on Xbox 360 Live Arcade) and... I think. Thinking is a hobby, right? It's fun to just sit in a chair and swim around in my own brain. Unfortunately, it's not very deep.

C.V.

I didn't mention all the hobbies I don't have time (or money) for...

RC Cars, Model Rockets, Car Shows among others....