Do you have another hobby?

[ucflumberjack]

I was just wondering what else you people spend your time and money doing while your not at work. I myself put alot of time and money into my fish tanks. I have three of them right now:
1. its a 72 gallon bowfront tank (its a tank designed for reef's by all-glass) with 5 firemouth cichlids(2-4 inches), 8 tigerbarbs(1-2inches), 2 female swordtails(2inches), 2 bristlenose pleco's(3inches), and one common pleco(4-5 inches). Its decorated with a bunch of live plants and 2 big rocks.
2. its a 29 gallon tank, 30 inches from left to right, 12 inches front to back, and 19 inches from top to bottom. it houses 11 rummynose tetras, 2 hatchetfish, and soon 8 young angelfish. its decorated with one piece of driftwood, one piece of pottery a few live plants and a big fake palm tree. eventually the angelfish will gow up and pick mates, then ill give 6 of them away and keep only one pair.
3. its a 7 gallon tank with a few guppies a few corries and a female betta. decorated with blue gravel and a few plants.

 

[wayneb]

I have 3 kids - 2 of them are teenagers. I don't have time for any of my other hobbies at the moment! :laughing7:

Seriously, when I get enough free time again, I'll get back to photography (got to sell my old Olympus SLR and get a digital box first, though), and musical instrument building (I'm a luthier, specializing in building harps and hammered dulcimers). I used to keep large fresh water aquariums, but after so many moves I had to let that hobby slip away. We do have a 10 gallon guppy tank for my 11 year old daughter, however!

 

[storm1969]

Photography. Wayneb, I have an Olympus E-300 DSLR, getting ready to purchase their new one.

Computers.

And my wife says if I get any more she will kill me!

 

[wayneb]

I still have an old OM-4T. Now I shoot pictures with a "collector's item!" At least I should be able to get a good price for it on eBay!

 

[AsharaLyn]

I sew, mostly historical outfits (not costumes, which implies a shabby quality of work). It started as an adjunct to our Renaissance Faire habit, but then I got interested in reading everything I could on other peoples' research into authenticity. My chosen eras are Elizabethan (which is what most ren faires use for their period), and also Victorian, specifically 1865ish to 1885ish (hoop, bustle, natural form, and late bustle).

 

[youngmeadman]

Photography, with the Nikon D40x, and I've been in scouting since I was a wee lad! But between work and school, don't have much time to do anything else!


YoungMeadman

 

[akueck]

Yeah, this is my hobby. I pretty much go to work and come home and go to work again the next day. (I'm a PhD student.) I suppose my real extra hobby is keeping my wife sane--this is her first year teaching and she's got 7th graders. (Teachers are so undervalued it's no wonder this country's kids are failing all the standardized tests.) I've gotten to be quite efficient at tallying up quiz and test grades, doing data entry, and hanging things on the walls of her classroom. And my cooking skills have greatly improved as well. But she actually got home early enough tonight to help cook dinner, so that makes it all worth it. I am so brewing on Sunday though.

 

[Jandra]

Nice topic. Cool, another luthier in the forum. Though I'm hardly a luthier... I've just built a few small travel harps. But between having RSI and a nasty accident causing my left thumb to be restricted in movement and strength it has been a few years since I made any. I can't confidently use the tools anymore.

What I DO do in my free time is gardening on my allotment. I've also got a few fruit trees on the allotment, some of which are starting to crop. This year I had about 40 plums, 11 apples and 6 pears. It's a start ;D And I have raspberries and strawberries. At the house we have a small garden in which I have alpines.

I like to read fantasy, I sing in a chamber choir, we have cats. I belatedly got a BA, but before that I also was playing in the SCA and may be doing that again. I'm 'cursed' with a wide range of interests and the focus of how I spend my free time varies.

Jandra

 

[shunoshi]

Hmm, my main hobby besides brewing (whether it be mead or beer) is games. All forms of games. For the most part it's video games since many of them are single player, but I also play online and I also love board games. Only other hobbies I really have are hunting and freshwater fishing.

 

[wildaho]

My job is to sell great beers, wines and meads. I manage a great little store and we sell and ship to 34 states. Sorry for the plug, but I really like and enjoy my job! (and we have website you can order from too)

So what do I do for a hobby? Well, for the last 12 years or so, I've brewed beer. For the last 5 years or so, I've made mead. And lately, I've been making and enjoying more meads than I have beers. It's a beautiful thing.

Other than that, photography is my other passion. It's just another outlet for my creativity. I can't drink it, but it still gives me satisfaction. Here's a link to my other obsession: http://www.photosig.com/go/users/view?id=185932

 

[Chimerix]

Guns. I've been shooting since I was a wee thing, and with only a couple of short breaks, haven't ever stopped. I'm an NRA Training Counselor, which means not only do I teach people to shoot safely, I teach people how to teach people to shoot safely. I don't have enough storage space to qualify as a true gun nut, tho... only about 2 dozen firearms total (rifles, pistols, and shotguns), and maybe 20,000 rounds of ammo. My boo has informed me that 3 gun safes in the bedroom is enough, so I guess I've peaked (until we get a bigger bedroom!)

Will undertake video work for friends, but I'm not sure if that's a hobby or not, since it's also a major component of my day job. Avid reader, TV addict, snorkeler, known to smoke the occasional pipe, and one of the world's 10 biggest fans of a good nap!

 

[shunoshi]

My job is to sell great beers, wines and meads. I manage a great little store and we sell and ship to 34 states. Sorry for the plug, but I really like and enjoy my job! (and we have website you can order from too)

Well, come on now. You can't plug your company without actually giving the website itself. It's not guaranteed that I'd be up for buying beer from you (I make pretty good beer myself ), but I may be interested in some mead if it's decent price/quality. ;D

 

[beninak]

Besides brewin...I have two dogs that I love getting outside and hiking through the backcountry with. Also a bit of a gamer, mostly chess. Finally, I am trying to learn to play the banjo, but it's slow going so far! :BangHead:

 

[wildaho]

My job is to sell great beers, wines and meads. I manage a great little store and we sell and ship to 34 states. Sorry for the plug, but I really like and enjoy my job! (and we have website you can order from too)

Well, come on now. You can't plug your company without actually giving the website itself. It's not guaranteed that I'd be up for buying beer from you (I make pretty good beer myself ), but I may be interested in some mead if it's decent price/quality. ;D

I don't want to take advantage here. I'm not paying for advertising (my boss is cheap) and don't want to abuse my privileges. I'll tease, but if you want details, please send me a private message for full details or look for Bucket o' Brew in the Places category. You'll notice (hopefully) that the only web link I gave was to my hobby!

But that's beside the point. Fermentables are my lifeblood and passion. Photography is still my favorite hobby otherwise. I've even tried to photograph my fermentation journeys but I haven't posted any of those yet. It's hard to capture the rapture of a carboy!

 

[ehanuise]

Nice topic
I took on a lot of hobbies in the past, which have lasted a few years each : Roleplaying, Playing Magic the Gathering, kiting, applied electronics, Dj'ing, rollerblading, painting miniatures and wargaming, japanime, comics, ... I'm quite the geek ;D

Current hobbies are :
- Boardgames ! These provide a nice intellectual challenge and are less time consuming than roleplaying. I'll be going to Essen next week, I'm playing a lot of boardgames with friends whenever we can set up a meeting, and am seriously thinking of starting a small boardgames business, using a preorder model similar to GMT's P500 to minimise risks.
- Live Action Roleplaying (somewhat kin to SCA, however more game-focused than history focused) I have been an active participant in the belgian LARP federation team, and do play in 2 to 5 games each year
- Video : I shoot video during LARP's, and edit videos to make a DVD out of them. the typical DVD is 1'30 but I've put a couple 2 min. trailers on youtube
Here are a couple of these trailers

 

[Oskaar]

Geez, like I need another hobby, but, yeah, I have some others too.

I'm on the BoD for a couple of not-for-profit Croatian Fraternal/Community Outreach organizations, the Chairman of the IMF Home Mead Maker Competition Committee, I hunt upland game (my GSP pFreddeye retired a couple of years back so I go solo or with a couple of buddies), ocean fishing (deep sea fishing if you want to make it sound exciting, my family comes from a long line of commercial fishermen so the hook and line thing is amusing every once in a while), cooking, eating, drinking, smoking Cuban cigars, spitting, gambling and the lustful pursuit of nubile young females.

Not necessarily in any order of committment, but the chicks, booze and gamblin are right up there!

Cheers,

Oskaar

 

[ucflumberjack]

Well this one went better than i thought. I must say, yall are an interesting group. hmm.. Where to start... I used to hate cigars, but last time I got wasted with my friends who likes cigars I had a few and didnt complain so that could grow, I really want to get into shooting (prolly gonna start with a colt 45 and a benelli nova). My girlfriends grandparents do cowbody shooting and I went with then one day and its a blast. Shooting those old single action guns is quiet a different task than shooting a glock. I cant play cards to save my ass. I do rollerblade a little, but mostly cuz im fat and need to lose like 30 pounds. I never was into photography. The only thing to hunt here really is boars and they aren't much fun to hunt, you need a huge gun and some luck that your gun if huge enough to blast a hole in their thick stupid skull. I really do want to make the brewing/meadmaking hobby into a job at some point, but I'm gonna work on a more stable source of income to fund a project that risky before attempting it, so were lookin at at least a decade away from that.

 

[Angus]

Hey, now. Where is it legal to shoot Cowboys?

Hobbies: Bookbinding, cooking, brewing, reading, being one of those annoying jerks who constantly corrects other's incorrect use of the Queen's English.

Had to cut down on some of the other hobbies due to time and being physically abused for previously mentioned language correction.

Angus

 

[teljkon]

Shooting, beer brewing, snorkaling & scuba diving. Video games and well that dose it. The scuba diving will soon be lobster hunting with a few more dives under me. I did some photography bought a nikon F but let it slip. I havent been shooting in a long time Used to go with my brother and his best friend but weve all been way to busy & the ranges down this way are outrageous. Going shooting is no less than 40$ a head. I shouldnt forget boogey boarding though, havent got out in long one but i still do it from time to time.

And contrare UCF theres always birds plus there better eating than a boar any way.

Texan lesbian convents Angus, not only is it legal its sport!

:happy10:

 

[JephSullivan]

Hey, it's fun to get to know you guys a little better; good topic ucf! I like science and cooking. Hence the homebrewing (and my favorite cooking show being Good Eats). Lately I've been experimenting with bread making and French-style pan sauces.

I also like music. I do some very rudimentary recording from time to time. Here's me singing a barbershop quartet with myself:

When The Saints Go Marching In

And a piano song I wrote:

Piano Song

Also I used to do some computer programming for my work, but I don't anymore. Now I just do it for fun. For example, I wrote a program that makes pretty mathematical pictures: