What are your other hobbies

[Len Turner]

My other hobby is stamp collecting... Been collecting stamps since I was a kid. Started with US, then Canada, then western Europe, then worldwide. Bought & sold on eBay for ten years or so. Got to where the albums filled an entire closet and the eBay thing got to be a real P-I-A, so ... Two major sell-offs and a bunch of little sales have financed a lot of my model railroad stuff. Still collecting some older US, Canada, and Western Europe though. Great hobby but I still like my model railroading!

[Steamtrains]

My other "unlisted" hobby is model RC sailboats.....
We have plenty of suitable spots for this as the city is laced by "resacas" (meandering branches of the Rio Grande). What doesn't help much is that anything other than a slight breeze will tip them over, and the wind here is generally over 10-15 MPH....

[Tyson Rayles]

Organic vegetable gardening. I like nitpicking too!

I'm with you 100% on that!

[Tyson Rayles]

Well none of mine were on the list, some of which are: Fishing, hiking, computer games and veggie gardening.

I can't believe other hobbies like hunting/golfing/tennis/bowling/nitpicking

Yeah I threw that last one to see if you were paying attention.

What the heck is Geocaching?

Great to meet another hiker on here!!

Geocaching is kind of related to hiking. Basically, you use an app on your iPhone/device to find hidden items in the woods, on a trail, etc. I've never done it before but I've heard that it's growing. Your iPhone app should tell you where people have hidden geocaching items (I think they might be prizes, messages, or notebooks to sign?) and you search for these while on your hike. I wouldn't be surprised if they were even hidden in urban areas, city parks or almost anywhere. Just try googling it as I might not have all the details straight.

Cheers, Rob

Thanks for the info Rob. For the record I do not nor will I ever own anything that starts with the letter i .
Nor do I have or will I ever install a "app" on my cell phone. It is always turned off unless I need to make a phone call. If somebody needs to reach me they know to call my land line and leave a message. Under no circumstances are they to EVER text me. Text messages are automactically deleted without ever being read. If I'm not good enough for you to talk to in person you are not good enough for me to waste my time reading your text meassage. It really wouldn't hurt my feelings if cell phones were outlawed. While they can be very usefull of all the things mankind has invented they are the one invention that is the most misused and abused. The number of people who have died and been injured is in the thousands and growing every day. It has gotten so bad that cities have enacted "walking while impaired" laws and some like London have taken to wrapping the street lamp posts and other objects on the sidewalk with padding. Personally if you are dumb enough to walk into a lamp post and give yourself a concussion so be it, why should the taxpayers have to wrap the post becuase you are braindead to start with?
Off my soapbox now.

[tomustang]

Your loss Tyson, instead of me reading the paper on the throne I can check the forums

[ezdays]

Your loss Tyson, instead of me reading the paper on the throne I can check the forums

I'll step up on the box where Mike just stepped down from. On of our latest hobbies not listed here, is us trying to guess which driver ahead of us is on the phone or texting. A few clues, driving ten to twenty miles under the speed limit in the fast or middle lane, drifting out of the lane then suddenly jerking back, not slowing down with the traffic or just being a jerk. It's nice to be able to check email, weather, news and forum updates from anywhere, but can't we restrict that to like, being on the throne or anyplace else in your home or workplace, just not while you're driving, in a movie or church, in the checkout lane at Walmart or sitting in a restaurant in the booth behind us?

Don't get me wrong, these are useful tools, and it's great that I can get almost instant answers to an email I send to someone that isn't at home by their computer, I guess there has to be a balance though between usefulness, annoyance and common sense.

I'll step down now as well...

[tomustang]

Your loss Tyson, instead of me reading the paper on the throne I can check the forums

I'll step up on the box where Mike just stepped down from. On of our latest hobbies not listed here, is us trying to guess which driver ahead of us is on the phone or texting. A few clues, driving ten to twenty miles under the speed limit in the fast or middle lane, drifting out of the lane then suddenly jerking back, not slowing down with the traffic or just being a jerk. It's nice to be able to check email, weather, news and forum updates from anywhere, but can't we restrict that to like, being on the throne or anyplace else in your home or workplace, just not while you're driving, in a movie or church, in the checkout lane at Walmart or sitting in a restaurant in the booth behind us?

Don't get me wrong, these are useful tools, and it's great that I can get almost instant answers to an email I send to someone that isn't at home by their computer, I guess there has to be a balance though between usefulness, annoyance and common sense.

I'll step down now as well...

You can say the same for drunk drivers, but that doesn't mean we make alcohol or cars bad.

Everything in moderation. although I don't like being in the past of records and reel-to-reel


You know the best part of being on this forum is anyone here can get a hold of me by PM and I can get back instantly, unless I'm sleeping.

[Sumpter250]

Ship, specifically sailing ship, modeling was, is, and will continue to be my first hobby, the trains came just a bit later.
Model Railroading simply opened the door to a much wider variety of models to build.
The Sci Fi modeling is the most recent. Reading about the production of the Battlestar Galactica Television program, was the inspiration for my first serious Sci Fi model the Quantum Phoenix
   
and a Dragon or two;
   

[Tyson Rayles]

"You can say the same for drunk drivers, but that doesn't mean we make alcohol or cars bad.

Everything in moderation. although I don't like being in the past of records and reel-to-reel "

The lastest figures I saw say the a driver on a cell phone is 4 times more like to kill you than a drunk is. BTW they had a piece on the news recently that said records are making a comeback, seems the sound quality is way better than digital.

[Tyson Rayles]

Pete I love your sci-fi modeling!

[tomustang]

Think you got that backwards, alcohol deaths are 25K, phone related are 6K


And the records, someone says that every year. A good digital remaster is always better than the original 8-)

[Sumpter250]

---And the records? A good digital remaster is always better than the original 8-)

:?: :?: :?: After a number of years ( about twenty ) I finally got my turntable, amp, and speakers up from where they were stored in the basement, and hooked everything up.
The first record I played was a Tchaikovsky symphony, that I have played the CD of, many, many times.
I had to get the CD out and play it again, because I could not believe how rich, full, and filled with subtleties, the Analog recording was, and how relatively flat and colorless the CD recording sounded.
Maybe it is just all in the ear, or the mind, of the listener - - - - - - - - Then again, maybe digital reproduction does leave something out, where symphonic sound is the recorded subject.
I do have to admit that there is no way I could listen to that symphony "record" while in a moving vehicle. CD's do have a valid place in our modern society. The analog recording still sounds better to me.
Or, maybe, it is just that because of my age, that I am prejudiced in favor of 33 1/3 RPM Records........maybe, but I really do not think so.
One of the best sounding "sources of music sound" I've ever heard, actually came from a small transistor radio - - - - in a room, designed by an acoustical engineer, specifically for that very transistor radio.
It is amazing how sound can be "played with".

[ezdays]

You can say the same for drunk drivers, but that doesn't mean we make alcohol or cars bad.

Everything in moderation. although I don't like being in the past of records and reel-to-reel


You know the best part of being on this forum is anyone here can get a hold of me by PM and I can get back instantly, unless I'm sleeping.

Nowhere did I say that cell phones were bad. I don't blame the cell phones, just those that use them in such a way that they are an annoyance and/or a danger to themselves or others. The same goes for cars and alcohol. You can use most anything. And for statistics, well take a statistic class and you can find out how to make them fit whatever your agenda is. hock:

Now for vinyl records, I was just watching a show on hoarders where this guy in Pittsburgh has a collection of around 2,000,000 of them. His house is crammed full, he has a 35,000 square-foot warehouse full and he has a record shop where he sells and sometimes gives records away. That is classified as an extreme hobby. Is vinyl better than digital? We could always ask him for his opinion. For my opinion, they may start out better sounding, but records do wear out and degrade as they do, digital doesn't do that so they are either consistently good or consistently bad, but they are consistent. My hearing is so bad right now that I couldn't tell either way.

[torikoos]

I've ticked Music, but it's very broad. I enjoy listening to music , both on a good quality hifi system, be it vinyl, tape or CD , or on an iPod in the car etc.
However, music is also ticked because of playing instruments. I play a little guitar (just for fun, I'm not any good at it yet, do it far to infrequent), and I play synthesizers. I both enjoy dailing up a preset sound and just play songs/melodies whatever (and used to do that for a band I used to belong to many moons ago), but the other part is sound design, making a new sound from the ground up and explore it's musical qualities.

I've also ticked indoor sports as I enjoy martial arts , which is usually done indoors, and recently I got into fitness a little bit, while that will never become a hobby, it's a necessary evil nowadays to keep fit as I am not 18 any more... :-)

Koos

[Sumpter250]

My hearing is so bad right now that I couldn't tell either way.

With me, it's my eyesight. Thank Heaven for "Optivisor 5X"

Removing my " moderator hat " , and taking the role of ,,,OK "Troublemaker" for a bit- - -

as far as " the safety issue " is concerned? Any driver, influenced by alcohol, drugs ( including prescriptions ), conversations, texting, reading texts, staring at the GPS, reading newspapers, or business "notes", or just plain "Daydreaming"!!! is a threat to the lives of every other driver on the same piece of road.
Of all the above, only alcohol was "made by the devil". Of all the above, I felt safer on the road before the invention of "Personal Electronic Devices".
Three of the four "rear end collisions" that I have witnessed, were caused by Cell phone usage ( i watched it happen !!!) The fourth? that was an actual brake failure ! About 85% of all the near misses I have seen ( I was in "field service" for 19 years, which put me on the road a LOT, day/night, fair weather or foul ) were caused by driver inattention! The rate of alcohol related incidents is true, but appears out of proportion because of the lack of "Public Hype" over the other causes.
Punishment should be for the crime ( death, injury, destruction ), not for the cause ( inattention, distraction, drug or alcohol impairment, mental incompetence, etc. ).
Whether one has been drinking, or not, "Blowing in the machine" ( breathalyser ) at a "Road Side Safety Check" !! is a violation of the 4th amendment protection against "Unreasonable searches or seizures", and the 5th amendment protection against "self Incrimination", Refusing to "Blow in the Machine" is a punishable offense?????!!!
If an Officer of the law observes your "erratic driving", and pulls you over, and sees/hears obvious signs of drug or alcohol impairment, he then has the authority to administer a sobriety check, which may authorize a breathalyser test.
A random selection pull-over at a "Road Side Safety Check", should never be an excuse to violate "Constitutional rights".

(( my sensitivity here is because I put my life at risk to defend the Constitution of The United States of America, against all enemies, foreign and domestic, from 1961 t0 1983, because I believe in freedom, and I believe in the rights and protections the Constitution gives all of us, and to this day, believe those rights and protections must be protected at all cost. Please forgive me if that belief has caused me to offend you in any way))

I'll end this rant with "No, I have never been "busted for alcohol usage and driving", and I don't put myself in jeopardy of ever being "busted". No, that's not "obeying the law", that, is personal responsibility, coupled with the use of a personal breathalyser, to be sure I am not being affected by alcohol, before leaving the restaurant or Bar.
Yes, I do measure the level, and I do wait. 0.08% blood alcohol, is the national average of a person who has had two alcoholic drinks, with a meal. I wait until I am well below that. It would be "properly respectful of others", if everyone would do the same.

And....now put my moderator hat back on, and return you to the regularly scheduled program: "What Are Your Other Hobbies"