What other hobbies or interests do you have?

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Originally Posted by SlumpBuster

Miss Chesty, the Doctor will see you now.


I was going to cite my crippling addictions to bum wine and internet porn, but you said besides sex and drugs... so...

Games. As Raven knows, I was big into mechwarrior too, but have since moved on to FEAR, HalfLife and Calll of Duty. But I still dream of the next Mechwarrior release.

Next would be all things "garage." From just changing oil and doing unnecesary (don't tell the wife) brake jobs, to wood working to gardening. If you can do it in, or stage it from a garage, I'm there. (My garage just might also have a fridge full of beers, too) I had to get rid of my 4x4 when we had our son, since it was also my daily driver. But my wife has since totally bought into the idea of an old Wrangler to go with my new minivan. So, I have that too look forward too.

Finally, guns. Specifically, muzzleloading black powder. The only thing better than a day on the range, is a day on the range with a beginner. People come to guns with all kinds of hang ups, that is until they hit the black at fifty yards with open iron sights. Thats when the hobby sells itself. "I did that!?!" "Yes, you did." Mmmm, the smell of sulfer on a Saturday morning.

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You sound like a interesting fellow. My fridge in the garage is also always filled, I situated it so I could swing in with the rider and grab a cold one and go back to the lawn. I have been building Long Rifles from the French and Indian war, Revolutionary War and Fur Trade era for the better part of 25 years...

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Originally Posted by meltdown

You sound like a interesting fellow. My fridge in the garage is also always filled, I situated it so I could swing in with the rider and grab a cold one and go back to the lawn. I have been building Long Rifles from the French and Indian war, Revolutionary War and Fur Trade era for the better part of 25 years. I built for CenterMark for a few years also. My shop is added on to my garage, and regularlly have people over to shoot the breeze and drink my beer.

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When I was a wee boy (13) my father, and neighbor would fire off guns in the field adjacent to our homes. My dad had some .22 and pistols. The neighbor however was a history buff, and concentrated on civil war long guns. I can remember him pouring his own bullets. They were HUGE. About the size of the end of a pinkie finger, must be close to 50 cal.

I can remember them firing it, and the sound was like no other gun. He used black powder, the whole 9 yards. Pretty exciting.

Now I live in a city. Your lucky to fire off a wategun, and not get arrested. Ah the simiple pleasures of country life!

Like I mentioned above I've been involved with woodworking and engraving for quite some time. The reproduction of Kentucky Longrifles has been one of my hobbies for quite a long time. Ive probably built a few hundred in 25 years. Many of them French and Indian War era. I do the relief carving and metal engraving to match the period of the arm, and or what the customer wants and can afford. Other then that I too enjoy collecting signed prints and old mantle clocks. Ive had several Harleys over the years, and only have one left.. During the spring I enjoy working in the flower beds outside, dont laugh, its worth it when things bloom. I got involved with Street Luges and like nothing more then hitting 60 mph an inch off the ground. Audio is always something I've enjoyed but did'nt have the luxury of idle time to persue it, until now. I was always being yanked is this direction or that.

Well, It was a good start. The conversation always turns to politices and religion, and the rift widens. Its tiresome, thats probably why I have hobbies I suppose. I did enjoy O'Shags story on the beach, you would make a good story teller Iam sure. I appoligize I couldnt finish the post. I keep some opinions to myself, its easier to make friends that way.

I to was a mech warrior.. I was pretty heavy into it from 1995 to about 1998
Any way.. here is my list of hobbies:

Working on old Fords.. most recent project is a 1995 f150, sounds unexciting except that I put a 420hp motor and 4.10 gears in it.. it's lots of fun to drive a round, as it looks like a real peice of crap truck, but will go faster than just about anything else on the road.

Computer upgrades and following trends, my excuse is video games, but I just find the technology advancements interesting.

Shacking.. I post on shacknews.com a little bit, but mostly lerk.

woodworking is the newest time eater.. I'm building some diy speakers, these: http://www.selahaudio.com/id146.html
I doubt that mine will look near as nice as those, but I wasn't willing to pay the $3500 price for the boxes.

What a failure of moderation this thread was. Mods, shouldn't you have gone through and deleted all the off topic political posts? That is what happens on overclock.net, my other favorite forum.

No website is perfect, no forum is immune to trollage and off-topic or on topic fist fights! Why in heaven's name do you drag up an almost 4 year old post the rub out collective faces in it? What good does that do?

Worf

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Originally Posted by Worf101

No website is perfect, no forum is immune to trollage and off-topic or on topic fist fights! Why in heaven's name do you drag up an almost 4 year old post the rub out collective faces in it? What good does that do?

Worf

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LOL, From the several posts he has dug up, it looks like his hobby is pointing out the obvious. He also has no clue how Message Boards work.

Hobbies: Good Beer, Guitars and Boxing.

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Originally Posted by Worf101

No website is perfect, no forum is immune to trollage and off-topic or on topic fist fights! Why in heaven's name do you drag up an almost 4 year old post the rub out collective faces in it? What good does that do?

Worf

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When I pulled up all his posts the majority were criticizing the site or attacking a member. Good show so far ol' chap.

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Originally Posted by Worf101

No website is perfect, no forum is immune to trollage and off-topic or on topic fist fights! Why in heaven's name do you drag up an almost 4 year old post the rub out collective faces in it? What good does that do?

Worf

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Boredom?

I can understand a regular poster having issues with the moderation on a forum, but it is funny to see someone with so few posts in over a year of membership complaining...

Sure there are many valid criticisms of the moderation here (and just about any other forum).... I do find it amusing how many of our regular members have been banned from various other HiFi forums, yet continue to thrive here despite continuing the same assclownery that got them banned elsewhere... But our forum has different rules...

The great advantage of the net is variety... So everyone is free to search out forums that fit their preference for laid back or aggressive moderation...

I like nerf herding.

That hobby has developed within me a veritable cornucopia of skills and characteristics...like the ability to avoid kneejerk reactions and banning trolling, pedantic asshats.

Yes, nerf herding.

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Originally Posted by bobsticks

I like nerf herding.

That hobby has developed within me a veritable cornucopia of skills and characteristics...like the ability to avoid kneejerk reactions and banning trolling, pedantic asshats.

Yes, nerf herding.

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Well look at that. I did learn something new today.

Well, if nothing else, it brought the thread to my attention.

Roses, b(r)itches, roses: Beautiful, fragrant, thorny, prickly, radiant, diverse, cutting-you-'til-you-bleed, buggy, colorful, rewarding, disappointing, patience-demanding, hard to predict, mercilessly cruel, sometimes forgiving, eternal, temporary, miraculous, sensual...

:dita:

Without the (r), it wouldn't print.

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Originally Posted by Worf101

No website is perfect, no forum is immune to trollage and off-topic or on topic fist fights! Why in heaven's name do you drag up an almost 4 year old post the rub out collective faces in it? What good does that do?

Worf

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I'm with you Worf.....

I like this forum because you can have off topic discussion even if it gets a little heated. I have good friends and we get into heated discussions but at the end of the day we are still friends. I hope it is this way on this forum or I could be a stupid A$$ to every one here. I never claim to be an expert and I am open to idea's and criticism, good and bad.

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Originally Posted by Feanor

Granted the Democrates seem to shoot themselves in the foot time and again. I'm a Canadian so I can't see things quite the way Americans do, but it is perplexing to me that so many "ordinary" Americans support the Republican Party and candidates. It seems to me that the Republican agenda setters care only for the extremely rich, not the poor certainly, but also not the middle class.

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In my early years I had an interest in politics until around the 1980's when politicians began basing their election campaigns on smearing their opponents. I dropped out because I wouldn't vote for anyone with such a low morality. To top it off, I might favor a candidate, but I couldn't vote for them without voting a party into office. I wanted a representative that would make decisions on their own without having a party dictating how to act or vote on issues. To me, parties are groups outside the government that have a certain amount of control over our government, but are not part of it. Scares me!

Anyway, I watch in disbelief at some of the things they do. For instance, they wanted to impeach Clinton for having a sexual affair, but Bush Jr. goes to war with a country that is no threat to us and as a result, thousands of Americans die, tens of thousands get injured, and no one says a word.

I could go on and on about politics, but then I would be ranting and raving and no one wants to hear that. Besides, politics are just like audio, everyone has a different opinion and there are no absolutes between right and wrong.

Concerning the health care system... I don't have anything to say, but have read everyones opinion with great interest.

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Originally Posted by blackraven

Ok, since we are talking about welfare,education and the such. On a weekly basis I see teenage girls that are sexually active and they don't use birth control. I always ask them, what are you going to do when you get pregnant and they respond-I'll just go on welfare.

This is partly whats wrong with this country.

Now I'm not saying that there arent opportunities for these peolpe to better themselves, its just that they become part of a culture of people that are lazy, with low ambition and no respect for education, and poor social and moral values.

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That's interesting because I had read that because of this system, many children grow up in poor families, in poor neighborhoods, with no expectations beyond what life "in the hood" offers. They don't see the opportunities that many of us see and even if they do, they don't see anyway out of the life they are born into. Hence, they join gangs and deal drugs, because they see that as their only opportunity to get a piece of the pie.

It could be said that the welfare system creates poverty and increases crime.

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Originally Posted by Mygaffer

What a failure of moderation this thread was. Mods, shouldn't you have gone through and deleted all the off topic political posts? That is what happens on overclock.net, my other favorite forum.

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I understand , but over moderation creates an atmosphere where people don't want to post for fear of it being deleted. I would much rather have it this way, than imposed censorship.

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I read all 291 posts and it was very enjoyable hearing everyones view points.

Feanor does not understand why Americans support the Repubs, who clearly dance to the music of monied interests...

This is easy to answer, Mr. Feanor....

Americans are more concerned about the colour of their new car/truck/SUV than they are about tax policies or their medical insurance....

My daughter is a Dr in CT (where she grew up when we lived in Avon, CT) and she tells me that people in MA must have medical insurance policies or they pay a substantial tax penality... except that Romneycare in MA allows "pre-existing medical conditions" to be the basis for denying a medical insurance policy. And sooner or later ALL of us will have "pre-existing medical conditions" . Can you see where this goes?? Especially when there is NO assigned risk pool?

Obamacare prohibits "pre-existing medical conditions" as a basis for denying a medical insurance policy. How many Americans know this? Not many- they are still thinking about what colour their new car/truck/SUV should be....

My daughter and her bankster husband live in a VERY modest house. They want to accumulate as much money as Warren B. has.... Where, oh where, did I go wrong... They do not have a McMansion, fancy cars, credit card debt, .... totally unAmerican...

Of course we do not have debt, either. We have a really good positive net worth... and I retired from a prominent company with medical and drug benefits, a pension, and a 401k. We have a private dock, a high-powered speed boat, etc. So I do not have a dog in this fight. I merely sit back and watch the fun....

South Carolina's Official State Dance is "The Shag" and it's performed to Beach Music which is R&B and nothing like the Beach Boys. Outside of the Carolinas the Shag Dance is pretty much unknown. My wife and I have taken lessons for years and go shagging almost every week. Here's a Youtube demo of the Carolina Shag.

Carolina Shag ! - YouTube

I of course love music and now have over 385G in my tunes folder (I am sick) also salt water fishing (trolling) going to shows, (Korn in Atl last night was GREAT) and all things computer

Getting back on track...

What hobbies I've had would be a more appropriate question.

When I was much younger, I loved astronomy and hiking.

In my twenties, I loved playing chess. I lived a breathed chess every moment of every day until I got very good. Then my interest began to dwindle. I also loved riding my motorcycle and eventually began souping them up. That lasted until I realized that there were other people with more money doing the same thing, so I was priced out of the competition. I also realized that in the real world (on the street), one or two seconds in the quarter really didn't add up to much. It was fun for a while.

Then I started traveling on motorcycle and by car. I got to see most of the U.S. I also went overseas. That was enjoyable until everywhere I went began looking the same. For me, lounging around a swimming pool at a resort was a fate worse than death. The trip to my destination was everything.

At the beginning of the 80's computers became the thing to do. At first, programming was my greatest joy, but then computers began to evolve their hardware and OS systems at a rate that was impossible to keep up with. I was not happy with the machines coming on the market or the companies that made and supported them, so I began building them myself. Every new computer I built was a thing of joy that blew the socks off of everything that came before. It didn't take me long to realize that my claim to fame only lasted about six months or so until the new generation of chips came around or someone would throw some nitrogen on their board so they could double their clock speeds. My latest computer runs 8 cores, uses SSD's in raid configuration, is overclocked by over 1GHz... but I realized that except for certain applications that I rarely use, it is loafing, almost all the time. So what's the point of having it?

Through all these years, my interest in audio has remained strong although my level of interest has vacillated from time to time. Music has always had a strong effect on me, both positive and negative. Oddly, the words in a song are not important. Voices are like instruments and that is what I hear.

I payed the price of joining the audio community by, for years, traveling west of the Mississippi to all the audio stores I could find and spending huge sums of cash chasing audio nirvana. In the end, all that gear is gone, my speakers are home brew and my amp can fit in my pocket. I couldn't be happier.

There were bumps in the road that detracted from the enjoyment of this hobby. Most of these bumps came from audio stores who's only interest was the size of your check book, naysayers that couldn't get past flawed DBT's and engineers that think measurement equipment can explain away the differences many of us hear.

The true enthusiasts, and the people who make this enjoyable, are the people who keep an open mind and try everything before commenting on it, these are audiophiles. In another category are the people who design and build their own equipment. To me, these people represent the highest level of what I call audiophiles. What people own or their level of knowledge is irrelevant to be considered an audiophile, IMO.

I've been reading many posts on this site since I've come back and feel I've gotten to know (in a limited way) some of the people here. I feel very humbled by the level of knowledge and the experience of many people that post here. What impresses me the most is, not someones equipment list, nor their background in the audio field, but the enthusiasm that reflects in their posts.

I play serious Racquetball.
I've collect Coke memorabilia, mostly glassware, for over 35yrs.
ISF video certification.
I was an EMT for five years.
I'm an armchair lawyer. I love to watch the daily Judge shows on TV.

But this can be a great assist in getting you to retirement with full benes......

I was at aircraft engines when what ultimately became a two-year layoff had ended its first year, a layoff that resulted in two out of three employees being "gone". When business had recoverd two years afterward, employment had almost returned to its previous level, but not all of the previous employees were in a good place. I applied for a job in another division where they wanted an ME to handle aircooled generators. The hiring people were encouraged to talk to me.....

My first day on this new job, the generator "decider" told me that all 20 candidates for my position were simply outstanding, but that I was the only ME who knew EE. Each generator was to be shipped to its customer after I signed the work off, and I had to approve the work of EE designers and engineers as well as the ME people. So the two EE classes I took at university intended for ME's, plus the time I spent on tube amps, and building preamps, and so forth, really paid off. I must have spent about $20,000 on sound system equipment and related projects over the years, and I got at least 40X that amount back. And generator became fun....

I was called by a front-end (sales) guy on a Wednesday about how to get an order in South America that the competition had "no-bid". The problem was that the application required a generator that weighed 319,000 pounds, and that generator had to be moved over bridges that had a load limit of 200,000 pounds. I asked for a week to think about it, and then called Field Service that Friday morning to discuss an idea. They came to my office at 1 PM and after I presented my idea they said "no problem, you are asking for the back end of a field rewind and we do those all the time". When that first generator was ready to ship I was called and asked if I wanted to see it go. That model generator "always" shipped on a rail car but this one went out on a flatbed tractor trailor, followed by a second flatbed tractor trailor carrying its stator in a single wooden box. We shipped the generator without the 170,000 pound stator installed, so the generator then weighed only 150,000 pounds.

The generator "decider" stopped by my office one day and told me they were planning on switching me to hydrogen-cooled generators, but industrial gas turbines also wanted to talk to me. Was I interested? Well of course, because generator was in the cold north where the seasons were June, July, August, and winter. Gas turbine was in the sunny south.......

I went to the gas turbine interview in a large conference room, where some people sat at one end while I sat down by myself at the other end. Within a minute or two a man walked in and around behind me and then introduced himself as the gas turbine "decider". He gestured to a very preliminary drawing (a cartoon, in our parlance) on the table of the world's first 50 Hz steam-cooled gas turbine and asked me "Can you design that?" I looked at it and then answered "Yes, I can do that." "Excellent," he said. " I will talk to your management." A 5-second interview for a $1.9 billion project. And it was a great hobby. As was the follow-on 60 Hz steam-cooled gas turbine. These two machines demonstrated 60% efficiency, and then my next hobby was a 46% to 50% efficient simple-cycle plant that could be built in four months ....

There are many, many benefits to having your job be your hobby.

Cycling.