[ve2vfd]

Other hobbies? Wow let's see...

- Lockpicking: I decided to teach myself to open locks and though I am only an amateur, I am getting semi-decent at it. It ties in with my job (firefighter) so I guess it's a "practical" hobby... (and it gives me a legal reason to have lockpicks on me!)

- Bodybuilding: I enjoy keeping fit and strong. I don't train as hard and am no longer as massive as I used to be (mostly because it's a very hard lifestyle to keep), but still enjoy working out daily a lot.

- Backpacking/hiking: I can live for weeks out of my backpack. I've backpacked and canoe camped all over the adirondacks and quebec and were it not for that pesky problem of "earning a living" I could be one of those eternal hikers! (and yes there is always room for a Pentax in my backpack!)

Pat

[Peter Zack]

well being a Canuck can you guess? Yeah Hockey. I play a seniors league with all the old farts that still think they can skate.

Also Sailboats both racing and for relaxation when time permits.

Mountain biking and hiking in summer.

[Trawlerman]

Another Radio Amateur here. Have held UK Class A licence M0NNT since 2001 and prior to that a Class B licence G7NNT since 1992. I'm not really active on the air nowadays but I still do a fiar bit of listening, mainly on the VHF Marine bands.

Living by a busy river, I like to go shipspotting when the time permits and it allows me to partake in my interests in radio and photography. Winter is not to good as the weather here in the north of the UK can be bad at times but summer is nice.

I'm also into 2-channel audio. I got into that in 1995 and got into it in a big way. I run a Krell CD player into a pair of hand-built EL34 Monoblock amplifiers and Spendor SP3/1 speakers. I also have a number of Turntables ranging from a vintage Thorens TD150 that I rebuilt, a vintage Pioneer PL-1000, a Rega P3 and a $3000 Project RPM9. In my bedroom I also have a late 70s retro system from Pioneer.

Being into hi-fi it's inevitable that I should also be a record collector. My record collection currently stands at around 2500 LPs, 3000 CDs and around 10000 MP3 recordings. Much of it is Country and Bluegrass but there is also a fair amount of Classic Rock in there. I'm also heavily into Symphonic and Black Metal from Europe and Scandinavia. With Nightwish featuring quite prominently amongst them.

My main interest is in Photography. I started off in the mid-80s by using my dad's Ricoh KR-5 and Zorki-4. I really got into it myself in the late-80's when my dad got me a Praktica BCA. Shortly after I graduated to an all-manual BC1. When that was forcibly stolen from me I replaced it with a pair of Ricoh KR-10Ms. I later sold one and the other died of shutter failure at the back end of the 90's. I got another 35mm, a Ricoh XR-20 in 2003 and used that infrequently. In early 2006 when I was going through a lean time at work I decided to get back into photography with another Ricoh KR-10m and a Pentax P30. The skies the limit now.

[JCSullivan]

"I don't want a pickle, I just want to ride my motor-sickle"

That Arlo album, is probably my all-time favourite album of any album.

[Gaelen]

Cars and photography are my 2 biggest hobbies.

Cars is something I have always been interested in, I have built a car from a wreck with my father and it’s been an addiction since then. I really enjoy going for a Sunday drive in my good car, a 1960’s Holden (Australia’s Chevrolet). Unfortunately I am spending too much time photographing events to do any work on any of my cars and that is frustrating.

Sticking with the car theme, I also design car audio systems. I’m not talking the ones loud enough to destroy your hearing, but ones that sound perfect. I select the gear, engineer and design the install and also tune the system. My personal car was state sound quality champion for a few years (despite massive changes in technology). I was proud considering my total system cost was about 1/3 the competitors.

I’m also into Pocket Bikes, my mates and I go riding as much as we can. For those who don’t know, pocket bikes are a scaled down version of a road-bike and are great fun. Mine looks like a Yamaha R1. We modify them, hot them up and then go for ride. Some pictures here – AGSPhotos.com - Pocket Bikes. When you consider the wheels are like 10” round, they are pretty small.

I also ride mountain bike a bit. Not enough, because I’m busy doing other things, but I did a 15mile ride last Monday around the city I live in and felt great so will get into it more.

One thing I have to stop doing is agreeing to design things for people. I work in architecture and have people asking me all the time to design house renovations, kitchens, sheds, decks, all sorts. I normally just agree because I like the thought of doing it to help them out, but then realise there is no hope of me being able to do it in the short term. I don’t want to tell them I can’t do it because that makes me look bad so I generally pull late nights to get it all done.

Finally, to prove my addiction to hobbies I just bought a set of golf clubs. I normally only play 3-4 time/year, but got sick of using hire-clubs. I know now though that I’ll see them sitting there collecting dust and get inspired to play more often.

Basically I can’t say no to trying something new, and I have a broad taste so I get enjoyment out of a lot of different things. The sad thing is I am trying to do so many things my hobbies are kind of stressing me out because I am trying to pack too much into my days. Over winter I am winding back a bit. There won’t be so many events I need to photograph and I have to learn to bite my tongue and say ‘No’ when people ask me to do design work for them. I am not bored with any of my hobbies, there just aren’t enough hours in the day to do them all. Darn work!

You sound so much like me it's getting kind of scary

I run 2 car clubs (Nissan/Dastun), and between those a lot fo my time is taken up writing emails and making phonecalls.

I do a lot of pictures for friends at different car events, autox, drifting, track days, show and shines etc. I also am getting into portraits and anything else I can get my hands on.

I work as a draftsman designing playgrounds, and I seem to also find myself designing everything under the sun for co-workers, freinds etc. Last weekend I did a treehouse for a coworker, and worked out a part for my friends car.

After that...If I can find time, I work on my own car, play with my remote controlled cars once in a blue moon, and try and keep up with movies.

Oh and of course...try and find a date once in a while

[cygnet]

Whatever money I have that does not get used up due to LBA, goes to this:

[Stratman]

I just got into photography big time less than a year ago. Some other hobbies i have:
love to fish !!! Smallmouth bass are my main quarry, if you have never hooked into a river smallmouth bass, you have really missed something ... I have caught rainbow and brown trout, largemouth and spotted bass, and nothing compares to a smallmouth to me Here is my best moment on the water, biggest smally i ever caught, and like EVERY other one, it was released as soon as the photos were taken.





Also golf a little, used to golf at least once a week for probably 10 years, but only played once last year. never got any good at it, but always enjoyed "hangin' with the guys" and having a few beers, and a LOT of laughs.

Also play a little guitar, one thing i wish i would have taken more seriously. When i took lessons back in the *cough* late 70's, very early eighties, my first teacher told me "if you quit, you are a fool" which i took as him saying i have a lot of potential. But i never really dedicated myself like i needed to.

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Last edited by Stratman; 02-01-2008 at 11:01 PM.

[flyer]

Wish I had more time for the so called hobbies. Actually they are more like "very expensive activities".
1 flying sailplane
2 flying singles
3 photography
4 modeling (for long canadian winter months)
5 biking (burn enough gas flying singles, trying to save some here)

[christinelandon]

Currently, I spend spare time and money on photography, backpacking, mountain biking, books, audio gear, computers and travel. Been doing most of these for decades now; the mountain bike is the newest of these hobbies.

Awaiting money: restoring my 1984 BMW R100RT motorcycle.

Let it go some time back: technical rock climbing, SCUBA diving, sailing.

[nathancombs]

i like to hunt and target shoot a photo i am going to make my little sis put up on her my space page lol

[Mechan1k]

Let me see ... I have no time for my hobbies:

But if i can get the chance here's a few things I enjoy in my spare time:

Driving ... anywhere .. I don't care ... open road ... window down ... music up.
Drawing ... mainly just sketching cars ... or anything that catches my eye ... just leads though.
I am getting in horses (introduced to them by my wife) ... have started to show them myself (instead of being a spectator).
Ten-pin bowling ... has been a while though ... is fun ... and yes I have my own bowling balls.
Lawn Bowls ... it's weird ... took it up as a bludge during high school ... funnily enough can play quite well.
And lastly ... listening to music ... if I can find the time just to sit down and enjoy it.

That's about it from me.