What other hobbies do you have??

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Art

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So don't cheat and say your tank takes all your time (although it probably does). What other hobbies do you guys have?

I love to boat. This is my old boat that I just sold earlier this year. I'm boat-less at the moment.

It's a 2013 Rinker 290ec. Great little family boat until my kids got too big...

IMG_1580.jpg
 
I am into 3D graphics a bit, trying to learn blender and do some 3D work using it, hope that at some point I finish like a 5 minutes 3D movie

This is my creation but I was following a tutorial, so it is not mine 100%
Screenshot 2022-11-06 at 5.02.00 PM.png

I do some photography as well, but need to give this more time
15092035955_6ba2ce6591_o-scaled.jpg
 
I'll bite.

Other than my tanks, I really like to build things. My current project is a garage / shop, after that a kitchen, or an addition on the house, a deck, etc. etc.

I like fast and loud cars, love the outdoors - hiking / fishing / kayaking / boating, although I don't have my own boat... just yet. I also like cottages, four wheelers / off-roading, and I am a local volunteer firefighter department. When time allows it, I'll be a lawn care snob with (hopefully) a perfect lawn for all the passer-byers to enjoy.

BrZLE29.jpg


VB3NThM.jpg


2AFqtJe.jpg


TvYMIhG.jpg


s1iELDJ.jpg
 
I am into 3D graphics a bit, trying to learn blender and do some 3D work using it, hope that at some point I finish like a 5 minutes 3D movie

This is my creation but I was following a tutorial, so it is not mine 100%
View attachment 115

I do some photography as well, but need to give this more time
View attachment 116
Wow! It's amazing what can be done with 3D!
 
Well, I used to build a bunch of highly customized cars/trucks. Not so much any more though.
- this is my truck
- and my friend Scott's car. Note it's right hand drive :cool:

This was a hobby or your business?!
 
I'll bite.

Other than my tanks, I really like to build things. My current project is a garage / shop, after that a kitchen, or an addition on the house, a deck, etc. etc.

I like fast and loud cars, love the outdoors - hiking / fishing / kayaking / boating, although I don't have my own boat... just yet. I also like cottages, four wheelers / off-roading, and I am a local volunteer firefighter department. When time allows it, I'll be a lawn care snob with (hopefully) a perfect lawn for all the passer-byers to enjoy.

BrZLE29.jpg


VB3NThM.jpg


2AFqtJe.jpg


TvYMIhG.jpg


s1iELDJ.jpg
Love the Mustang and envious of your handyman skills. Beautiful area of the world, even in winter.
 
I have a lot of hobbies, but not enough time to spend on them all.

Aquariums obviously have been literally the only hobby that I've consistently been active in for decades.

Some of the hobbies I've enjoyed but do infrequently these days either due to a lack of time, or other reasons:

Mountain biking, photography, golfing (was a scratch golfer at one time), fishing, archery.

Some of the hobbies I'm far more active in are:

Darts - love throwing darts. I'm not great with about a 50 average, but it's a lot of fun. I can have games where I average 80, but then the very next game will be a 40 average lol.

Chess - I've never been super into chess, but I enjoy playing it whenever I get the chance. I have one friend that I don't like playing because he is like an idiot savant in chess. You can play him and after your first move he'll tell you which opening it is, and then will beat you within 20 moves lol.

Competitive shooting - this is one hobby I never imagined I'd get into, but I jumped in headfirst. I mainly compete in two sports, USPSA and 3 gun. I run a match for one of my local clubs that's basically speed shooting on steel targets. It's fun, but I only do it to generate more revenue for the club. Whenever I tell people about this they usually say "but don't you live in Chicago". I'm not inside the city limits, but was born in the city and lived in it until I was about 21 or so. Now I'm less than a mile away. I never grew up with guns, or owned any until I turned 21 and moved out of the city. I took an interest in marksmanship and enjoyed hitting the range from time to time. In 2014 I joined a private club and a year later was introduced to 3 gun and was immediately hooked. Up until that very first match I thought I was a very competent marksman, but when I heard the timer beep, the wheels fell off and I realized that standing in one position shooting at a static target gave me an unrealistic assessment of what my actual skillset was. I've always been a bit of an adrenaline junky so feeling that mild adrenaline dump upon hearing the timer beep, and then needing to hit targets as quickly as possible, while also throwing in a lot of movement, obstacles, etc., it filled a need that I didn't realize I had. As you can imagine it's an expensive hobby so I also reload my own ammo. Reloading can be a hobby all on its own, but I mainly do it for cost savings, tailoring loads to specific firearms, and doing far better quality control.

Woodworking - this is something that I've taken an interest in only over the last year. I bought a house last year in July that wasn't yet on the market. The basement was finished, but not since 1987 so I spent about 3 months renovating the basement myself prior to closing. My dad was the previous owner in case anyone was wondering why I'd dump money into a house that wasn't mine yet lol. But I went through, ran wires for where a TV would go, replaced floorboard and trim, installed cabinets and countertops, painted, and all kinds of other stuff. I built my aquarium stand, which I could have done a much better job on, but it's solid and holds the tank up and most people that see it don't see the mistakes I made which were mostly cosmetic. I enjoy building stuff out of wood so it's a hobby that I'll spend more and more time.

BBQ (smoking) - Back in September I picked up a pellet grill, a Recteq, and have gotten into smoking briskets, pork shoulders, and all kinds of stuff. Having lived in Texas for four months during training for a company I worked for really spoiled me with BBQ. We have a few decent BBQ places around Chicago, but the prices are pretty crazy especially if you're like me and all you want is a lot of brisket. Now if I want brisket I head over to Costco and pick up a prime brisket, trim it, cover it in salt, pepper, and garlic, and toss it onto the smoker for anywhere between 12-16 hours and I can enjoy brisket for days afterwards. Everyone told me that a pellet grill isn't really a smoker, but the meats I put on there pick up a good amount of smoke flavor since I keep the temp low enough where the pellets produce a lot more smoke.

Craft beer, bourbon, and cigars - I'm not sure I'd call these hobbies, but I enjoy the heck out of them occasionally and have built up a nice collection.
 
I have a lot of hobbies, but not enough time to spend on them all.

Aquariums obviously have been literally the only hobby that I've consistently been active in for decades.

Some of the hobbies I've enjoyed but do infrequently these days either due to a lack of time, or other reasons:

Mountain biking, photography, golfing (was a scratch golfer at one time), fishing, archery.

Some of the hobbies I'm far more active in are:

Darts - love throwing darts. I'm not great with about a 50 average, but it's a lot of fun. I can have games where I average 80, but then the very next game will be a 40 average lol.

Chess - I've never been super into chess, but I enjoy playing it whenever I get the chance. I have one friend that I don't like playing because he is like an idiot savant in chess. You can play him and after your first move he'll tell you which opening it is, and then will beat you within 20 moves lol.

Competitive shooting - this is one hobby I never imagined I'd get into, but I jumped in headfirst. I mainly compete in two sports, USPSA and 3 gun. I run a match for one of my local clubs that's basically speed shooting on steel targets. It's fun, but I only do it to generate more revenue for the club. Whenever I tell people about this they usually say "but don't you live in Chicago". I'm not inside the city limits, but was born in the city and lived in it until I was about 21 or so. Now I'm less than a mile away. I never grew up with guns, or owned any until I turned 21 and moved out of the city. I took an interest in marksmanship and enjoyed hitting the range from time to time. In 2014 I joined a private club and a year later was introduced to 3 gun and was immediately hooked. Up until that very first match I thought I was a very competent marksman, but when I heard the timer beep, the wheels fell off and I realized that standing in one position shooting at a static target gave me an unrealistic assessment of what my actual skillset was. I've always been a bit of an adrenaline junky so feeling that mild adrenaline dump upon hearing the timer beep, and then needing to hit targets as quickly as possible, while also throwing in a lot of movement, obstacles, etc., it filled a need that I didn't realize I had. As you can imagine it's an expensive hobby so I also reload my own ammo. Reloading can be a hobby all on its own, but I mainly do it for cost savings, tailoring loads to specific firearms, and doing far better quality control.

Woodworking - this is something that I've taken an interest in only over the last year. I bought a house last year in July that wasn't yet on the market. The basement was finished, but not since 1987 so I spent about 3 months renovating the basement myself prior to closing. My dad was the previous owner in case anyone was wondering why I'd dump money into a house that wasn't mine yet lol. But I went through, ran wires for where a TV would go, replaced floorboard and trim, installed cabinets and countertops, painted, and all kinds of other stuff. I built my aquarium stand, which I could have done a much better job on, but it's solid and holds the tank up and most people that see it don't see the mistakes I made which were mostly cosmetic. I enjoy building stuff out of wood so it's a hobby that I'll spend more and more time.

BBQ (smoking) - Back in September I picked up a pellet grill, a Recteq, and have gotten into smoking briskets, pork shoulders, and all kinds of stuff. Having lived in Texas for four months during training for a company I worked for really spoiled me with BBQ. We have a few decent BBQ places around Chicago, but the prices are pretty crazy especially if you're like me and all you want is a lot of brisket. Now if I want brisket I head over to Costco and pick up a prime brisket, trim it, cover it in salt, pepper, and garlic, and toss it onto the smoker for anywhere between 12-16 hours and I can enjoy brisket for days afterwards. Everyone told me that a pellet grill isn't really a smoker, but the meats I put on there pick up a good amount of smoke flavor since I keep the temp low enough where the pellets produce a lot more smoke.

Craft beer, bourbon, and cigars - I'm not sure I'd call these hobbies, but I enjoy the heck out of them occasionally and have built up a nice collection.
Holy Smokes that is some list of hobbies!! You sound like a guy I would like to hang with!!!

I wouldn't call these hobbies but I enjoy golf, fishing, shooting, wood working, cooking, grilling, scotch, cigars, etc.

The closest to a real hobby is likely golf. At one time I was playing about 150 rounds a year. Injuries the last few years have slowed that way down.........and raised my handicap too! Every time I've played for the past 3 years have been in pain. Have all the equipment to build clubs (shaft puller, swing weight scale, Loft/lie machine, etc). Can pull a shaft and have another one in about 10 minutes, and have built lots of sets of irons for myself and friends. Once you get the sickness nothing off the shelf seems good enough. I am betting you may know what I mean.
 
Holy Smokes that is some list of hobbies!! You sound like a guy I would like to hang with!!!

I wouldn't call these hobbies but I enjoy golf, fishing, shooting, wood working, cooking, grilling, scotch, cigars, etc.

The closest to a real hobby is likely golf. At one time I was playing about 150 rounds a year. Injuries the last few years have slowed that way down.........and raised my handicap too! Every time I've played for the past 3 years have been in pain. Have all the equipment to build clubs (shaft puller, swing weight scale, Loft/lie machine, etc). Can pull a shaft and have another one in about 10 minutes, and have built lots of sets of irons for myself and friends. Once you get the sickness nothing off the shelf seems good enough. I am betting you may know what I mean.
Yep, I hurt my back several years ago and golf is the one thing that can aggravate it. I've kind of always had that reverse C follow through which is tough on healthy backs so it wreaks havoc on mine. Usually my back doesn't hurt a whole lot if I've been working out heavily, doing deadlifts and core strengthening. These last two years I really fell off the fitness wagon and only recently got back into it.

But from the age of about 16-30 I was playing a lot. Aside from one day a week, if I wasn't playing, I'd be at the range hitting balls and then chipping and putting afterwards. Slowed down after 30 and then hurt my back a few years later. It's actually why mountain biking is where it is on my list.

Looks like we enjoy many of the same hobbies pastimes. I was hoping to smoke a brisket for Christmas Day but it looks like it's going to be offensively cold here on Saturday after the snow storms Thursday and Friday. If I go to Costco this week and see a brisket I just can't pass up, I'll probably still give it a shot lol. My pellet grill did a great job when it was in the low 20's out so I might as well test it in the single digits or even below zero.
 
WOW! You two are impressive! I'm wondering what the heck I do all day compared to you guys! Both of you are guys I'd love to grab a beer (or bourbon) with!

Like you, aquariums have been the constant hobby throughout my life. I've dabbled in chess, golf, fishing off and on but never consistent enough. I do love my whiskey though, and brisket is my favorite. I'm fortunate in that department as I now live in Houston.
 
WOW! You two are impressive! I'm wondering what the heck I do all day compared to you guys! Both of you are guys I'd love to grab a beer (or bourbon) with!

Like you, aquariums have been the constant hobby throughout my life. I've dabbled in chess, golf, fishing off and on but never consistent enough. I do love my whiskey though, and brisket is my favorite. I'm fortunate in that department as I now live in Houston.
You're definitely fortunate...there's some great brisket down in Houston.

You're also lucky that you have Torchies Tacos there lol. I used to eat at Torchies in Dallas at least twice a week for the 4 months I was down there in training. I was in Scottsdale in October and was pleasantly surprised to find that Torchies had expanded to Phoenix so I went out of my way to go grab lunch there one day. I wish they'd open one up here.
 
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@Graham you just sent me in a time-warp to my dreams in the 80s! WOW! That is awesome! I'd love to be at a party in your house.

Share some details. What brand is the equipment? How many CDs you got? I see a turntable, still got some vinyl?
 
This dream started in the 80s too. The bass alignment calculations were done for the 18" drivers, then newly acquired, in '84. The original floor-standing woofers were converted to ceiling mount in the living room remodel completed in '99. The current and final expression of the design was more or less complete by 2010. The Parasound Halo preamp and first power amp are that old, so now becoming vintage classics! I tried digital signal processing for the crossovers and parametric equalizer for about two years. This was very nifty but in the end I preferred the dbx analog.

This has been an edifying journey. I learned the Thiele/Small/Keele algorithms for woofer design. All that button pushing on a scientific calculator grew tedious, got me interested in BASIC programming real fast, and a Commodore VIC20 made short work of that. Today you can buy BassBox Pro and design your woofer on any modern computer.

This diagram will answer some of your questions. Not shown are additional small speakers placed for enhanced sound-staging and hall ambience, and the dedicated on-line double-conversion UPS power conditioner which is remotely located.

21bYaV1l.jpg


CARFRCK.jpg

aM6STT8.jpg

NwJUjuB.jpg

I am not a vinyl collector, but I do have some esoteric pressings that are keepers. I think there are around 400 CDs in this library. Now we pretty much rely on ROON playing Quobuz for our music source and control the stereo from our MacBooks.
 
This dream started in the 80s too. The bass alignment calculations were done for the 18" drivers, then newly acquired, in '84. The original floor-standing woofers were converted to ceiling mount in the living room remodel completed in '99. The current and final expression of the design was more or less complete by 2010. The Parasound Halo preamp and first power amp are that old, so now becoming vintage classics! I tried digital signal processing for the crossovers and parametric equalizer for about two years. This was very nifty but in the end I preferred the dbx analog.

This has been an edifying journey. I learned the Thiele/Small/Keele algorithms for woofer design. All that button pushing on a scientific calculator grew tedious, got me interested in BASIC programming real fast, and a Commodore VIC20 made short work of that. Today you can buy BassBox Pro and design your woofer on any modern computer.

This diagram will answer some of your questions. Not shown are additional small speakers placed for enhanced sound-staging and hall ambience, and the dedicated on-line double-conversion UPS power conditioner which is remotely located.

21bYaV1l.jpg


CARFRCK.jpg

aM6STT8.jpg

NwJUjuB.jpg

I am not a vinyl collector, but I do have some esoteric pressings that are keepers. I think there are around 400 CDs in this library. Now we pretty much rely on ROON playing Quobuz for our music source and control the stereo from our MacBooks.
First song I'd listen to on full blast is Mr. Crowley :LOL:
 
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This dream started in the 80s too. The bass alignment calculations were done for the 18" drivers, then newly acquired, in '84. The original floor-standing woofers were converted to ceiling mount in the living room remodel completed in '99. The current and final expression of the design was more or less complete by 2010. The Parasound Halo preamp and first power amp are that old, so now becoming vintage classics! I tried digital signal processing for the crossovers and parametric equalizer for about two years. This was very nifty but in the end I preferred the dbx analog.

This has been an edifying journey. I learned the Thiele/Small/Keele algorithms for woofer design. All that button pushing on a scientific calculator grew tedious, got me interested in BASIC programming real fast, and a Commodore VIC20 made short work of that. Today you can buy BassBox Pro and design your woofer on any modern computer.

This diagram will answer some of your questions. Not shown are additional small speakers placed for enhanced sound-staging and hall ambience, and the dedicated on-line double-conversion UPS power conditioner which is remotely located.

21bYaV1l.jpg


CARFRCK.jpg

aM6STT8.jpg

NwJUjuB.jpg

I am not a vinyl collector, but I do have some esoteric pressings that are keepers. I think there are around 400 CDs in this library. Now we pretty much rely on ROON playing Quobuz for our music source and control the stereo from our MacBooks.
I have been a collector of music my entire life, love high fidelity equipment, have several sets of high end speakers, and this surpasses anything I would have ever dreamed of. My hats off to you. That is an insane set up.
 
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