

Ask HN: How do Hackers kill time when bored on weekend? - ashitvora

I usually watch some tech-talk which is not too techie.
======
strlen
Spending time with my girlfriend. Usually trips around the Bay Area (it's
amazing what's there within an hour's driving distance), dining, cooking (it's
actually more expensive then dining out, but well worth it in terms of using
exactly the ingredients that you want), movies.

Coding. Right now I am an airport (waiting for a flight) implementing
something (a CS concept) I've implemented at work in Java, in OCaml just to
refresh my knowledge of OCaml (and my understanding of what I actually did).
I'll write toys just for fun of it, for myself. It's okay to re-invent the
wheel if you have to, do it for enjoyment.

Reading. Can be technical, can be non-fiction, can be fiction. Presently I am
reading Richard Rhodes' Dark Sun and Benjamin Pierce's Types and Programming
Languages.

Keep in mind that your brain is a lot like a heap of a run-time with
generational garbage collection or a log-structured file system / database.
Occasionally, the throughput at which you can write and read information from
it goes down as it moves the bytes around and deletes the un-needed stuff. If
you never let it do that, you'll run out of space / your knowledge will become
incredibly fragmented.

It's important that if _if you don't feel like being productive_ (read: your
NewGen is full) you _shouldn't force yourself to be_. Go for a walk, watch a
movie, work out, go out and eat (even if by yourself). I wonder how much money
companies lose due to the rule or convention that one should work in a single
contiguous chunk during the day (sitting comatose at their screen, when they
should be taking a nap or going on a walk).

------
mikeryan
I thought most hackers spend their free time hacking ;-)

I'm watching baseball today however Go Giants!

~~~
anigbrowl
Yep - usually I read, but today I was cheering my home team as they became
division champions. I'm not really into sports but every year I dare to hope
this might be year the pennant finally comes to San Francisco.

------
revorad
By posting, upvoting and commenting on self-referential rhetorical questions
on HN, apparently :-).

------
marcamillion
Wow....bored. I remember that phenomena. Used to happen to me ever so
occasionally before I had kids. Now, the little time I get to myself when I am
not hacking is called 'peace and quiet'.

I honestly can't remember the last time I was bored.

------
poet
Github. Momentum is key here. If you don't pick a project you are interested
in and keep at it, coding for fun won't actually be fun; it will feel
overwhelming and boring. But on a Sunday evening it's a great feeling to just
hammer out an incremental change to a library you own and push it to the
world. :)

------
perplexes
I hang out with my fiancee, we love cooking a lot and watching movies,
especially old ones. I practice Starcraft II with a coworker, which works out
the strategy-planning part of my brain. Every other Sunday or so I go R/C
racing with my future-father-in-law. Otherwise I'm hacking on a project for
pay or for fun, sometimes both. ;)

I am also never bored. There is just so much to do! I'm a stickler for writing
down random thoughts and ideas, like "I want to try hang gliding", or, "I've
never been whale watching", or, "I wonder how much plane tickets are to Paris
right now". My someday/maybe list is sitting at 249 items.

Just ask yourself, why are you bored? Be honest with yourself. Your answer may
surprise you, but that's fine. Try new things, different things. Break away
from habit and routine. Do a hand-stand, then go run in the park. Smell the
flowers. Think about their life-cycle, and why humans think they're pretty, or
why they smell so good. Is it genetic or learned? Like coffee, you probably
hated it at first, but it's grown on you. Or maybe we were meant to drink
coffee!

Then go work on something you're passionate about -- create. Just like _why
said: "when you don't create things, you become defined by your tastes rather
than ability. your tastes only narrow & exclude people. so create."

Bring things into the world. Beautiful things. Things that should've been here
in the first place, you were just the one to think of it and do it. Share
whatever defines you with people. Get surprised or angered or duped into
believing something fashionable. Live.

------
edw519
I am never bored.

In fact, I have the opposite problem: I often have trouble enjoying things
that are not on my To Do List because there are too many things on my To Do
List that aren't getting done.

~~~
robryan
From my observations I think it's a much better problem to have than the
opposite I've seen in some people where they are constantly bored when not
involved in some kind of structured activity or social event.

~~~
reinhardt
That would actually be an improvement.. I'm just as often bored even when
involved in activities or (the pretty rare now) social events.

------
megamark16
Hacking.

My wife likes to tell people that I program to decompress, which is true. It's
probably a bit like a mechanic coming home from working on other people's cars
to put loving hours into rebuilding a 1965 mustang.

~~~
aaronblohowiak
So.. you're working on a lisp?

------
Rantenki
Generally when I get bored, it is a sign that I am burned out.

Consider this, you are a hacker, and you have a computer, and (since are
reading this), the internet.

If you cannot think of a way to entertain yourself, then your creativity is
toast. You need a vacation.

------
sahillavingia
Bored? Never! I spend all my time either talking with fellow hackers or non-
hacker friends, or working on at least _something_. There's always stuff on
the To Do List. Create a "Someday" category and just look into what's there
when you don't feel like real work.

For example, today messed around with a new startup's home page design and
advertised on Reddit. Also, booked flights.

~~~
wccrawford
Exactly. I only get bored when I -choose- to get bored. Which is a huge change
from when I was young, I can tell you.

Now, I have so many hobbies that I have to put some aside for others. And even
without them, I have so many personal projects I like to work on, and so much
to learn, that I would never have free time just from that alone.

I often find myself stressed out about my hobbies, and have to take a break
from them!

And someone mentioned Minecraft... -sigh- Why is that game so addictive? I
just keep going back.

------
a-priori
I usually try to work on something interesting. I have several unfinished
projects on the go that I try to find time to work on.

But, today I wrote a tool for my fiancee to help her make knitting charts.
Very minimal, but it's a start.

<http://knitting.heroku.com/>

~~~
Kliment
As a knitter, this sounds truly awesome. Seems to not work though. But I'd
love to collaborate with you on this, since it's something I need as well at
times and never thought to make (I tend to draw charts directly for my own
designs, but far too many published patterns have instructions only).
Interested in the reverse transform? Webcam integration for pattern reading?

~~~
a-priori
Thanks for the interest! Just sent you an email.

------
socialbutterfly
I build Magic: The Gathering decks. It's basically like writing a program
where the order of execution of the instructions is randomized.

------
davidwparker
I like to:

-read

-code

-sleep

-long-distance run (6-15 miles, for me)

-hang out with friends

-clean the apartment

-watch netflix

~~~
adrianwaj
I read that distance running lowers Co Enzyme Q10 levels (whilst raising anti-
oxidants) with people that don't do it regularly. As a weekend warrior, do you
think stress levels go up as a result?

------
mindcrime
The only time I'm really bored is when I can't decide what to do, because of
the "paradox of choice." My personal library has more than enough books to
keep me busy for the next couple of decades, and the Internet provides a
seemingly unlimited amount of reading material. That alone creates a strong
"paradox of choice" situation, but I also like listening to music (classical
and metal, recorded or live), going to the theater, running, mountain biking,
hiking, going out to eat, hanging out with friends at bars/clubs, etc. And
between physical media and bittorrent downloads, I have enough unwatched
movies and TV programmes to consume hundreds of hours of my time.

So what do I actually do? Usually some combination of the above... an average
weekend includes some time reading fiction (reading the "Harry Potter" series
ATM), some time studying $SOMETHING, where $SOMETHING could be greek history,
philosophy, physics, math, statistics or FSM knows what, and some time boning
up on whatever the technical "topic of the day" is... some time surfing the
Internet, a trip out to eat somewhere, and some time exercising (walking or
running).

I don't know if that helps much or not, but there ya go. If I had to single
out one activity that I spend the most time on during "idle time" it's
reading, both fiction and non-fiction.

Oh, and never mind the time on weekends that I spend writing code.

Now that I think about it, no wonder I show up for work on Monday feeling
_more_ tired than I was when the weekend started. :-(

------
Rabidgremlin
Playing with my son, DIY on the house and of course hacking:
<http://blog.rabidgremlin.com/projects/>

------
leif
beer on the deck, play with cats, go for a walk outside if it's nice (it's
just getting to be fall weather around here which is great), really, anything
but the computer

played some diablo 2 the other night with some friends though, fun times

------
nhebb
TV: College football on Saturday; Rubicon, Boardwalk Empire and Madmen* on
Sunday. (*Although Madmen is seemingly plotless and is becoming a source of
boredom instead of a cure.)

Code: Weekend coding is usually reserved for work on side projects and
personal / in-house tools.

Read: Veering toward the non-technical and fiction lately.

People: Gotta stay connected to the important stuff.

Go outside: Try it. It's great!

------
starpilot
I play pick-up soccer with a regular group, read, cook, occasionally ride my
bike around. Used to go on a ton of hikes until I exhausted those in the LA
area.

I used to play ultimate (frisbee) but didn't like the rules. Good group though
and plenty of geeks. When I played in Seattle, it seemed that all of us either
worked for Boeing, Amazon, Microsoft or Google. You can find out about plenty
of pick-up groups online.

------
vyrotek
Minecraft

~~~
absconditus
I have setup a server for HN users, #startups regulars and friends. Leave a
comment here with your Minecraft username and make sure that your profile has
contact information and I will give you access.

~~~
anakanemison
Mine is anakanemison.

~~~
absconditus
I need contact information of some kind.

------
nandemo
Saturday I went clubbing (it looks like I'm the only one here). Sunday I went
to the gym.

But I didn't do these things to kill time.

------
cullenking
There is never enough time to do all the things I love to do, so, I don't get
bored on the weekends. My first pick when the weather is nice is rock
climbing. Just ran up 5 pitches of trad on Beacon rock today.

Gardening takes up some time, and it is now end of year, so I spent 18 hours
this weekend cooking tomatoes into sauce and salsa.

------
rdl
I never really get bored, but: * Go shooting (IDPA practice, high power rifle
(which requires driving to Sacramento), teaching other people to shoot)

* Reading books -- I have about a thousand Kindle books (yes, I went overboard) and have only read about 200.

* Personal hacking projects (hardware more often than software; my new area of interest is ROV or autonomous underwater vehicle on the cheap to use when scuba diving)

* Learning something new: SCUBA has been the new thing for September. Trying to become a semi-competent designer (or at least being able to ID someone else's design) is my goal for the rest of the year, plus understanding more about TPM and hardware security modules.

* Maybe one or twice a month, some kind of party. As I've gotten older, I've gotten more into 5-15 person dinner parties or other low key things, vs. big raves, but both can be fun.

------
dustyreagan
Trick question. Hackers are never bored.

------
iuguy
For me:

Movies

Backgammon

Cycling (if the weather's good)

Learning new Cocktail Recipes

Cooking for people

Baking Bread

Amateur Digital Photography

I find Baking Bread to be the best de-stresser of all, and it always makes the
house smell great!

------
donohoe
Spend time with my kids, reading, cleaning. I try to make time to think
through code problems on paper and leave the computer untouched which usually
is a big help in solving it.

------
forgottenpaswrd
I'm never bored, I have more things to do that I could do. Life is
difficult,unexpected, always have problems to solve but never boring.

I never "kill time", when I'm with my girlfriend-other relationships I enjoy
it, riding bike or playing soccer or cooking because i love it.

Maybe it is have something you always need to learn, improve. Boredom has to
do with stopping to grow, it seems like your life need some risk taking,maybe
you are playing too safe.

------
richardw
Try not to kill time. Once you've killed enough of it it'll be the thing you
miss most. If you value anything else, realise that you can transform time
into that thing.

------
skowmunk
cooking up ideas, solutions, plans, trying to figure out the answer to some
question that pops in my mind or trying to figure out the reason behind some
obscure thing or pattern that may have caught my attention, reading articles
or watching some good videos online.

(Talking about videos, whoever put up that link to Randy Pausch's Last Lecture
Video on HN, just completed watching it- THANK YOU VERY MUCH, tried, but its
been tough to trace back to the original posting)

Driving, lots of driving on the country side, love the changing scenery,
that's one thing where I can continue the thinking while doing something
relaxing.

(edit: about the driving, its big time fun, to go into some obscure parts of a
city or new neighborhoods (obviously when the traffic is real low - like late
in nights), or some new places in the country side, figure out new routes to
the same places, its like a jig-saw puzzle. Another thing I am addicted to - I
like seeing the same places in different circumstances, seeing the same
neighborhoods in the day, evenings and night, or some remote places in the
country side in different seasons - its great fun/relaxing and somehow I feel
my mind getting stimulated at the same time)

------
limedaring
The weekend is actually one of the most productive times in my week —
blogs/Twitter update less, people tend to be offline and therefore not pinging
me with questions, and somehow they feel more relaxing so I tend to use that
time for working on my project.

That said, if I'm truly bored, I'll spend my time exercising, cooking, or some
other non-computer hobby to refresh my brain a bit.

------
viraptor
Playing QuakeLive, kayaking or going to some other city... But sometimes just
being lazy (== reading books sometimes) or writing even more code.

------
edkennedy
Starcraft 2

~~~
mfukar
Me too, when I get bored of coding.

------
borski
Mostly, I hack away at a personal project (fixing that shelf, or repotting
that plant, or finally building that damn calendaring app for me and my
girlfriend) or watch a bad TV show (I mean _really_ bad; guilty pleasure kind
of stuff).

Fairly often I'll go to a park and just ask someone what they hate about their
computer. Then I'll sit there in the park and build it, for fun.

------
Groxx
I typically read up on EsotericSubject X. I tend to use the oddball stuff to
keep me interested in as many subjects as possible, in part because the basics
have been re-hashed so many times they're boring until you see a use. X gets
me interested, so I can go through the basics with a goal in mind, and know a
couple questions to ask to get help as needed.

------
mathogre
There's no boredom.

After family time, I have two areas on which I concentrate. One is algorithms,
though I'm stuck on an intractable problem at the moment. (I haven't figured
the way to go around it yet. I will; it will just take time.) The other is
photography, which is my latest obsession and has been consuming most free
time and fun money. :D

------
grigory
Never really bored... But to answer your question - mountain biking whenever I
can (yesterday went to a dirt jumping park! in fact, I think I'll go there
right now!), and assembling little air plane replicas (currently working on
MiG 21). Oh, and hacking (should be writing a shell right now...) :-)

------
sjtgraham
With my spare time:

\- I work on app that I want to launch as a startup.

\- Hack on open source code.

\- Read some of Donald Knuth's The Art of Computer Programming, which I
purchased last month.

There is always something one could be doing. If I am bored, it is because I
am being lazy.

------
technomancy
I work through my GitHub pull request backlog. On a good weekend I can get
back down to the single digits.

~~~
jmatt
Thanks!

I use many of those projects daily. Your work is appreciated.

<http://technomancy.us/projects>

------
travisjeffery
I make electronic music: <http://soundcloud.com/gau5/spotlight>, and the usual
stuff like hang out with friends, I love watching movies, doing mathematics
and watching videos on creating music and other forms of art.

~~~
Dornkirk
Curious if you had a music background or if, like the rest of us here, you're
an engineer of some type (not sound engineer though) who got into music in
spare time?

Just wondering because I'm a programmer who doesn't know anything about
musical production or theory but has always entertained the idea of making
ambient-style electronic music.

~~~
kroger
You should go for it. Check out things like csound [1], puredata [2], chuck
[3], and supercollider [4]. "Computer Music" by Charles Dodge is a classic
book on computer music [5] (oldie but goodie)

[1] <http://www.csounds.com>

[2] <http://puredata.info>

[3] <http://chuck.cs.princeton.edu>

[4] <http://supercollider.sourceforge.net>

[5] [http://www.amazon.com/Computer-Music-Synthesis-
Composition-P...](http://www.amazon.com/Computer-Music-Synthesis-Composition-
Performance/dp/0028646827)

------
woid
HackerNews

------
marssaxman
This hacker is too busy with too many projects to have time to get bored on
weekends.

I am only bored when I am stuck somewhere with nothing to do - a doctor's
office, a bus stop, an airport, etc. Upgrading my phone has helped a lot with
this.

------
Game_Mate
Listen to Adam Carolla, Daves of Thunder, Spider and the Henchman, FitzDog
Radio

------
Kliment
Knitting. Reading physics books. Building robots. Korean script practice. Dr.
Who. Spending time with people. Cooking. Rediscovering ancient science
fiction. Getting old semi-industrial machines running.

------
ethank
Spending tine with my wife and son

Distance running (10-15 miles)

Research and planning

Hacking. Personal, work and home automation

And given my schedule, often doing nothing at all.

------
icco
Going outside. Reading a book. After reading for a while, I either have the
desire to do something, like hang out with friends, or I have an idea, and I
go research it and iterate on it.

------
tlrobinson
I've started reading more. This is probably a good start:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1752139>

------
davidedicillo
I got a beautiful puppy :) Actually more than killing time I'm finding out
that training a puppy is pretty much a full-time, so now in my free time I
work.

------
bkudria
Hackers gonna hack.

------
nickik
I only get bored if im to tierd to do something real then I watch old The Big
Bang Theory or How I met you mother stuff and go to bed.

------
jwu711
Watch TED videos

------
nuxi7
<http://play.eveonline.com/en/home.aspx>

~~~
hasenj
play eveonline in home? ;)

------
Shamiq
Laundry and <http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/>

------
forsaken
Frisbee Golf followed by chatting with fellow hackers on a patio somewhere
enjoying the weather.

------
invertedlambda
Coding, watching movies, going for a hike, exercising, playing music, learning
to skateboard.

------
sammyo
Went for a sail. Lots of dynamic problem solving in a very different domain.
And fresh air.

------
defen
Learn more about beer & how to brew it.

------
Slashed
Poker

------
lukifer
Boredom. I vaguely remember that.

------
jedwhite
Hacking. QED

------
bearwithclaws
Read Hacker Monthly, may be?

------
Locke1689
Going out.

------
zengr
Too busy to get bored!

------
secos
Bored is a choice.

------
MarinaMartin
Crossword puzzles.

------
MII9
Well, I hacked Instant Search this morning! Hehe Google, its what's for
breakfast. <http://YTLatest.com>

------
abbe
pkill time

