
Ask HN: What are your (non-hn-related) hobbies? - yan
Inspired by a recent thread suggesting recommendations on things not having to do with your interests and expanding your horizons, I ask:<p>What are your hobbies and interests?<p>And I don't just mean things directly related to HN.<p>edit: Hm, if you want to share these hobbies and introduce others, perhaps include your geographical location?
======
mahmud
Beer, shooting pool, foreign languages, extensive traveling (~30 countries)
and just having a good time. Hate to exaggerate this, but I prefer having fun
to everything else in life. Anyone else a creature of comfort? At some point I
would like to own a blues bar and design my own award winning steaks and
burgers (someone, please, clone Madam's Organ.)

Things I _hate_. Video games, television, nightclubs with loud "divas" and
greasy men (the type where they vomit on each other's fake Luis Vuittons after
2AM; we go to gay clubs just because the crowd is both so much more civil, and
far happier and fun, plus the music is so much better), IT books, things
marketed at me, hyper-excited "startup" people.

~~~
mcantor
Upvoted for beer & foreign languages, but at the risk of starting One Of Those
Debates; why the video game hate?

~~~
mahmud
Two reasons:

1) I am a knowledge-whore. I like to think that after doing something for a
substantial time, I will come out of it having learned something. I would
consider film culturally enriching, mostly because I watch fringe, independent
or foreign films; For some reason, I have a very high opinion of filmmakers as
artists. However, I can't say the same about video games or their artistic or
cultural merit. I am unable to consider them substantial in that regard.

2) I like to _share_ and talk about my experiences. I can talk about movies, I
can recommend albums, I will even take the time to scribble directions and
notes on someone's pristine travel book and tell them where to go. But I can't
do the same with video games. There is no particular instance that I can think
about and reference later; either because the games are dynamically generated,
or because the gamer demographic are just not the people that I tend to
socialize with, so I don't identify with them.

Bonus:

3) I like realism. Along with video games, I don't tolerate Anime, Fantasy
Fiction, or any other type of "geek" entertainment. I was offered two DVDs by
my neighbor; The Dark Knight and The Quiet American; I took the later. Hard to
explain, really.

P.S. I am a hopeless Soduku addict and play 30 minutes when I wake up in the
morning, and 30 minutes before I go to bed. In fact, that's what I use my
phone for 90% of the time.

~~~
unalone
So you hate video games for the same reason theatergoers hate the cinema at
the turn of the century. You hate the current offering rather than the medium
itself.

~~~
tptacek
Video games suck up lots of time and leave you with nothing when you're done.
Two hours spent bickering on IRC or Hacker News at least teaches you things.
I'm not sure if that's exactly what mahmud said, but that's my reasoning, and
I thought his was close to mine.

~~~
unalone
So you don't watch movies, either? Or read books? Two hours of time in which
you learn nothing?

~~~
tptacek
I definitely watch movies and read book, but I feel like I come away from them
with something, unlike with video games.

I get that some people do feel like they get something out of playing video
games, and I'm not indicting them.

~~~
unalone
It's a matter of playing the right games. I tend to play shorter arthouse
games. Braid, Blueberry Garden, Everyday Shooter, and its kin.

------
silencio
Knitting and crocheting and everything fiber-arts related. I love it because
it seems tedious or stupid to a lot of people who don't know how to knit, but
I get a lot of satisfaction out of creating fun things for my friends and
family and myself (see
[http://a3.twimg.com/profile_images/432735303/Photo_on_2009-0...](http://a3.twimg.com/profile_images/432735303/Photo_on_2009-09-23_at_19.15__2.jpg)
for one ;) ) and I also enjoy using my tech background to convince people on
Ravelry (a super big social networking site for knitters etc.) that knitting
and designing patterns can be a lot like coding (cause some of them are super
intimidated by tech, bah).

I also loooooove playing the piano. And making ice cream from scratch, for the
interesting combinations and flavors you can make. And like a lot of other
HNers are mentioning, learning foreign languages, even though I don't
necessarily get a chance to practice speaking them much :( Snowboarding too,
despite living in sunny LA. I wish I could get started with indoor rock
climbing here as well, but I haven't really found anywhere good for that near
where I live.

------
mcantor
I highly recommend fencing. It's a spectacular workout, and the three
different weapons provide unique experiences, one of which will certainly
cater to your intellect or personality. Foil is highly strategic, épée is much
less rules-oriented and the most like a "real" duel of the three, and sabre is
extremely fast-paced.

The only downside is that competing can get expensive, but the exposure to so
many different fencing styles is worth it. All three weapons are fun and
intellectually stimulating to study, and the community is universally
supportive. I think it's an excellent "hackers' game."

My other hobbies: drawing & painting, writing & reading (always reading),
finding new music to listen to, video games, and poker (another great game
with deep strategy behind it).

~~~
nradov
I fenced in school and enjoyed it, but as for being a workout I was always
bothered by how it's so asymmetrical. I'm right handed and so it didn't work
my left arm nearly as much.

~~~
pixcavator
>>asymmetrical

You can say the same about tennis... I wouldn’t worry. You can also try
"period" fencing (look up "SCA"). The rules are different: if you are
"wounded" on the right arm, you have to switch to the left. There is also two-
handed fencing (longsword).

------
davidw
Cycling is all I have time for, outside of programming (which _is_ also a
hobby) and family life. I used to like to go salsa dancing with my wife, but
the baby is a bit of a hindrance to going out:-/ I also love to go out for
drinks (spritz!) in the piazzas here - I would miss that a great deal if I
ever went back to the US.

------
imack
Rugby. Any adversity you encounter in day-to-day startup operations doesn't
seem as bad as when it's compared with getting pummeled by Aussie and UK ex-
pats.

~~~
lil_cain
league, or union?

~~~
imack
Union. To my knowledge it's all there is in the Vancouver area.

------
chops
Beach volleyball (doubles) was my obsession this summer. I spent 10-15 hours
per week at the beach. It helped me to be more social (I made a lot of new
friends), got in better shape, got a _tan_ (that's something new to me), and
everyone I know kept asking if I did something to my hair because sun gave me
natural highlights.

But yeah, doubles volleyball played by the proper rules (no-spin sets, no open
hand dinks, no setting on one, no setting over the net) is so much more fun
than "gorilla ball" (where it doesn't matter how you hit it, as long as the
ball stays in the air), as one of the other guys affectionately calls it.

Oh, and I'm from Milwaukee, Wisconsin (play at Bradford Beach), so this
unfortunately can't be a year-long hobby (at least _Beach_ volleyball can't
be). Given my obsession over this, I'd seriously consider moving somewhere
nice like Florida just to play BV year-long.

------
Shooter
It used to mostly be playing, trading, collecting, teaching, and admiring
guitar. And audio production. I owned a boutique guitar store (high-end,
appointment only) on the side, and I still own a recording studio and mobile
unit. I find that my _formal_ business interests are now crowding everything
else out because I simply enjoy it more. I was so into guitar (interest, time,
and money-wise) for so long that I'm trying to force myself to give it a rest.
[Well, to be fair, I also had some paralysis for a while that helped slow me
down.] I haven't taught in a while, no longer play out, and the studio is
professionally managed and run by others now...so it has become too difficult
to justify to the wife why I need $750,000 worth of guitars to entertain
myself. She thinks one guitar and one amp should suffice. Philistine! ;)

------
ax0n
Learning, teaching, writing, bicycling, amateurish photography (snapshots,
honestly), dorking with Lego stuff, cooking, camping.

Of course, I got to do almost all of that at once this summer, when I led a
group of 11 cyclists to a lake about 30 miles outside of town. All of us had
packed up with our camping gear on our bicycles, and very few the participants
had done anything like it before. I taught them about what kinds of stuff to
bring, and all that. I cooked on a makeshift camp stove. We all camped
overnight and rode home the next morning after cooking our various breakfast
items. I took lots of photos and wrote about it. As it was only my second time
"backpacking with my bicycle" I also learned a few things myself.

Basically, it was everything that I love doing that doesn't directly involve
programming, soldering or Lego.

------
paddy_m
Sailing and skiing. I have really gotten into sailing recently, especially
racing. There is so much beauty, skill, and thinking in the sport.

I am a huge f1 fan. I either go to a meetup to watch the race (normally at
7am). Normally in addition I download a British feed of Friday practice 1 and
2 (speedtv only shows p2), Saturday p3, and qualifying. F1 has a lot of
political intrigue, tactics and technology.

I'm not into a lot of traditional geek hobbies. I could care less about
comics, sci-fi, or video games. Comics and sci-fi have just never done much
for me, I just couldn't get into them. I enjoy video games when I play them,
but they are just too much of a time sink, so I stay away. The first person
shooters seem to require a large amount of skill and practice, when I play
them I fell hopelessly lost.

~~~
yan
Where do you sail? I have been looking to get into it. My goal was to help out
on current races and get into it that way. (I hear people need all the help
they can get and will let you come along for free). I'm near Baltimore so
there are a few active sailing clubs around here.

~~~
paddy_m
I sail at the Manhattan Sailing Club. <http://myc.org> membership is
reasonable, about the same cost as a gym membership.

Racing is even cheaper if you know what you are doing. The words you are
looking for is "rail meat". When the boat is going upwind it heels over, you
need people on the uphill side of the boat on the rail. Being rail meat
require very little knowledge. I would try to go out on days with unpleasant
weather, fewer people show up. Rosh Hashanah was the first time I got out on
Long Island sound (the boat had a very hard time finding crew that Saturday).

Try the Annapolis races, I'm not sure of where they meet, but you could
probably get out on Wednesday nights and Saturdays.

------
unalone
I listen to excessive amounts of music. Just today I've gone through an old
dreampop favorite ("Treasure" by the Cocteau Twins), gave a neoclassical album
a try, listened to both an intense breakcore album and a darker classical
album by a guy called Venetian Snares, and now I'm listening to the Kronos
Quartet playing African pieces. There's a chance I'll be writing music with a
few people in the near future, and I hate songwriting with a fixed genre in
mind, so right now I'm browsing furiously.

I also read and watch movies and TV when I can find things I enjoy. I'm
rewatching The Wire right now, since it's hard to find new enjoyable shows.
I'm trying to get into cooking and fashion: That's my goal for this year. And
I'm thinking about giving a rave or two a try later this month.

------
MikeCapone
Mostly: books, music, my fiancée, COD4 on a tactical server (no blind fire and
jumping around).

Wish I had something cool to write about here ("rebuilding pre-1950s
motorcycles"), but in fact, "books" includes so many things that it's enough
to keep me occupied.

------
MicahWedemeyer
Gardening! Stick plant in ground, just add water, and magic happens. It's
great!

~~~
icey
There's a lot of hackery you can do if you like gardening as well. It's a
constant battle of fine-tuning.

I've changed my watering schedules no less than 20 times this summer to try to
get optimal moisture levels. I also do everything organically, so it's a
little more challenging to take care of ants when you can't just shake on some
Amdro (the solution is nematodes btw).

There is no limit to how easy or how complex you want to make things. I've
made watering helpers with some drip line, bamboo and a 1 gallon milk
container for long weekends when I was starting plants out, or planted hot
peppers around some plants that one of my dogs insisted on tasting all the
time.

It really is a lot of fun and way more hacker friendly than you might expect
at first.

------
mattmichielsen
Brewing beer and working on sub-$1000 BMWs and Porsches.

~~~
Modernnomad84
where can i find a sub 1000 porsche?

~~~
brianobush
On craigslist, you can sometimes find cars that are in dire need of repair and
as such need hauled away. For example for 1k flat:

1975 porsche 914 2.0 partially dissaembled, has rust issues, complete car with
rebuildable motor and transaxel, many new parts also has origanal fuel
injection system intact.

<http://portland.craigslist.org/clk/cto/1407277633.html>

------
JshWright
I volunteer with my local fire dept.

Also, I keep fish (both fresh and salt), and practice Tae Kwon Do.

~~~
yan
Wow, cool. What sorts of work do you do as a volunteer? How much time do you
usually dedicate?

~~~
JshWright
I'm a Firefighter/EMT.

Time commitment is a minimum of 24 hours per week, but that's not "active"
time. For most of it I'm home sleeping, but respond if the pager goes off. We
also have several cubicles at the station, with access to power, internet, a
printer, a coffee machine, etc, so I'll generally work there if I'm looking to
get out of the house for a while.

There is certainly some time involved in training, etc... That probably
averages out to an hour or two per week. Occasionally specific classes will
take more time (I just finished an advanced rope rescue course that was spread
over two weekends).

------
brianobush
Japanese - studying Kanji and grammar (still at basic to low-intermediate
level), but have over 2k Kanji down and can read manga. Goals are flency (and
yell at my kids in Japanese :).

Video Games - I only play on the Nintendo DS, and at that not often, but I do
enjoy it and wish I had more time, but the aforementioned hobby takes almost
all my free time.

------
yan
And I guess I can start: mine are rock climbing, flying single engine planes
(hoping to get into gliders) which is currently on break, and neuroscience (at
an extremely amateur level). If anyone wants to get an introduction to
climbing and are in the DC, Philly or NY area, I'd love to show you the ropes
(har har).

~~~
khafra
> ...show you the ropes

Along those lines, Shibari. It's a great way to meet girls.

~~~
streblo
If you don't know what Shibari is, don't try looking it up on Wikipedia at
work. Do it when you get home.

~~~
hughprime
To save me the hours and hours of curiosity, does someone want to give a brief
and work-safe summary of what this particular activity is?

~~~
khafra
Artfully tying people up. It's sometimes associated with nudity, which is
probably why people have added disclaimers; although I can't imagine a
workplace that'd penalize a simple google search for it while allowing HN.

------
axod
Roller skating! (Until 5 weeks ago that is - I was skating backwards fast
round a corner on one leg and believe I hit a bearing that was on the rink -
ouch broken hip).

Photography, building Lego models, Playing the piano, Watching old movies, and
most of all playing with the kids.

------
LSalin
I play poker and I cook. I love the extra money I win at playing a fun card
game, and I love to invite people over for dinner parties. Somehow, I wish my
hobbies had a bit more synergy! :)

I also enjoy reading quite a bit.

------
varjag
Documentary photography. It is in large part about social skills: getting
access, asking questions, talking people in, negotiating through police fences
etc. Something totally opposite to my dayjob.

~~~
yan
Do you do this for yourself or for a second employer? Is it mostly social
engineering or just being very steadfast? I'd love to know more about it.

~~~
varjag
Aside for a short stint with an agency in 2006, I do everything for myself.
Photojournalism is a tough area, with opportunities shrinking, and (if you can
afford it) it is best to do the work which genuinely interests you than pick
up marginal assignments. Remember, old press is dying, new one is not anywhere
in sight :)

One thing to distinguish is long-term, documentary work and current events.
The latter is basically reportage, the bread and butter of news agencies and
newspapers. On the former though, you can choose your ground and take your
time.

I start a project with pulling all information I can from the web: saves time
on the ground. Names, history, maps, prior works in this area. If necessary
finding the initial contacts. Over there, it's approaching people, asking
questions (not necessarily identifying yourself as a photographer), you can
get a lot of context just from casual chit-chat. Good thing is that most
people love being heard, so give them all attention you can. Start a neutral
conversation, listen, nod, let them pour out: very few people are generous
listeners, so your attention will be appreciated and you can ask the questions
you want afterward.

In case of hot events, various police and security troops are a major
challenge and great test of your social skills. There it's best if you can
start small, attending fenced but calm events, just to get the gist of
unspoken rules, protocols and routines. Obviously you can't generalize this
worldwide, but. Be attentive, observe police, observe protesters or other
people interacting with law enforcement, see how much can work with them. Read
faces, in case of militias face is a good indicator how much problem you are
going to have with a given person. If he looks like a scumbag he probably is.
There are weak points in most of cordons and often ways to sneak past fences.
It is best if you stay calm, neutral, and project confidence; especially
confident, you can pull nearly Jedi-like tricks with it. Do not insist on eye
contact but do not avoid it either. Don't smile, it shows your weakness and
reduces your chances to successfully communicating with people in power
dramatically.

It may sound hard but the skills build up quickly once you start doing.

------
kevinherron
Mountain biking :)

Trying to train 3-4 times per week (after work) for races coming up in the
spring. Getting hard without daylight on my side. Gonna have to buy a light
soon. Or adjust my work hours.

~~~
ax0n
Check out Candlepower forums. There are guys there inspiring me to built an
LED kilo-lumen beast for my winter commuter bike. I'm sure you could build
something to suit your singletrack fetish. :)

~~~
Sidnicious
Man, 256 lumens ought to be enough for anybody.

~~~
ax0n
I had a DiNotte 200L (200 Lumens) and it barely cut it. I mean, the optics
might have something to do with it... throwing photon from hither to yon
without a really good focused area on the road. I'd outrun my light (going too
fast to stop in time for a hazard exposed by my light) at maybe 12 MPH on a
clear night on the dark backroads. I can see maybe 500-600 lumens being
sufficient, but 256 doesn't seem like enough to me.

~~~
blasdel
You're right -- the optics are _everything_. The flashlight fetishists love
round symmetrical beams, which is exactly what you don't want in a headlight.

You want to focus almost all of the light at the horizon, with some spill
below and a sharp cutoff above. Anything else is wasted. See:
<http://peterwhitecycles.com/plight.asp>

~~~
ax0n
I agree. It's just hard to find good headlight-worthy optics for DIY LED or
Halogen lights. You always have to buy the whole package, always for $too.much
from someone like Peter White, or the local bike shop.

Even my "good" headlight (15W, ~300 lumens by my guess) is just a stupid 6V
MR11 bulb with a clear waterproof lens in a waterproof housing. No optics.
It's just a farking accent light that can be bolted to a bike. Über lame.

------
dryicerx
Photography, Philosophy, Cooking, Travelling, Driving, Lockpicking, Tennis

(fun fact: my current start-up was put in to gear because of my photo
addiction and a few unsolved problems the field had)

------
jacoblyles
Muay Thai, Jiu Jitsu.

Learning the warrior mindset you need in the ring will change your perspective
on a lot of things in life. And it will keep you in excellent shape, minus
injuries.

~~~
jscn
Seconded. I spent a couple years training Muay Thai before getting bitten by
the BJJ bug. I'm trying to fit in more standup again now, but I still try to
spend at least an hour every weekday on the mats.

Having a very physical hobby keeps me grounded in reality after spending most
of the day thinking about philosophy or writing or coding (I'm a student).
There's a lot of pretty direct feedback about your improvement over time, too,
which I find can be lacking in more intellectual pursuits.

------
revorad
Lindy hop, it's wicked fun! I've been going once a week for a few months now
and did a half day workshop last weekend.

<http://www.swingland.com/>

And I do a bit of drumming, although have been a bit lazy lately. Mostly my
hobbies have revolved around music. I enjoy hiking too but haven't been out
too much recently. Tried surfing for the first time recently. I was crap at it
but it was still good fun. Must go back.

------
misterbwong
Basketball - Active hobby of choice. Will play this until my body stops me.

Finance - Learning to actually make money in the market (equities and equity
options).

Eating out with friends - Trying different types of food is great, but the
company is the best part.

Traveling - Not a frequent flier or anything but trying to make it to Japan
this next year.

Learning Mandarin - Trying to learn my "mother tongue." That side of my brain
seems to be dysfunctional, so this is one area I need a lot more work.

------
leertaylor
I enjoy various sorts of hands-on projects when I need a break for the tech
world:

Woodworking - building furniture, etc.

Fixing up old pinball machines

Working on the house, minor remodeling sorts of projects

------
simplify
Playing Go. I love playing all kinds of one-on-one competitive games, but Go's
freedom of style and near perfectly fair grounds keeps pulling me back in.

~~~
thismat
I heard this is a wonderful game, I've been meaning to take it up.

------
garcara
If beer counts as a hobby (drinking it) then count me in there.. But more
seriously I take cooking pretty seriously as well as fly fishing and running.

------
tptacek
Cooking. I mostly suck at it, but that's part of why I like it. I'm doing a
lot of charcuterie-style stuff lately, and a lot of playing with sous vide.

------
howardr
I am a total finance and economics nerd after being a programmer. I find
something really interesting about markets, derivatives, et al.

~~~
brianobush
do you build micro-economy models?

------
chaosprophet
Aircraft modelling. Particularly the executive jets. Time passes by in a
whirl. Either that or Microsoft Flight Simulator.

------
lil_cain
I do a small amount of pen and paper roleplaying, and the odd bit of computer
gaming. Mostly though, I'm a political economy nerd. I read a lot of
industrial economics, and a pile of political/current affairs stuff. The
Phoenix, the Village, the Economist, as well as a reasonable amount of more
textbook type stuff.

------
trafficlight
Bowling. If I had to pick only one thing to do it would be this. My goal is to
be competitive on the PBA Tour. I'm averaging 220 right now, but that needs to
be closer to 235-240 to be competitive.

My other big hobby is music. <http://thesixtyone.com/abledanger>

------
HeyLaughingBoy
Winemaking, electronics (somewhat HN related since I sometimes sell what I
make and do consulting), machining metal, raising chickens, gardening, various
forms of art, learning to play flute.

I guess baking could count as a hobby since I do enjoy it quite a bit, but the
primary driver is hunger, not passing the time :-)

------
mattiss
Rock climbing, mountaineering, backpacking, SCUBA, sailing, aviation,
traveling, snowboarding, having fun!

~~~
yan
Whoa, I share every one of those except scuba (Trying to get into sailing
now). Where are you physically?

Edit: based on posts, I guess Seattle.

Haha and objc dev also.

~~~
mattiss
Yeah in Seattle area atm, thinking about moving to San Francisco though. Where
are you located?

~~~
yan
I'm in Baltimore area and in Philly and NY areas often enough. I too have
similar aspirations to make it out to the bay area eventually with gf. I was
just in Lake Tahoe area (and SF) for climbing last week.

------
teuobk
Ice hockey. (Hey, I'm a Minnesotan!) Besides that, I like baking, photography
(especially sports photography), cycling, and making a really good cup of tea.
Sailing was great when I lived in California, and snowboarding will be fun
once there's some snow on the ground.

------
steveklabnik
I play Warhammer, ride bikes, and code things that are totally different than
what my startup does.

------
narag
Playing with my son, windsurfing and playing electric guitar. I like to do
many more things, but I don't always find the time or the place. I like chess,
drawing, billiards, foosball, karate, reading, net games and going out on
weekends (or everyday in the summer).

------
oldgregg
Snowboarding, hiking, cycling, basement dance parties, photography, making
random videos, this american life on NPR, watching geeked out documentaries
like helvetica, and getting up on my wife... not necessarily in that order.
Oh, and eating, I love eating.

~~~
tbrooks
Really, you're a snowboarder?

------
dgabriel
I write poems and short stories, listen to music (largely indie rock, classic
rock, and old folk), bake, and do a little sewing (working on narwal costumes
for my baby twins). Then there's python!

Alas, my hobbies are mostly on hold until the babies get bigger.

------
aw3c2
Geocaching & OpenStreetMap are two of my favourite hobbies I recommend to
anyone here.

~~~
ArturSoler
Another geocacher here :D

I recommend it to everybody too! www.geocaching.com

------
twp
Paragliding and ultramarathon running. This year I took part in one of the
hardest adventure races in the world, the Red Bull X-Alps.
<http://www.redbullxalps.com/> I'm GBR2.

------
mcav
Jazz piano, frisbee, running, super smash brothers, age of empires. [des
moines]

------
YuriNiyazov
Argentine Tango

------
warfangle
Violin, speculative fiction writing, bare-running, whiskey. [NYC]

------
simonsarris
Thinking, argument, negotiation, strategy games, pacing, stretching, cycling,
reading, writing, wandering, exploring places, metaphorical bomb defusal [NH]

------
anamax
Scuba. San Jose, but I just returned from the Galapagos.

------
yesimahuman
Snowboarding, Snowmobiling, Video Games, Soccer, and I guess I could say
"Drinking" is a hobby but I more mean drunken socializing with my friends.

------
jonallanharper
Learning Portuguese, studying physics for fun/knowledge, learning how to build
an auto engine, and training for private pilot's certificate.

~~~
yan
How far long are you on your license (and physics for that matter)? I took my
break earlier this year right before stage 1 check, hoping to return soon.

~~~
jonallanharper
Just started the "instrument rating" section in the following book: Microsoft
Flight Simulator X For Pilots Real World Training

Excellent book that should end up saving me lots of actual flying time in
preparation for the certification test.

As for physics, I'm re-taking the first calc-based physics course (online) at
UNC Charlotte this fall. Just enjoying studying the basics again. I'll
probably take 1-2 classes per semester until I can get a degree in it. May go
for masters, not sure yet.

~~~
jcoby
FWIW, there isn't much instrument training for your private certificate. You
basically just need to be able to understand VOR navigation, manage attitude
and speed, and navigate based on instructions from the tower using your
instruments.

They pretty much want to give you the skills needed to get help and get back
on the ground if you find yourself in a bad situation. And to not overreact
and stall or spin yourself into the ground because you didn't trust the
instruments.

With that said, there isn't such a thing as knowing too much about flying. But
if your aircraft isn't IFR equipped (and lots of rentals aren't), you won't be
able to practice much more than the above.

~~~
yan
Re: never stopping to learn, when I was meeting people at my local flying
club, the 89-year old Chief Flight Instructor Emeritus welcomed me and showed
me around. We were chatting about flying, and the man's been flying for
literally 70 years starting when he was 17 for agriculture. He said he felt it
was a great thing to spend a life doing and kept referring to himself as being
"still a student".

He was unfortunately killed in a car accident a few months later, but his
humility left an impact on me.

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brianto2010
Watching anime; playing Touhou and racing games.

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chwolfe
Hoppy Beer and Golf (preferably together)

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MikeMacMan
Weightlifting, beer, cooking, baseball

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tjpick
fishing, free diving, building bicycles, cycling, tramping (hiking, not
standing on corners waiting for a 'ride'), music (keys/bass), reading,
gardening, family, travel, cooking, eating.

I'd like to do more drawing, but I can't say I actually do it very often.

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plinkplonk
Miniature Wargaming. Jazz Guitar.

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david927
Film making and film direction.

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edw519
Bridge, boggle, and foosball. Things that are both hacker and beer friendly.

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goodwinb
I'd like to give a plug for playing bridge. It is the best card game there is.
Texas Hold 'Em : Checkers :: Bridge : Chess.

It can be a sociable game and yet it can also be a game that holds you
interest as you try to achieve perfection.

To anyone who wants to get started there is a bit of learning curve. There are
good guides online, computer games to help practice with (Bridge Baron is good
and is even available for the iPhone), and there are local clubs that would
love to see you come out (check out ACBL).

(Boggle and foosball also rock.)

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leif
music, books and girls occupy most of my time

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keeptrying
Kiteboarding, snowboarding, beach volleyball.

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tjr
Music production and photography, mostly.

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yan
What kind of music?

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jedediah
Photography and boardgames.

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tdonia
flying kites, riding bikes

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labria
Love kites too!

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niks
coaching girls volleyball

