
Ask HN: What are your hobbies? - stevenj
Mine are running, art, writing, investing, and playing poker.
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japhyr
Climbing mountains. I like to scare myself once in a while in the mountains,
so the next time I am sitting at my computer I am very happy to be in such a
safe place, doing such a safe thing. When I lose focus, I go back to the
mountains until all I want to do is code again.

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EditRuthlessly
I have been training to start doing this again. I have been out of shape for
the last 2 years(health complications), but used to boulder all the time. It
both scares the hell out of you and clears your mind absolutely. Often I would
find myself able to nail problems as soon as I returned that I had been
spinning on for hours before.

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tluyben2
'Old' (solderable) electronics / 80s computers, beer brewing, walking (a lot)
(in nature/mountains), wearables (my biggest annoyance in life is that I
cannot code while walking in nature; I do not like sitting (or walking behind)
my computer), reading (as well, would rather do that walking and often do, but
very constrained => in places I know well and where I will probably not run
into other people / dogs etc).

Edit: Most of my work is my hobby as well; coding, starting companies,
convincing great people, working with great people. When all is running smooth
it's like a hobby. And for a while the hard times are fun as well to get sharp
again.

~~~
bluenovember
Have you done any interesting projects with wearables? With Raspberry Pi
becoming more mainstream it seems there's a lot of potential for hobbyist
wearables, from simple devices to augmented reality projects.

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tluyben2
I have experimented a lot with stuff I have and wearables are coming closer to
interesting use. For instance I picked up a second hand Twiddler one hand
keyboard/mouse and with some practice I can program with it a bit. Then
hooking that up to a rooted smartphone with Linux seems to work fine. Allowing
me to 'program' a bit while walking, but of course with the phone on my left
wrist and Twiddler in right hand, it doesn't allow for very stable
viewing/typing. Best would be augmented reality, where the augmented part is a
projected, stable screen on the right-middle side of my right eye with a
usable resolution (so not Recon). Then programming I think about the issue for
a while and then write code; this seems to match that model particularly well
and it's actually how I work at home. I stand in front of 'something' (can be
a tv or window or ...) and my laptop is on my right on a standing table. I
contemplate the problem and move my concentration to the right to the screen
when I found a 'solution'. I think this would work well. However, there are no
augmented reality devices ready for this. I tried a few and they gave me
headaches or were quite uncomfortable.

Guess it's waiting for Glass or something to hurry the .... up. But that'll
probably be disappointing as well; seems we are quite far removed from this.
So for now I'm focusing on the software side, like having a live/reactive,
predictive programming language which can be used almost only with alphanum
chars. I have a lispy (but it would work with all lisps which don't have
syntactic sugar) which predicts the parentheses well enough to almost never
having to type them. This helps with entering code faster with one handed
keyboards and voice (which I think is a dead end btw). However the issue which
always arises is editing code, not adding code. That is also something you can
reason about and try to solve without having the actual hardware, so it's
something i'm working on. When I have time (i'm in a startup, unrelated to
this hobby right now), I will blog about everything. I promised myself this
will be before the end of the year ;)

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colbyolson
Anyone play golf? I love it.

I also enjoy riding my motorcycle, reading literature, weightlifting,
photography, and playing Battlefield 2.

I am learning to play piano and chess.

~~~
pc86
How did you learn to play golf? I've wanted to learn for some time but don't
know where to start.

~~~
colbyolson
I've messed around with golf for about a year or two before getting serious
this summer. Lessons made the biggest improvement. After I had a rough idea
from the lessons, reading really made me understand the hows and whys.

This should help you on your way: If there are any golf courses around you,
check their clubhouses for a local pro. There's usually someone around giving
lessons.

This is where you _need_ to spend the most money. Buy 5 or 10 lessons. Learn
the fundamentals first, dont worry about distance, worry about contact.

Do this instead of a "craigslist deal". You'll be sure to get sound advice
from someone who really understands the game.

For clubs, buy used or secondhand. These will last you until you either fall
in love with the game or give it up and something else.

Suggested reading would include:

    
    
        Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf — Ben Hogan
        Harvey Penick's Little Red Book: Lessons And Teachings From A Lifetime In Golf — Harvey Penick
        Golf My Way: The Instructional Classic — Jack Nicklaus

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jacques_chester
Olympic-style weightlifting. It's taught me an awful lot about the power of
diligent practice.

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biscarch
I second Olympic lifts. Also teaches the tradeoffs of doing something
correctly.

~~~
Mankhool
I third this. Also teaches the benefits of persistence and dedication.

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gosu
Math and my toy OS. A little lame for a programmer, but you do what you love,
right?

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olivier1664
Playing with may daugther (drawing, puzzle, disney videos, video games, etc.).
Reading (just some pages to sleep). Playing video game (specialy when Blizzard
have a new game).

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garrickvanburen
Kubb - the lack of tech in this simple lawn game continually re-teaches me
focus and strategic thinking.

Beer brewing - always rewards patience and deliberateness.

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alid
It's always cool to see how multifaceted everyone is! Ok mine are playing
Celtic fiddle and everything foodie-related.

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inkwash
Shooting, Rifles, films, and Photographs.

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abcd_f
Cooking. There's something extremely relaxing about mindlessly chopping stuff
up and then frying it in oil :)

~~~
EditRuthlessly
Same here. I love food and experimenting with flavors, but honestly doing prep
work is some of the most relaxing things in the world. And when I bought
myself a decent couple of knives(Shun's pairing, chefs, bread and a Global
boning) my mind was blown. Oddly, this led to me finding grocery shopping
relaxing as well (I live near Whole Foods flagship store) and I walk in, find
something fresh and wander around trying to piece together a meal.

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anujkk
Singing/Recording/Editing, Reading books(non-fiction), Running(Yeah I run for
fun), Web/Graphics Designing, Sports(Badminton/Cricket/Football),
Photography(from last few months), sketching & painting, cooking/eating, and
sometimes meeting & chatting nonsense with close old friends.

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chrisbennet
My non-software hobbies are mountain biking and working on old porsches.

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gadders
Weight training - currently doing 5/3/1 Fly fishing for trout. I find this the
best for stress-relief. Beautiful countryside, gorgeous fish. Used to box as
well, but haven't for a few years.

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EvanKelly
Surfing.

Ever since I picked it up when I moved to Hawaii it superceded all of my other
hobbies. The payoff for improvement is so great, and even if you don't have a
great session, you're out in the ocean.

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bulte-rs
In the lucky position to have programming as a hobby (and not as a full-time
occupation).

That next to enjoying time with my wife and kid; reading and playing tennis.

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RollAHardSix
MMA (BJJ, Sambo, Judo, MMA-orientated striking). Reading, Graphic Design,
Friends. Friends are my favorite hobby.

~~~
dirktheman
I practice Yoseikan, which is similar to BJJ/MMA. I often get weird looks from
people because they don't expect it from me. I just love how hard your brain
has to work during a match (not to mention body), and how different the way
you use your mind is. Martial arts is about so much more than beating the crap
out of each other, there's so much tactics, strategy and psychology involved.
Glad to find a fellow MMA'er here on HN!

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michael_miller
Flying planes

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JensRantil
Juggling, guitarr playing, programming, sailing, backpacking, trekking and
african drumming.

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dbecks
Tennis (obsession maybe), photography, reading fiction, New Girl TV show
(don't judge me).

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moonsoonmenu
Exercising at the gym, playing chess, playing tennis and swimming when I can.

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biscarch
I paint and play competitive beach(and indoor) volleyball. I also meditate.

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philip1209
I am a salsa performance dancer and I used to play cello more often.

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lazyfunctor
Squash, riding my motorcycle, hiking, started with arduino recently

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acuozzo
Digital Video Post Processing! See the originaltrilogy.com forum.

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pendext
Kayaking, fishing, hiking....generally outdoors type stuff.

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Watts
Historical wargames!

~~~
EvanKelly
I love old Avalon Hill games. One of my dormant projects is working on a
networked Russian Campaign so that I can play against my dad.

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JoeAltmaier
Bicycle touring, camping, and my game-inventing club.

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EditRuthlessly
What kind of art are you into and/or making?

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alvesjnr
rock climbing

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alecszaharia
Carp Fishing

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McZaar
Caveing! :) And mountaineering!

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gws
Olympic weightlifting

Coding (i don't in my job)

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conorfitzsimons
Badminton and Astronomy. :-)

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project23
Learning. Applying. Tech.

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arvin
biking, badminton, myth busting and watching the mythbusters!

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shortlived
Russian language

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ddorian43
Muay Thai

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factorialboy
pr0n

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S4M
chess, reading books.

