This won't be brief.
Why I do FIRST, by Andy Baker.
Background: In high school and college, I was sorta labelled a "jock"... but I didn't like it. So, I also was in the band, theatre, student leadership, and more sports. I was even decent enough at sports to play football in college.
So, I graduate with a Mechanical Engineering degree in 1991 and hire on at Delphi (named Delco Electronics at the time) in January of 1992. I walk into my cubicle, and my neighbor is designing some robot toy that is supposed to run on corn against other robots (this was our team's initial year in FIRST).
Over the next few years, I play some more football (semi-pro), get involved in a band (rock&roll, baby!) and then finally decide to settle down and get married.
About this time, I realize a few things... the stuff I am spending my time on are very selfish and not very productive. So... I decide to get involved with the local Big Brothers organization... and I loved it.
Finally, I realized that it would be good for me to join my co-workers and join the Delphi FIRST team, the TechnoKats. This was in 1998, and I've had a great time ever since. To me, it's a combination of competitive sports, "big brother"-type mentoring, and an engineering challenge.
For the first couple of years, my wife thought that I spent too much time with the TechnoKats... but over the years, I've learned to budget my time with the team and the family (as my team knows, it's definitely family first). But I found some ways to make both work. Sure, I had to give up some things like golf and hanging with some buddies... but I can find time for those once in a while.
Also... it helps that my old cubicle neighbor who was designing that toy robot which ran on corn is now my boss.
All in all, I have not found anything that I would rather call my hobby than FIRST. No sports, band, or activity comes even close.
Andy B.