Hobbies, normal and unusual

[Jill1022]

So we all know robotics has taken over your life, but for those few spare minutes a day not spent thinking about FIRST (if thats even true!), what do you do?

[sanddrag]

I am learning to fly my RC helicopter. Also, I like to mess around with old Macintosh computers like making one into a web server.

[Yan Wang]

I've played competitive tiddlywinks since 10th grade. Currently ranked 26th in the world.

www.etwa.org - British organization
www.tiddlywinks.org - American organization

I do lots of other stuff, but I think this is the most unusual.

[Bcahn836]

I go off roading in my Jeep, Love going off road and getting that nice clean Jeep a mud bath, and this summer I am going to the Pocono Mountains to do just that. Camp Jeep 2005

[Jill1022]

Originally Posted by Yan Wang

I've played competitive tiddlywinks since 10th grade. Currently ranked 26th in the world.

www.etwa.org - British organization
www.tiddlywinks.org - American organization

I do lots of other stuff, but I think this is the most unusual.

Awesome! I didn't even know that existed!


The most unusual hobby I have is probably blacksmithing. I am an apprentice blacksmith during the summer at a living history camp in California I go to. I'm part Pima indian, so that's why I go. I blacksmith in the style of the late 1700s/early 1800s. I really love it.

Normally i dont wear safety glasses when i do it, but i had to for five minutes while we were working with a really dangerous metal and i had been blacksmithing for somewhere around five hours, so my eyes hurt. but you guys should know the importance of safety!


Its funny, a majority of people think robotics is an unusual hobby!

[rocknthehawk]

wow...hobbies

in my sparetime i build custom bicycles. i taught myself how to weld, so i've been practicing a bunch on different frames.

I also like to collect stamps...whenever i get a chance i bust out my album and put some more in.

I'm sure i'll think of more as the day goes by...

[JonBell]

Hrm... I'm starting a web hosting buisiness, ski racing, and racing small sailboats in my free time, and I also enjoy long walks on beaches

[Mike]

Lets see... my current projects are:
- Making lights in my room internet controlled
- Making a robot positioning system for next year
- Making a 2 wheeled balancing robot
- Learning everything I can about computers

[Billfred]

Hobbies? You mean there's other things to do in the world besides FIRST, school, and work? NO WAY!!

Until I came to college, I was quite fond of bashing around with my R/C truck--but that kinda died down as I have nowhere to store and work on them. But I'm working on running a website for my dorm--er, residence hall--er, residential college. For now, I'll declare that as my hobby.

[Pat Fairbank]

I'm writing, along with a few friends, an operating system for the x86, entirely in assembly language.

So far the operating system boots from the hard drive, enters 32-bit protected mode, enables paging, prints the scan codes to the screen whenever a key is pressed on the keyboard, and has a timer interrupt (the next step is to use this for multitasking).

[Ian Curtis]

Well Off-road Unicycling takes up a good bit of my time in the summer. (If anyone else here enjoys this hobby drop me a PM. Also attempting to start an ebay bussiness to help fund a student ambassador trip to europe this summer.

[DarkJedi613]

Mostly building websites, playing video games, reading and doing sports. Not that theres much time outside of robotics however.

[Eugenia Gabrielov]

I do the following things:

- Captain of a DDR team. yes, such things as this. Mine is all-female too, which some people say is wierd.

- Learning Mandolin. It'll get easier when Ryan's at Purdue next year teaching me

- Cooking....yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

- Most importantly, getting taller, and I love to frolic

[thatrotierkid]

as ull prob guess from my hobbies, im liberal, but here they r

1. four season backpacking (especially winter)
2. model railroads
3. boy scouts (soon to b eagle )
4. rock climbing

not that wierd i guess but i love it

[Koko Ed]

Herptology

[Wetzel]

I drive ambulances.

Wetzel

[Daniel Brim]

Well...my most unusual hobby is playing hearts.

I have played hearts off and on for about 5 years. I have been ranked number 1 a few times on the league I'm on (out of 300 people; 95% of which are twice my age). It kind of dies down during school, so I'm not very good right now, but I'll probably start again during the summer.

[Josh Hambright]

I'm in 3 bands and do solo stuff as well. 1 of them is a joke hip hop band called "The Craig T Nelson Experience" one is a performace art troupe and one is a Mr. Bungle-esq genre hoping band which alot of free-jazz and noise music influence. I also do solo music spanning everything from trip-hop to ambient to digital hardcore type stuff.

I am also into Circuit Bending, which is the process of modifying things like childrens toys that make sounds and turning them into musical instruments that often times produce glitch music and other strange results. google search for 'circuit bending' for more info on that one.

I collect vintage computers, enjoy photography, design websites, and goto lots of shows.

Its still FIRST related, but often when i have free time I am scheming something together for IndianaFIRST...werd.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

I am a ham radio operator (extra class) and have built many radios and accessories. I experiment with antenna design and prefer throwing a wire up between two trees and operating on battery the best. I was able to listen in on a contact with King Hussein of Jordan before his death, and have worked stations all over the world. Some of the most interesting were marines in Guantanomo Bay, Cuba, a doctor at an outpost in the Africa savanna, russian and Czech hams after the breakup of the Soviet block and the first licensed ham in Sweden.

[KathieK]

When I can find time I enjoy reading, surfing the web... I used to create a lot of websites but don't have the time right now. I took up jewelry making earlier in the year... I enjoy face painting (which is a leftover skill from my clowning days)...

[MissInformation]

Hobbies? I may have a few of those... I write, both poetry and stories and other things

And I've really gotten into photography like this and this as well as more abstract photo manipulations such as this (ha! I bet you all thought it was going to be a picture of Dave!)

But the hobby I most want to get back into more is ghost "hunting". I like visiting places that are supposed to be haunted (don't anyone tell Eric, if he knew I took us to such places he wouldn't be very happy with me!) Whenever we go on vacation, I always try to find such a place. I even have a photo from Scotland that my friends all swear has a ghost in it! Me? I'm a skeptic, but I love the possibility of the unknown.


Heidi

[Winged Wonder]

hmm hobbies outside of FIRST? what a concept!

Well, i do creative writing, usually sci fi/fantasy stuff, and i also am a digital/traditional artist, usually i work in the Anime Genre, but i've branched over to Photomanipulation a bit as well as Surrealism. (sorry i dont have any links for you guys) uhmm... i rollerblade when i have time (which isnt really that often anymore) and i'm a total video game fanatic (hardcore nintento fan since i was like.. a year and a half old... i blame my brother ) -thinks- oh! i also play Violin, and just this past tuesday i played at my first wedding on the beach! (i'm never playing at the beach again if its that windy though). uhm.. i'm learning how to cook [Puerto Rican] food from scratch, and i keep trying to learn how to scrapbook but i just dont seem to have enough time ever. I'm also in the process of learning Oragami and how to read/write in Japanese... so far i can only sort of understand Hirangan.. i'm working on Katakana, and Kanji is just plain scary. i'm in the process of sort of teaching myself how to swordfight.. although i'm really not that good at it and in serious need of a sensei; when i have the time i usually end up sewing myself a new outfit, although lately the only thing i've been sewing are banners for robotics. uhm... i think thats it.. although i have a feeling i'm forgetting something... yes, i like to keep myself busy, because boredom is no fun.

[JoeXIII'007]

Hobbies? I've got plenty (and maybe too many! ):

1. Magic: The Gathering
2. Tweaking computers, finding freeware online, etc. (Object Dock as an example is something I would find and use.)
3. Taking anything apart from game boys to computers to cheap PDAs you can find at KMart. Anything I no longer use or have an extra of.
4. Video Games: Just finished Zelda: Wind Waker again and I'm currently playing Final Fantasy 2 on the GBA Dawn of Souls pack.
5. Music: drums, learning guitar, harmonica.
6. Recently I've picked up the Yo-Yo again and really started to do tricks with it. Have not done that in about 5 years.
7. Bikeriding during the summer.
8. Coin collecting when something pops up in change.
9. K'NEX (but I haven't really done anything with them in a while)

[KTorak]

Current projects include:
1. Networking buildings together
2. I can drive in 11 months or so, so I am looking at one to get.
3. Water skiing whenever I can.
4. Camping.
5. Working in linux to setup a web/mail server. Then a home file server.
6. I'm on a fire rescue explorer program so I have to break out medical books and study stuff a few times a week. I also have to go to drills 2x a month or more.
7. uhh..bunches of other stuff I can remember that i'll do randomly.

[Kel D]

I'm on my way to getting my private pilot's license, so flying!

[Jay H 237]

1. Cars

My 1968 Ford Mustang is a work in progress and can be seen at local shows/cruises in my area. Soon I'll be replacing the inner sheet metal around the battery area. Now that robotics is over with and I can start devoting time to it. I also plan on detailing the engine compartment more. I'm also documenting and taking digital photos of everything I do with this car since I hope to create a website devoted to it that can also help others doing similar work to thier vehicles. Since I don't know how to create a website yet it's on the back burner for now.

I also tinker with my spare car, a 1987 Chevrolet Caprice Classic Estate wagon. My main goal is to keep it from the crusher or becoming a demo derby car. The car is in decent condition and is fully loaded (it even has the fake woodgrain ) and I'm hoping that someday when most of the full size wagons have joined the salvage yard in the sky it will be worth something. My father keeps saying he wishes he had kept all the cars he had when he was younger!

2.Model trains

I have a 13' by 8' HO layout in my basement. I've been working on this for 8 years now. It can currently run 5 trains at once. All the mountains and hills are plaster of paris. Here's a tip: when mixing plaster substitute some of the water with white vinegar. This will retard the drying time and allow you to work with the plaster longer.

I had a N scale layout many years ago but took it down but I saved all the trains and buildings. I prefer the larger HO and O since it's easier to work on.

I also have had O scale since I was little. I don't have a permanent layout for them so they only get set up for X-mas. The O scale is a mix of Lionel from the 50's until today with some MTH and Williams pieces too. These are a lot more expensive so I only add a few pieces a year. Of course it helps that my father works at a hobby store so I can get discounts and is the reason I have the interest in all these trains to begin with. This is more of a winter hobby when it's too cold to work on the cars and the Mustang is off the road until the spring.

3. Radios and phonograph

I also collected old radios from the 30's and 40's for some time but my interest isn't there as it used to be. I redid several of them including reveneering the cases and replacing the tubes and rewiring them. They were all AM and shortwave. I still have 3 of them and I still turn them on occasionally.
There's also the biggest unfinished project I have, a 1927 RCA victrola. There's no electric in it. It has the crank on the side and the horn to amplify the sound of the 78's it plays. I totally dismantled it and reveneered the case, repaired all the other wood on it, stripped it, sanded it, then stained it and thats as far as I ever got with the case. I also polished most of the hardware and located replacements for anything broken or missing. After working on it for a few months I got tired of it and lost interest..........6 years ago. To this day it sits covered up and protected in the corner of the workshop. All the guts including the turntable, crank, springs and other hardware are in a box on a shelf.

[greencactus3]

you know, the amazing thing is, ive been so busy with my rc cars and stuff recently i havent been showing up to cd very often recently. i used to be here allll the time but now not so much, hmm. so weird lol.

[tkwetzel]

I have had several hobbies, some have come and gone and come back and such, while others have been on-going. They are listed below in no particular order.

1. Model rockets - building them, flying them, making custom rockets, etc.
2. Models of whatever - I build model cars, trucks, planes, boats, etc.
3. Cars - much like Jay...tinkering and such. I have a '68 Dodge Dart that is also a work in progress and is in decent shape and my daily driver (of which the engine is currently half taken apart). I also have a '73 Dodge Dart that I plan on taking the engine from and then passing the body on to someone who wants to use it for a drag car. I used to have a '72 SAAB 99E that I really wish I still had, but when I got the first Dart at home my parents said one of the cars had to go (so my second Dart sits at the shop I work at).
4. Building things - such as my chopper in my who-I-am picture.
5. Designing/building things for cars/trucks - I helped my friend engineer the front end for his '97 Dodge Dakota which we put a solid front axle in. So we had to make a new crossmember and engineer the suspension and steering.
6. R/C car - kinda got impatient with it though and haven't worked on it in a while (but hopefully I am getting back into it this spring...cause a lot of friends have gotten r/c cars).

I just love doing things with my hands...building, designing, and working on things.

[Aaron Lussier]

When I am not volunteering for FIRST stuff, or working you can usually find me out on the streets doing Parkour It is a full body sport, so I stay in really good shape.

I play internet games a lot, also I have been trying to get Half-Life 2 to work on my computer for a while.

[Chino 237]

I race nitro and elelctric R/C cars year round, both outdoor and indoor tracks.