What are you doing? - (Hobbies Thread)

[adesigar]

Latest Hobby is 

 

 

It changes every few years.

Edited March 9, 2022 by adesigar

[boilermaker75]

On 3/7/2022 at 7:12 PM, Blugolds11 said:

 

As you know the 1st gen Camaro/Firebird share the same bodylines for the most part, thats a great looking car!. I actually prefer the 68's over the 69's and I like the 67 side vent windows...

 

I bought the car as a basket case and went through the entire thing. I dont have many completed pics on this computer but enough to give you an idea of the project. All numbers match, 327 car with 4 speed. Literallt every nut and bolt replaced, upgraded vintage air system, full disc brake setup, all new interior...completely new car including backup cameras and apple car play with microphone in headliner. I actually dont like the wheels/tires on it, I got them for a great deal and couldnt pass up, but will be going back to the rally wheel look, I upgraded things tastefully to keep relatively original looking. 

 

As purchased: (Looks cleaner here than it actually was, after media blasting, there are no secrets...)

 

 

 

 

 

That was an undertaking! Looking great!

 

I loved that Firebird and wish I still had it. Eventually gave it to my brother and I think he eventually sold it.

 

It was great back then because you could do all the work on the car. A lot of us kids would work on cars with our dads. Today that doesn't happen. I have been teaching electrical engineering since 1984. I have noticed a reduction in ability in the lab. I am thinking it is because no one grows up anymore working on cars, or building Heathkits.

[Blugolds]

@boilermaker75 I was fortunate enough to have an uncle that was a gearhead, spent many nights in the shop working on the Camaro and a 1978 F250 that I have (IMO the Dentside Ford trucks are the best looking trucks ever made). The simplicity of vehicles even 30 years ago blows my mind sometimes..to think that in 1990 you could still buy a new car that had a carb is hard to fathom! Contrast that today with GPS/Internet connection, autostart, complicated 4X4/AWD systems, hybrids, to say nothing of a Tesla...amazing the speed in which tech has changed transportation in such a short time. I do all basic maintenance on my vehicles now, oil, fluids, grease, brakes...basic stuff but I wouldnt feel comfortable tearing apart a DOHC or replacing a timing belt. The vehicles of the 60-70's and earlier were just so darn simple, nothing to them, even to tear apart a 327/350/302/426...couple little differences but the concept was the same across all platforms Ford/Chev/Mopar etc and once you "saw" it, it was simple to make sense of. 

 

I think what you are seeing in the lab can be seen across a variety of things. It seems to me to just be the way things are going, fewer and fewer DIY out there in any capacity. I grew up in a more rural community, everyone did probably 90% of what needed to be done themselves, construction, automotive, you name it. When I came to the city and met my significant other she couldnt believe that I did everything and had enough tools to resupply a HD. I had never realized that everyone wasnt like that because everyone I had ever known was, it just wasnt a big deal. Slowly as I assimilated into her friends group I too saw that none of the guys really did anything themselves, and ended up calling me to swap out garbage disposals or light fixtures, faucets etc in exchange for steak and beer. I dont know if those are geographical, generational, or socioeconomic differences, but they are there. To be clear, these guys have plenty of other skill sets, just different than what I considered basic. Also everyone has different abilities, some mechanical, some artistic. If you asked me to draw a person or a horse you're not gonna get much improvement over what I would have produced in the 1st grade...

[Blugolds]

@adesigar What are those? Star Trek is the only name I recognize. Assuming games of some sort?

[Longnose]

28 minutes ago, Blugolds11 said:

@adesigar What are those? Star Trek is the only name I recognize. Assuming games of some sort?

 

Games, 

 

I see ticket to ride and Catan in there. We play those at my house too. Settler Sundays... 

 

@adesigarNice collection

[Blugolds]

3 minutes ago, Longnose said:

 

Games, 

 

I see ticket to ride and Catan in there. We play those at my house too. Settler Sundays... 

 

@adesigarNice collection

 

Wow, never knew there were so many games! I'll have to look into those, the Mrs. loves some quality time in front of a board game at the cabin, but my experience have never gone much past Monopoly, Yahtzee, or if we wanna go waaaay back...Chutes n Ladders and Candyland lol. Assuming Amazon has all these of course..but do you have to go to a special game store for these or are they available at WMT/TGT types? I honestly never knew there were that many board games past the "classics" that probably every family had, Im a bit intrigued. 

[Gregmal]

1 hour ago, Blugolds11 said:

To be clear, these guys have plenty of other skill sets, just different than what I considered basic.

Eh you don’t have to be kind/PC about it. Most of them probably don’t lol. You can always tell who’s parents were bankers, accountants, lawyers, IE white collar by how much trade/shop/blue collar skills their kids have. At least as a general rule of thumb, I can backtest this against most of the people I’ve met in my life and every now and again there’s an exception but it generally holds true. Unfortunately my kids probably won’t know how to change the brakes on their cars. Who TF is gonna teach em lol? 

[Blugolds]

1 hour ago, Gregmal said:

Eh you don’t have to be kind/PC about it. Most of them probably don’t lol. You can always tell who’s parents were bankers, accountants, lawyers, IE white collar by how much trade/shop/blue collar skills their kids have. At least as a general rule of thumb, I can backtest this against most of the people I’ve met in my life and every now and again there’s an exception but it generally holds true. Unfortunately my kids probably won’t know how to change the brakes on their cars. Who TF is gonna teach em lol? 

 

lol true...they're def better golfers than I am, if you put $10k on the table in front of me and bet that in one swing I could drive a golf ball 100yrds with the club of my choice, I wouldnt take it cause I would give myself a 50/50 chance lol. Tennis...nadda.

 

Next level.... I'm not in the horse polo crowd so I dont have to worry about embarrassing myself there at least...

[adesigar]

4 hours ago, Blugolds11 said:

 

Wow, never knew there were so many games! I'll have to look into those, the Mrs. loves some quality time in front of a board game at the cabin, but my experience have never gone much past Monopoly, Yahtzee, or if we wanna go waaaay back...Chutes n Ladders and Candyland lol. Assuming Amazon has all these of course..but do you have to go to a special game store for these or are they available at WMT/TGT types? I honestly never knew there were that many board games past the "classics" that probably every family had, Im a bit intrigued. 

Hobby board games. There’s everything from simple bluffing/party games and Cooperative games where you defeat Marvel villains or try to get Marty McFly Back to the Future or solve cases like Sherlock Holmes to running corporations competing to Terraform Mars, Train stock trading in 1800s US and Europe, Sid Meiers Civilization, Galactic Conquest, Historical games, etc etc. About 3000 new games come out each year. Walmart has some but Target and Barnes and Noble have a much better selection.

 

 

 

[bargainman]

POWERUP 4.0: Smartphone Controlled Paper Airplane - POWERUP® (poweruptoys.com)

 

Flying paper airplanes with my kid and smartphone

[boilermaker75]

8 hours ago, bargainman said:

POWERUP 4.0: Smartphone Controlled Paper Airplane - POWERUP® (poweruptoys.com)

 

Flying paper airplanes with my kid and smartphone

 

Those look like fun!

[bargainman]

Their intro video is pretty funny too

 

 

[Morgan]

8 hours ago, bargainman said:

Their intro video is pretty funny too

 

 

 

That is great! Looks like a lot of fun! 

[Madpawn]

I’m thinking of starting a financial blog! I started investing at age 18 and (5 ish yrs ago) and have been doing decent I think. I noticed how a lot of my friends lack knowledge when it comes to general finances and investing. 

If anyone has platform suggestions, let me know! (Currently thinking wix,Weebky or Wordpress

[ourkid8]

43 minutes ago, Madpawn said:

I’m thinking of starting a financial blog! I started investing at age 18 and (5 ish yrs ago) and have been doing decent I think. I noticed how a lot of my friends lack knowledge when it comes to general finances and investing. 

If anyone has platform suggestions, let me know! (Currently thinking wix,Weebky or Wordpress

I recently set-up my uncle's blog using Substack and it was easy and straight forward to set-up.  There is no censoring of information which is important and you OWN your content, IP and mailing list   

[Madpawn]

1 hour ago, ourkid8 said:

I recently set-up my uncle's blog using Substack and it was easy and straight forward to set-up.  There is no censoring of information which is important and you OWN your content, IP and mailing list   

oh I think that’s good! I’ll definitely check it out, thank you!

[maxthetrade]

A couple of years ago I was into astro imaging, part science part art. I really enjoyed it but unfortunately Germany isn't a very good location for this hobby.

 

[boilermaker75]

45 minutes ago, maxthetrade said:

A couple of years ago I was into astro imaging, part science part art. I really enjoyed it but unfortunately Germany isn't a very good location for this hobby.

 

 

Wow, did you take those? I have always been interested in doing that. I have had some telescopes, but the mirrors were small. What size is your scope?

 

I also have that problem, no dark skies near me.  I also go to bed early!

[maxthetrade]

13 minutes ago, boilermaker75 said:

Wow, did you take those? I have always been interested in doing that. I have had some telescopes, but the mirrors were small. What size is your scope?

 

I also have that problem, no dark skies near me.  I also go to bed early!

 

Yes I did take those.  I took those from a rather light polluted suburban location just above zero with a corrected (Wynne corrector) 12.5" Newton which I built myself, carbon aramid honeycomb sandwich tube, 12.5 f/4 parabolic mirror with a SBig ST10ME and a SBig STL11000 on an Astro Physics 1200 GTO mount. I also built a 24" f/f4 Dobson for visual use. It's a very rewarding hobby if you're interested in science. I have a friend who was an instrument specialist for the ESO La Palma spectrograph, I'll never forget the skies at this location, the winter milkyway looked like a 4 lane Autobahn    Omega Centauri was breathtaking compared to M13 even though it was just above the horizon. We took an image with an amateur 12.5" that showed objects not identified on an image taken with the 8m+ Subaru telescope! 

I you're interested in astronomy I highly recommend to visit some premier location in the US. Since you're in the US I recommend the Kitt Peak Outreadge program. If interested you may want to contact Adam Block at https://www.adamblockstudios.com/, super nice terrific guy!

You can see some of my images here: https://ccdware.com/ccdstack_image_gallery/

 

 

[tede02]

4 hours ago, maxthetrade said:

 

Yes I did take those.  I took those from a rather light polluted suburban location just above zero with a corrected (Wynne corrector) 12.5" Newton which I built myself, carbon aramid honeycomb sandwich tube, 12.5 f/4 parabolic mirror with a SBig ST10ME and a SBig STL11000 on an Astro Physics 1200 GTO mount. I also built a 24" f/f4 Dobson for visual use. It's a very rewarding hobby if you're interested in science. I have a friend who was an instrument specialist for the ESO La Palma spectrograph, I'll never forget the skies at this location, the winter milkyway looked like a 4 lane Autobahn    Omega Centauri was breathtaking compared to M13 even though it was just above the horizon. We took an image with an amateur 12.5" that showed objects not identified on an image taken with the 8m+ Subaru telescope! 

I you're interested in astronomy I highly recommend to visit some premier location in the US. Since you're in the US I recommend the Kitt Peak Outreadge program. If interested you may want to contact Adam Block at https://www.adamblockstudios.com/, super nice terrific guy!

You can see some of my images here: https://ccdware.com/ccdstack_image_gallery/

 

 

 That is really cool. Several cold winters ago I was scrolling through Youtube and watched a few segments on the Hubble Deep Field. That totally blew my mind and got me generally more interested in things beyond earth. The vastness of space completely mesmorizes me. 

[Morgan]

6 hours ago, maxthetrade said:

A couple of years ago I was into astro imaging, part science part art. I really enjoyed it but unfortunately Germany isn't a very good location for this hobby.

 

Awesome photos! 
 

There is so much cool stuff all around us. I can’t wait for the James Webb telescope to be up and running. All the startup procedures are going well from what I’ve read. 

[Castanza]

On 3/19/2022 at 5:14 PM, maxthetrade said:

 

Yes I did take those.  I took those from a rather light polluted suburban location just above zero with a corrected (Wynne corrector) 12.5" Newton which I built myself, carbon aramid honeycomb sandwich tube, 12.5 f/4 parabolic mirror with a SBig ST10ME and a SBig STL11000 on an Astro Physics 1200 GTO mount. I also built a 24" f/f4 Dobson for visual use. It's a very rewarding hobby if you're interested in science. I have a friend who was an instrument specialist for the ESO La Palma spectrograph, I'll never forget the skies at this location, the winter milkyway looked like a 4 lane Autobahn    Omega Centauri was breathtaking compared to M13 even though it was just above the horizon. We took an image with an amateur 12.5" that showed objects not identified on an image taken with the 8m+ Subaru telescope! 

I you're interested in astronomy I highly recommend to visit some premier location in the US. Since you're in the US I recommend the Kitt Peak Outreadge program. If interested you may want to contact Adam Block at https://www.adamblockstudios.com/, super nice terrific guy!

You can see some of my images here: https://ccdware.com/ccdstack_image_gallery/

 

 

 

I was just in WV the past four days at a cabin and spent a night camping at the Greenbank Observatory air strip campground. Didn't have a telescope but the view was still amazing. 

 

Cherry Springs in PA is also a solid location for people on the East Coast 

[Patmo]

Boxing 6 days a week, learning Korean for 3.

 

For boxing I spar 3x a week, 2x with competitive guys and 1x with a group of 50+ white collar guys. I also help the club with coaching since it's a not for profit, though I'm really not a coach.

 

For Korean I take classes on Preply. I always had an interest in Asian culture in general but a previous Chinese girlfriend wanted me to learn Cantonese and the experience put me off the idea for a long time. Korean is 100x more enjoyable to learn.

 

 

 

 

 

[boilermaker75]

3 hours ago, Patmo said:

Boxing 6 days a week, learning Korean for 3.

 

For boxing I spar 3x a week, 2x with competitive guys and 1x with a group of 50+ white collar guys. I also help the club with coaching since it's a not for profit, though I'm really not a coach.

 

For Korean I take classes on Preply. I always had an interest in Asian culture in general but a previous Chinese girlfriend wanted me to learn Cantonese and the experience put me off the idea for a long time. Korean is 100x more enjoyable to learn.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Working out 6 days a week with something as strenuous as boxing is not only great for your body but for your brain. You are producing BDNF from your muscles and creating/balancing your neurotransmitters.

 

I work out 6 days a week. Two of those days I incorporate Tae Kown Do, which is more strenuous than anything else I do including lifting weights. I will turn 69 next month and I can still kick above my head!

[cubsfan]

^^^ Remind me not to screw with you! That's awesome.