What else do you enjoy doing?

[Guy Lavoie]

 larryllix's April fool joke got me thinking: what else do forum members enjoy doing? He mentioned woodworking, and that wasn't entirely surprising. I also participate on a woodworking forum and a few years ago a similar thread got started, and it was amazing how many hobby woodworkers are IT guys! Seems that a craft like woodworking gives a sense of something you can actually feel and touch, contrary to computer programs that mostly exist as a mental exercise in problem solving.

I myself have a pretty complete woodworking shop, with table saw, planer, jointer, etc. I also have a wire feed welder and other metal working tools. I've done electronics. Piano playing is another activity I've done since childhood. If there is anything about my hobbies, it's that I have too many of them!

What else do forum members do?

[larryllix]

I think those two sports are for people that like logical puzzles, and as much as woodworkng seems not too logical to others, the creating of jigs and techniques to accomplish what we want is a real logical problem, and with a nice result we are proud of.

HA, however, is the same type of logical thinking sport, but when you tell lay people, they usually circle their temple with a finger (mentally), while they say "Cool! is that useful" = thinking "it would be easier for me to just walk across the room and turn off the light switch"

After moving out of my large home with my outback shop into a tiny 1300 sq.ft apartment..... I miss it a lot.

(hmmmmm... I wonder if people would complain about sawdust falling from 26 stories up? Strange weather we get here!!)

Edited Wednesday at 02:22 PM by larryllix

[bpwwer]

2 hours ago, larryllix said:

(hmmmmm... I wonder if people would complain about sawdust falling from 26 stories up? Strange weather we get here!!)

My first real furniture project was a 42" round table top to replace the cheap store bought table top that was not looking so great.  The panel was a glue-up of red oak boards and I used a router with a circle jig to cut it out and finish the edge.  I did this when I had a 2nd floor condo unit that was about 1000sf.  Of course I did this when I was single and the spare bedroom was my workspace.  I still have that table today.

[lilyoyo1]

No woodworking here but I do go to the gun range and build my own ARs. I've done a few for friends and family as well. Outside of that, it's the gym and travel. 

[paulbates]

My wife and I take our dogs and camper to state and national parks to hike, kayak and bike. Mostly in Michigan, but we recently got back from a week+ winter relief in South Carolina near Charleston. 

I made plans a while back for this fall to go to the East Coast and Quebec.

[Guy Lavoie]

On 4/2/2025 at 10:21 AM, larryllix said:

I think those two sports are for people that like logical puzzles, and as much as woodworkng seems not too logical to others, the creating of jigs and techniques to accomplish what we want is a real logical problem, and with a nice result we are proud of.

There is certainly some truth to that, because unlike a kit with premade parts, woodworking involves a lot of figuring out a mix of efficiency, precision, and available means to perform a certain task.

Among my bigger projects, making a piano shaped cabinet for a Yamaha P155, and also an oak church pulpit and communion table. I take dozens of pictures as projects progress.

 

[oberkc]

I do a little woodworking (less now than a few years ago).  I enjoy pickleball and golf, riding the bike, and a bit of travel (within CONUS).  I also dabble with some landscaping around the house.

Edited 18 hours ago by oberkc

[oberkc]

11 hours ago, paulbates said:

My wife and I take our dogs and camper to state and national parks to hike, kayak and bike. Mostly in Michigan, but we recently got back from a week+ winter relief in South Carolina near Charleston. 

We do thins backwards.  We go to northern michigan (near cheboygan) in the winter and go to Charleston in the summer when it is 95 degrees and with humidity to match.  We love both places. And I am writing this near canyonlands and arches NP.

wher did you camp near charleston?

Edited 18 hours ago by oberkc

[paulbates]

1 minute ago, oberkc said:

We do thins backwards.  We go to northern michigan (near cheboygan) in the winter and go to Charleston in the summer when it is 95 degrees and with humidity to match.  We love both places.

We love Northern Michigan, the bulk of our camping is up there. A friend of ours is CFO at Cheboygan brewery.

In SC, we stayed in Santee State Park. Temps were high 60s to low 70s... Sunny.. *NO BUGS*.

We liked sc so much in March we already booked our campsites for next year.

[slimypizza]

Camping is fun though I haven’t done that in a while. No woodworking here (I see skilled work by some of you) but enjoy programming, gardening, hiking, gym time, want to get into pickleball.  Heading north (from GA) to Michigan and Mackinac Island in June.  Never been before and the wife has wanted to stay at the Grand Hotel for quite a while. Going to drive up and see a few things along the way.  We like coastal towns as well, Savannah, St Simons Island, Bluffton, and Beaufort...  More extensive travelling (abroad) is in our future.

[Guy Lavoie]

Camping...that was many years ago! I remember a fun family trip we did around New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in the 90's. Me and my (then 12 year old) daughter would set up a tent quickly, like clockwork. I still do enjoy canoeing (you gotta enjoy canoeing if you're Canadian!) and I even made a sailing attachment for it, with outriggers, leeboards, etc. Lots of fun, and looking forward to doing some of that this summer.

Canoe sailing, back in 2013

 

[paulbates]

24 minutes ago, slimypizza said:

Heading north (from GA) to Michigan and Mackinac Island in June.  Never been before and the wife has wanted to stay at the Grand Hotel for quite a while. Going to drive up and see a few things along the way.  We like coastal towns as well, Savannah, St Simons Island, Bluffton, and Beaufort

If your plans / distance allow it, go up the west coast of lower michigan along Lake Michigan on the way to Mackinaw Island. Great coastal towns like Ludington, Frankfort, Glen Arbor, Petoskey and Harbor Springs. Sleeping Bear National Seashore is particularly beautiful. Last year I ran into @dbwarner5 in Elk Rapids at Short's craft brewery while at a kayaking event up there.

[gregkinney]

I'm envious of all the other activities here. I'm in Oklahoma where we get maybe a few weeks out of the year that are enjoyable camping weather IMO. I used to go a few times a year before kids, but they have me pretty exhausted and appreciating my creature comforts at the end of the day. I do take them once a year but hopefully more when they get older.

I enjoy playing games with the kiddos and volunteering up at their school. My 6 year old is already a complete movie buff and films are something I deeply enjoy. He gets them on a level already that blows my mind - he told me the other day that the score in the movie we were watching was done by the same composer as a movie we watched a couple weeks ago.

But if I'm being completely selfish, what just turns me on and me alone, it all comes back to programming and smart home. I'm an amateur self-taught programmer so I get a lot of satisfaction writing little python scripts that do things. I have a Home Remote app on the phones in our house that run the entire place (definitely a labor of love, probably 1,000 hours invested), and then another version on the wall in the kitchen that is like at-a-glance type feel. Quote of the day, weather, calendars, etc.

 

 

Edited 6 hours ago by gregkinney

[Guy Lavoie]

10 minutes ago, gregkinney said:

I enjoy playing games with the kiddos and volunteering up at their school. My 6 year old is already a complete movie buff and films are something I deeply enjoy. He gets them on a level already that blows my mind - he told me the other day that the score in the movie we were watching was done by the same composer as a movie we watched a couple weeks ago.

But if I'm being completely selfish, what just turns me on and me alone, it all comes back to programming and smart home. I'm an amateur self-taught programmer so I get a lot of satisfaction writing little python scripts that do things. I have a Home Remote on the phones in our house that run the entire place (definitely a labor of love, probably 1,000 hours invested), and then another version on the wall in the kitchen that is like at-a-glance type feel. Quote of the day, weather, calendars, etc.

 

Well yes, great movie scores are by John Williams! lol

Nicely done screen! Labor of love is what defines a true hobby. If you're counting your time and effort, then it's not fully a hobby. As I like to say about many projects: I had more fun making it than using it once finished.

[larryllix]

3D Printing is great hobby that fits well into the brains of HA hobbiest also.

As well as being able to print all kinds of fun gadgets, one can print out repairs for broken parts etc, create tools for other hobbies etc..

After many, many, visits to pedorthists and spending over $1K in shoe appliances that never fit right, I got myself a roll of TPU plastic for $35 and started printing my own. It took a lot of trial and errors to get the right fit but now I have control over my own destiny and my feet approve.



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[bpwwer]

I spent many a summer vacation in northern Michigan.  Before they retired, my grandparents owned an ice cream/snack shop and motel on Glen Lake.

Looks like the motel is still there https://maps.app.goo.gl/KiDMyd2BiQjJt4Es5

 

[larryllix]

An old woodworking project, of the many, I created to fit my synthesizer years ago.

Now I do not have enough room for it in my apartment so it sits in my son's music room 20 km away **sigh**.



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