What are Your Hobbies?

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LacertineForest
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We've got some threads that discuss hobbies - musicians, fishing, hunting, etc., but I'm sure there are plenty of others that haven't been discussed. I see there's a useless hobby thread from 2017, but I'm curious to know a bit more about my fellow BFO poster's hobbies, useless and not-useless alike!

I've got a few of them, myself:
  • I've been a video gamer for quite some time - I am pretty much console-only, and mostly play on the PS5 nowadays (I also have a PSVR2, which has been pretty wild).
  • I play a lot of volleyball - 2-3x per week, almost exclusively indoors. I usually play high-intermediate or low power, but at some point, physiology wins out and my 5'8" frame just can't compete with 6'4" dudes who have good technique (at least, not at the net - I've got good speed/vision defensively and play well in the back row).
  • Not an active hobby, but I played guitar in an extreme metal band for about 5 years. We toured around the midwest and self-released an album. Lots of fun stories from those days, but man that's a hard life if you're trying to do it professionally.
  • My wife and I took some woodworking classes a few years ago and bought a bunch of really nice equipment (jointer, planer, cabinet saw, etc), but we didn't stick with it and now I'm looking at selling that stuff because it just takes up space in our garage.
  • Most recently, my wife and I got into SCUBA diving. We got certified in 2019 and have done 75 dives since, mostly in the Caribbean (Cozumel, Roatan, Bonaire, and Little Cayman). We've got a trip to Cozumel coming up at the end of this month and a trip to the Red Sea / Egypt planned for October. Next year, we're planning to go to the Philippines (we had a trip scheduled in April of this year, but it was canceled due to airline fuckery) and Indonesia.
Honestly, I would love to change careers at some point (I'm a software engineer now) to something where I could do more diving - whether that's dive instructor, marine biology, or what, I don't know, but there's not a lot of money in any of that. Would also have to figure out insurance since my wife has a ton of prescriptions that would cost us like $20K/year without insurance...
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Otis Day
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I like to recycle. I have taken peoples' old picket/privacy fence and made 5' x 3' American flags out of them. I have also made rustic wine racks out of them as well. Did the same with old pallets that were given to me. I have made a coffee bar and used the fence to face it and make it look rustic. Made a mobile kitchen island out of old pallets. Lately I have been making wooden 6 pack holders for all the buddies I grew up with. I am trying to personalize them. My latest had a fireman theme as he just retired from the local FD. I made one for another friend and painted it a similar color as the car he drove around as a teen. I was able to find a badge from a glove box of the same make of car and put it on his holder. The one I am currently making is going to be Bears themed. The stuff I make is pretty rustic. I like old stuff.

I collect coasters from bars. I have some framed.

I got an electronic drum set within the past couple of years and I like playing it.
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LacertineForest
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Otis Day wrote: Thu May 18, 2023 9:02 am I like to recycle. I have taken peoples' old picket/privacy fence and made 5' x 3' American flags out of them. I have also made rustic wine racks out of them as well. Did the same with old pallets that were given to me. I have made a coffee bar and used the fence to face it and make it look rustic. Made a mobile kitchen island out of old pallets. Lately I have been making wooden 6 pack holders for all the buddies I grew up with. I am trying to personalize them. My latest had a fireman theme as he just retired from the local FD. I made one for another friend and painted it a similar color as the car he drove around as a teen. I was able to find a badge from a glove box of the same make of car and put it on his holder. The one I am currently making is going to be Bears themed. The stuff I make is pretty rustic. I like old stuff.

I collect coasters from bars. I have some framed.

I got an electronic drum set within the past couple of years and I like playing it.
I think recycling is awesome. There is such an unbelievable amount of "stuff" in this world (I'm guilty of acquiring way more than I need - I have a basement full of unused things I'd like to get rid of right now), and it's a shame more people don't try to reuse/recycle things more often. I really like you're adding personal touches to the things you make, too. Do you have a nice setup somewhere in your house for working on these? Do you have any pictures of the things you've made? I'd love to see some!

Electronic drums are great. I used to have one in my basement when I was in a band, but I never could coordinate my feet well enough to really play it (I didn't exactly give it much of a chance). I did buy an electronic hand percussion unit years ago with the intent of using it to incorporate a bunch of different sounds into my music, but even after taking some lessons I just didn't dedicate enough time to it.
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My ex wife and I used to go antiquing. I don't miss her, but I do miss that activity. Although a lot of people thought it was kind of a weird thing for a couple in their late 20's / early 30's to enjoy.
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wab wrote: Thu May 18, 2023 9:50 am My ex wife and I used to go antiquing. I don't miss her, but I do miss that activity. Although a lot of people thought it was kind of a weird thing for a couple in their late 20's / early 30's to enjoy.
The wife and I have always liked it as well. We will drive 40 minutes or so to check things out.

Lacertine , I am in no way a drummer. I can get the beat and I can play along with some songs. It was just something I wanted to do because I love music. I do some stuff in the garage (table saw and mitre saw in there). Down my basement I have a work table (made from pallets). I will have to see if I have picks of some stuff. I have also made guitar clocks. Just cut out the body, no necks. I buy the pick up covers, knobs and pick guards. sold a few. I did a couple of flea market type shows. My stuff was out of place. It was basically a redneck hunting type crowd.
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LacertineForest
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wab wrote: Thu May 18, 2023 9:50 am My ex wife and I used to go antiquing. I don't miss her, but I do miss that activity. Although a lot of people thought it was kind of a weird thing for a couple in their late 20's / early 30's to enjoy.
What were some of the most interesting things you found? I'm sure there's all kinds of cool shit out there, and I could see that being a pretty enjoyable hobby. I think the closest thing to antiquing I've ever done was going to a flea market out in the country (south-central WI, not far from WI Dells), which was a fascinating mix of worthless junk, engines and machine parts, and quite a lot in between.
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LacertineForest wrote: Wed May 17, 2023 11:34 am We've got some threads that discuss hobbies - musicians, fishing, hunting, etc., but I'm sure there are plenty of others that haven't been discussed. I see there's a useless hobby thread from 2017, but I'm curious to know a bit more about my fellow BFO poster's hobbies, useless and not-useless alike!

I've got a few of them, myself:
  • I've been a video gamer for quite some time - I am pretty much console-only, and mostly play on the PS5 nowadays (I also have a PSVR2, which has been pretty wild).
  • I play a lot of volleyball - 2-3x per week, almost exclusively indoors. I usually play high-intermediate or low power, but at some point, physiology wins out and my 5'8" frame just can't compete with 6'4" dudes who have good technique (at least, not at the net - I've got good speed/vision defensively and play well in the back row).
  • Not an active hobby, but I played guitar in an extreme metal band for about 5 years. We toured around the midwest and self-released an album. Lots of fun stories from those days, but man that's a hard life if you're trying to do it professionally.
  • My wife and I took some woodworking classes a few years ago and bought a bunch of really nice equipment (jointer, planer, cabinet saw, etc), but we didn't stick with it and now I'm looking at selling that stuff because it just takes up space in our garage.
  • Most recently, my wife and I got into SCUBA diving. We got certified in 2019 and have done 75 dives since, mostly in the Caribbean (Cozumel, Roatan, Bonaire, and Little Cayman). We've got a trip to Cozumel coming up at the end of this month and a trip to the Red Sea / Egypt planned for October. Next year, we're planning to go to the Philippines (we had a trip scheduled in April of this year, but it was canceled due to airline fuckery) and Indonesia.
Honestly, I would love to change careers at some point (I'm a software engineer now) to something where I could do more diving - whether that's dive instructor, marine biology, or what, I don't know, but there's not a lot of money in any of that. Would also have to figure out insurance since my wife has a ton of prescriptions that would cost us like $20K/year without insurance...
My side stuff:
- Vintage audio equipment (70s monster receivers, turntables, speakers, etc)... I've been tailing off on that, as I have stuff I really like & use and haven't been swapping out like I used to. I have all my old vinyl and buy some now & again - but mostly listen to new music on new technology & enjoy the old on the format it was mixed to be played on.

- I've been into scuba recently too but have only gone a few times a year all in the carribean (although also want to try around Catalina island). Roatan is the greatest, IMO. Also been to Grand Cayman, Cozamel, Costa Maya, and a few dozen times in Aruba which I really like.

- I started gardening a little last year and this year got some raised beds I'm installing this weekend. So several types of tomatoes, red, hot and japaleno peppers, haricot verts, and some herbs. I also have a flower garden I started getting into quite a bit. Working from home I take breaks every day for 15 minutes or so and get some fresh air and weed & water and prune and such. I like it.

- My wife and I do a lot of DIY stuff around the house. My wife became a bigtime DIY-er and builder of things during covid, and builds custom things for people (built-ins, shelves, tables). We have almost all the tools, and our garage is always full of sawdust. So we're always working on projects. I"m the rough-in guy and utilities guy, and she does the finish work. We completely gutted and then refinished our basement ourselves and it was a big deal. It is now my man cave - I shared a picture here last fall. We still have to finish the shower and finish plumbing in the basement - I have to install the shower pan and I'm slacking (lol). She's doing a tile and concrete surround like she did for our wetbar adjacent to it - it is really cool. We already started on a new project making built-ins and a fireplace in our sunroom upstairs, and then moving on to redo our master bath and closets. Lots of work but we love working together on the weekends. We'll never be done I don't think. I have a big project in mind to build a very large screen porch off the sun room. But that might be too big for us unless I sub out the roof (I might).

- I like talking to folks here about cooking/grilling/BBQ too. Have learned a lot of ideas from other folks & wab got me hooked on sous vide which is awesome.

- We have our first grandkid (a girl) coming in 2 weeks, and who knows that might throw a monkeywrench into all this shit! lol
2023 Chicago Bears... emerging from a long hibernation, and hungry!
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I'm an RPGer, have been for 40+ years now. :wheelchair:

Also my wife and I are on a bucket list to hit all the MLB ballparks. We're about halfway there. We both enjoy the game and like seeing the different parks in different places.
KFFL refugee.

dplank wrote:I agree with Rich here
RichH55 wrote: Dplank is correct
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I used to play a lot of volleyball before I started my own business. I'm not quite 5'10", but I had a real nice top spin serve and could dig the ball and bump set where we didn't need a setter in the front row if I was in the back row.
I like to find nice oil paintings at antique shops even if they're not worth a ton. I just want them pleasingly aesthetic. Found a nice 'wind jammer at sea' painting that hangs in my living room.
I do hobby wood working; I like to build things without much of a blueprint. Just write down the measurements in case I want to build it again.
I like to just go sit still in the woods sometimes. You mostly get squirrels running around and birds flittering about. But I've seen plenty of deer, fox, turkey, coyotes, a few bears, and when I was up in north country, I saw some elk and a moose.
Then I also read plenty, and play stuff on the ps4. (Witcher, Inquisition, Dark Souls remastered, Skyrim, Fallout 4, Madden, NHL, even some PGA golf)
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Wife, kids, hunt, fish, bears, cubs, work.
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Good thread.
  • Video games, most of the time. I am currently playing the new Zelda game, but usually have some rotation of Rocket League, Stardew Valley, Red Dead, Civ, GTA, NHL, sometimes Halo, or random junk from the Game Pass roster (which usually sucks ass). Roguelites are another fave I usually can't get enough of. Recently played a chunk of Hades, but it's vastly inferior to Dead Cells.
  • True Crime stuff. Wife and I are both junkies. There's several podcasts and YouTube channels I enjoy, and any number of documentaries. Obviously it's kind of a macabre subject so we take long breaks and all that, but it's always something we come back to.
  • I love late 80s/early 90s promotional stuff, primarily from fast food and soft drinks. Posters, happy meal toys, advertising, etc. I can't get enough of it. I am doing my very best to not collect any of it, as it can quickly become a hoarder's nest of useless crap, but I often while away time on Pinterest or similar rabbit holes looking up the stuff of that era.
  • Reading, primarily western fiction. I generally rotate between several western series but take long breaks to read stuff like Sherlock Holmes or other classics, or any ebook that catches my fancy. I haven't read a physical book in probably 3 or 4 years. I don't know how I lived before my kindle.
  • Cooking, mainly chili and stews. I like grilling on occasion and make the basics for the wife when she wants some grilled cheese or something, but I genuinely enjoy having a big pot on the stove (or the slow cooker) and hurling a number of ingredients in and seeing what comes out.
  • I used to like camping a lot more than I do now, namely because it was a family thing but deaths have kind of derailed those routines. Now I have a little fire pit in the backyard which I criminally under utilize, but I can think of fewer things more delightful than starting and ending a day in brisk weather with a little fire and a hot beverage.
  • I could watch 90s Price is Right, Robert Stack episodes of Unsolved Mysteries, Bob Ross' Joy of Painting, Antiques Roadshow (preferably old episodes), and This Old House (needs to be OG Bob Vila) all day every day. Thankfully Roku has channels dedicated to all of those things so if I'm ever wanting to laze away a day off I'll throw that on and go to the comfort zone.
I also follow a variety of YouTube channels that make me irrationally happy, here they are:
  • My Mechanics: He doesn't post often, but of all the restoration and fabrication channels out there, his is the best.
  • Jelle's Marble Runs: Marble League and Marbula 1 are stupid entertaining. I am firmly on team Momo, but gently endorse the Shining Swarm and Kobalts.
  • Red Letter Media: They've blown up over the years, and their content never fails me (except all the Star Trek stuff - so much Star Trek).
  • Primitive Technology: Fascinating dude in Australia (or thereabouts) who trials and demonstrates crude methods of early civilizations for stuff as simple as making pottery or as complex as building a trebuchet.
  • Townsends: This Indiana-based family company was founded by historians and the channel is known mostly for going through 18th century cookbooks and cobbling together the dishes as authentically as possible.
  • Cowboy Kent Rollins: There's something immensely comforting about watching this yokel cook up some wagon trail versions of contemporary grub.
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IE wrote: Thu May 18, 2023 2:04 pm
LacertineForest wrote: Wed May 17, 2023 11:34 am We've got some threads that discuss hobbies - musicians, fishing, hunting, etc., but I'm sure there are plenty of others that haven't been discussed. I see there's a useless hobby thread from 2017, but I'm curious to know a bit more about my fellow BFO poster's hobbies, useless and not-useless alike!

I've got a few of them, myself:
  • I've been a video gamer for quite some time - I am pretty much console-only, and mostly play on the PS5 nowadays (I also have a PSVR2, which has been pretty wild).
  • I play a lot of volleyball - 2-3x per week, almost exclusively indoors. I usually play high-intermediate or low power, but at some point, physiology wins out and my 5'8" frame just can't compete with 6'4" dudes who have good technique (at least, not at the net - I've got good speed/vision defensively and play well in the back row).
  • Not an active hobby, but I played guitar in an extreme metal band for about 5 years. We toured around the midwest and self-released an album. Lots of fun stories from those days, but man that's a hard life if you're trying to do it professionally.
  • My wife and I took some woodworking classes a few years ago and bought a bunch of really nice equipment (jointer, planer, cabinet saw, etc), but we didn't stick with it and now I'm looking at selling that stuff because it just takes up space in our garage.
  • Most recently, my wife and I got into SCUBA diving. We got certified in 2019 and have done 75 dives since, mostly in the Caribbean (Cozumel, Roatan, Bonaire, and Little Cayman). We've got a trip to Cozumel coming up at the end of this month and a trip to the Red Sea / Egypt planned for October. Next year, we're planning to go to the Philippines (we had a trip scheduled in April of this year, but it was canceled due to airline fuckery) and Indonesia.
Honestly, I would love to change careers at some point (I'm a software engineer now) to something where I could do more diving - whether that's dive instructor, marine biology, or what, I don't know, but there's not a lot of money in any of that. Would also have to figure out insurance since my wife has a ton of prescriptions that would cost us like $20K/year without insurance...
My side stuff:
- Vintage audio equipment (70s monster receivers, turntables, speakers, etc)... I've been tailing off on that, as I have stuff I really like & use and haven't been swapping out like I used to. I have all my old vinyl and buy some now & again - but mostly listen to new music on new technology & enjoy the old on the format it was mixed to be played on.

- I've been into scuba recently too but have only gone a few times a year all in the carribean (although also want to try around Catalina island). Roatan is the greatest, IMO. Also been to Grand Cayman, Cozamel, Costa Maya, and a few dozen times in Aruba which I really like.

- I started gardening a little last year and this year got some raised beds I'm installing this weekend. So several types of tomatoes, red, hot and japaleno peppers, haricot verts, and some herbs. I also have a flower garden I started getting into quite a bit. Working from home I take breaks every day for 15 minutes or so and get some fresh air and weed & water and prune and such. I like it.

- My wife and I do a lot of DIY stuff around the house. My wife became a bigtime DIY-er and builder of things during covid, and builds custom things for people (built-ins, shelves, tables). We have almost all the tools, and our garage is always full of sawdust. So we're always working on projects. I"m the rough-in guy and utilities guy, and she does the finish work. We completely gutted and then refinished our basement ourselves and it was a big deal. It is now my man cave - I shared a picture here last fall. We still have to finish the shower and finish plumbing in the basement - I have to install the shower pan and I'm slacking (lol). She's doing a tile and concrete surround like she did for our wetbar adjacent to it - it is really cool. We already started on a new project making built-ins and a fireplace in our sunroom upstairs, and then moving on to redo our master bath and closets. Lots of work but we love working together on the weekends. We'll never be done I don't think. I have a big project in mind to build a very large screen porch off the sun room. But that might be too big for us unless I sub out the roof (I might).

- I like talking to folks here about cooking/grilling/BBQ too. Have learned a lot of ideas from other folks & wab got me hooked on sous vide which is awesome.

- We have our first grandkid (a girl) coming in 2 weeks, and who knows that might throw a monkeywrench into all this shit! lol
Sounds like we have several things in common!

I don't have vintage audio stuff, but a lot of gear left over from the band days. My basement is set up with 2-2x15 speaker columns and then another 2-1x15 speakers/monitors along with a power amp and mixer that I use when I'm working out. I pretty much got rid of all my physical media a few years ago (all CDs), but I know a lot of people who are into vinyl, and most of the bands I know who release physical media anymore are doing it on vinyl these days. I think it's really fascinating how vinyl survived changes in formats over the years.

I'm starting to really get the SCUBA bug lately - my wife and have spent a few grand alone on gear this year (we had fins, masks, snorkels, and dive computers before, but we finally decided to buy Wet suits, regs/octos, and BCDs), not to mention two long, expensive dive trips. Do you dive with a local group? When my wife and I went to visit some family in Plainfield, we stopped at Below H2O in Naperville and Dive Right in Scuba in Plainfield. Both stores were really nice and had a good vibe - I bet doing dive trips with them would be fun.

I enjoyed my time in Roatan and look forward to going back someday, but I think my favorite so far was Little Cayman. I've heard that Grand Cayman is alright, but Little Cayman has better diving because it's so remote (only ~150 people permanently live on the island) and has so many marine protections. The reefs are really healthy there, and we saw a ton of reef sharks when we were there last August which was pretty cool. One of my favorite memories from diving was when this guy stopped by to say hello:



I'm thinking about becoming a dive professional and teaching on the side - I've heard it's a great way to write-off dive-related expenses on taxes (Dive trips, gear, etc. all count so long as you're teaching on those trips).

I've talked about starting a small garden (or at least learning how to grow something), but never actually done it. I think it's a very valuable skill, and I know I'd love the end results as I make almost everything I eat from basic ingredients already. I think it's great how you incorporate your garden into your WFH schedule - I bet that's almost got a meditative quality to it.

I love cooking, but I don't grill much (my gas grill is about 10 years old now and kind of falling apart - some of the parts have rusted to the point where it's almost unusable because the racks don't hold). Never tried to do sous vide, mostly because I'm against plastic when I can avoid it, but the concept makes perfect sense to me and I believe that food cooked that way is absolutely delicious.

Congrats on your first grandkid (pre-emptively)! I've never been much for small kids/babies, but it's nice when you can enjoy them for a bit and then give them back :D
Last edited by LacertineForest on Fri May 19, 2023 10:50 am, edited 1 time in total.
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thunderspirit wrote: Thu May 18, 2023 10:02 pm I'm an RPGer, have been for 40+ years now. :wheelchair:

Also my wife and I are on a bucket list to hit all the MLB ballparks. We're about halfway there. We both enjoy the game and like seeing the different parks in different places.
I'm guessing you mean tabletop RPGs? Do you have an active group that you regularly play with? I've never done one, but I've been steeped in geek/nerd culture enough to be at least vaguely familiar with it. I loved the Dungeons and Dragons movie that just came out - the wife and I saw it in theaters and were really surprised at how good it was. They took the perfect tone, imo, by making it very light-hearted and having very charismatic characters. At the same time, there are many call-outs to monsters and mechanics that exist in the D&D universe.

I think the only MLB park I've been to is Miller Park (or whatever it's called now - both the old one and the new stadium). I've never been much of a baseball fan - I definitely don't give two shits about the Brewers and actively root against them, but I don't really follow either Chicago team that much. I've always thought it would be neat to check out different stadiums, though - the stadium experience really adds a lot to baseball.
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Atkins&Rebel wrote: Fri May 19, 2023 6:51 am I used to play a lot of volleyball before I started my own business. I'm not quite 5'10", but I had a real nice top spin serve and could dig the ball and bump set where we didn't need a setter in the front row if I was in the back row.
I like to find nice oil paintings at antique shops even if they're not worth a ton. I just want them pleasingly aesthetic. Found a nice 'wind jammer at sea' painting that hangs in my living room.
I do hobby wood working; I like to build things without much of a blueprint. Just write down the measurements in case I want to build it again.
I like to just go sit still in the woods sometimes. You mostly get squirrels running around and birds flittering about. But I've seen plenty of deer, fox, turkey, coyotes, a few bears, and when I was up in north country, I saw some elk and a moose.
Then I also read plenty, and play stuff on the ps4. (Witcher, Inquisition, Dark Souls remastered, Skyrim, Fallout 4, Madden, NHL, even some PGA golf)
Serving in volleyball has never been a particularly strong suit of mine, and I've always thought I should take some time and develop it as a weapon. I mostly do an overhanded float, but struggle to really get the ball to move (side to side) much - it just kind of goes straight to where I serve it. I'm pretty consistent in terms of keeping it in, but it's usually not super challenging for intermediate-level and up players to pass. I've been working a lot on hitting down balls with a lot of top spin, so maybe I should look into using that as a serve - the mechanics wouldn't be that much different from my float serve now.

I don't suppose you'd be interested in buying a cabinet saw, jointer, or planer, eh? :D I found that I liked cutting things, but not so much all the other aspects of woodworking. There are so many sub skills to learn (sanding, finishing, tool maintenance, etc), and I just felt like I didn't love all that stuff. It's pretty cool when you actually make something and it comes out well, though.

I'm with you on the just sitting in the woods. Sometimes, I'll go out at night to a place near my house and just lie down on my back, looking up at the stars through the trees. I love listening to all the sounds of nature, breathing in the fresh air deeply, etc.

Sounds like we have similar tastes in gaming - The Dark Souls/Bloodborne/Elden Ring series is probably my favorite series in all of gaming. I play the crap out of those and I just can't get enough of that combat system.
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LacertineForest wrote: Fri May 19, 2023 10:34 am
thunderspirit wrote: Thu May 18, 2023 10:02 pm I'm an RPGer, have been for 40+ years now. :wheelchair:

Also my wife and I are on a bucket list to hit all the MLB ballparks. We're about halfway there. We both enjoy the game and like seeing the different parks in different places.
I'm guessing you mean tabletop RPGs? Do you have an active group that you regularly play with? I've never done one, but I've been steeped in geek/nerd culture enough to be at least vaguely familiar with it. I loved the Dungeons and Dragons movie that just came out - the wife and I saw it in theaters and were really surprised at how good it was. They took the perfect tone, imo, by making it very light-hearted and having very charismatic characters. At the same time, there are many call-outs to monsters and mechanics that exist in the D&D universe.

I think the only MLB park I've been to is Miller Park (or whatever it's called now - both the old one and the new stadium). I've never been much of a baseball fan - I definitely don't give two shits about the Brewers and actively root against them, but I don't really follow either Chicago team that much. I've always thought it would be neat to check out different stadiums, though - the stadium experience really adds a lot to baseball.
Tabletop, yep. (I've done some video game ones too, there's quality to be found there). Tabletop RPGs are more or less shared storytelling with friends. Part improv, part playacting, and part game mechanics.

Started on D&D/Advanced D&D way back when, and played some version thereof ever since. My current pseudo-regular game — I haven't had a regular gaming group for a few years now, but pickup tables happen frequently enough — is Pathfinder, which started as a derivative of D&D 3rd edition in 2008 and has morphed into its own thing in the following years.

The design and architecture of new stadia is just fascinating. When possible, we do the stadium tours, usually less than $20 apiece and you get to see areas you'd never see otherwise. On the PNC Park (Pittsburgh) tour, the manager at the time, Clint Hurdle, stuck his head out of his office and said hello to our group.
KFFL refugee.

dplank wrote:I agree with Rich here
RichH55 wrote: Dplank is correct
:shocked:
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thunderspirit wrote: Fri May 19, 2023 11:23 amTabletop, yep. (I've done some video game ones too, there's quality to be found there).
I suppose your avatar should have tipped me off ;)
thunderspirit wrote: Fri May 19, 2023 11:23 amTabletop RPGs are more or less shared storytelling with friends. Part improv, part playacting, and part game mechanics. 0

Started on D&D/Advanced D&D way back when, and played some version thereof ever since. My current pseudo-regular game — I haven't had a regular gaming group for a few years now, but pickup tables happen frequently enough — is Pathfinder, which started as a derivative of D&D 3rd edition in 2008 and has morphed into its own thing in the following years.
Very cool - one of my wife's cousins has talked about Pathfinder and playing with some friends while in college. Sounds like a great time!
thunderspirit wrote: Fri May 19, 2023 11:23 amThe design and architecture of new stadia is just fascinating. When possible, we do the stadium tours, usually less than $20 apiece and you get to see areas you'd never see otherwise. On the PNC Park (Pittsburgh) tour, the manager at the time, Clint Hurdle, stuck his head out of his office and said hello to our group.
That's pretty cool!
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UOK wrote: Fri May 19, 2023 8:29 am Good thread.
  • Video games, most of the time. I am currently playing the new Zelda game, but usually have some rotation of Rocket League, Stardew Valley, Red Dead, Civ, GTA, NHL, sometimes Halo, or random junk from the Game Pass roster (which usually sucks ass). Roguelites are another fave I usually can't get enough of. Recently played a chunk of Hades, but it's vastly inferior to Dead Cells.
  • True Crime stuff. Wife and I are both junkies. There's several podcasts and YouTube channels I enjoy, and any number of documentaries. Obviously it's kind of a macabre subject so we take long breaks and all that, but it's always something we come back to.
  • I love late 80s/early 90s promotional stuff, primarily from fast food and soft drinks. Posters, happy meal toys, advertising, etc. I can't get enough of it. I am doing my very best to not collect any of it, as it can quickly become a hoarder's nest of useless crap, but I often while away time on Pinterest or similar rabbit holes looking up the stuff of that era.
  • Reading, primarily western fiction. I generally rotate between several western series but take long breaks to read stuff like Sherlock Holmes or other classics, or any ebook that catches my fancy. I haven't read a physical book in probably 3 or 4 years. I don't know how I lived before my kindle.
  • Cooking, mainly chili and stews. I like grilling on occasion and make the basics for the wife when she wants some grilled cheese or something, but I genuinely enjoy having a big pot on the stove (or the slow cooker) and hurling a number of ingredients in and seeing what comes out.
  • I used to like camping a lot more than I do now, namely because it was a family thing but deaths have kind of derailed those routines. Now I have a little fire pit in the backyard which I criminally under utilize, but I can think of fewer things more delightful than starting and ending a day in brisk weather with a little fire and a hot beverage.
  • I could watch 90s Price is Right, Robert Stack episodes of Unsolved Mysteries, Bob Ross' Joy of Painting, Antiques Roadshow (preferably old episodes), and This Old House (needs to be OG Bob Vila) all day every day. Thankfully Roku has channels dedicated to all of those things so if I'm ever wanting to laze away a day off I'll throw that on and go to the comfort zone.
I also follow a variety of YouTube channels that make me irrationally happy, here they are:
  • My Mechanics: He doesn't post often, but of all the restoration and fabrication channels out there, his is the best.
  • Jelle's Marble Runs: Marble League and Marbula 1 are stupid entertaining. I am firmly on team Momo, but gently endorse the Shining Swarm and Kobalts.
  • Red Letter Media: They've blown up over the years, and their content never fails me (except all the Star Trek stuff - so much Star Trek).
  • Primitive Technology: Fascinating dude in Australia (or thereabouts) who trials and demonstrates crude methods of early civilizations for stuff as simple as making pottery or as complex as building a trebuchet.
  • Townsends: This Indiana-based family company was founded by historians and the channel is known mostly for going through 18th century cookbooks and cobbling together the dishes as authentically as possible.
  • Cowboy Kent Rollins: There's something immensely comforting about watching this yokel cook up some wagon trail versions of contemporary grub.
The new Zelda game looks pretty wild - I've seen a ton of videos online of people building things and finding creative ways to solve problems. I played BotW, but ultimately I ended up souring on it a bit. It does so many things right, but I really don't like crafting mechanics in games and found the combat system to be pretty boring (combat mechanics are a huge determining factor in my enjoyment of most games). I thought the overworld was really well-done, but so much of it felt empty and lifeless, to me. I also really liked dungeons in the older games and missed them in BotW (the shrines were fine, but not really dungeons). It sounds like TotK has addressed some of that.

I played the Hell (*snickers*) out of Hades - how far did you get with it? I haven't played much of Dead Cells yet (I started it up, but it didn't grab me right away). It took me a bit to really love Hades, too - I'd say that once I actually made it all the way through, the game really opened up and I couldn't stop trying new runs with different configurations. I'll have to give Dead Cells another chance - I heard that they have a Castlevania DLC for it, which is pretty cool.

I haven't done much reading lately (mostly because I've been spending so much time with gaming - probably should reign that in a bit more), and I'm more of a non-fiction guy. A few years ago, I forced myself to read some fiction, and I enjoyed what I read (I mostly read fantasy novels, and then I read a few YA fiction books to some foster kids - stuff like The Hunger Games series and Children of Blood and Bone). I should really get back into that habit.

Chilis and stews sound great! I have a couple of go-to chili recipes, but I don't think they're particularly "good" - if you've got any recipes you really love, I'd be interested in checking them out (I haven't read through the Food thread, so if they're in there already, I can just get them from that thread).

Camping is one of those things that I don't really appreciate as much until I'm doing it, but then I wonder why I don't do it more often. It was never really a thing for me growing up, and my wife has chronic pain issues so camping has never been something we did together (maybe "glamping," but I think she'd need a hotel - even then, hotel beds are often way too firm for her). I've got a trip planned with some friends later this year to a state park that I'm really looking forward to.

That's a pretty interesting list of Youtube channels. I've been a fan of Red Letter Media since their amazing take down of the Lucas Star Wars prequels, but I haven't seen any of the others. I'll have to check some out - the Primative Technology one sounds up my alley.
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"Chicks dig me because I rarely wear underwear and when I do it's usually something unusual."



1. Lifting. I've been into lifting casually for years. However, my wife is a recreational powerlifter (She has state records and a bunch of medals for this including competing at Nationals.) and so a few years ago we converted her half of the garage into a deadlift, bench, and squat area. While massively fun it was not so fun in July or February with the weather. We converted a room in our home to a full blown powerlifting room with speakers, our own flag with a logo, and rock band swag.

2. Gaming. This part of my life is not as big as it used to be. Since Covid, IMHO, the quality of games has taken a nosedive. I spend my time playing the older Call Of Duty games and then the love of my gaming life GTA 5.

3. Reading. I'm always reading a book. Right now I'm reading Wild New World by Dan Flores which has been excellent so far. My favorite books of all time are either 1984 by George Orwell or The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

4. UFOs. I have no deliberate intention of violating the rules here so I'll keep it brief because I have no clue where this topic lies in the spectrum. I've watched untold amounts of documentaries and read a few books about this topic. I have my opinions on this and I'll keep them to myself. No I am not one of those people who thinks the Royal Family is a bunch of lizard people. It's not like that.

5. JRE. I'm a huge JRE fan. I learn a ton watching / listening to his podcasts because I'll watch episodes with people who I have no prior exposure to and it's pretty interesting.

6. Stocks and sports cards. I like to pick stocks. Nothing like day trading or anything wild. I buy and hold stuff. Then the same thing with graded sports cards.

7. Music. Post Mother Fucking Malone. I love that man. Then Pink Floyd, AC/DC, Van Halen, and after that the rest of the Rock & Roll / Metal bands.

YouTube Channels:

Card Collector 2: Sports cards
Mr. Nightmare : Horror stories.
Autogefuhl : Luxury car reviews which are the cars I'm into.
Rothcards : Sports cards
NDYakAngler : Fishing
TheStraightPipes : Car reviews.
Lex Fridman : Thought leader in a JRE style format.
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LacertineForest wrote: Wed May 17, 2023 11:34 am
  • Not an active hobby, but I played guitar in an extreme metal band for about 5 years. We toured around the midwest and self-released an album. Lots of fun stories from those days, but man that's a hard life if you're trying to do it professionally.
Fucking badass. That's awesome!!!!!

Do you guys have music on YouTube or something I can listen to?
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The Marshall Plan wrote: Fri May 19, 2023 2:55 pm "Chicks dig me because I rarely wear underwear and when I do it's usually something unusual."



1. Lifting. I've been into lifting casually for years. However, my wife is a recreational powerlifter (She has state records and a bunch of medals for this including competing at Nationals.) and so a few years ago we converted her half of the garage into a deadlift, bench, and squat area. While massively fun it was not so fun in July or February with the weather. We converted a room in our home to a full blown powerlifting room with speakers, our own flag with a logo, and rock band swag.

2. Gaming. This part of my life is not as big as it used to be. Since Covid, IMHO, the quality of games has taken a nosedive. I spend my time playing the older Call Of Duty games and then the love of my gaming life GTA 5.

3. Reading. I'm always reading a book. Right now I'm reading Wild New World by Dan Flores which has been excellent so far. My favorite books of all time are either 1984 by George Orwell or The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

4. UFOs. I have no deliberate intention of violating the rules here so I'll keep it brief because I have no clue where this topic lies in the spectrum. I've watched untold amounts of documentaries and read a few books about this topic. I have my opinions on this and I'll keep them to myself. No I am not one of those people who thinks the Royal Family is a bunch of lizard people. It's not like that.

5. JRE. I'm a huge JRE fan. I learn a ton watching / listening to his podcasts because I'll watch episodes with people who I have no prior exposure to and it's pretty interesting.

6. Stocks and sports cards. I like to pick stocks. Nothing like day trading or anything wild. I buy and hold stuff. Then the same thing with graded sports cards.

7. Music. Post Mother Fucking Malone. I love that man. Then Pink Floyd, AC/DC, Van Halen, and after that the rest of the Rock & Roll / Metal bands.

YouTube Channels:

Card Collector 2: Sports cards
Mr. Nightmare : Horror stories.
Autogefuhl : Luxury car reviews which are the cars I'm into.
Rothcards : Sports cards
NDYakAngler : Fishing
TheStraightPipes : Car reviews.
Lex Fridman : Thought leader in a JRE style format.
I'd love to see some pictures of your lifting room! I have a power rack in my basement and a decent setup for working out, but it's not much to look at (concrete walls and all that).

I really like lifting, but I've not been super consistent with it over the past couple of years. Right before COVID I was as strong as I've ever been, but then we got foster kids and everything got really complicated. I really struggled to dedicate time to it, and even now, I'm lucky to get in two lifts a week. I do a Stronglifts 5x5 program (well, doing 3x5 right now because I don't have enough time to do 5x5 - after warm up sets and everything 5x5 workouts could take me 75 minutes or so). Squat has always been my favorite lift. In high school, it was the squat that enabled my 5'8", 165 lb ass to start at center on my high school football team and win an all-conference award (small school - no way in hell I would have been able to do that at a big school). I should check out the lifting thread I saw in the OT forum because I'm curious to know what kind of a program you do.

My gaming has picked up since COVID - I am a big fan of Sony's first party games (Demon's Souls, Ghost of Tsushima, Bloodborne, God of War, Horizon:Zero Dawn / Horizon:Forbidden West, Returnal, Gran Turismo 7, etc), and there have been a lot of good games to choose from. I've never been into first-person shooters all that much. I loved GTA V offline, but I'm not much of an online gamer. It's amazing how much longevity that game has sustained with its online component. That game came out in the PS3/XBox 360 era over 10 years ago!

Seeing as you're into cars and gaming, do you play Gran Turismo at all? Gran Turismo 7 on Playstation VR2 with a steering wheel / pedal setup is pretty wild. The level of detail in the cars is insane and being able to look completely around you while racing is really cool. Getting everything for a full setup is a bit of an investment (Probably around $2,000 if you don't have any of it), but if you really love racing, it's a lot cheaper than buying cars and parts.

One of the guys who was in my band is into UFOs and Cryptozoology, and he's not a wacko, either. I find it all fascinating, and I think you can have a healthy interest in it without being a nutjob.
The Marshall Plan wrote: Fri May 19, 2023 2:59 pm
LacertineForest wrote: Wed May 17, 2023 11:34 am
  • Not an active hobby, but I played guitar in an extreme metal band for about 5 years. We toured around the midwest and self-released an album. Lots of fun stories from those days, but man that's a hard life if you're trying to do it professionally.
Fucking badass. That's awesome!!!!!

Do you guys have music on YouTube or something I can listen to?
The album we released is on Youtube (lmao, I just checked and it has all of 18 views), and it's also on Spotify and other streaming services. There are probably some live videos floating around somewhere, but I'd have to dig around to find those.

Youtube Playlist:
Spotify:
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Reading. Have an eBook, being able to take out library and Overdrive books during COVID was a mental life saver. Naturescaping to enhance wildlife. Da' Bears. Some fishing.
Drafts are like snowflakes, no two are alike.
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1. Work is truly a fun part of my life being self employed and working on things I love. It used to be sports but I sold that company, now it’s music and I’m having a blast doing it. I probably spend 10-12 hours a day on it, even weekends (maybe a little less), but it’s usually on my own schedule so I have a ton of freedom to do whatever, including posting here far too often.

2. Guitar. I’m fairly new (4 years now) but getting pretty good at it as I spend at least an hour a day playing - every day. While I work and have free slots , I take 20-30 minutes to quick scan this site and then I turn around and play a song I’m working on or whatever. All my gear is in my office.

3. Cooking - One of the benefits of Covid is I learned how to cook, now I really enjoy it. I have mastered Scallops. Like trying new stuff. And love the cooking threads here also, learned a lot from you all.

4. Weed - I have a hard time turning my brain off, it’s a blessing and a curse. Weed helps. When I’m done for the day I kind of have to force myself to step away, so I smoke until I can truly chill and clear my head. Weed usually leads to an extended guitar session also.

5. Family/Friends - My daughter and grandson live just a few houses away. My daughter and I are only 15 years apart in age so we have a pretty unique relationship. We hang with their friends and all, have pool parties most weekends. We watch our grandson a lot - he will be here in an hour actually for the day lol.

6. Dogs - Huge, huge dog lover. Great Danes mostly, we rescue and volunteer and all that. Our dogs are a ridiculously big part of our lives. All our friends say “when I die I want to come back as one of your dogs lol”
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@LacertineForest

We have a squat cage that also serves as our bench area. The deadlifting is done on a Rogue Fitness platform with an Ohio bar. We also have chains that can be put on the bar.

My wife uses these assorted specialty bars like a Transformer bar for squatting from Kabuki.

Then a typical bicep curl bar.

The gym floor are these horse stall mats.

I cannot stand online gaming at all. The environment is way too toxic and negative for me. Red Bull addicted teenagers or racists or people that find a glitch in the game and exploit to no end. Online is not for me. I play GTA 5 solely offline on the SP campaign and then free form within that environment. There’s more than enough to do there without tolerating online behavior.
I do not play Gran Turismo. I’m an XBX gamer so I don’t have the Playstation games. When I had a PS2 years and years ago I did play the hell out of Gran Turismo 2 and it was a great game.

My interest in cars comes from this. I used to drive a metallic red Ford Mustang GT V8 that was going to be my car forever. People thought I was crazy for that but I didn’t care. I absolutely loved that car. I'd just buy high quality all seasonal tires and drive like a sane person in the snow and the car handled just fine. A year ago, on the way home from work some fucking Karen ran a red light and totaled the car. I even offered to take the settlement from her insurance company and pay the difference out of pocket to fix it, but the repair shop and the insurance company told me the firewall was damaged and you can’t do anything with that. The car cannot be fixed, put back on the road, and insured.

So then I needed to get a new car. At the same time my wife’s car was old and my daughter (only child) was a few months away from getting her learner’s permit. It became new cars for everybody. The problem is that I didn’t know anything about cars at all because it never occurred to me to replace the Mustang. I got on YouTube and did as much homework as I could. Over a period of months then my wife got an SUV. I got a luxury car for my kid and then one for me.
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Fish, hunt spend time with the kids outdoors. I love nature so much that I became a biologist but at this stage of my career that means lots of screen time as a supervisor and doing permitting work. I still do field work just not as much, so that means most all free time is outside. No VGs or TV shows. Just a little sports and that is waning.

Dog training. That plays a role in hunting as a hobby, but is a hobby in its own way.

Play in a band. Mostly we do rock and country stuff. I play 5 string banjo. We maybe do 10 shows a year. Bars, weddings, maybe a festival or going forward.

That’s about it. Pretty boring.
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Burl wrote: Wed May 31, 2023 12:58 pm Fish, hunt spend time with the kids outdoors. I love nature so much that I became a biologist but at this stage of my career that means lots of screen time as a supervisor and doing permitting work. I still do field work just not as much, so that means most all free time is outside. No VGs or TV shows. Just a little sports and that is waning.

Dog training. That plays a role in hunting as a hobby, but is a hobby in its own way.

Play in a band. Mostly we do rock and country stuff. I play 5 string banjo. We maybe do 10 shows a year. Bars, weddings, maybe a festival or going forward.

That’s about it. Pretty boring.
Have you dumped your Sasquatch fetish?
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dplank wrote: Wed May 31, 2023 1:48 pm
Burl wrote: Wed May 31, 2023 12:58 pm Fish, hunt spend time with the kids outdoors. I love nature so much that I became a biologist but at this stage of my career that means lots of screen time as a supervisor and doing permitting work. I still do field work just not as much, so that means most all free time is outside. No VGs or TV shows. Just a little sports and that is waning.

Dog training. That plays a role in hunting as a hobby, but is a hobby in its own way.

Play in a band. Mostly we do rock and country stuff. I play 5 string banjo. We maybe do 10 shows a year. Bars, weddings, maybe a festival or going forward.

That’s about it. Pretty boring.
Have you dumped your Sasquatch fetish?
Heh! Yea I generally keep up with that stuff too, but it was better before Bigfoot got bigtime.
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The Marshall Plan wrote: Sun May 21, 2023 9:08 am @LacertineForest

We have a squat cage that also serves as our bench area. The deadlifting is done on a Rogue Fitness platform with an Ohio bar. We also have chains that can be put on the bar.

My wife uses these assorted specialty bars like a Transformer bar for squatting from Kabuki.

Then a typical bicep curl bar.

The gym floor are these horse stall mats.
Sounds like a really nice setup. My squat rack/cage is a little on the short side, but so am I (about 5'8"), so if I do a full shoulder press, the bar comes just to the top (if my form isn't great, I'll bang it on the top bar). Otherwise, I'm pretty happy with what I've got - I like to keep it simple.
The Marshall Plan wrote: Sun May 21, 2023 9:08 am I cannot stand online gaming at all. The environment is way too toxic and negative for me. Red Bull addicted teenagers or racists or people that find a glitch in the game and exploit to no end. Online is not for me. I play GTA 5 solely offline on the SP campaign and then free form within that environment. There’s more than enough to do there without tolerating online behavior.
I do not play Gran Turismo. I’m an XBX gamer so I don’t have the Playstation games. When I had a PS2 years and years ago I did play the hell out of Gran Turismo 2 and it was a great game.
Yeah, I'm right with you - I'm a grown-ass adult - I hardly have enough time to play games at all, so playing against kids who play 10+ hours a day sounds like a total nightmare. I'd rather play against some generic AI where I might actually have a chance to win :D
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Burl wrote: Wed May 31, 2023 12:58 pm Fish, hunt spend time with the kids outdoors. I love nature so much that I became a biologist but at this stage of my career that means lots of screen time as a supervisor and doing permitting work. I still do field work just not as much, so that means most all free time is outside. No VGs or TV shows. Just a little sports and that is waning.
I really wish I would have been more interested in biology and nature as a kid. My dad tried to instill some of that in me by taking me camping and fishing, but he became disabled when I was pretty young and I never really gravitated towards it. Do you specialize in any particular area of biology?

My interest in SCUBA diving has led me to consider a career switch to marine biology, but it seems a little dubious to be doing that at 40, not to mention with my general lack of any background in biological sciences of any kind (I studied computer science and spend my days in the office writing software). I talked to a marine biologist when I took a tour of the Central Caribbean Marine Institute, and she said there is a lot of interest for people with backgrounds in computing and IT. The other big consideration is that I'm the only earner in my household and it's hard to turn down the pay I get as a programmer. I might just have to stick to citizen science to scratch that itch.
Burl wrote: Wed May 31, 2023 12:58 pm Play in a band. Mostly we do rock and country stuff. I play 5 string banjo. We maybe do 10 shows a year. Bars, weddings, maybe a festival or going forward.
Hey, that's pretty cool. You ever write any original material? Or just covers?
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LacertineForest wrote: Fri Jun 02, 2023 5:14 pm
Burl wrote: Wed May 31, 2023 12:58 pm Fish, hunt spend time with the kids outdoors. I love nature so much that I became a biologist but at this stage of my career that means lots of screen time as a supervisor and doing permitting work. I still do field work just not as much, so that means most all free time is outside. No VGs or TV shows. Just a little sports and that is waning.
I really wish I would have been more interested in biology and nature as a kid. My dad tried to instill some of that in me by taking me camping and fishing, but he became disabled when I was pretty young and I never really gravitated towards it. Do you specialize in any particular area of biology?
Yes, generally speaking I'm an endangered species biologist and my area of expertise is rare fish. Mainly madtoms and darters.
In my state the main threat to these species doesn't have anything to do with fishing, it is all development related or issues related to agricultural use. Lots of federal coordination. Lots of permit work.
My interest in SCUBA diving has led me to consider a career switch to marine biology, but it seems a little dubious to be doing that at 40, not to mention with my general lack of any background in biological sciences of any kind (I studied computer science and spend my days in the office writing software). I talked to a marine biologist when I took a tour of the Central Caribbean Marine Institute, and she said there is a lot of interest for people with backgrounds in computing and IT. The other big consideration is that I'm the only earner in my household and it's hard to turn down the pay I get as a programmer. I might just have to stick to citizen science to scratch that itch.
My agency has a dive team. It's pretty highly skilled, deep river, current diving, usually dealing with rare mussels. Sometimes they're asked to recover weapons, bodies and the like, but usually scientific diving. It's not exactly IT, but folks who know how to understand and operate statistical software like R and who are competent with GIS are highly sought after. I'm better with the latter than the former.

Hey, that's pretty cool. You ever write any original material? Or just covers?
We're usually hired to play covers. Folks want the hits. Still fun, but would like to do more original stuff. It's in the plans. But if interested...

From a recent show:


Messing around in the garage:
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Burl wrote: Sat Jun 03, 2023 7:13 pm Yes, generally speaking I'm an endangered species biologist and my area of expertise is rare fish. Mainly madtoms and darters.
In my state the main threat to these species doesn't have anything to do with fishing, it is all development related or issues related to agricultural use. Lots of federal coordination. Lots of permit work.

My agency has a dive team. It's pretty highly skilled, deep river, current diving, usually dealing with rare mussels. Sometimes they're asked to recover weapons, bodies and the like, but usually scientific diving. It's not exactly IT, but folks who know how to understand and operate statistical software like R and who are competent with GIS are highly sought after. I'm better with the latter than the former.
Very cool that you work with rare fish. I've found fish identification to be something I really enjoy while diving. I have spent a lot more time learning about tropical fish than my local freshwater friends, though. Many of the tropical areas where I have been diving have a lot of damage from development - it's such a double-edged sword for a lot of those more remote places because tourism helps them out a lot, but bringing in cruise ships and tons of people has had hugely negative impacts on the aquatic environment. Every time I go diving, I think about how things would have looked before humans started overfishing and overdeveloping the areas, and I also think about what it might look like as temperatures continue to rise. It's not a pleasant thought.

Currents are no joke, and I believe you that your dive team is made of highly skilled divers. It's amazing how much there is to know about diving, especially when you start going deep - lots of information about various gasses and how they dissolve out of your tissues, how long you need to stay at different depths to provide proper decompression, etc. I'm just a recreational diver, but I like the idea of learning about technical diving...just not sure I'll ever do much of it because of the expense and inherent risks involved.

Stats was never something I had any formal training with - I use a lot of SQL, but I haven't used R, and I've never operated with truly large datasets. I remember using GIS for a project at some point, but not an area of expertise of mine, either. So yeah - it would probably be easier to pick up, but not an outright skill I have already that I could apply.
Burl wrote: Sat Jun 03, 2023 7:13 pm
We're usually hired to play covers. Folks want the hits. Still fun, but would like to do more original stuff. It's in the plans. But if interested...

(videos)
You guys sound really good together! I especially like the video for 17 Miles of Bourbon (mostly because it's a bit clearer than the other one). I've never played a banjo, but I've played enough guitar to know that it takes some skill to play that well at speed. I bet it's really fun to play, at that. You've got a pretty spacious practice space - I've played some shows in smaller venues than that garage :D
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