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Ask HN: What else do you do besides computers?
I seem to spend way too much time on the PC. 9 hours as a job. And then comes the hobby / personal hacking. And then there are news/movies and knowlege, and other entertainment.
For inspirational purposes, what do you do that does not involve a PC?
- DanielStraight 16y agoCooking is definitely my top hobby. It allows almost unlimited creativity, and you get to eat the results. Does it get any better?
- justinj 16y agoget wet (surf), get lost (travel), get warm (icehockey).
- sgoraya 16y ago>> What else do you do besides computers? Wife and one child provide a lot of 'doing' :) I have a mountain bike that I ride around nearly every evening for at least an hour (a lot longer on weekends)- I ride that same bike to a gym three times a week; Read a book;
- lhorie 16y agomartial arts and guitar
- pzxc 16y agoDoes playing with my smartphone count (it is not a pc)? Hehe. Seriously: Reading books, tennis, swimming, lifeplanning, occasionally going out for a drink with friends.
- mindcrime 16y agoOver the years hobbies have come and gone, but some of my other interests include: Mountain Biking Wrestling (amateur wrestling, that is. I wrestled in High School) Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu / Submission Wrestling Powerlifting / strength training Running (mostly trail running these days, when I run) Live music - I'm mostly a metal-head and I love a good live metal/rock show. But I also like classical, so I'll go to an NC Symphony Orchestra performance every once in a while. Watching Doctor Who and Torchwood. During football season I like to go out to a sports-bar and eat wings and watch the Miami Dolphins games. I'm also a UNC Tarheels fan, but I am not as into the college game as I am the NFL. Every now and then I like to do the dance club scene, although not as much as when I was younger. Reading is big: I like horror, suspense/thriller stuff, sci-fi, fantasy, urban fantasy, and all sorts of non-fiction topics. Most of my non-fiction interests are fairly typical geek fare though: various topics on science, math, philosophy, economics, etc. I'm also something of a Libertarian activist and actually ran for Lieutenant Governor of NC in 2008 (I wasn't elected.)
- bartonfink 16y agoNo shit? You're Philip Rhodes? I voted for you (and then got the hell out of NC).
- mindcrime 16y agoYeah, that's me. :-) Oh yeah, and thanks for the vote! I didn't win, but I did pretty well by historical standards for a LP candidate for state-wide office in NC.
- bartonfink 16y agoWell it was good to have LP candidates to vote for. I hope you guys make some inroads even though I won't be around to see it. I went to Wake Forest, stayed around for a few years after in Winston-Salem and found that, as my friends from college moved and were getting better jobs elsewhere, I wasn't making new friends and my career was fairly stagnant (Winston isn't the best job market).
- mindcrime 16y agoYeah, Winston-Salem isn't exactly a hotbed of activity. :-)
- bartonfink 16y agoI'm married, with a baby on the way and a couple of dogs. That eats up most of what I used to call 'fun time'. I don't do any hobby or personal hacking, although I do consulting outside of my day-job and am able to scratch that itch that way. When I can find 'fun time', I abuse the hell out of my Netflix membership, mostly by watching historical foreign films, documentaries and crime dramas. I am also a fairly skilled bowler, with a 186 average. I am an unskilled but enthusiastic golfer with an average closer to my bowling average than I'd like. I read as well, although my tastes are a bit unusual (last book I read to completion was Vergil's Aeneid in the original Latin - I'm working through Atlas Shrugged at the moment). Not sure what inspiration you can draw out of that, but I'm sure this will put Google one step closer to tying all my online identities together.
- mindcrime 16y agoI'm working through Atlas Shrugged at the moment) What do you think so far? How far into it are you? Not sure what inspiration you can draw out of that, but I'm sure this will put Google one step closer to tying all my online identities together. Heh, I've given up hope on that front. I suppose you could say "officially" now, since I mentioned earlier the one thing that's an absolute, sure-fire dead giveaway to my real-life identity. <shrug /> Oh well, if somebody can connect the dots of all my various online accounts, more power to 'em.
- bartonfink 16y agoI'm only 150 or so pages into it - Dagny is reminiscing about her teenage years with that prince she used to date (don't remember his name right now). I still have a ways to go, and the family makes it hard to make big chunks of progress into the book. I carve out 15-20 pages here and there, but I always feel a little sad when I have to put the book down and deal with something else. As for how I like it, thus far I am a little concerned about one point. The characters that I think I'm supposed to like (Dagny and the prince boyfriend) all seem to have gotten where they are by being born into awesome situations. Don't get me wrong - Dagny is a hell of a lot more sympathetic than her brother, for example - but it's hard to look at her as a "self-made woman" when the railroad has been a family business for like 5 generations. I'm hoping Hank Rearden shows up more, because he seems more in line with someone I'd sympathize with. Other than that, though, I like it quite a bit. It's almost like my own thoughts are echoing back to me. I think it would be interesting to see what Rand would have done had she been alive now and whether the advent of the Internet, for example, would have changed some of the isolation she writes into her characters. Also, Dagny would have been able to track down that missing symphony she heard the train conductor whistling a lot easier.
- th0ma5 16y agoGuitar practice Sailing (both small one-designs, and helping crew on things like catalinas) Drawing Going for a drive and listening to music or talk programs The never ending quest for a new or better pizza Social online mixer type real-world events Museums Conferences, and generally travel Ham radio (oops, mostly PC hah) Kites (and kite aerial photography) Swimming I would like to get more into rock climbing Visiting family, friends, small business owners
- tfitzgerald 16y agoPainting, cooking, and photography.
- amathew 16y agoPowerlifting/Strength training Comic books Reading Record Collecting (late 70s punk,60s/70s soul, and new house and techno 12"s)
- clojurerocks 16y agoTriathlons
- atgm 16y agoKendo, Photography, Cooking, Reading... though the reading is on a Kindle, which may count as a computer for you.
- erichcervantez 16y agoI raise a family ;)
- JoeAltmaier 16y agoScout leader, enable a game club at the local high school, support a disabled vet, go to classical music concerts.
- clueless123 16y agoNothing like going flying.. As much as I can, I go fly Airplanes, Sailplanes, Paragliders or go Skydiving. In all this activities I am forced to focus 110% on the activity at hand, leaving no space for work stuff to keep running in the subconscious, making the activity incredibly freeing. (It is kind of a kill -9 for work related zombie processes ) Ps. Recently I found out Yoga also does the trick
- eengstrom 16y agoReading. Cooking. Wine. Travel. Gardening. TV. Sailing. Guitar. Cats. I didn't do much of this when I was in my 20's, was all about work. My 30's seemed to be about spending time with myself, less with other people. Now I'm over that phase (and nearly the age bracket), I'm looking for more social things to do in the out doors (other than bbq and beer). Rafting, live music, fishing and hunting are things I'm trying to do more of. Pretty much anything that involves one or two of my friends. I'm obsessive about reading, actual print books and tend to consume them bibliographically. Just finished a run on our first founding fathers. Last year was history of sail, wars and politics. Pretty boring to talk about with non-interested parties, fascinating to read, but isolating.