There's amateur radio, perhaps the most common 'creative' part is learning about and making antennas for the HF band. Some hams still make their own equipment, but RF design has a fairly steep learning curve. I enjoy the QEX (radio design) publication from ARRL, but haven't built anything yet.
Was a programmer for a living for close to 30 years. Retired, but can't stop, I enjoy it too much, so its morphed into a hobby.
I started dabbling in building audio equipment because I couldn't afford to buy the exotic, high quality gear. (Jokes on me when I allow myself to think about how much I spent on tools, transformers and enclosures).
I have also built free-flight balsa model planes on and off for decades.
Lastly, I enjoy playing guitar. I have two electrics and one acoustic.
Oh! I also enjoy watching old black and white movies. I enjoy seeing the architecture and old cars in them.
I have also built free-flight balsa model planes on and off for decades.
Lastly, I enjoy playing guitar. I have two electrics and one acoustic.
Oh! I also enjoy watching old black and white movies. I enjoy seeing the architecture and old cars in them.
Line level analog audio design is probably my number one hobby. I designed and built two preamps with fancy parts and they are super low noise and very precise. The bigger one has digital control and I configured it so there's no pops or clicks when turning on/off. The smaller one is very small with less features and only two op amps and runs off a wall wart 12-30 volts. Still super low noise and works great, but makes a pop when turned off.
Horticulture is a huge lifelong hobby for me. I have houseplants; some that I've been growing for 35 years. I have cactus that bloom in the summer and I took my huge and unruly ficus and chopped it down and made a bonsai out of it. Same with an old Jade plant that was large and unruly, with poor growth habit. It takes years; I should have started way earlier. But I started about 12 years ago and I've had great success.
I did woodwork on and off since high school and about 20 years ago I started getting pretty good at it. Obviously I am very limited now but I still do some. I'm really good at matching the color of wood with stain. I restored some antique furniture that had the color almost worn off in places and I nailed the color match. Unfortunately I can't see my results very well but I have taught an apprentice how to cut wood square, basic joinery, sanding and finishing. I have all the tools which I hope he takes when I die, so why not? That's what I really want to do at this stage of my life anyway. I want to pass on my skills so they don't die with me.
The irony is that I'm way more productive than when I was working.* The day never has enough hours in it. Although my "retirement" is basically forced, I have less time than when I worked. And I'm pretty happy about that, because I know retirees that sit around all day and ruminate.
*I think this dynamic says something about our exploitive system of work, which is basically master/slave and work until you drop and don't complain about it. Maybe the corporate eggheads ought to think about motivating workers with something besides a whip.
Horticulture is a huge lifelong hobby for me. I have houseplants; some that I've been growing for 35 years. I have cactus that bloom in the summer and I took my huge and unruly ficus and chopped it down and made a bonsai out of it. Same with an old Jade plant that was large and unruly, with poor growth habit. It takes years; I should have started way earlier. But I started about 12 years ago and I've had great success.
I did woodwork on and off since high school and about 20 years ago I started getting pretty good at it. Obviously I am very limited now but I still do some. I'm really good at matching the color of wood with stain. I restored some antique furniture that had the color almost worn off in places and I nailed the color match. Unfortunately I can't see my results very well but I have taught an apprentice how to cut wood square, basic joinery, sanding and finishing. I have all the tools which I hope he takes when I die, so why not? That's what I really want to do at this stage of my life anyway. I want to pass on my skills so they don't die with me.
The irony is that I'm way more productive than when I was working.* The day never has enough hours in it. Although my "retirement" is basically forced, I have less time than when I worked. And I'm pretty happy about that, because I know retirees that sit around all day and ruminate.
*I think this dynamic says something about our exploitive system of work, which is basically master/slave and work until you drop and don't complain about it. Maybe the corporate eggheads ought to think about motivating workers with something besides a whip.
Yes. It is the Kozo Hiraoka design, but using American fasteners. I began working on the train in 1990.
Wow, what great responses!
We are living in a golden age of software development. I can build my programs on top of state-of-the-art software components that are free. I can concentrate on the parts that I do best because I am standing on the shoulders of giants.
Ed
Programming is like that - once bitten by the programming bug, one never stops.StevenCrook said:
We are living in a golden age of software development. I can build my programs on top of state-of-the-art software components that are free. I can concentrate on the parts that I do best because I am standing on the shoulders of giants.
Ed
My first love, started when I was 10, is aquariums. Fresh, salt, corals, live plants. I worked in a fish store all through high school.
My motorcycle. as the saying goes, sometimes it takes a whole tank of gas to get your head screwed on straight.
Fishing, used to do a lot of hunting in my younger days. My dogs.
Of course I never get enough lab time. I've always loved the low signal, low noise world. Just learning and figuring things out.
I also like to rebuild vintage audio gear. As much fun to me as rebuilding old cars.
My motorcycle. as the saying goes, sometimes it takes a whole tank of gas to get your head screwed on straight.
Fishing, used to do a lot of hunting in my younger days. My dogs.
Of course I never get enough lab time. I've always loved the low signal, low noise world. Just learning and figuring things out.
I also like to rebuild vintage audio gear. As much fun to me as rebuilding old cars.
35 years regularly in the saddle. A quick 25 miles yesterday. One of 4 currently road worthy bikes, since changed to more road oriented tires.
Attachments
My 1st love has been hardware hacking, even before audio. Of course now its meaning has evolved, but I mean the old school definition where not illegal functionality, but extra functionality is sought. Have done countless over the years, trying to think, adding CD-ROM and IDE HDD to Amiga 600, turning Palm M100 into M105, connecting PC serial port to Atari 8bit serial bus. Nowadays can't get as big a jump, but there is the odd example. Connecting 2 ATX PS's by jumpering sense wires. Cutting end of PCIe slot so GPU fits.
And that's fair.
Cooking is a necessity for many.
What I am speaking of is the obsession side of it. I have as much invested in kitchen tools as I do shop tools, probably more. Those tools take a lot of the work out of things and add to the fun and hobby side of it.
I am not a pro, I do not wish to be. I want food to offer me everyday enjoyment, not income. I used the term happy place for a reason.
I like to share, Taste buds and stomachs are global and what nicer way to connect. Food has tremendous communication skills.
