Hobbies Other than cars

Grog6

Grog6

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Sep 22, 2023
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Harriman, TN
Vehicle Details
2x 1996 Cougars, 1997 Tbird 4.6's all.
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What kinds of things do y'all do when you're not working on your car?

I'm into a bunch of stuff, but Rocketry is something I've been into since 1st grade. They just get bigger, and more expensive.
Check out this guys build thread:

L3 Build - Starless Rogue

With the announcement of LDRS coming to the Eastern US and looking for a winter project I decided to start on my L3 certification journey. Initial criteria for me: Fiberglass airframe, as I occasionally launch on frozen lakes and they don't treat cardboard well. 98mm motor mount adapted to an...
www.rocketryforum.com www.rocketryforum.com

Licensing for these is tough, and you can't buy motors for these without a license. and they're over $100 a pop. :)
 
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Besides cars? Avid mountain biker, runner and chess player, hobbyist photographer and videographer, movie lover and home theater hermit, spend time go carting to hone my driving skills. Love to sample craft beers. You'll always find me at the local bar or microbrewery when I travel for work.

I like mountain trail hiking and sunset walks by the beach, always take time to stop and smell the flowers, love chocolate and fine wine ... oh wait, that's for my Tinder profile.

Never mind...
 
I might not should have posted such an open question; I'm just waiting for "Anyone seen Dexter, or silence of the lambs...

:rofl:
 
Me? I'm too ADD to keep track of everything I've hobbied over the years. I never get rid of anything either, I just graze on one hobby for a few months, get bored, move on to a new (or old) one...

Astronomy
Astrophotography
Photography
Retro gaming
Aviation
Spaceflight
Audiophile
Videophile
Technophile
Vintage computing
Scale modeling
DYI-ing (around the house, the cars... me saving money is quite a motivator)

I'm sure there's more I can add to the list, I'm just to ADD to remember it all on demand. :rofl:
 
I'm trying to relearn how to solder this weekend. I used to be able to solder 0201 components, but I'm having a rough time with the 1206 parts.
 
We were in the lunch break room with several other people and my boss randomly asked me did I have any hobbies... I thought about it for a second and jokingly said, Does internet porn count? He laughed so hard, it was awesome.
 
I'm kind of like Brandon with grazing the non-car hobbies I have. Woodworking, guitars/amps, scale models(actually been kind of into that again with one of my Christmas gifts), movies, and history sums up my interests pretty well.
 
Hiking, mountain biking, metalwork, restorations of anything old/cool, native forbs, eliminating invasive plants, land/forestry care, gardening...basically all hands-on, physical work that results in an observable outcome. Not really into something like video games by contrast.
 
Last project I soldered was an IN-8 nixie clock. It worked for a while, but then I got the urge to wash the board and used tap water like a moron... :facepalm:
 
Rod, if I had your shop, I'd spend all my time building stuff. :)
 
Brandon, if it's covered with the white looking residue, that's bad, it will kill the other circuitry on a 90v board. The best board cleaner is now "Flux- off" you can bu it from Tecni-tool. com. It's expensive. But it's Hexane, which is two carbons short of octane, which means white gas, or coleman fuel is a great substitute. :) Using gas can only be done outside, and wearing an organic filter on a respirator is recommended.
Strangely enough, you may have to dissolve the flux residue with fresh flux; warming the board, cover with flux, reclean.
If it's small enough to fit in a 2l beaker; I used to fill the beaker, put the board in, making sure it was warm with a heat gun, then add 160 degree water from the coffeemaker; this boils the gasolene, and will strip off all the crap. :) (Yes I am insane) I did 3000V boards, which were picky about cleaning, and the 150kV power supply I worked on was crazy about specs for cleaning.
 
Amateur radio is one of my hobbies. Got into it as a first responder and ended up sticking with it. One of these days I'll have something for it in the Thunderbird.

Call sign is N4FKL for those interested. GMRS callsign is WREC7Ø8.

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Wholly off-topic; what are those 3 buttons "under" the e-brake on the hybrid? On our FFE there's only two - one is for EV mode and the other is for hill descent control.

Greg - I used a no-clean flux, but I got OCD and wanted the stains off. Should have just let it be. :facepalm:
 
On the pcb stuff, the white residue gets caused buy alcohol below 90%, or other things. I use kester 44; as long as you don't hit it with a polar solvent it comes off clean, which is important for higher voltages. If it fails when it's humid, you know what happened. If it has residue looking like white powder,you will have to paint it with flux, scrub lightly with a shortened acid brush, and clean it with what works for the new flux. Get it dry quickly; I blow it dry with an air compressor.
Coating it with "humaseal acrylic" will protectect it forever, even against coffee.
Idk on the ev; and truthfully I hope I never have to find out. :)
Hell, at 61, I'm already at the feeb point. Self driving cars will at least get me to the drive thru, lol.
 
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Collecting old 8-bit home video game stuff, but not "collecting" as in complete, just my favorites or games that look right. Mostly Atari 2600, 5200 and Vectrex. Also, muscle cars in general (though Mopars are my favorite) meaning going to car shows, military gear (mostly WWII but also modern), hard rock/metal music (mostly CDs), movies/TV shows (usually sci-fi or action), sci-fi books, Playboy magazines (though that's over thanks to them fucking up the whole deal, idiots), Linux, theatrical cartoons, not sure what else.
 
theterminator93 said:
Wholly off-topic; what are those 3 buttons "under" the e-brake on the hybrid? On our FFE there's only two - one is for EV mode and the other is for hill descent control.
Click to expand...
Thats for the parking assist and lane assist. My ffs just has a little cubby right there because it doesn't have any of that, one I was looking at did have that package on it, with lane assist, park assist and adaptive cruise control. I like the rebadge on the trunk too, been considering doing it on mine as well...
 
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theterminator93 said:
Wholly off-topic; what are those 3 buttons "under" the e-brake on the hybrid? On our FFE there's only two - one is for EV mode and the other is for hill descent control.

Greg - I used a no-clean flux, but I got OCD and wanted the stains off. Should have just let it be. :facepalm:
Click to expand...
That's actually the console on my Edge. The buttons are for the Auto Stop (which I disabled), Park Assist, and the Automated Parking.

Our Fusion is a 2013 so it has the old school shifter instead of a dial. It's also just a SE so it only has the Park Assist sensors. HDC button is on the shifter and there's a blank button under the CB where the Energi EV or heated steering wheel buttons would be.

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(old photo from 2015)
 
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Strangely enough, the best car I've ever set up a radio system in is our Fusion Hybrid. The DC/DC inverter supplies a constant and consistent 13.8V and it's even noise filtered. Transmitting at 50W never made the lights go dim or caused issues with the car. Everyone on the other end of the signal always complimented the clarity and assumed I was on a base station until I told them otherwise.

The body design also does well with the trunk mounted antennas I use. There's no ghosting or interference and the grounding is clean.

Right now I only have a GMRS radio in it since the wife drives it. We use GMRS when we take trips with two cars so we don't have to play phone tag when we need to stop.
 
I like to work on my house (needs a lot of exterior work still) but it's nice to see parts of it get done and look nice again as the prev. owner was none to kind to it. Built in 1950 so it's got some years on it but with any luck it'll see 100. Probably still better built than some houses these days.

I do have an assortment of video game consoles that get random use. From the Atari all the way up to PS4. More of a PS fan so only have an original X-box on hand that we play Burnout on. Dreamcast still gets regular play (NHL2K or 2K2 ftw).

Beyond that I'm still collecting/riding BMX, though collecting has tapered off. My current collection could likely buy my daughter a years tuition at an in-state college, which I plan on starting to sell off most of it and put that money towards that purpose. Hunting for that "one" piece on a build is still in me, just more selective these days. Keeping my favorite rides, one of which is my '85 US made Hutch Trick Star that I finally restored to my liking late in 2022 after years of riding/beating it up. It earned a refresh/restore and I always wanted to build it up proper when I had the money, so after months of searching/saving it finally came to be.

I know there is another fellow T-bird fan on my BMX site that has some nice scoots too, so I'm not alone, lol.. BMX 4 life.

pic of how my Trick Star currently sits

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Even after 39 years of fun that factory chrome still shines up nice and bright!

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Looks great! I love to watch flatland freestyling


I got a black Fitbikeco classic during the pandemic. Thing is quick. I was going to learn some tricks but I dont think anyone at work will be happy if I break my wrist

I like Dugan videos heh, mad lad
 
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I had a BMX bike in the 70's, until about '76, when I got my 74DT125 dirt bike. :) Traded it in for a 78IT 175E and did trials and motocross racing.
Damn, I miss the 70's and 80's, lol. When I bought my current IT200, I rode with my nephew, and it liked to have killed me, lol. (20'svs 50's)
 
I was smart enough to stay off of dirtbikes. Pretty sure I wouldn't be around if I tried some of the stuff on a dirtbike that I did on BMX, lol.. Same reason I stick to cars and not motorcycles.

Watching Dugan reminds me a lot of Mike Escamilla. Crazy gaps.
 
Gardening
House plants; I’ve got a few carnivorous plants
Smoking meats, etc. We smoke a mean head of cabbage
Projects around the house, I recently hung a retractable awning. Planning a gravel patio for the smoker and grill.
Cigars, bourbon
Have a jeep wrangler I need to get running, not a car…
Recently have become involved with a ranch that raises ostrich, selling the meat at a farmers market.
Have some small electronics projects on the back burner.
 
Grog6 said:
What kinds of things do y'all do when you're not working on your car?

I'm into a bunch of stuff, but Rocketry is something I've been into since 1st grade. They just get bigger, and more expensive.
Check out this guys build thread:

L3 Build - Starless Rogue

With the announcement of LDRS coming to the Eastern US and looking for a winter project I decided to start on my L3 certification journey. Initial criteria for me: Fiberglass airframe, as I occasionally launch on frozen lakes and they don't treat cardboard well. 98mm motor mount adapted to an...
www.rocketryforum.com www.rocketryforum.com

Licensing for these is tough, and you can't buy motors for these without a license. and they're over $100 a pop. :)
Click to expand...

I really dont do much, ive worked at a pizza place for roughly 1 1/2 years, and take care of my cats that are about 5 years old. I hangout with freinds from work.
I used to be a big into lifting but ive already had 2 heart surgeries and been hit by a moving vehichle so lifting like i would want to raises some chance for stuff inside me to fall apart so i took a step back from powerlifting. While the chances of anything bad happening are small stressing my body beyond my hearts expectations is not something id like to risk.
The cats mean a lot to me i took them in when they were kittens. They have been spoiled rotton. Yearly vet visits, plenty of multi hundred dollar visits for infections/ vaccines, theyre not overweight but theyre not thin either.. i feed them pretty well. Theyre allowed on my bed and wherever theyre litter trained and dont mark, they have cat trees/ toys, ofc each other and the fur that i have to scrape off my shirt when i wake up is worth their comftorable existance. My pets are a big thing for me.
When i was a bit younger building computers, working out, skating, and anything to do with outerspace were big things for me. I still enjoy watching any video to do with the universe. Im on my computer late usually watching something to do with cars or space/science.
 
I used to have a couple slot car tracks set up. That was allot of fun.
 
I'm currently working on a couple of rockets, hoping to get my L1. I'm on trf. I bought a couple of Nice rockets from Dragon Rocketry That I'm taking my time building. I inherited a kitty when my mom passed, and he adopted another cat, Trouble passed the same year I had a major stroke, and it's taken me 3 years to recover enough to do stuff. Kaatu is a huge kitty, a grey tabby, that is currently sacked out in the chair, out front in the sun. He's a trip; he can talk, to the extent a cat can. He can say NO! and OUT pretty well, it surprised the crap out of my sis. (We took him to the vet, and he was criticizing her driving, lol.)
 
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