Hey all,

  I was asked this a while back and I thought it would make a good ''get-to-know-you-better'' kind of post for newer and older members...

So what other hobby do you have, other than arcade-related?

Me personally, although I haven't played in 10 years due to other priorities, I played drums and sang in a band for over 12 years. We played a few college gigs and battle of the bands, but never took it 100% seriously. We played good and even had a cool name (Drowning Riverside) and I even had the long hair then, but we went our own ways after college and kind of got out of it. I personally liked signing better than playing drums (I wasn't great at it, but did OK), but signing alone sucks, so I've been wanting to get an electronic drum set to get playing again someday.

Video production has become very much a hobby for me.  It started back 20 years ago - took broadcasting at college and then started a company.  Made some commercials, short films, won some awards but my demise as a business was when I decided I would do wedding videos so I could pay the bills.  10 years of wedding video was enough to make me drop the career.  I decided to keep video production as a hobby only.  Now I make DVDs for friends and family.  My daughter has a set of DVD's for each year of her life - I enjoy making them.  Makes people laugh/cry and that sort of thing.  

Other than that I enjoy putting the top down and polishing my 1969 Cougar XR-7 Convertible.  

PS.  They say a business is like a child and you never want to let go.  I still host http://www.personaltouchpro.com and http://www.thestorybookwedding.com even though I haven't taken a video job for the past 2 years!

I build small kites.

My name is Steph,  I'm 42 years old, and I have an addiction problem
(...oh wait, wrong group... ! )

Actually, WRT to other hobbies , just to add to my Geek Quotient, I collect stamps.
(... another really "cheap" hobby    ...sigh...   )

To add to the Cool Factor, I play Ultimate Frisbee.
I've been at it since since 1992.
Played at the National level from 1995-1998 and went to World Championships in 1997.
I've also been the captain for my local team (Get-A-Grip)
which is now the third oldest (15 years !) in the Ottawa League.

I've been married 7 years (...to the same woman !) and have 3 boys
( Samuel 6,  Nathaniel  4,  Luke 2  )

I don't drink, smoke, gamble or chase skirt,
but I read too much MAACA and play too much Robotron !



Steph

I like boating. I have a 27' cruiser in Pointe-Aux-Trembles and spend a lot of time on it in summer.

And like Sinpin, I polish my old car: 1975 Pontiac Grandville Convertible, that I use everyday to go to work, in summer.

Yes, winter is very long...

I've seen MrHide's kites, and they are very impressives and spectacular.

Quoted from Mrhide

I build small kites.

I tell Phil to "go fly them".

Pretty much the rest of my hobbies have been turning fuel into noise in one manner or anouther.

Quoted from Steph

To add to the Cool Factor, I play Ultimate Frisbee.

We started a league of U F this summer in St-Jean! It was cool, almost all new peoples so the level of play is very low but still fun sport to learn (I thinik I'm one of the worst thrower ever... The league moved inside this winter but I prefer frisbee outside, I play cosom inside instead.

I have a geek factor too, I collect Sci-fi/Fantasy novels . I played a lot of role-plying games before, so I collected all D&D (or all TSR to WOTC books), Shadowrun, Battletech... I collect superhero novel too should have more than 500 books now...  I collected comic books too buy quit because it cost me 60 to 80$ a week to satisfy my hunger I trying to trade or sell my colelction now ..)

I played a lot of boardgames too, but It's harder to have people to played a 6-hours games so we limits ourself to shorter and easier game but with more beers Btw, I have some boardgame to to sell or trade too

I have done some miniatures painting but put my time on something else but would paint again soon, probably after I clear some pinball projects

Animals are my other passon.

I keep and breed Ball Pythons, plus have a variety of other animals.  At last count I have 34 Ball Pythons, 1 California King Snake, 2 Red Eard Slider, 1 Vientmese Black Breated Leaf Turtle, 2 Dogs, and 3 rats.

This year was a good year for me breeding wise as I was able to produce some Albino Ball Pythons:

Beany on her Eggs:



All the Clutches I received for the year:



Hatching:





My Pride and joy, took me 5 years to finnaly produce an Albino and I love this little girl, tame as anything and really doing well:



and the male, I at least got lucky and received a male and female albino:



My Turtles:





Don't have my other pictures uploaded to my website, I'll have to add them later for the rest of the animals

Amazing snake photos! Where do you look to determine if they're M or F?

As for me, comic books and music are my other passions.

Batman is my main focus in comic books. Over the past 70 years, he has been the protagonist of two main monthly titles - Batman & Detective. I have the last 50 years of both titles complete. I have quite a few issues between 1940-1959, the oldest are copies of Batman 9 & 12. I still buy a batch of new comics on a weekly basis, but I have pretty well given up on buying the older stuff. They just cost too much.

I love listening to music. I still have vinyl and it still gets played. I tend to lean towards hard rock & metal, but I can be just as intrigued by Motown. Generally, I'm also a sucker for a good pop tune. "I Kissed A Girl" will always be on my play list. I collect ROIO and I have approximately 4000 live audio & video recordings. Led Zeppelin, Kiss and Van Halen are the key bands in the collection.

You're likely to find me perusing the archives of the Toronto Star. I'll pick a date range and start going through the entertainment section. I look for ads for concerts and for concert reviews.

There's a small gang of us who are working towards documenting Van Halen's gigography. We're not Hagar fans, so we look at the early years through 1984. I'm always looking for ads, reviews, stubs, etc to support the quest. I've put the ticket stub portion of our research up at http://tommyv.fortunecity.com/.

Computers, electronics and gadgets.

Keeping banks going by paying lots of interest. Geocaching (not religiously). photography (with a small "p" - I was a professional, once.) Building sheds to hold pinball projects. Cooking. Being a father (not really a hobby, but it sucks up about 50 - 70% of my spare time).

I guess my other "main" hobby is family. I spend alot of my free time entertaining and educating my 3 boys. I don't have as much time as I used to. Still I find time for a couple of things...

During the summer, I enjoy cycling. Not sure if it qualifies as a hobby. I guess it's more exercise, but I really enjoy it. I didn't do alot this past summer, but plan on correcting that this summer. I generally like to do 20 kms or so every second day and mix it up with a longer cycle once every couple of weeks.

I also have a classic Japanese car. 2 years ago, I bought a 1984 RX7 GSL SE. It's my third RX7 and my second SE. The SE was a limited production only running from 84 to 85. Main difference is a larger fuel injected engine with beefier suspension, all the deluxe features as standard, and those magnificent rims (only available on the SE). Back in the day, the rims were very desirable and were often stolen. In fact, my last SE had them stolen before I got it, so this is the first SE I have ever owned with the original rims. I actually got another set cheap last year, although very unlikely they will ever be stolen. While I love the rims, the young kids like the ugly after market crap. I like it all original.

It's in mint shape and all original and I drove an insane number of hours to buy it. I actually brought it from the States. Never seen snow and looks amazing. I planning on updating the exhaust this year if I have the funds. I sold my last 7 after the birth of my first son, because it was impractical. I bought another on our 10th year anniversary, because it was impractical and fun  

Sadly, it doesn't get used alot. I work from home, so there aren't alot of opportunities to take it out. It only had 56,000 miles when I bought it and I've probably put on 3,000. Alot of those were the first summer I owned it.

Cheers,
Duane

Ça! C'est sur le traversier en revenant d'un Show a Sorel....
Un autre hobby qui coute quelques $$$$ J'me specialise dans le AMC...