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...

Quoted from Steph

I've been married 7 years (...to the same woman !)

Therein lies the secret to being able to afford a pinball collection.

I know guys that collect ex wives..... no pinballs though.

Model railroading but now no place for a layout ..pinball take all my basement  

Jacques

I do Metal working ( at least starting ) in my small machine shop , i do mig welding too . Wood working  is another hooby too , when i have time, so i have a small wood shop too !!! , and of course even if elctronic and programming is my full day jod , it is still a big hobby for me , i do design stuff for my tools , DRO, Tach etc!!!

Yes 24 hr a day is pretty short  , but , no wife at home and younger kid is 16 , so i have some time to be in the shops !!!!!

Vengeance..those snakes pics are very cool

Before pinball I used to run a car at the local track.I used to run low 10s with it at around 130 mph



While the car is now gone,I still have a few here to keep me busy:

1965 Pontiac Custom Sport


1966 Chevelle


1966 El Camino



I used to have a few more,but I have been slowly selling them off.
As I find myself spending less time with my cars......and more time with my pinballs

Building and customizing RC cars and trucks. I used to race Sedan class on the south shore few years ago as well. Got out when the  chassis's  radically changed. Gets too expensive to change all the time.

Wow, multiple talents and interests here !

For me, I also love collecting, fixing and listening to antique radios from the 1930s,
when the little time permits (outside family, work, and of course, pinball repairs).

Nothing like listening to oldies on an old tube radio


Cheers,
- Sylvain.

Hmmm... lots of car enthusiats. I used to be one... got too expensive for my taste. I used to rally race in the 90s, and I worked at a garage that had a contract with a guy who rented cars for movie shoots. He owned in excess of 400 cars at one time. So we used to rebuild them for him, and we bought a few from him as well.

I liked Europeans at some time. I owned 4 Innocenti Turbos, one of which I heavily modified for racing. The 992cc 3-banger spat out 185HP when I was done with it, compared to it's original 72HP. I used to kick the mess out of 5.0L 'Stangs on an 1/8 mile. I hit 220km/h top speed with it, with the engine getting close to 9500rpms with a modified ignition system.

But my pride and joy was a car I owned for 2 months... a friend of mine knew I was into European cars and he said that a buddy of his dad had one for sale. It was the guy's son and he had just died of an illness, and wanted the car gone. He said it was a Renault 5, and it was sitting in a barn for 2 years.

...Oh, it was a Renault 5 alright... a Turbo 2!!!! I got it for 2000$, and it just needed some maintenance to get running. One month later, I had it on the road. While my Inno was faster, this thing was gorgeous. The black was scratched a lot, but it still looked badass. A month after getting it back on the road, I brought it to a local car expo on the North Shore near my place. An old guy came up to me and said ''how much?''.

A week later, I had 20000$ in my bank account! ... which I spent on a single rally racing season.  

Maybe after doing that, all my long-time buddies are still amazed that I drive a plain-a** minivan today. when I bought it, they saw that as an end of an era...

Maybe not... who knows.

I have  had a couple of hobbies prior to pinball and having a son.

Restoring antique furniture and hitting antique auctions in the country was a passion for many years. Seb, my son, bought his first item at an auction at 2 1/2 years old. My only problem is I prefer furniture over small antiques so I have many desks, bookcases, chairs and victrolas. I love playing 78's and have an antique RCA Victrola set up in my house with many big band records ( my favourite eras were the 40's-60's). Restoring antiques unfortunately got put to the side when my son arrived due to the chemicals and fumes but I have quite a stack of furniture just waiting for me to start again  

I also collect/collected original VW Bugs. At one point I had 4 but have only 2 left, a fully restored 1978 Convertible and a 63 Sedan that is either going to become a custom designed paint job or Herbie (leaning towards Herbie   ). It has already been converted over to 12 volt and a newer (1973) engine so it works great as a daily driver in the summer. Unfortunately the gorgeous 78 is less reliable so it's been delegated to being up on blocks for the last couple of years. I keep talking about selling it but it was my dream car growing up and I drove it all over North America on road trips when I was younger. Lots of fun memories! Now if only I could get as interested in working on engines as I am about working on my pinball electronics ..... the VW convertible may actually get back on the road   

ME

Right now I'm trying my hand at beer making...wine making to follow shortly.
before this:
-Hockey Jerseys
-Doc Martens
-Mopeds
-Classic VW's
-Vintage LP's

My wife just got into weaving with a loom.
before that:
-Knitting
-Smurfs
-Painting

I'm into pseudoscience. I'm the latest founder of a local 'Skeptics' group, called Ottawa Skeptics, where we investigate weird stuff (like a local perpetual motion machine) and promote science/critical thinking. As part of these efforts, I also host a weekly podcast on these topics. It's really challenging, but a lot of fun.

The latest article that we produced is about the famous Canadian cold remedy Cold-FX. Spoiler alert: It's pretty much BS.

Edit: I also do Jiu-jitsu

motorcycle...

Bought a new V_star 1100 5 years ago and start to make little modification every year since today.

Many things have come and gone over the years. The ones that have remained constant or are making comebacks.
- Tennis: I've started to play again now that my shoulder injury has healed.
- Moutainbiking: I sort of quit after I fractured my wrist but I'm thinking of getting back into it this summer. I found a good deal on a used bike. Lots of fun when you get a bunch of friends together to ride.
- Windsurfing: On the water since 1998 and I still suck. I even upgraded my gear last year... Funny, but it hasn't seemed to make me any better. Was hoping to get some winter gear this year but those plans have been put on hold. At this rate I'll never make it to the Olympics.
- Motorcycles: My first vehicle was a 81' Yamaha Seca 550. Not the smartest thing when you have winter 6 months of the year I know but it was a good deal and all of my friends were getting bikes too so I took the plunge. Wasn't I surprised when none of my so called 'friends' actually bought bikes. 'My Mom said no'... Still, I had fun and it attracted girls way better than my parents pontiac phoenix . I'm still riding now but it's mostly just as a cheaper means of transportation.

Something new this year.
A friend gave me a guitar last year and I've kind of gotten hooked on it. Been trying to practise an hour each night. Who knows, I'm not that old, maybe there's still time to retire early and take it on the road.

Quoted from TwilightZone

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.

Exercise is just something you do to stay healthy. A hobby is something you do because you enjoy it. So I'd say in your case, cycling more than counts.

Amateur Astronomer, video game collector and worlds greatest lover

this is my main hobby...
For europeans like me, mustang is part of american dream and it s real for me since 2006...

i m a montreal mustang member and  we have lot of fun during summer time...meetings every friday at laval and rides, shows, drag every weeks...

i like to watch movies and play games on my pc or 360, a real child...lol

Skateboarding has always been my favorite hobby, there's no money, and there are
no rules. I'll never stop.    I took some video this past October, though filming is not a hobby, it feels so "rehearsed"?

I'm actually an audiophile and videophile in the same time i play and restore pins and video games. Few years ago i was in motors hobby and i bought a Plymouth GTX 1969 and fully restored it, it was an incredible nice and powerfull car, also a camaro Iroc-z 1988, i also had a Kawasaki ZX7


Exactly the same i had but somebody steal it



Similar to mine but i didn't had the air grabber and sold it



I had the same as this one and sold it before i kill myself with this dead machine

Quoted from The Loafer

Amateur Astronomer, video game collector and worlds greatest lover

Are you a member of the RASC?

When I had my own house, I loved to invent games for my kids, I made giant 30 feet seesaw in which the kids were attached on each end, I made a 16 feet long ferris wheel on which each kid was at one end of it and had a cabin that stayed straight while I was pushing to keep it rolling, I even made a Roller Coaster that started from behind the house and would go up to the front, that's when I had problems with the city's councel, but they had no law against it so they had to let go my case, but afterwards they made a law against citizens making their own games in there yards, all because of me.

Each winter I made ice slides for my children that would start from the garages roof, one even had a 5 feet step to make it higher, one of the slides went straight too the end of the yard, the other turned and went to the side of the house and the biggest one (with the step) went down to the middle of the yard, made a big half circle in the back yard and went to the front of the house. My kids slided with a Crazy carpet in them.

I made a 2 wagon bicycle train with chariots I made with wood boxes and bicycle wheels and 2 different kinds of go-karts.

Here's one of them. I have pictures of my other inventions but they are not digital pictures so I can't post them.

That explains the old trailer      hehe ! super Popa!

Aljo!  Scan those pictures, I'd love to see them

My current hobby is making keychains    Sculpting, drawing, painting.. been doing it most of my life (on and off, when I have time)

I used to collect console games and systems (had over 70 systems), but my pinball friends told me it was gay so I stopped..  

My hobbies :building and flying model gaz powered r/c planes,also got a few r/c cars,still putts around with electronics,used to do lots of ham radio ,now im mostly into  Brit bikes,and home machining.I do my own engine rebuilds and bike restauratins from start to finish (including wheel building and paint)Im gonna start a Norton 850 Commando restauration next year (i hope) just gota finish off that live steam locomotive,built from bar stock(no kit) i started before getting hooked on pinball!!! this thing once finished will weight  in at about 100 poundss,ride on 3 1/2 inch wide tracks and will haul two adults,running on cheap coal and water

Quoted from MAGNETO

My hobbies :building and flying model gaz powered r/c planes,also got a few r/c cars,still putts around with electronics,used to do lots of ham radio ,now im mostly into  Brit bikes,and home machining.I do my own engine rebuilds and bike restauratins from start to finish (including wheel building and paint)Im gonna start a Norton 850 Commando restauration next year (i hope) just gota finish off that live steam locomotive,built from bar stock(no kit) i started before getting hooked on pinball!!! this thing once finished will weight  in at about 100 poundss,ride on 3 1/2 inch wide tracks and will haul two adults,running on cheap coal and water

Nice Lathe for a home shop!! I think you would get a kick out of mine.
Swing 2 1/2"(63mm)
Between centres 4 1/2"
See picture

Quoted from 1

Nice Lathe for a home shop!! I think you would get a kick out of mine.
Swing 2 1/2"(63mm)
Between centres 4 1/2"
See picture

COOL!!!
hay for small parts ...use a small lathe,the one pictured is a bit overkill for home use,Ive got a smaller 9x18 and one about  your size (Unimat)

Quoted from MAGNETO

COOL!!!
hay for small parts ...use a small lathe,the one pictured is a bit overkill for home use,Ive got a smaller 9x18 and one about  your size (Unimat)

I had a milling that size too at one point but never used it so I sold it on ebay. I also used to sell these  here in Canada until the Company shut down.

Quoted from jonny_eh

Are you a member of the RASC?

Nah, though I did go to a couple of meetings at the St-Laurent museum of tech.  No time, too many hobbies. I dabble mostly in astro photography, very amateur stuff but a lot of fun. Unfortunately, the past 15 months have been elcrapo for weather, so that hobby is pretty non-existent of late.  About 2 years ago, I hung around the OAF yahoo forum quite a bit, still read it but just no time to interact.

One of these days, I have to put up a website to post all my pics...

Quoted from machine.slave

Aljo!  Scan those pictures, I'd love to see them

I don't have a scanner but I'll try taking pictures of those pictures.

R/C Airplanes (6) and helicopters(2) but I haven't flown in about 3 years.  Thinking of getting back into it this summer.  My oldest son really wants to start flying again - he was flying his .40 sized gas plane solo at the age of 5.  That's take-off, flying, and landing. http://www.mikesgamesroom.com/rc.htm

I've always been into geeky mess too..  Hacking game consoles, building & tweaking my computers, repairing pinball electronics, building my 1st mame in 1998 with a rotating arcade monitor (at a time when nobody was using real arcade monitors, and there weren't any IPAC, OPTIPAC, etc)...

I also got somewhat into amateur astronomy but living in the city sucks for visibility and the scope is almost too big to haul around.  Thinking of selling that stuff.

I'm good with my hands and have rebuilt engines before so I'd like to restore a car eventually.  Maybe even a VW convertible

Time is precious and there's very little to spare, especially in the winter..  I play hockey in 2 leagues, and both my kids play also in different age groups so we pay rent at the arena now..

Mike

Quoted from TommyV

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

Up there vent But seriously there are 2 ways to determine the sex of a snake, Popping and Probeing.  Poping is a technique where on younger snakes you apply preasure behind the ventricle of the animal and evert the hemipenes.  If the hemipenis exists, it's a male, no hemipenes and it's a female.

The other is probing and that is used on older animals as they have gained greated muscule control and poping is much more difficult.  A probe is inserted into the vent of the animal and depending on how many scales deel the probe goes determines the sex of the sname.  2 - 4 is female anything further is male.  

I used to play pool. I have been in a pool league for something like ten or twelve years but I stopped four years ago because it become difficult to keep playing on schedule. I think it happen also to a lot of people at this time because the're are 2 leagues closed since this time in my region. So I began to collect pinball ( I always have at least 1 pinball since I have a house ) a build a little gameroom in the basement to enjoy this kind of game.

I also love cars. I have done the same thing as DavidC in 2006 and get a black convertible Mustang to enjoy some summer days with my girlfriend.

I played in a punk band for 7 years.  Got to open for a few cool acts along the way like DOA, Fishbone, Wesley Willis (AWESOME), Planet Smashers and the Real McKenzies.  Singer and Guitar player are in Montreal now so that pretty took care of that.  One of my friends got me a framed picture of The Ramones at a pinball table for my birthday this weekend.  It's by the pins now (I should scan it)

I've got a pretty respectable sized vintage Star Wars collection, I used to collect all Star Wars stuff but now mostly just old stuff from '77-84 in the package.  Aside from the stormtrooper costume, pictured to the left, I've got a life sized statue of Darth Maul which is totally bad-a**.

I've also got every issue of Iron Man from #1 (late sixties) to now and a couple of hundred anime dvds and manga as well.  

Quoted from machine.slave

Aljo!  Scan those pictures, I'd love to see them

Here are the ones I found.

more.

In the very early stages of my backyard playground (the ferris wheel was behind my girls that you see, just in front of the trees, but it was'nt made yet when I took this picture).
The seesaw that you see here was the first I made, before making the 30 feet one.

more.

One of the 3 slides I made in winter.

The 2 others. The one on the left turned left (as you can probably see) and went up to the front of the house.

Maybe this one has a clearer view?

Skiing, Cycling, Fast Cars, Loose Women.

Okay, I lied about that last one.

Quoted from ThaFurnace

Skiing, Cycling, Fast Cars, Loose Women.

Okay, I lied about that last one.

I will tell Kelly...

Skiing??? Certainly not near Raleigh!   we are lucky for that here. PLENTY of places less than 1 hour drive away. In fact, I live near one... 5 minute drive. Albeit small, but still a ski hill nonetheless. Nice places to bike in the summer as well... Ottawa is my favorite place for biking.

Fast cars? Not anymore.   

I collect Vinyl figures, aka Designer Toy. I've seen some 8inch figures go for more than a new pinball. While I don't buy figures that expensive, I have a rather good sized collection with some semi-rare pieces.

You can view some of them on my blog:
http://weirdguy-of-doom.blogspot.com/index.html

Quoted from weirdguy

I collect Vinyl figures, aka Designer Toy. I've seen some 8inch figures go for more than a new pinball. While I don't buy figures that expensive, I have a rather good sized collection with some semi-rare pieces.

You can view some of them on my blog:
http://weirdguy-of-doom.blogspot.com/index.html

My son would LOOOOOOOOOOVE that Mario figure.

I can't quite figure out how to add pics to site, not to computer savy sorry.  My hobbies include car restoration.  I own a 1934 chevy 5 window coupe, and a 1975 corvette.  I also collect and restore barber chairs and barber poles.  I enjoy all barroom athletics. I shoot pool ( even own a 1928 brunswick medalist 5' x 10' tournament table)  throw darts, play shuffleboard, throw rings, and my favorite of all pinball.  Someone please help me out with the adding pictures deal.  Game room is not complete but it is 32' x 52' a true man cave but would like to share some pics with all of you.

I NEED to see your corvette!!!

Quoted from jimmythekd

I can't quite figure out how to add pics to site,

Try to upload them to a free service like http://www.imageshack.us , then you can post the thumbnails.

Wow,

Lots of car guys on here,

I never got into stuff like that, my hobby is really Disney, not the movies and what not, but the Parks, i am part of an online radio station that plays all the sound clips/music/ride throughs from all the current and extinct rides and attractions from all the Disney parks all over the world.

I also work with a company in California that makes DVD documentries of every ride and attraction that Disney has ever had, including behind the scenes stuff, interviews with the people who created them, and alot of fan created material.

I collect things from the parks, i have some blueprints from the now defunct Wonders Of Life Pavillion, many signs from around the parks, as well as some "Ask the audience" controllers from the "who wants to be a millionaire - play it" attraction.

Kinda geeky, but hey it makes me happy, and i'm going to be turning 30 in April, and will be doing it at DisneyWorld, so i think it will be fun, plus i'll make sure to check out their collections of pinball machines and get a report back to you guys.

Eric