Pandemic hobbies... what has everyone been doing?

[deev 2.0]

This pandemic has been upon us for 10 months now. It has affected all of us in one way or another. I don't want to get into the dark side of it, though. I definitely don't want to get into the political side of it (please refrain from such discussion here.)

What I DO want to get into are any hobbies you've decided to pursue during this time. I know not everyone had MORE time on their hands, especially those with kids, but I'm sure everyone had to change what they did with the time they did have, at least to some degree!


Personally, I've been working on a few things:

I've been dying to record my own music, so I downloaded Reaper (a recording program) and bought a few inexpensive pieces to allow me to connect my guitar and bass to my computer. I downloaded some drum programming software, and I've got a couple of things in the works. Not good, mind you... but fun nonetheless!

I've been wanting to write a book for a LONG time. I've been studying various methods and techniques, but I haven't started the writing process yet. Guys like Straight Success and accordtunerx have been an inspiration, because they're both just guys like me. They made it happen, and I admire that. I want to make it happen as well! I'm only now starting to get that ball rolling, but I'm excited to do so. Everyone knows I have no trouble putting a ton of words down...

I also plastidipped my Miata, and I really enjoyed the process. It's not perfect, and I'd never offer my services for profit... but the process is quite rewarding. The DYC Sprayer kit is HIGHLY recommended for anyone getting into it!

I've also been working on my yard. I bought a new house a couple years ago, and I have lots of ideas. I spent much of this summer working on my gardens and lawn. Took down some big trees, and studied TONS of options for their replacements. Settled on Red Rocket crepe myrtles, so they should be pretty rad once they grow up a bit! Now I'm planning to hedge in my side yard for a nice private courtyard, which meant investigating the best plants to use (settled on Greeen Emerald arborvitae), and learning my town's regulations (I have a corner property, so I can't plant within a certain distance of the intersection... boo...)

I also keep telling myself I'm going to learn German, but it hasn't happened yet.


Has anyone else been busy doing anything interesting?

[Fleetw00d]

Mostly just working from home; got switched from commercial engines to military - mostly supporting engines currently in the field, some almost as old as I am. Gets tricky trying to work and help take care of a now 18 month old granddaughter during the day. Not much work on Ruby because I can't decide if I want to attempt to repair the rust on the underside or not (my wife is dead set against me getting another one, so the only way I stay in a CB is to fix the one I have). The Elements haven't required too much work and my daughter in Iowa hasn't given up on hers yet (has low oil pressure, so she's running 5W30 trying to prevent VTEC codes). Spent today sorting CB7 nuts, bolts, washers, screws, etc. and trying to get the gumption to start throwing things away. Couldn't do much outside much of the summer after injuring my hip; that is finally feeling much better.

[owequitit]

I wish I had more time for my hobbies! Lately, there is only one of me in my department, and we have finally started to make progress after years of building and validating data programs, so it seems like I just get busier and busier! Of course, busy in my world isn't necessarily a good thing, but in this case it is because the data is allowing us to see things that have always been there, but weren't necessarily known or accepted.

Hobby wise, I have had a lot going on. Obviously, the little is at a good age, so it has been fun to spend more time with her.

I have been working on scanning my throngs of magazine issues that I have saved over the years. I estimated that I probably had close to 600 car magazines and probably close to that many airplane magazines, but I never wanted to get rid of them because finding them electronically is hit or miss, so I decided to keep them and have finally been able to cut through them. I have about 2 dozen car mags left and then the airplane ones left. Bought an Epson business scanner, so I just have to break them down, cut the bindings and then run them through. Pretty efficient setup and it works a LOT better than I thought it was going to. I can't bring myself to break up my 1990 Accord new car issue for Car and Driver though. I may have to in order to "preserve" it, but I will deal with that at the end. The best part of this is that it will open up space for me to put a chair next to my "guitar wall" so that I can actually sit and play for a change. My daughter loves music, so I want to get her introduced to it early on.

I started messing with the GoPro's again awhile ago just for something to do.

I tend to spend some time each evening on Forza Horizon 4 just to get some kind of car fix.

Getting ready to bleed the clutch and brakes on the Accord, pull the delay valve out of the slave cylinder and do a valve adjustment (which is a MAJOR PITA on the J-series) and possibly sell it so I can get a truck. Maybe keep it, haven't decided.

We have been doing stuff around the house, and I am plotting the next phase of change, which is probably the organization of the garage so that I can get the CB7 and everything else in there too and still have it be functional. Right now, I am looking at New Age garage cabinets because they seem to be the closest to the ideal of what I want, but I am trying to hammer out the configuration since the garage is a little bit broken up in layout. Also debating whether I should insulate it and to what degree, since it is cold in the winter and hot in the summer. Other than that, it has mostly been minor upkeep since the house is starting to get to that age where it needs its first round of upkeep.

[CyborgGT]

I'd fallen off video games beforehand, and have gotten back into that a little bit in 2020; not sure how I feel about that. I read a lot less, because I used to go out to lunch all the time and take a book with me. I don't know what it is, I just don't like reading at home. Maybe it's the lack of ambient noise? I, too, think about writing my own since I enjoy reading them so much. I feel like I'd pretty good... I just don't have any stories that I'm itching to tell, or invent. What I don't need is it feeling like grade school homework all over again, and I don't want to push out a book just to be one of those idiots who like to boast that "I'm a writer" or "I've been published." I began reading for fun in third grade, but the forced analyzation of writing, and the essays in middle and high school killed it for me. I finally got back into reading after a book recommendation from a teacher my senior year. In normal times, I'll get through a couple books a month.

The worst part of this pandemic for me is that I was looking for a new job last spring, to finally leave behind this one that stresses me out so much. But then everything started closing down, and I haven't felt like I can depend on anything else as much as my "essential" job. It'll be twelve years with this company in May, the last eight working overnight. The 10- to 13-hour shifts of the past year and a half haven't left me with much time or energy to get out during the week. It's a crap job, but it affords me the freedom of no roommates so I was never in a hurry to leave, and now I suppose my hesitancy saved me, in a way.

Weekends have mostly been dedicated to working on the wagon I picked up last January, but now that it's cold I hate staying out there too long and work has slowed. I am beyond excited that I should be driving it by summer. To add to that eagerness for warmer days, 2020 was the year I finally caved and tried out social media, with IG. It's got some seriously sad aspects to it, but I've been following a couple skateboarders who have been hugely inspiring. I've loved watching skating since I was a kid (older brother being a skater, he got me a PlayStation and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater for Christmas '99), but never had the balance for much more than simple riding, maybe the occasional ollie. I want to make a second attempt at tricks this year. I got so close to landing a heelflip, haha. RC cars are something else I'd been considering getting into for years, and finally bought one early last year. Once in a while I'll take it to a skatepark in the early morning before anyone else is there, and that fuels the skateboarding itch as well. Those ramps don't look too scary, if I take it slow.


"I also keep telling myself I'm going to learn [*ed. - Spanish], but it hasn't happened yet."

[deev 2.0]

Fleetw00d, man, you gotta stop getting hurt! I hope you decide to save Ruby. You've always been the guy that brings CB7s back to life.

owequitit, it's crazy how quickly garage plans can turn into huge projects! I keep looking at mine and envisioning bigger... it might end up being a full teardown. I could easily spend 20% of my home value on a new garage...

CyborgGT , I was BIG into playing Neverwinter on PS4 for a while. Especially last year when I was basically unemployed for 6 months. I love that stupid game, though I'm taking a break from it. I love games, but too much just wears on me. I also still have to beat FF7 Remake!
Kudos for trying to skate. I sucked at skating as a kid, and I'd DEFINITELY break myself if I tried now! It takes some stones to get on a board when you're older (I know you're a good deal younger than I am, but still... )

[Fleetw00d]

Fleetw00d, man, you gotta stop getting hurt! I hope you decide to save Ruby. You've always been the guy that brings CB7s back to life.

I was going to go to Bessler's last weekend and cut a big section out of a sedan they HAD there. Check inventory Saturday evening and it was gone. The other one they had had a lot of rust in the quarter, so I was afraid of what the underside might look like as well. Gotta look further south maybe.

[deev 2.0]

I was going to go to Bessler's last weekend and cut a big section out of a sedan they HAD there. Check inventory Saturday evening and it was gone. The other one they had had a lot of rust in the quarter, so I was afraid of what the underside might look like as well. Gotta look further south maybe.

Yeah, anything in the areas where rust is common is going to be rusted like crazy, or pricey... because anyone that has managed to keep a CB rust-free in those areas likely knows what they have!
I keep toying with the idea of getting another, but I'll have to travel. I examine the rear quarters of every CB I come across (fewer and fewer anymore...) and I haven't seen one with no rust in a VERY long time.

[owequitit]

My ORIGINAL plan was to have a huge garage with a small kitchen, bathroom and bedroom attached! Of course, marriage changes that, so I had to settle for a normal 3 car. It isn't bad, it's just that they have the space broken up. The electrical box, the water heater, the water softener, the door, the sprinkler timer, etc. It's just sort of scattered around, so I have to either work around it, or spend a bunch of money moving it. Trying to see if I can work around it efficiently because I priced just the cabinets out and even that gets eye-watering!

If you have the opportunity to just tear it down and start new, it's probably worth looking into because it would probably tend to improve the value of the house anyway (especially out there were a lot of the houses are older and either don't have a garage, or don't have a really cool garage... Plus, you get exactly what you want.

One of the perks of the SW is that it is literally the land of huge garages because it seems like a lot of them are designed to hold boats, RV's or toys.

Just remember, there is no such thing as a garage that is TOO big!

[H311RA151N]

I got into electronics and things of the like this last year. I got into cellular phone operating systems. Flashing phones and such. GrapheneOS, CalyXOS, Kali Linux. I purchased a Seek CompactPro thermal camera that's neat. I played with that some. Some RF stuff too. Just basic stuff. Not being able to do much I was pretty limited to stuff one can do inside. I messed with car alarm stuff too. That led me to getting into RF. Basically for pen-testing reasons and selecting the correct car alarm. Something with rotating frequencies. I got into messing with Arduino and garage door openers as a result also. Wifi, BLE, radio etc.

I want to get into amateur radio and Raspberry Pi. Not conjointly. And continue learning stuff with Arduino.

[SSMAccord]

Has anyone else been busy doing anything interesting?

I think the socializing restrictions allowed me to get a lot of projects completed that I had put waaaaay on the backburner. But once those were done it allowed me to start whittle away at my video game backlog. I am embarrassed to say that I devoured the FFVII Remake in a week, it's a really good time. The way that this chapter ended was kinda out of left field, but speaks to the game being a remake and not a remaster. That said, I am currently picking away another play through of classic FFVII. I appreciate that your new avatar is Cactuar!!!

I tend to spend some time each evening on Forza Horizon 4 just to get some kind of car fix.

FH4 is a good time, I like that they try to maintain community engagement by constantly adding new content! I usually try to get through the weekly festival playlist to collect any of the one off cars I haven't collected.

[owequitit]

I think the socializing restrictions allowed me to get a lot of projects completed that I had put waaaaay on the backburner. But once those were done it allowed me to start whittle away at my video game backlog. I am embarrassed to say that I devoured the FFVII Remake in a week, it's a really good time. The way that this chapter ended was kinda out of left field, but speaks to the game being a remake and not a remaster. That said, I am currently picking away another play through of classic FFVII. I appreciate that your new avatar is Cactuar!!!




FH4 is a good time, I like that they try to maintain community engagement by constantly adding new content! I usually try to get through the weekly festival playlist to collect any of the one off cars I haven't collected.

Yeah same here. I typically don't make much progress in the non-festival related stuff, but it is cool to just try and get ahold of the new cars or rare cars without having to buy them!

[PR CB7]

Haven't been doing much, I work in the medical field and we maintained business as usual. I no longer own my accord upgraded to a G37S. In October I took on a FC3S 2jz for a complete wire up and restoring from racecar to daily driver with AC.
Have been going at it 1 or 2 hours every other day since. Have been playing battlefront 2 since it's release and is the only game that I want to play for the rest of my life . Tried squadrons and bleh.