what's a good hobby?

[strokeoluck]

During a chat with my boss the other day, the boss tells me I work too hard - I need a hobby. I'm not sure I necessarily agree, but it got me to thinking: what the heck kind of hobby would I take up?!

I'm about 40, happily married with a couple kids in elementary/middle school. I work a lot, travel a bit (50k miles/year on a plane), run the kids around when I'm able to help, and now we have the boat.

What do the rest of you do for hobbies???

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: what's a good hobby?

Tell him that if you are working over hard that you will willingly take some extra paid time off. I am very similar in that I travel a lot around the world for business. I travel a lot around our North American plants as well. To me boating a little fishing, doing the household chores are about enough. I really enjoy actually being at home for a spell after i have been doing a lot of travelling.
Spending more time together with your wife doing whatever you both choose is always a winner.

 

[Viking...]

Re: what's a good hobby?

Fishing!

Find a good place to shore fish for days that are too windy, or just not enough time for boating.

Do you have a tube for your boat?
I got one this year, my kids are about the same age as yours and are very much looking forward to trying out the tube once the water warms up!

We go to museums several times a year, and bowling once or twice during the winter.

You don't necessarily have to take up a full time obsessive type hobby, just take on some activities that you can all do together.

Once the kids are over 90 lbs, they are big enough to try white-water rafting.
Not sure if that's available where you live, but there's several outfits a couple hours drive from my home.
We have a group of 34 friends going in August, all from a casual inquiry during a party several months ago.

Do you have a science and discovery center nearby? How about an Imax theater?

Try everything, you never know what activity might turn into a hobby!

 

[Arabian180]

Re: what's a good hobby?

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[jbjennings]

Re: what's a good hobby?

Hmmmm,
Here's my list:

Fishing
Duck hunting
"restoring" 50's OMC outboards--loads of fun thanks guys here at iboats
coon hunting
skeet shooting
just getting into reloading shotgun shells
training retrievers, coonhounds
frog gigging
working on old cars/trucks
Building duckblinds
gardening--just getting into this, too
playing well-thought-out pranks on the wife and kids
coaching softball and track after work
Grilling
Refinishing/trading/shooting old used shotguns

Just a few to think about.
Good luck finding yourself a good one. BTW, you live in Minnesota and you don't fish?? Are you human? Also, if I lived where you did I'd love to try snowmobiling and ice-fishing!
JBJ

 

[IVAZ]

Re: what's a good hobby?

Boating
Fishing
Drag racing
Mudding and trail riding
R/C airplanes and helicopters
Collecting and shooting guns and rifles

 

[bhammer]

Re: what's a good hobby?

I do about 150,000 miles a year on airlines and I find that I need a hobby to keep me from going crazy. I have a wife and 4 kids that are my main hobby.

Here's what I do / like:
1. Boating during the warm months
2. Fishing with my boys and youngest daughter
3. I inspect sail planes for friends
4. Computers
5. Reading good books
6. Finding new restaurants - go get lost
7. iBoats
8. Flying sail planes

 

[CheapboatKev]

Re: what's a good hobby?

Tell him that if you are working over hard that you will willingly take some extra paid time off. I am very similar in that I travel a lot around the world for business. I travel a lot around our North American plants as well. To me boating a little fishing, doing the household chores are about enough. I really enjoy actually being at home for a spell after i have been doing a lot of travelling.Spending more time together with your wife doing whatever you both choose is always a winner.

Amen to enjoying being at home!
Funny thing was we went on a vacation to New Mexico awhile back for a wedding..While my GF and her daughter were very excited about the whole trip..
I was at the airport, renting a car, checking in to the hotel....Pretty much everything I do while WORKING! lol....But being the prof biz traveler...Knowing how to breeze through all this with them was a big help..


But on the Hobby issue..Your boss doesn't think owning a boat is a hobby??
My Boss has a 32 ft twin screw in a marina outside of Chicago...He dissapears on most Fridays during the summer..Don't know why..LOL

 

[i386]

Re: what's a good hobby?

Anything you enjoy doing. It's really good to start up something new that compliments something you're already into.

I have quite a few hobbies. Recently I've gotten into electronics. It complements my guitar playing because I'm building amps and effects to go with it. Not only do I enjoy the work, I'm saving money. I'm currently tooling up to start building stringed instruments starting with an electric guitar.

 

[roscoe]

Re: what's a good hobby?

I get bored with most hobbies after a few years.
The trick is to find something that interests you and will hold your attention long enough so you can get good at it, thus providing some much needed pleasure. It needs to be something that you can fit into your schedule.

fishing
making fishing rods.
collecting more boats and motors than you will ever get fixed or use
breeeding xxxxx animal : cockatiels, chickens, canaries, guinea pigs
model railroading
Remote controlled planes/boats/cars
Photography
atv touring
jousting

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: what's a good hobby?

Anything but boats! They cost too much money, you get sunburned in them, people yell at you for not wearing a PFD, your wife will demand a new gizmo in the kichen every time you buy something for the boat, and worst of all, you will become an iboats forum junkie and end up with 40,000 posts like TD!

 

[gonefishie]

Re: what's a good hobby?

What's better hobby then fishing?

 

[strokeoluck]

Re: what's a good hobby?

Anything but boats!...your wife will demand a new gizmo in the kichen every time you buy something for the boat

I was JUST thinking the same thing. My wife is great, but when we first started talking about the boat I pulled the reverse psychology thing on her to see if the REALLY wanted the boat. She did. Talked about how much fun she had on one as a kid, how inexpensive it would be relative to taking trips (yes, insert your own joke here about the cost of a boat), how much the kids would love it, etc. Then she starts seeing receipts for all the stuff we had to buy: tube, anchor line, anchors, skis, PFD's, trailer set up, etc. Which of course leads to a discussion about blinds needed in the house, new furniture and so on. Now that we're pretty much set on the boat thing I'm sure our next few spare dollars will go towards home "stuff".

Thanks for the replies so far. Depending on what you label as a hobby, I do some of the things you all mention here. I certainly do a wide variety of things w/our kids - including some basic fishing off the dock w/my son (taking him fishing in the boat for the first time this afternoon), deer hunting, boating, bike rides, going to movies, etc. But when I think of a hobby I think of painting, or building fly fishing lures, or carving wood. Maybe I should just resign myself to the fact that I like my life and don't need to squeeze another thing in for the next 3-5 years (the # of years I think our kids will still have an interest in doing things with us). Someone mentioned ATV's and snowmobiles. Funny, I was just talking to the kids about that - we have snowmobile trails about 100 yards from our front door (even though we live in the Twin Cities burbs). My son is all for it; my wife and daughter?...not so much.

 

[sportsmanphil]

Re: what's a good hobby?

I have a few hundred hobbies Im to the point that when I add a new one, I have to get rid of an old one.

The top of my hobby list would be:

Gym rat. Dig working out

Mountain Biking (not the crazy stuff you see on youtube, I dont heal that fast anymore) This is one I do with the kids too.

Hiking. All kinds. Great for pic opportunities and I get to do this with the kids too.

I shoot all kinds of competitions. My fav would be sportingclays but my shooting includes skeet, 5 stand, trap, defensive pistol and once or twice a year I do some long range shooting. My oldest boy has always watched but is now getting into the sport.

Fish.

And most recently I have gotten into RC rockcrawling (kids LOVE it) We have bought 1 kit and have scratch built 2 more. These things are COOL! Youtube 'axial ax10" or 'rc crawler' But we have been into RC stuff for a long while, planes and buggies mostly.

 

[BWR1953]

Re: what's a good hobby?

I've had quite a few hobbies over the years. And I will say that doing family things with the kids was very rewarding. Once the kids are gone though, it changes things a bit.

The 2 hobbies that I did the longest were R/C modeling and fishing. Did the R/C thing for 20 years, but it wasn't really family oriented and when my first daughter was born, I got more into fishing. Both my girls turned out to be excellent anglers. I've been a "serious" angler for over 25 years now. Boating for me was about fishing and sometimes camping. Not really into the tubes and other drag alongs. And one fishing-related hobby I had was making my own lures and jigheads.

Here are a few of the things I've done over the years: Archery, Bicycling, Billiards, Boating, Bodybuilding, Bowling, Camping, Cars, Chess, Computers, Cooking, Dining out, Fishing, Flea markets, Flying (private airplane), Gardening, Gold hunting, Home decorating, Home improvement, Home theater, Horse riding, Karate, Kids, Landscaping, Movies, Motorcycles (Dirt & Street), Pets, R/C models, Rafting, Reading, Rollerblading, RV-ing, Shooting, Sightseeing, Snorkeling, Tennis, Thrift shops, Travel, Tubing, Weekend getaways, Weightlifting.

 

[thurps]

Re: what's a good hobby?

I took up R/C sailplanes for something to do when it's to windy to fish. Start with an EPP (expanded polypropylene) plane because they are just about bullet proof. Go to http://www.rcgroups.com/aircraft-sailplanes-95/ and you can probably find someone in your area to show you around.

 

[axeslinger1957]

Re: what's a good hobby?

Anything but boats! They cost too much money, you get sunburned in them, people yell at you for not wearing a PFD, your wife will demand a new gizmo in the kichen every time you buy something for the boat, and worst of all, you will become an iboats forum junkie and end up with 40,000 posts like TD!

Uh-huh. And this is bad because?

The line between obsession and hobby is often fine indeed. I should know!

 

[IVAZ]

Re: what's a good hobby?

I?m surprised as to how many of us are into the R/C thing. I built my first kit at the age of 15 (Kyosho Outrage). I used to be strictly into cars and trucks. After I started building and flying I lost some interest in land based R/C. I have two boys and they both still enjoy it. What is appealing about it is the relatively low cost. I can do an engine swap for $60-$170. I wish the boat engine was that cheap.

 

[Tim Frank]

Re: what's a good hobby?

Uh-huh. And this is bad because?

The line between obsession and hobby is often fine indeed. I should know!

Give your head a shake....
If your hobby does not become an obsession, you are either not doing it right, or not trying hard enough....

 

[mmccoy555]

Re: what's a good hobby?

I picked up fly tying. Course it makes it more fun if your a fly fisherman. It's easy to do and fun.