[–] bobroland 0 points 5 points 5 points (+5|-0) ago
Best hobby I ever took up was brewing my own beer. Ten years later I now work as a distiller, bringing with me the knowledge I gained from making beer. I owe my current job to picking up that fifty bucks worth of equipment.
I try something new each year. This year it's guitar. I'm pretty terrible, but it keeps my mind active.
Last year it was sailing.
[–] 3xtensions 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
This is really cool. I've always wanted to get into homebrewing. Making my own mead has always intrested me but the thing that has put me off is space. I live in am apartment and don't think I have the space for it. Is there a pro tip to minimize the space cost in home brewing?
[–] the-tinkerer 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
That's awesome that you were able to turn a hobby into a career!! My wife and I love homebrewing but don't do it nearly enough! I REALLY wanna try home distilling..... There's just that whole legal issue..... LoL! A friend and fellow homebrewer checked laws in our area and found out you are allowed to distill for fuel purposes (if you have a car that runs on ethanol) so I think we found the loophole! HAHA
The legal aspect is tough. Honestly, you're not the first to think of the fuel loophole. If you do, however, you may get a visit by the Feds. They often visit mail order stills. Truth is most people just build their own stills and operate them in the privacy of their homes in the age old shine tradition of evading the law.
[–] SteelKidney 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
Ten years later I now work as a distiller, bringing with me the knowledge I gained from making beer.
This is kind of where I'd like to go, only with wine making. But then I took a trip to Napa Valley and found out just how much there is to learn. It's a daunting task, but one I think is worth exploring.
And the problem is that you really can't learn in a classroom. It's years and years of actual practice. I must have made 10,000 gallons of beer before I could say I really had it down. Key is to do the "boring" testing, and keep insane records.
I never developed the taste buds for wine making. There's a number of places where you can order the grape juice the wineries use. Good chance to compare your results to theirs!
[–] iwasnotshadowbanned 0 points 3 points 3 points (+3|-0) ago
I juggle.
[–] NullVoxPopuli [S] ago
I wish I could figure that out.
[–] iwasnotshadowbanned 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
[–] PM_me_your_chalupas 0 points 3 points 3 points (+3|-0) ago
Coin collecting which is a great blend of history and art.
[–] Greyseeker 0 points 2 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago (edited ago)
Over my life time;
1984, VIC 20 programming, parents thought it was a waste of time computers won't take off, 12 years old make boring games.
1986 - 1999, anything to do with cars, fixed up or upgraded my cars, car stereo suspension major and minor repairs.
2000 - 2002 3D graphics design (GMAX) and HTML
2003 - 2008 Blogging, EBay selling (Made $1200 profit) not much.
2009 - 2013 online Forum 7meditations.com (now just a blog I restart each year)
2012 Web Dev, HTML 4, CSS, PHP, java script, though HTML CSS I had used for years I decided to learn more.
2013 Psychology, followed lectures from universities from around the world, Python programming, Took a short course in furniture making still yet to mmake something for home.
2014 - now Decided to get an education in psychology not much time for hobbies. :/ though did get a raspberry pi and set an in home NAS server.
[–] ChocolatesBetter 0 points 2 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago
Mountain biking (equal parts exercise and hobby :-)) Home brewing beer.
They both can be so damn expensive...
[–] the-tinkerer 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
They sure can!! I love both but don't do either as much as I wish I did!!
[–] ChocolatesBetter ago
Tuesdays and Thursdays are my cardio days, and weather permitting I mountain bike as my cardio. Brewing just doesn't get done as much as I'd like for it too
[–] NullVoxPopuli [S] 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
Seems like any hobby worthwhile tends to be pretty expensive. Either in actual money, time or both :-)
[–] bill.lee 0 points 2 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago
I'm really into records and used to collect those with some regularity when money allowed it. I kind of went through various stages. Initially, I just want about trying to get stuff from the San Fransisco sound around the late-60s. Then I became really interested blues and jazz records. Finally, I just started taking a lot of joy in digging through bins and finding really odd things that seemed interesting.
[–] Danbear 0 points 7 points 7 points (+7|-0) ago
Every year I pick a new topic and try to learn it. Sort of like a new years resolution.
2013 I decided I wanted to learn Japanese. After about 2 months of it I realized that was way too ambitious and I changed it to another language, Python. I taught myself Python and started writing my own game in python. By the end of the year my game had over 5000 lines of code and was a total fucking mess, but 2 levels played great.
In 2014 I decided to learn Unity a 3d game engine. I had to learn Javascript and some C# to really do it well. I started off by remaking parts of my python game, and then went on to make 3 or 4 prototype projects that never went anywhere. I discovered real quick that I needed art assets and I'm a horrible artist. So I decided to learn a 3D modeler program to help with assets. I picked up Blender and got pretty decent at it, at least in making assets.
In 2015 I jumped projects and got a Raspberry Pi. Then I got some small electronic bits and pieces and taught myself basic electronics. The plan was to make a Lego robot with my daughter this year. That project has lost steam as I'm still short about $150 worth of parts and have absolutely no free money. We still play with LEDs a lot however. I hope to pick the robot idea back up by the end of the year, if not next year.
[–] mrskeletaldootdoot 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
Hey I might be able to help you out (or point you to some resources) What do you need?
[–] Danbear ago (edited ago)
I was looking at Adafruit's Servo Pi hat. Then I was wanting to get about 4 of their Servos with the built in potentiometer.
I was also weighing my options and trying to decide on going with the Adafruit Stepper Motor hat or to just wire my own cheap hobby motors. I'd like to have the Steppers for future projects. (Eventually want to try and make a digitally controlled router table, or small CNC mill, but that is way way way down the line.)
The two Pi Hats and parts were around $50. Then another $50 - $100 in servos and motors, depending on how the project planned out.
Ada's Servos
Ada's Servo Pi Hat
Ada's Stepper Hat
That website is addictive.
[–] the-tinkerer ago
That's an awesome thing to do! I love learning new things but never have any order or plan to things! I may have to try this!! I was given a Raspberry Pi last Christmas because I talked peoples ear off about them, but I haven't had the funds to even set it up let alone think of a project to do with it!!
[–] Danbear 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
There is a ton of cool things you can do.
Step 1) Learn Python. Python is very easy to learn and its pretty damn versatile (Reddit was written in Python) as a programming language. Learning Python will give you access to write your own code to control the GPIO pins on the RPi.
Step 2) Visit your local electronic parts store and stock up on basic parts. Get LEDs of all sorts, get resistors of all sizes (I got a bag of 300 of various types for about $8), get capacitors of all sizes, get at least 2 (4 is fun) of Shift Registers, get a few 555 timer chips, be sure to get a nice bread board or two, or get a kit like this one (but that is for the A model RPi and its documentation is total shit, still has a lot of good parts, I got it).
Step 3) setup your Pi to properly allow you to access the GPIO in Python (going to need to update some stuff) there are plenty of tutorials online for that.
Step 4) pick a tutorial and run with it.
Some of the stuff my daughter and I did:
We made a helicopter (on a tether) that you could push a button turn on or off. (worked too well then the motor burned out, I forgot to put a diode to prevent back current from the motor, lesson learned, was a cheapo $0.50 hobby motor)
We made a lego traffic light that you could control through Python. We set it up to auto cycle, then at a button push change to pressure sensitive (simple switch the car would bump) to activate the cycle (so if a car was present it would start the light cycle, then wait when over until switch was activated)
We made a scrolling LCD that displayed anything you wanted. I had thoughts of loading in the Voat API and having it read off SCP/CCP totals, but never got around to it.
All kinds of cool stuff. But damn do I want to make a lego robot.