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Ask HN: Hacker Hobbies?

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Re: Ask HN: Hacker Hobbies?

#51

Post by davidw »

buro9 wrote: post #47
davidw wrote: post #33

Cycling. Indeed, I'm having some regrets about beeing at a Startup Weekend and having missed the live coverage of what has proved to be one of the more epic stages at the Giro d'Italia in recent years... sigh . I like to ride, too, but have been sick an awful lot this year, due to our daughter being in nursery school and picking up a nasty array of diseases.

Eurosport online access is just about making not seeing the Giro on big-screen tolerable. It's been epic.

Living in Italy, I get the RAI coverage streamed, just that it didn't work because of whatever network reasons at this place. ARGH.

Re: Ask HN: Hacker Hobbies?

#52

Post by jasonkester »

Rock Climbing, Surfing and Traveling (to do the first two) have always had a higher priority for me than programming computers, which would rank as my 4th hobby that also happens to pay my rent.

I think the fact that most people classify those activities as "hobbies" says a lot about the lives we construct for ourselves: Spend 50 weeks per year doing something unpleasant so that you free up a couple weeks to do something you actually enjoy. If you enjoy your hobby as much as you say, why not find a way to devote at least half your time to it?

Re: Ask HN: Hacker Hobbies?

#54

Post by llimllib »

arohner wrote: post #24

Ultimate Frisbee. It's real good exercise (which hackers need), and there's something peaceful about throwing a frisbee. Plus "reading" the disc (figuring out where it's going to land) is interesting because a disc has a few more degrees of freedom than a ball.

Plus it really takes the edge off my competitive urge which hurts more than helps when I'm programming. It gives me a reason to stay healthy and work out, a large social group both in my city and spread across the whole country, and I found my wife playing ultimate :)

/club ultimate player

Re: Ask HN: Hacker Hobbies?

#57

Post by aoriste »

Gardening. I give my self one computer-free-day each week in which I garden. Working with one's hands instead of one's head provides a much needed relief after a week of programming, designing, and hacking at software. During the winter, cooking and baking fill a similar, but not quite as satisfactory, experience.

The contrast from coding intrinsic to vegetable gardening is especially satisfying - one can sit back and watch the fruits of one's labor manifest themselves. When one codes, one knows that his inactivity results in nothing. Not so with gardening, aside from some maintenance, the initial work constitutes a self-fulfilling promise.

Re: Ask HN: Hacker Hobbies?

#58

Post by rikthevik »

cynicalkane wrote: post #18

I'd like to tout an increasingly rare hobby among younger people (non-retirees): Bridge, the card game. It has a rule structure and that hidden-information element that appeals to nerds, but it forces you to think critically and rationally instead of analytically (usually--opportunities for highly analytical plays pop up), and forces you to be able to relate with another person both at and away from the table, since…

Where I'm from (Saskatchewan, Canada) everyone plays Kaiser, a variant of Bridge. It's hugely popular here, but I guess it's only played by Ukrainians in Saskatchewan, and is completely unheard of outside the province. It's a little frightening when you play someone and they say, "ok, you have the Ace and I take the next 5 tricks."
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