What do you do away from work? PART 2

[Keith Browning]

A few years ago Greg H started a topic: "What do you do away from work?" which was interesting to learn what other members do on "their time." Since we have some new members I thought we might have a part 2 and catch up!

[Keith Browning]

I am still enjoying the experience of fatherhood watching my little girls grow up.

 

I still haven't gotten far with my house as far as updating "stuff" but I did just set my horseshoe stakes in concrete. It sucks when you toss a ringer and the stake is loose enough to bounce the horseshoe out of the box!

 

We keep a freshwater aquarium. I recently discovered what looks like eggs all over the riser to one of my power heads and both of my angel fish are being very protective of the deposit. Long time ago we had a pair of mollies mate which resulted in fry. Mollies are live-bearing fish meaning they don't lay eggs. If any of these eggs survive and actually hatch it will be neat for our girls to watch. We shall see what comes of this.

 

I also have become an RC aviator. I just bought my first RC helicopter. I know, I should have picked something hard to learn to fly right? And I thought my profession was stressful!

 

And since last summer's camping trip with the girls went so well we are going again. This time my brother and sister will be joining us with their kids. I hope all of the cousins enjoy this trip. It could be a wonderful memory for them and perhaps the start of many more trips together. Funny how we seem to see family more importantly as we get older.

[Brad Clayton]

It seems that I am never away from work. During the summer I end up using my free time riding my motorcycle. My family is all growed up for the most part and everyone is drifting off in their own direction. My wife digs kayaks and I am thinking about getting a set so we can spend time more time together. There are a ton of places in Vermont to take advantage of both activities.

[Fredsvt]

I do anything to keep me away from working on vehicles unless they're family.

 

I'm pretty lame though.

 

Cycling, I try for at least 150 to 200 miles a week. Got 2 road bikes, just started using my carbon bike recently.

 

Going out working in the yard. Somehow gardening has become quite calming. Never thought I'd be interested in it, but I have.

[clint80]

Besides being addicted to work, my time is spent with my wife and 2 year old daughter. A 2 year-old can keep you pretty busy. I have been into extreme sports my whole life. So when I do get free time I race my atv at the motocross track or rollerblade at the local skatepark. I have aflac and really good insurance!

[Mbl35]

When ever im not asleep or spending time with my daughter i get on the mountain bike trails. I am also looking at surf boards rite now.

Hopefully over the summer i could squeeze in the energy to learn to surf. Also i salt water fish from time to time.

[kellyf]

I drink heavily.It doesn't ease the pain,but I do it anyway.Anybody else out there work for autonation Dealer.If you do,I feel your pain!

[Shlep]

I spend most of my awake time at work, when I'm not I plan on being out enjoying my 5th wheel with my dog, seeing as the kids are grown up (well as least they think so)and are starting to find things tehy like to do.

[GregKneupper]

The wife and I just recently bought a new house. Well, not really new. I have been spending my time remodeling the home and doing tons of yard work. The yard is huge and the landscaping is way more than I have ever handled before. Turns out I actually enjoy doing all this stuff wasy more than I like being at work. It actually calms me down and I really enjoy the weekends just hanging around the house fixing things. But we also get away at times. We go on vacation somewhere out of the state at least once a year.

[Jim Warman]

I'm preparing to be a grandpa... a real one...

 

Of course there's the three year renovation project I started 5 years ago...

 

I don't spend enough time with my loving bride of nearly 40 years nor my motorcycle...

[jw33]

Have 2 boys 5 & 3, spend every weekend camping and boating, thinking about buying a pontoon, wife doesnt enjoy 50 mph like i do

[Aaron]

DRAG RACING

 

And as of late, fixing the tornado damage to my house.

[cbriggs]

I am putting the finishing touches on the house I built over the past 3 years, have a 16 month old son, and I'm getting married in about 3 weeks. Enjoy camping, fishing, boating and quading in the summer and mountain snowmobiling in the winter. I also like to build and work on hot rods and classic cars, I just finished building a 475 hp 383 and installing it in a 67 chevy half ton for a buddy of mine.

[Bruce Amacker]

Mostly playing with classic cars and going to car shows. I have a '69 Karmann Ghia and a '63 Vette split window, both restored and both driven regularly. My wife is a retired school teacher so we have time to travel and play, she spends the majority of her time hanging out with her family and shopping. Most of my work time is spent at the computer writing programs and running the business, as Anthony teaches almost all of the classes these days.

 

[LARRY BRUDZYNSKI]

My turn......As most of you know I have a new son that I never knew I had as well a another son and a daughter. I have recently become a grandfather for the second time with my son Sean. I have been trying to play catch up with Sean but at times I seem to be lost. It's tough for me because I usually know how to handle most situations but this is way different for me. It's great to be able to interact with Sean but I really feel like I was robbed of a lot of our lives together. Thanks to my EX(BITCH). Of who also turned my other 2 kids against me. Cheryl told me when I filed for divorce in 1999 that she would make my kids hate me and I would never see them again, it took a while but she succeded. It has been almost 4 years since I have seen or talked to them. Sucks but I have to go on. Eventually they will come knocking on my door......

As for work.....REALLY REALLY BUSY.....Our website has taken off and I get calls and emails from all over the world, literally.

I also have been recruiting for the DTS. Keith a guy named Duane from Proactive Repair will be registering probably this week. He is a really good mechanic and should have something to add here. He will need some help with the 6.0 but is really well versed on the 7.3's.

I could go on being the fact I have been scarce lately but will cut it short.....

Aaron good luck with the Storm repairs. Call me if you need my help......

[Aaron]

Will have pics up tonight

[GregH]

I went back and re-read the old post - I was surprised to see how similar and different me and my family are to how we were then.

 

We are still into astronomy. Our planned vacation this year included verifying that we will be in darker skies than we have here, and we'll be going when the moon is not full.

 

My daughter wanted to spend her allowance on buying some plants a few months ago. We said sure, and she selected a watermelon plant, a jalapeno plant, some sugar snap peas, a blackberry and a blueberry bush. This has sparked an interest in gardening with us, and we're going to section off part of our property to make a real garden. We're even starting to compost kitchen scraps in preperation for it.

 

My little one is going into second grade next year - hard to believe she's growing so fast. She's entering the gifted program.

 

We've mostly completed our game room in the garage. I refelted the pool table, and the dart board and stereo are up. I'll still need to come up with a curtain of some sort to protect my mustang from any errant pool balls that get shot off the table... And I'll be starting on a MAME machine (multiple arcade machine emulator) soon - one of my coworkers has a warehouse full of old arcade machines, and she's selling me one.

 

The activities are a little different... But the underlying theme is the same - spending time with my family...

 

Thanks, Keith, for reviving this topic.

[FordTechCA]

hmm away from work. well i dont do anything car related. besides spend my time with the wife and kids, ive been spending the last 2.5 years taking night courses at the local college trying to work my way out of this profession and into the world of IT. so far ive been focusing on OS support and networking in the world of cisco network equipment. just recently took my first microsoft certification test and passed. so along with being a Ford Senior Master, im now a MCP, Microsoft Certified Professional. hopefully after a few more certs ill be ready to leave the world of auto repair behind and start a new life in the IT world

[vloney]

Still the same www.vincesart.com

[LARRY BRUDZYNSKI]

Adam, Very cool. Ordinary Joe list. #1 Row 1, 4 to right fireman very cool. #2 Row 2, 3 to right, pic of Gym, maybe Gym could use it as his new Avatar. Just Kidding..... Very Cool. Interested in sending out prints. I really like the buildings. Nice addition to the site.

[Jim Warman]

Actually, there's been more than once I could tell you exactly what the firefighter is feeling...

[vloney]

The roughest thing on that firefighter picture to draw was the trash around his feet. All of the angles and different shadows. Its in my son in laws house now. He used to be FDNY (his firehouse was 2 blocks away from the world trade center).

[vloney]

Heres the newest one.

[Gary_P]

WOW!! thats nice!!

 

well, I tried my hand at contracting overseas.....Money was good, but not worth being away from my family, So....I returned to my old job at the Dealership and couldn't be happier.

 

so what do I do with "My time?" well, in the 8 months I was away, my wife has redone damn near everything in the house, so my "honey-do" list is quite large. I have discovered the pleasures of a water garden and will be farting around in the backyard with that for the next dozen weekends. finishing up a huge addition to the deck this weekend so out door work is really what I have been focussing on. It sure beats a rocket attack at 4 in the morning by far......

 

Gary

[DamageINC]

Outside of work, my biggest time-sucker is my band. I play guitar in a heavy rock project called "Inn Cinema" out of Chicago, all-original music. Have TONS of fun with it, play a lot of shows and always making new fans.

 

Give us a listen if you haven't already, we've got a few tracks fom our CD for listen on our website:

 

www.inncinemamusic.com

 

You can also check us out on myspace and facebook of you kids do that kinda thing

 

Dave