What are your obsessions besides grilling?

Boating, I have a Four Winns Vista 268. Scuba Diving, watching college football. And I am active in my Masonic & Scottish Rite lodges.

Photography (Nikon D300, D200, P510)

Travel (foreign and National Parks)

Sous Vide (new hobby)

Lawn care and landscaping

Vegetable and herb gardening

Large scale poultry rancher

Target shooting

Self Appointed Community Protector (CHL)

Feral cat relocator

Oh yeah.  I forgot wine making.

This

Here are my current obsessions: Cooking, Photography (canon), my 125 gallon Hi-tech planted freshwater aquariums, and now I'm the treasurer for my son's cub scout pack (takes more time than I thought it would). 

Nice setup Botch.

Sigma 10mm-20mm

Sigma 18mm - 50mm

Nikkor 60mm Macro

Nikkor 70mm-200mm

Nikkor 35mm - 105mm

Sigma 500mm

I recently got the Nikon P510 because I'm going to Italy and don't want to lug around several lenses and bodies.  The zoom is incredible on it (optical 24mm-1000mm, VR) and it's 16.1 mp.  The downside is: No external flash (but I made a slave out of my SB800), no RAW shooting, and no filters (polarizing).  I'm not into movies, but it also shoots movies.  I guess it's a quasi-point and shoot, but there isn't any noticeable shutter lag.

VI, this gentleman (who I knew as the Yearbook photog in HS) has recently joined the clan of BGE owners.  I have not yet ID a post by him.

http://suvinophotography.net/

VI, this gentleman (who I knew as the Yearbook photog in HS) has recently joined the clan of BGE owners.  I have not yet ID a post by him.

http://suvinophotography.net/

Excellent photographer !!!  I bet he'll take some great food pics.

Radio, Rock Music and Racing!

I'm sure she'll have it back up and running to it's former glory. 

I built the cabinet.  The structural part is very jointed interlocking 4x4 ceder.  I think we estimated the set up weight at about a ton.

Feral cat relocator

Ha, I live (humanely) trap squirrels and relocate them several miles away in a wildlife area, while my neighbor across the street puts out food for them.

Darned things tear up my garden and flower beds.

I built the cabinet.  The structural part is very jointed interlocking 4x4 ceder.  I think we estimated the set up weight at about a ton.

Yea, my tank is on the cement slab. 

oh and doc: i think it is cool your collection can be played.  amazes me that violins for example are not only still played, but that they don't suffer from it.

about the worst things you can do to a book, in ascending order of horror, are: put it on a shelf, take it OFF the shelf, and (worst) actually open it and read it

Old violins are wonderful.  They seem to take a lighter touch on the neck for the notes.  I have one that is allegedly over a hundred years old, which was obviously a moderate instrument when first sold, and which plays very nicely.  Concertinas of all ages way back into the 1800's are played by many and very prized.  I recently bought a ukulele for my daughter, from the original owner, that goes back to the 1920's.  The most amazing thing is, when compared to her modern ukes, sounds like what we think a uke should sound like.

I was disheartened to see a big display of Stradivarius instruments (from cello to viola to violin) in a glass case at the Smithsonian.  These are meant to be played. 

There's not a lot of things I obsess about, but there are a few that I practice frequently.

I've cooked stuff over fires since I was a kid, but only in the last 10 years have I become "serious" about cooking. Spend about an hour and a half a day, on average.

As an aside to cooking, I've started paying close attention to kitchen cutlery. Not quite a fanatic, but have to breath deeply every now and then when I look at, oh, a paring knife that costs $300.

I've gardened off and on for most of my life. Have a small backyard "boutique" plot. Trying blanched celery for the first time.

Used to hike a lot, but most of my joints give me problems. So now I carve walking sticks to take along when I go out foraging.

Still play some piano, but my fingers have also become rather clumsy, and it is too frustrating to practice much.

Read some history.

Well Kos is no longer at AKA ha. He left before this past fight.

I did Shuri-Te Ju-Jutsu for about 6 months. More traditional and a lot of small joint. I learned 36 variants of the wrist lock alone, tho I remember about 6 ha.

I find krav very interesting. But nothing I'd be willing to train. Beyond wrestling for 15 years or so one reason I like grappling is ability to go 100% without anyone, especially me, getting hurt ha.

You mentioned TKD. This is my fav quote and it's from the great Bas


Bas Rutten: He has a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
Stephen Quadros: Yes, well many of the fighters have a black belt.
Bas Rutten: Yes, but in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu you cant buy your belt like in say, Tae Kwon Do.
Stephen Quadros: Do you have any belts?
Bas Rutten: I have a brown belt in Tae Kwon Do.

just curious - Why wouldn't you be willing to train Krav? (EDIT:  I saw you stated that you liked wrestling & jj over something like Krav for the safety of not getting injured - yeah, I'd say you're right there, when I trained Krav, I saw several knockouts, bloody noses, lips, etc - those freaks train hard core like it's real life, and even w/ padding & helmets, accidents happen).  I dunno, maybe if/when I get back into training, perhaps I'd be too "old" for something so hard core (heck, sometimes I get injured just waking up & getting out of bed)!! hehehe

As far as Bas, yeah, he's a real character - "punch him in the spleen" , " smash his face into the ambience" ... hehe... actually, he trained (trains?) Krav as well, and most of the moves he shows for practical street application (ie, bars, parking lots, etc) are from Krav.  He had a show called "Punk Payback" & 90% of that stuff he was showing on there was Krav. 

Also, didn't mean to make it sound like I was saying TKD wasn't "good" (not trying to get into a "my kung-fu better than your kung-fu" debate), but was just saying that the very old, very traditional, very "rigid" styles from THOUSANDS of years ago were developed at a time in history where things were MUCH different, and as such, the fighting was different.  The spinning high kicks were originally developed for knocking people off of horses (as I said in another post, I'm also a "student" of MA, meaning, I like to read & study about different styles, about styles in different countries, and how they came to be - that's how I got into Escrima because my GF is Filippina & that was developed in the Philippines). 

Anyway, the more "modern" styles (Krav, Jeet Kune Do) are a "hybrid" of many different styles, and also concentrate on weapon defense (guns, knives, etc) and quick, efficient moves that are more geared toward modern street applications.  That's not to say one is better than the other, but just "different" - even Dana White has stated that he feels that Bruce Lee "invented" modern MMA...

Also, Bruce Lee stated that most of the moves he put into his movies weren't very "practical" but he did it because they looked "good" on film, they were very exaggerated, but that in real life he'd never throw a high kick (for one, it takes too much time & energy, and for 2, it is more easily noticeable & intercepted by your opponent - actually, I shouldn't say "never" cuz he believed in using whatever move(s) worked for the application).  His philosophy was "economy of motion", and to attack while being attacked (simultaneous offense & defense - that is INCREDIBLY similar to Krav Maga).  After all, that's what "Jeet Kune Do" means is "the way of the intercepting fist"

And now that my history rambling is done... back to the regularly scheduled programming

Shame on me for forgetting this.  I have well over 5K on this one.

Catrike Road.