Hobbies in ER

[haha]

No-one's mentioned cars yet.....

Peter

Alfa Romeo Spyder Veloce? Late 60s?

Beautiful car in any case!

Ha

 

[Peter]

Alfa Romeo Spyder Veloce? Late 60s?

Beautiful car in any case!

Thanks Ha. You're close on the i/d; right era, right country. It's a 1969 Lancia Fulvia coupe.

Peter

 

[macnjus]

That looks like a Lancia, is it a 1971 ?

I lived in Geneva Switzerland for 2 years growing up, and became a huge Eropean car buff then. The Geneva auto show is the best !

Edit : Whoops - just saw the post above mine, I didn't see it before I made my post though, honest !

 

[TromboneAl]

Hey, I'd say that's a 1969 Lancia Fulvia coupe. Yes?

 

[HobbyDave]

Man, the perfect topic, if only I'd kept my website up a little longer I started a website for retirement hobbies not long after I started reading this site, but I never ended up posting enough content, so I ended up discontinuing it.

Here's a quick list of somewhat cheap hobbies people may want to try in retirement:

1. Scuba Diving (ongoing costs are fairly low if you're diving locally, mostly just air refills and entry fees. Even cold places have quarries they can dive in. If you have a divemaster or instructor certification, a school will pay your air & entry fees if you'll help them out with students, which some people enjoy)

2. Making websites / programs (once you have a computer, your cost is just your time for the most part, plus maybe a couple bucks a month for a domain)

3. Investment research (if you're already investing in stocks, you can burn a lot of time researching them)

4. Sailing (a couple thousand will buy you a very nice boat, and if you're near any decently sized body of water, this could be a practically free hobby)

5. Martial arts (Last I checked, it cost about $1500 at the local Hapkido academy for 1 year of classes, 3 days per week. Another $500 or so allowed you to go every day for a few hours. It can be quite a workout, and you can meet some neat people. There were 75 year old people in the class, along with 12 year olds.)

6. Painting / sculpture (Most artists are known to be poor, so it must not cost too much. Time is the largest cost in general)

7. Bonsai (With a book or two, the only cost is 30 bucks for a plant from home depot. You can get a few, and it can be quite an involved hobby. You'll be constantly looking for new pots to put cuttings into, and always looking at the root structure of dysfunctional plants at home garden centers)

8. Writing (A writing tool such as an AlphaSmart can be found for $200 or so, or you can just use notepaper, or a home computer.)

9. Learning a new language (books, audio tapes, classes. Libraries can provide a lot of good materials)

10. Learning an instrument (purchase a guitar for instance for a couple hundred dollars, and there are DVDs to be bought that will teach the basics. There are tabs found online for almost any song, and books are widely available at libraries with songs in them as well)

Anyway, listing hobbies is a hobby of mine, and I'm not retired yet *sigh*

 

[Khan]

I went to a retirement luncheon last week. One of the retirees is taking violin lessons (he already plays and teaches guitar).

 

[TromboneAl]

My hobby has been playing jazz piano and trombone, and DW's hobby is knitting. For years we've filled out schedule C's for these, with a guaranteed loss of $500 to $1,000 each year.

I don't know what went wrong, but this year we'll each make a small profit.*

*[Edit]Oops, hadn't yet figured in the driving costs. No profit for me this year, though DW still made a little.

 

[lowflyer]

How about learning to fly?

 

[donheff]

How about learning to fly?

I always thought I would like to learn to fly so I went up to the Fort Meade Flying club shortly after I retired and took an introductory lesson. It was fun but I realized that it didn't make sense for me. The DC area is highly restricted now so there are limited areas to fly in. But what really set me back was the realization that I would probably have no one to fly with. Unless you travel a lot to locations you can take a small plane to who will go up with you? Everyone will want to go once or twice but after that they will beg off -- it just isn't that thrilling for a passenger. So you get to fly around by yourself

For those who have always thought they would like it, I recommend an introductory lesson - it doesn't cost much and it is fun. As to the lessons, you need to figure out if you have a practical use for flying or if you really love it enough to go up by yourself frequently with no destination in mind.

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

I always thought I would like to learn to fly so I went up to the Fort Meade Flying club shortly after I retired and took an introductory lesson.... Unless you travel a lot to locations you can take a small plane to who will go up with you? Everyone will want to go once or twice but after that they will beg off -- it just isn't that thrilling for a passenger. So you get to fly around by yourself

I got my pilot license when I was about 40. I absolutely loved it. The usual "reason" to fly was to spend $80 on a hamburger at some small airport a couple hundred miles away, then come home. Oh - that $80 included rental fees and fuel.

Work and weather combined to prevent me from flying enough to stay safe, so I gave it up reluctantly. When I FIRE, I suspect the expense will give me pause as to picking it back up again.

 

[BOBOT]

Rich-
Similar experience here. PPL about 40, went on to get my instrument rating & complex sign-off. I was partner in a 172 with 3 others of similar experience, so finding someone to fly with was no problem (Rich- only $80 for the burger trip). Plus there were always airport bums laying about eager to go up. I think I probably took half the people from work up at one time or another.

DW & I made a number of memorable trips (she suffered from motion sickness, but still developed into a pretty good navigator). From home base CHO to as far south as Hilton HEad, west to my home town in Ohio & on to Chicago area. Flying over Meigs was a thrill on that trip, as was being routed over JFK on another. Up & down the East coast including northern Vermont & most of Maine. Taking off from Eastport , ME, actually nicked the Canadian border . Took float plane lessons at Moosehead Lake - where there was a DC3 on floats!

Many, many great memories. Traveling in France, stopped by an "aerodrome" on a rainy Saturday - same familiar scene, pilots & airport bums hanging around swapping lies. When they approached us & found out I was a "pilot americaine", they greeted me like a visiting dignitary, sat us down to coffees, & we got around the language problem well enough to feel comfortable. The clouds parted, & Stephan said - "Let's go flying!" So four of us piled into a beautiful Robin - low wing with bubble canopy, stick - & flew around the beautiful countryside near Besancon. Stephan graciously let me have the stick for a while. I have a picture in front of me now from that day, DW & me (man we were young then!), Stephan & his GF, in front of the plane.

Sadly, those days are probably gone. Sold the plane after 9/11, insurance, maintainance costs & onerous regulation creep being the main reasons. But not a day goes by that I don't think of those times, & what a joy the whole immersion into aviation brought to my life.

Bottom line advice - if you've wanted to do it, & can afford the time commitment & $$$, go ahead & do it. It's a very satisfying thing to master something like that.

Sorry for the hijack & long rambling post, but you pushed my button.


edited 12/21 1035 Rich for Don

 

[LeatherneckPA]

Hmmm, I haven't seen one of my favs listed. Woodworking. Over the years I've developed a fully stocked shop with all the major tools, and sufficent skill to have sold several pieces.

My ER plan is to "go back in time" and teach myself the "old hand ways". Less noise, less dust, and more relaxing, I hope. And after all, time will be meaningless then.

Oh yeah, and I plan to build myself a sailboat for my wife and I.

"Iron" Mike

 

[lowflyer]

Bottom line advice - if you've wanted to do it, & can afford the time commitment & $$$, go ahead & do it. It's a very satisfying thing to master something like that.

edited 12/21 1035 Rich for Don

Interesting to read the responses. Flying is expensive, but also very satisfying and rewarding. The idea of getting a demo flight is good, but unfortunately, it's probably a bad idea to make a full decision about starting to fly based solely on one demo flight. I'd suggest a few lessons before you make a final decision.

Regarding the $80 hamburger trip...I hate to burst your bubble, but $80 won't quite make it anymore. Unless, of course, the burger restaurant is at your home airport and all you do is a few touch and go's before lunch!

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

Regarding the $80 hamburger trip...I hate to burst your bubble, but $80 won't quite make it anymore. Unless, of course, the burger restaurant is at your home airport and all you do is a few touch and go's before lunch!

Yup. It was a beat up old Beech Skipper, or maybe a 152. $44 per hour, wet. MKE to Janesville, best burger and apple pie around. Lots of stories, all good.

 

[scrinch]

Similar story...got my private license back in the 80's while in my 20's. But work, home, family, and $ made me give it up after a while. I had planned to build my own plane at some point, but it turns out that just about no life insurance will cover you while flying a homebuilt plane. Now gardening-woodworking-basketball-soccer-etc keep me busy and satisfied, so I'll probably never take up flying again. But it was fun, and a great challenge to maintain mental discipline in the air.

 

[sailor]

Regarding the $80 hamburger trip...I hate to burst your bubble, but $80 won't quite make it anymore. Unless, of course, the burger restaurant is at your home airport and all you do is a few touch and go's before lunch!

Hey,
some of us are LBYM pilots
For $80 I can fly to and back to more than 20 food establishments from my airport (LZU).
Our PA-20 burns about 6 gph of MoGas. Cessna 140 was even better - was around 4gph (also MoGas STC)

 

[Shredder]

Hobbies? well there's the biking, bought a recumbent bike, along with a mountain bike. Home repair, always there when you have time, and feel the urge. And the yard work. The garden, and canning. Making home made beer and wine. Going to the gym several times per week. Fishing for walleyes, blue gills, ect. Fly fishing, tying flys, Cut will tell you it really is a seperate sport. Camping. Travelling. Hunting. Keeping up with too many internet forums. Walking the dog. Hiking. Doing maintence on the vehicles. Helping neighbors with various projects. Cooking and cleaning since my wife still works. Doing the taxes, keeping up on our finances. Reading. Keeping track of & helping of my 83 yr old mom. Can't figure out how I had time to work. The best part is I do it all at my pace, when and if I want..............Shredder

 

[Dawg52]

Ok folks, you have failed to mention the most obvious hobby of then all. Golf. I know there are some golfers on here.

 

[donheff]

Ok folks, you have failed to mention the most obvious hobby of then all. Golf. I know there are some golfers on here.

I would expect you to say that golf is not a hobby, its a life.

 

[Jarhead*]

I would expect you to say that golf is not a hobby, its a life.

Donheff: I recently cut back my tournament schedule, and
reactivated my PGA card, and have been giving lessons two times a
week.

A plaque above my desk reads, "Working hard enough on the
range to allow you to play with a single didget handicap is
not a matter of life and death, it's much more important than
that!"

Yep, hobby doesn't quite cover it.

 

[Dawg52]

I would expect you to say that golf is not a hobby, its a life.

True. For me in retirement it will be a major portion of my life. But for some, it will be a much smaller part, therefore a hobby to those.

Jar, I bet you are having a lot of fun with that. Imagine, getting paid for doing something you love.

 

[Jarhead*]

True. For me in retirement it will be a major portion of my life. But for some, it will be a much smaller part, therefore a hobby to those.

Jar, I bet you are having a lot of fun with that. Imagine, getting paid for doing something you love.

Dog: Golf has kept me on the unemployment roles for the
last 20 years. (I never gave a second thought about what I
was going to do when I retired).

I'm sure that you will have a much lower handicap in the next few
years than you currently carry. You'll have the time to really get in
some range work, and it will definantly add to your pleasure of the
game.

Good luck, and have a great time in your retirement.

Regards, Jarhead

 

[SlowTwitcher]

Run Forrest Run!
A few hundred bucks a year for some quality shoes and you have a bonafide time-filling, first-class exercise program. Bonus, you get to eat guilt-free and I guarantee you'll have some of the best naps of your life!

 

[JonnyM]

First and foremost. Creating Music. I started at nine, and have been playing off and on for 42 years. No gigs anymore ala T-Al, but I do get together with like minded (and coincidentaly aged) friends for a 4 hour Jam most Friday nights way out in the sticks (Drummer's House) where we can make unlimited noise at high enough volume to really feel the music.

Never even comes close to not being FUN! : 8)

 

[Nords]

I'm not looking for a job or a new hobby, but here's a timely MSN article: "Extreme Hobbies"

You know your model rocket has hit the big time when you start getting calls from the the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, & Explosives... and I appreciate the humor of the guy who built the projectile launcher named "Second Amendment".