{"id":4387,"date":"2021-10-09T23:27:20","date_gmt":"2021-10-10T06:27:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/?p=4387"},"modified":"2021-10-09T23:27:20","modified_gmt":"2021-10-10T06:27:20","slug":"hobbies-im-considering-picking-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/?p=4387","title":{"rendered":"Hobbies I&#8217;m Considering Picking Up"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>I don&#8217;t have a ton of extra time, and yet, I keep pining over a few new creative outlets.  Tonight I&#8217;m going to talk about a few of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Making Keyboards<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I told Melissa in early 2020 that I was thinking about making my own mechanical keyboard.  With Bryanna&#8217;s help, she ordered me a set of keycaps for my birthday.  The pandemic hit, and I spent the summer and fall looking into the different parts I&#8217;d need to complete my first project.  For Christmas, I received all the parts I needed and put it together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are the videos I recorded for the initial process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Christmas Keyboard Construction Pt 1\" width=\"740\" height=\"416\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/IneUWjXzteo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Christmas Keyboard Construction Pt 2\" width=\"740\" height=\"416\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/06dJcdIAdKo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Christmas Keyboard Construction Pt 3\" width=\"740\" height=\"416\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gJOUNuoQ6zc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>These videos were all recorded on Christmas, and I used the keyboard like this for a couple of months.  The main problem was that the switches weren&#8217;t secured to the PCB very well, and sometimes it felt mushy typing, with the keys swimming beneath my fingers.  I wound up hot gluing the switches to the PCB, and that made the entire typing experience much more satisfying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Several people have encouraged me to start some kind of Etsy or something after trying this keyboard.  It is very good, and it was a fun project.  I&#8217;m not sure I want to turn this into a business, but I would like to make more keyboards for friends and family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unlike most of the other hobbies I&#8217;m about to talk about, I&#8217;ve actually made progress on this one.  The only question now is what keyboard will I build next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3D Printing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This hobby is more in support of other hobbies.  I think it would be neat to design and then create tools and gizmos to improve my life.  I also think getting a reasonable 3D printer will help me make some unique keyboards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;ve gone so far as to shop online for different types of printers, but I haven&#8217;t pulled the trigger yet.  I don&#8217;t have a lot of space and I&#8217;m not sure where I&#8217;ll put a new printer.  This might be another one of those things that waits until one or both of the kids move out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If I do get a 3D printer soon, it&#8217;ll help be gateway into the next hobby on my list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">RC Airplanes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;ve become addicted to YouTube videos featuring the assembly and flight of RC airplanes.  I&#8217;m fascinated with the engineering and the craftsmanship involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It just looks like so much fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A lot of the videos I watch involve cutting and folding foam board, gluing components together with hot glue, and a little bit of soldering the electronics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I haven&#8217;t done anything with this hobby yet, other than watch some videos.  I think Chris might be interested in doing something like this with me, and I&#8217;m tempted to look up the prices of motors and controllers, just so I can get an idea of how expensive it might be to get into this hobby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If I acquire a 3D printer, there are quite a few impressive RC plane designs I could download and assemble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Before I get carried away with this one, I need to look up the closest locations where I can fly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Paramotors<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Some of the RC plane videos lead to paramotor videos, and now I&#8217;m hooked on those, too.  In particular, I like watching Tucker Gott&#8217;s videos.  His 1200 mile flight over 5 days was very compelling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As far as this list of potential hobbies is concerned, this is the one I&#8217;m least likely to actually pursue.  It&#8217;s one thing watching POV videos of people strapping a giant fan on their back and taking to the air with a parachute wing.  It&#8217;s another thing actually doing it, especially when I&#8217;m a little uncomfortable with heights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are some paramotor trainers in California, so if I pursue something like this, I&#8217;ll start there.  The cost of equipment is between $8,000 and $12,000, so this is not cheap when compared to the other hobbies on my list.  Also&#8230; I&#8217;m probably not in good enough shape to do this.  I may never be in good enough shape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It looks like a lot of fun, though, and I&#8217;ve always wanted to fly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Making Video Games<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;ve made a little bit of progress on this one.  It&#8217;s the closest hobby to my actual day job, so it&#8217;s probably the most practical on this list.  I know how to program already, and I&#8217;ve studied game design.  I have some experience with Unity, and I have it installed on a couple of my computers.  There&#8217;s really nothing stopping me from doing this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The problem is that it&#8217;s so closely related to my day job, it&#8217;s hard for me to find the energy to put into a project.  The kind of game I want to make involves greater graphical skills than I possess as well.  I might be able to buy assets, or find some assets for free.  There really isn&#8217;t any actual barrier stopping me from making something fun, other than finding the fun in programming the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That&#8217;s the list!  What kind of hobbies have you gotten into recently, and would you recommend them?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I don&#8217;t have a ton of extra time, and yet, I keep pining over a few new creative outlets. Tonight I&#8217;m going to talk about a few of them. Making Keyboards I told Melissa in early 2020 that I was thinking about making my own mechanical keyboard. With Bryanna&#8217;s help, she ordered me a set [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4387"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4387\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4389,"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4387\/revisions\/4389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}