What Is Your Other Main Hobby Besides Audio?

halo

verb wrote: »

Very impressive Vic! Gotta post some pics!

Thanks Dave!

Not too many pictures to post as videos make up the bulk of what was captured that day. Here are a few pics:

My lovely and supportive wife just before the competition started:

One of my awesome CrossFit coaches (my main coach for this event):

Getting some last minute advice before starting the 2nd cycle/round of exercises (400M push + 25 wall balls + 400M push + 25 wall balls)

Chilling between rounds 2 and 3 (literally as I'm using a cooling sleeve from the ice filled cooler to keep my golfer's elbow in check):

Team photo of 4 of the adaptive athletes from our program who attended the event along with our coaches at the conclusion of the competition:

maxward

@halo Great photos! Looks like you were having a good time.

maxward

I have been roasting my own coffee for about 10 years. Started with a hot air (fluid bed) roaster that did about 4 ounces per batch. Then moved up to a Behmor drum roaster that can do up to a pound. I also co-own a bigger drum system that is adapted to my gas Weber grill. It can theoretically do 8-pound batches, but we typically do 5 to 6 pounds at a time every 3 to four weeks. No stale coffee around here.

kevhed72

maxward wrote: »

I have been roasting my own coffee for about 10 years. Started with a hot air (fluid bed) roaster that did about 4 ounces per batch. Then moved up to a Behmor drum roaster that can do up to a pound. I also co-own a bigger drum system that is adapted to my gas Weber grill. It can theoretically do 8-pound batches, but we typically do 5 to 6 pounds at a time every 3 to four weeks. No stale coffee around here.

Do you sell any of these coffee beans? We have turned into coffee snobs over the years and this sounds interesting....

heiney9

Beer, mostly various Barrel aged stouts, barley wines, porters, meads, quads, scotch ales, etc. It gets expensive quickly as each new limited run that I find, I have to buy. Most of it will age nicely for a year or two or more. So I'm socking it away much like I do (did) with tubes. Probably have close to 100 bottles of different varieties, many being 4/pks, some being singles.

Nothing too exotic, mostly stuff I can get around here. New Holland's Dragon's Milk variants being one of my favorites. Not huge beer fan overall, but these hearty barrel aged beers, milk stouts, porters and barely wines are nice to sit down and sip. They have so many dimensions of flavors to enjoy. Not an IPA guy at all, but I will say some of the milkshake IPA's can be pretty tasty.

Never been one to sit down and drink a 6/pk or Miller Lite or Coors light, etc. But I done enjoy a well done aged stout or that style on a regular basis.

Last night had a 10oz snifter of Tyranena Brewer's Gone Wild Series - Carnal Knowledge Double Oatmeal Stout

https://tyranena.com/wordpress2/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Carnal-Knowledge.jpg

and Stone Woot Stout

and Pipeworks - PB&J Jones Dog milk stout

The Bruery - 11 Pipers Piping.

H9

heiney9

In fact I've gotten so many varieties of beer "aging" in the seller (cool dark basement). I've now gotten an app on my phone to track inventory and release year so I don't duplicate.

We opened a regular Dragon's Milk the other night that has been in the basement for 2 years.....that was a bit better than the stuff bottled last month.....lol. Also found a 4 year old Scotch Ale I didn't know I still had and that was superb after sitting for 4 years. The depth and intensity was much improved.

H9

tonyb

Now if they found a way to put beer in tubes for audio, Brock might die from the endless org-asm he'd have.

heiney9

tonyb wrote: »

Now if they found a way to put beer in tubes for audio, Brock might die from the endless org-asm he'd have.

Oh mannnn…………...that would be awesome!

I do have to dial it back on the beer hoarding. So many great little breweries in the suburbs. Many of them brewing excellent small batch stuff. I'm like a kid in a candy store. My GF has to reign me in or I'll over spend like crazy!! Lol.

H9

heiney9

We are going up to Central Waters Brewery in Amherst WI in October for their annual beer festival and they are releasing - Black Gold, a Russian imperial stout aged for 3 years in bourbon barrels. You have to purchase a ticket a head of time to even have the opportunity to buy a bottle. With said ticket you can buy up to 5 (bomber sized) bottles for $20 each.

So I'm looking forward to that, as Central Waters Brewers Reserve series is among my favorites.

H9

verb

@halo Vic nice pics! Looks like you had a great time! I'm kinda feeling it too, wish my brother was in the same place you are. I talk to him and pray for him everyday.

And BTW Vic, dude you got some guns!

Clipdat

You're a **** badass, Victor.

Milito

marvda1 wrote: »

Battle of the minds.

Use to play a lot in college my first few years. I always loved playing, but haven't played in a long while.

Clipdat

I'm too goddamn dumb for chess.

joecoulson

halo

verb wrote: »

@halo Vic nice pics! Looks like you had a great time! I'm kinda feeling it too, wish my brother was in the same place you are. I talk to him and pray for him everyday.

And BTW Vic, dude you got some guns!

Thanks for the kind words Dave. I'm working very hard at this and I'm relatively new to it (only started CrossFit last year). Being surrounded by great people who are very supportive helps a lot. If you recall, I had an exacerbation last May and things were really difficult. It took a while to come back from that and it hasn't been easy any step of the way but I am very grateful for the abilities I have. I know that what I do/am able to do doesn't apply to most of the people out there living with MS. I hope your brother gets better soon, I really do. I do the best I can and that's really all I can do. If I leave everything on the table, every day, I can't look back on things and have regrets. No one is perfect and there's no such thing as "normal." We're all living with something that is less than ideal in our lives.

halo

Clipdat wrote: »

You're a **** badass, Victor.

Thanks Drew, I appreciate that I'm just doing my thing brother.

indyhawg

Congrats Victor. Nice tat also.

maxward

Seconded. Looks like two nice tats.

@kevhed72 I have not considered selling coffee. My little one-pound roaster isn’t designed for heavy-duty use. The bigger one is too much like flying by the seat of one’s pants to be a serious roaster. If it weren’t for the fun of getting together with some friends on a regular basis, I’d probably sell my share of it. It’s impossible to see or sample beans during a roast. Temperature monitoring is not ideal and the audible cues, first and second cracks, are harder to hear than with other roasters.

verb

I've always been fascinated with Astronomy. In fact, growing up, I was headed toward a career in that direction. Reality set in, realizing that most astronomers are either unemployed while waiting for a government grant, or working alternative jobs.

So I decided to pursue aerospace. But still fascinated with it, I keep it as one of my hobbies. I've built many telescopes, from refracting spotting scopes made from projection screen TV lens assemblies, to Newtonian reflectors.

Edmund scientific would sell a lot of the optics kits back in the day!

My pride and joy, Celestron CPC-1100 Schmidt Cassegrain! 11" primary mirror, and GPS enabled focusing ability! I just wish I had more free time to enjoy it.

mhardy6647

We've got a fast 6" Newtoninan on an old-school (no computers!) equatorial mount down in the basement.

I've also got a cheap little Orion Schmidt Cassegrain camera lens/scope that occasionally gets pressed into service

DSC_9459 (2) by Mark Hardy, on Flickr
Note my bespoke, carefully crafted aperture reduction device for viewing solar eclipses.

Light pollution is something a factor even here in mid-nowhere (if we were but 30 miles further north, skies are dark according to the websites that track such things) -- but we do get some dark skies sometimes. Last night was what I call a Milky Way night -- tho' the photo below isn't from last night

DSC_9751 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

(yeah, I know I've posted all of this, including photos, before... perhaps even in this very thread already! )

verb

mhardy6647 wrote: »

We've got a fast 6" Newtoninan on an old-school (no computers!) equatorial mount down in the basement. I've also got a
Light pollution is a factor even here in mid-nowhere (if we were but 30 miles further north, skies are dark according to the websites that track such things) -- but we do get some dark skies sometimes. Last night was what I call a Milky Way night -- tho' the photo below isn't from last night

DSC_9751 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

Amazing! No dark skies in Metro Detroit!

joecoulson

verb wrote: »

I've always been fascinated with Astronomy. In fact, growing up, I was headed toward a career in that direction. Reality set in, realizing that most astronomers are either unemployed while waiting for a government grant, or working alternative jobs.

So I decided to pursue aerospace. But still fascinated with it, I keep it as one of my hobbies. I've built many telescopes, from refracting spotting scopes made from projection screen TV lens assemblies, to Newtonian reflectors.

Edmund scientific would sell a lot of the optics kits back in the day!

My pride and joy, Celestron CPC-1100 Schmidt Cassegrain! 11" primary mirror, and GPS enabled focusing ability! I just wish I had more free time to enjoy it.

Too funny Dave. More and more things in common.
I have an 8” DOB that serves me well out here in the suburbs.
We’ll have to bust it out in a few weeks.

verb

Very cool Joe! I always wanted to build a monster Dob! Some inspiration, as the optics are the most expensive, everything else is DIY!

joecoulson

Nice Dave. You built those?

verb

joecoulson wrote: »

Nice Dave. You built those?

Naw. Just some pics from the web. Gives an idea of what it would take to build one, given the optics purchased. A man of your woodworking skills could easily make one!

joecoulson

It’s true. The main mirrors are expensive though.

mhardy6647

Tonight was a cloudless and dark night with clear, cool air...

DSC_6459 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

DSC_6456 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

DSC_6464 (2) by Mark Hardy, on Flickr
(I was too lazy to turn off that one light in the living room

verb

Beautiful!

Viking64

mhardy6647 wrote: »

Tonight was a cloudless and dark night with clear, cool air...

Whaaaaat? I see the same cloud in each picture. Unless that's smoke from your chimney.

joecoulson

Mark I don’t think you have as near as much light pollution as the majority of us. Beautiful pics