Hey, most of us enjoy a good game! Maybe sometimes we even go on a gaming splurge when a game is truly awesome. Still, I notice as I get older (damn you, time) that I don't play as much as I used to. I also don't miss it that much, since I have other things I enjoy. So... what are your "other things"? Mine involve the following:

1)Hiking,running, outdoorsy stuff in general. Especially when the weather is good. I usually do a few road races during the year, and enjoy training for those... even if I am pretty slow

2)Reading books. I LOVE reading books! They can be just as exciting, if not more so, than any video game. For the most part I have read "the classics", but am now branching off into new territories such as sci-fi (yeah, as a scientist you would think I would have read a lot of this stuff, but nope), and history. I'm reading the classic sci-fi and history stuff now (such as Asimov, but not only). In fact, I just finished Hyperion. Pretty damn good!

3)Chillin' at home. I have no problems with staying at home and watching a movie and of course doing some reading.

4)Dancing/dating. Eh, well, they're not the same thing. However, I've been dancing for years, and it's always a blast! Favorite dance is lindy-hop to a live band... awesome! It's also a nice place to meet like-minded people of the opposite sex Of course, I don't dance as much as I used to either (damn you, work), but I still manage.

On the whole, that's what I typically do. Work of course sucks up most of my life, but hey, I love what I do. Anyway, work is for another topic. What about you guys?

1. Comprehensively reviewing Algebra, Trigonometry, Calculus, etc. This is not "work"; it is fun. I saved every math problem I ever solved, along with every quiz and test I ever took (just college, not high school). I have a huge collection of fully worked out math problems that I am poring over. I might as well get a degree in math, so that's what I'm preparing for. I've already filled up 70 pages of re-working problems. I even found a mistake I made in a calculus problem, 15 years ago. I have already reaped one benefit from this: I got a tutoring job.

2. Writing essays. I am working on an essay that covers my gaming years.

3. Reading science fiction. My last read was the complete works of Cordwainer Smith.

4. Studying particle physics and cosmology.

5. Trying very, very hard to ignore women. I am too available and they are too available. It is so bothersome. I also get enormous pressure from my family to get married or involved in some way. I've already tried the relationship thing and it's just too much arguing once the initial novelty wears off.

I once made a hat out of a lobster and a stick. one day the monkey stole the hat. I hate that damn monkey!

1)Well, I do it as part of my work/research, but I love it anyway
If you have any questions, just let me know. I think it's very important to review and work problems out all the time! I can't even tell you how many pages of problems I have (hundreds or thousands). I consider each one art. Not necessarily because I solved it, but because so much time and effort (thousands of years of learning) went into it, that it truly is one of the highest forms of art ever created by humans. By the way, I think it's important, when you solve problems, to do them fully and understand each and every step. For instance, if I ask you you to solve a simple harmonic motion based on initial conditions (this problem is a second order differential equation), you could do it by not actually understanding the math and just using what you know will be end equation. However, if you really want to learn, do each and every step, and each and every integral!

3)I've been trying to get more into science fiction. I'm trying to read the "classics" of sci-fi. Just finished Hyperion as I mentioned earlier. It's a nice take on the Canterbury Tales!

4)To really understand particle physics and cosmology, you need a good grasp of mathematics. In the introductory level, you need to at least know differential equations. At the upper level, you need advanced math such as found in graduate school. I would suggest you try and take classes at a local university if you can. Start with the basics (calculus, linear algebra, diff. eq., mechanics, E&M, quantum) even if you think you know it. Then work your way up. That's the best advice I can give you.

5)Yeah... many of us seem to be exhibiting similar circumstances.

I am in a relationship. I do not have free time

About the same, for similar reasons.

I'm married, so if you add up the gaming, the work and spending time with the missus, there's VERY little left, except sleepy time. I do try to read books occasionally, though.
Just (finally) started the 5th book in the Song of Ice and Fire series, and I've got some other books lined up, so I'll be okay for a while.

Besides gaming and work? Ha, that's funny. Although hanging out with friends can be condensed into gaming, since we travel for tournaments a lot.

Only notable thing was been keeping me busy recently has been music. I went to see Metallica at the Orion Festival two weekends ago and saw Iron Maiden/Alice Cooper last weekend. I'm always formatting/rating/getting into stuff, so it has been a great time waster.

i make up really bad puns,,,, for those of you who didnt know.
its a 24/7 commitment.

in Mogadishu,, the best selling popcorn flavor sprinkles are Somali McButter....

Haven't had time to play video games since before E3. Big changes at work have kept me very busy, and I decided to start dating again which is both time consuming and expensive. Once I get burned out on that I'll probably swing back around to playing games (or at least demos) again.

I start typing huge posts for the sake of catching up from time to time, fall asleep before I finish and tell myself, 'I'll do it tomorrow'. And then 'tomorrow' becomes my usual routine of helping out my mom or sister with what they need doing, burying myself in my hobbies while I have free time, and then feeling guilty about it.

Also reading! Most recently, The Phantom Tollbooth for the first time since I was a kid. It holds up pretty well.

But yeah, how is everyone?

Aside work, my hobbies are few and far between.

I used to spend a fair bit of time gaming, but not anymore. I recently sold off all my consoles in order to focus more on one of my newer hobbies.

Keeping tarantulas, obviously. I've got my dream trio, so I'm trying as hard NOT to buy anymore. It is maddeningly difficult, but so far I've kept my resolution of not having more than these 3. So at times, what I tend to do is pull up a chair and just observe them... even if they sit absolutely still for hours on end. Just admiring their coloration is akin to watching tropical fish move around. Sometimes they'll do something mildly interesting such as burrowing or grooming themselves. The most activity I get out of them is during feeding time. They take hours to digest their food, then a few minutes to clean themselves, have a drink and leaving the remains in a corner for me to pick up. Very clean animals, for one.

Aside that, I do some reading, watch an occasional movie. And often take a walk around town.

Given my extremely busy schedule at work, it leaves little to no time for a social life. So those things keep me occupied when not at work or sleeping.

Other than gaming and work, I watch Laserdisc movies, listen to VGM CDs and Trance vinyls, watch anime, drink beer, ride my four wheeler, and shoot any jack rabbit that tries to come onto my property.....I HATE jack rabbits. 

I've got a yellow bellied marmot that lives in my front lawn and a long tailed weasel along side my garage.....those two are cool...but jack rabbits f---'em, I see'em they're dead.

you should know by now that a remark like this is going to get a hardy fuckyouassholeredneck from the longhairmike department.

ok

Why the hate towards jack rabbits, unless they're destroying your plants and shit, which in case I do understand that. I wonder how their meat would be though, so they wouldn't go in waste in a way.

I really have to wonder about your hatred as well. My experience is that when people have some deep hatred for something (be it human,animal, or otherwise) there is usually a psychological problem with the hater. Is there any reason WHY you should hate jack rabbits? For the most part, they're harmless, defenseless, arguably "cute", animals. So why the hatred?

People read into things way too much.  No need for any psycho babble b.s.  I shouldn't have written anything. But if EVERYONE MUST KNOW....

1.  They target my only two rose bushes (both are still small and the new growth gets eaten off, gee I wonder whats been doing that.)

2.  Jack Rabbits are disease ridden vermin.  I don't care to have them around.

3.  They're ugly.

I can't imagine why people focused on the jack rabbit thing, when something like the above has been typed. That is amazingly bizarre. Only once in my entire life I have even seen a laserdisc player and it was in some electronics novelty shop more than a decade ago. I had never even heard of anyone that owned such a thing, back when they existed.

The biggest problem with getting into science fiction is the potential of discovering an author you really like and then realizing that either all or a large portion of his shorter work has never been collected or anthologized. Gordon Eklund, for example, is one of the best literary (where the focus is on the quality of writing and less on the science) writers of sci-fi and none of his work has ever been collected. I did manage to find all of his short stories, but now I have a shelf full of magazines. One or two large volumes could easily hold them, but no publisher has collected his work. I guess I'm in a position to do it (since I have it all), but I wouldn't know where to start.

The classics of sci-fi are a very large thing. You'll never put a dent in them, and I certainly haven't, either. According to Gregory Benford, who stated that passion is inversely proportional to real knowledge, it becomes clear that passion can remain strong irrespective of how much knowledge you obtain in this area, since there is so much.

I did take differential equations, but it's been more than a decade since I've solved one. I got as far as using Laplace Transforms, so I have a lot of catching up to do. Particle physics is going to explode with a flurry of new particles or new understanding of forces. Well, something is going to happen. The recent discovery of the Higgs boson means things I can't predict.

Yeah, I can understand on those cases why you get rid of them. Well, not the ugly part. But opinions are opinions right. Hopefully they'll learn to leave your roses alone.

Ha ha this really stood out to me too

Laserdisc is the only way to watch movies   I love it. 

Aliens Special Wide Screen Collectors Edition, sure it's 4 discs front and back seven sides long.  It's the best version and everything is uncut.

Also watching From Dusk Till Dawn DTS Widescreen on Laserdisc is friggin awesome.

What trance vinyl do you have? You should create a discogs account if you haven't already...

I do.  I know I'm missing some though....hmmm....

Heres my collection so far.

http://www.discogs.com/collection?user= … er0&page=1

The record I spin the most is probably Amara - Pulse/Nimbus.  High energy, and in both songs, their melodies are catchy as hell.  Well also Parker & Clind - Teleportation....it's just badass I love it. 

And my all time favorite vocal trance tune ever Hope feat. Jolana Lee - On The Border (Nova Mix)...damn good tunage.

It's true that rabbits, as well as any other animal can be vectors for disease. ANY other animal. Still, the best way to control pests is to

1)erect a fence. That is proven to be the most effect method against most pests, and you don't have to shoot anything.
2)There are also various repellents that work very well (there are special rabbit repellents in fact), and again you don't have to shoot anything.
3)noisemakers have also been proven to be effective against pests, including rabbits, and you don't have to shoot anything.

I realize that some people like to shoot animals. I think it's very unfortunate that people feel they are "superior" to all other animals and that they are entitled to kill/eliminate anything they don't like. I'm certainly not against hunting for food. I'm also not saying that's how you (PZ) feel, but I would hope you consider looking into some non-lethal alternatives. The rabbits are just doing what is natural to them, and they certainly don't mean any harm.

Seriously I don't need ppl judging me or giving me advice about friggin pest control on my own property.  I live in Northern Nevada and own 5.6 acres. Jack rabbits are nasty creatures here, you kill one, two more pop up.  I wish there were more coyotes around to eat these fuckers.

Yes, coyotes are natural predators, but there are relatively very few left. Why aren't there more of them? Because people nearly exterminated them, since they viewed coyotes as disease ridden, ugly, pests.

Blarg.

Got a new turn table!

My new turn table is an Audio-Technica, it sounds friggin awesome!  I bought a spare higher end stylus for better sound. well I'm just gunna switch it out with the stock one and save it for a spare.

Watched a movie last night on LD.  The Gate a horror flick from 87'.  I highly recommend this movie esp. if you like stop animation monsters.

I finally found myself a nice copy of Richard Matheson's classic, "I Am Legend" and am about 1/2-way through (it's a quick read). Despite it being some 50+ years old, it's still thrilling, and I have to say far better (and different) than the numerous adaptations that have been made into movies. In fact, watching the Will Smith adaptation was rather painful...

I remember The Gate. It seemed like a horror version of The Explorers. Of course, it's been 20+ years since I've seen either of them.

I watched the original version with Vincent Price earlier this year. It was "primitive". I still haven't yet seen the "Omega Man".

I read in the preface that Matheson was not pleased with either version, although he acknowledges that the Price version follows the book more closely than the Omega Man. The preface was written before the latest movie with Smith, so I can only assume that Matheson was once again disappointed. One of the interesting things they mention in the preface is how that Neville is an "ordinary guy". Although not dumb, he's no scientist and therefore learns everything slowly (lots of reading) whereas in the movies Neville always just happens to be some germ specialist.

Been trying to level build and trick out my character in real life.

Trying to find a new job; besides spraying (or pepper spraying) my resume all over the place, I'm trying to network, join some professional associations, maybe even talk to someone at the local Chamber of Commerce for good leads.

Also tossing around the idea of a career change, maybe going back to college, getting a Master's degree, or SOMETHING.

Trying to exercise and eat healthier, ultimately carve out my abs; the exercising is the easy part, once I know what kind of exercises I ought to do, trying to learn how to eat healthier, that's a bit more complicated for me.

Fencing gives me a good reason to work out, and eat healthier; I'll be able to perform better if I do.

Also got some foreign language programs (French, Mandarin Chinese) that I really ought to listen to some time.

I've certainly got my share of books stacked up for me to mow through. Maybe I'll actually learn something.

Also trying to get out more, meet new people, heck, maybe even try and find myself a nice girlfriend. I'm kind of finding out, that, by my age, it's practically impossible to find a girl who hasn't had sex already. The thought is definitely a source of depression for me. Let's face it: If a person's willing to have sex outside of wedlock, they're not destined to remain in a martial, or otherwise committed relationship, until death. 'Cuz, otherwise, everyone's got AIDS an' s***.

What can I say; I'm a big fan of stability. I'm kind of a boring person that way, I guess. Getting tired of my otherwise nomadic way of life. Always migrating from one residence, from one job, from one girlfriend, to the next.

Sean Connery: "Losers always whine about doing their best (or trying), but winners go home and f*** the prom queen."

Well, I'm not about pre-marital sex, and I think it's rather shallow-minded and short-sighted to just presume that a prom queen would actually be decent girlfriend (or suitable to have sex with), but the man has a point: No one likes a whiner. In other words, I really ought to stop trying and get to doing.