Hobbies

Well considering I have four solid hours before I have to go to school, I decided to completely retrofit my hobbies section and put in some new dandy stuff. My hobbies range from electronics, to chemistry, to vehicles, to computers, to building anything, to astronomy, to probably most things you might see in Bill Nye the Science Guy...

Well, electronics, I have been in since I was 8 years old when I got my first soldering iron. I made all sorts of stuff and burned though spool after spool of solder putting together things that probably shouldn't be. I learned that burning plastic hurts the eyes and nose quite terribly and you really shouldn't solder on your bed ; ). Everything has progressed from there and I have all sorts of nifty test equipment and such that I seem to find a use for every once and awhile. I experiment in the field that Tesla first took up back in the late 1800's because it is way under studied and offers the "potential" for some exciting stuff! (terrible pun). I worked for my grandfather a year or two ago doing some electronics work (soldering, part stuffing, testing, schematics) and that was quite the experience. I may end up programming chips for him during the summer/college since it would make some money and be an excellent past time.

Chemistry. Well, fascinated at the very least, and memorized at the greatest, I was introduced formally to this subject my Sophomore year at the high school by Mrs. Kern. Quite possibly the BEST teacher ever :) she was responsible for my great interest in the subject now. During junior year, I was a science dept. aide for her and got some real world experience dealing with actually setting up and making the labs for the students, rather than just doing them. It was an enjoyable past time and the occasional Isopropyl Alcohol fire was always fun. I usually run the video camera during the "experiments." I am known around the high school for wearing a white lab coat that was seen displayed upon me proudly during the May Day assembly when I was voted Junior class prince. *exciting!* hah...anyway...Mrs. Kern sadly left to get her doctorate down in southern California so we (the aides of the science department) were forced to look elsewhere for our services. We found them in Mr. Trani, the biology teacher/second coming of Jesus. haha...yes...so now we mostly go get pastries and make the occasional 3M HCl for some odd lab and it goes pretty well. Currently working on a microscope with a variable intensity light source that keeps popping GFCIs...

Vehicles. My father, working on cars since he was 17, has pawned some of his abilities and information off on me. This is both good and bad. For the most part, it is great because I know how to fix things, tear apart most anything and be able to put it back together with less than 7% extra parts left over! I am working on restoring a 1969 VW Standard Beetle to near/better than new condition and operation. It was given to me by a friend and was severely dented in the front passenger side and the rear. See the details on the restoration page for more. Anyway, my current interest in cars lies not in rice mobiles, but actually Chrysler 2.2L Turbo engines. These little rockets, oddly enough, can beat out cameras and such at the drag strip with very minimal modifications, on an engine with 170K miles! Amazing. See the links page for more links to that kind of fun stuff. So we have a TurboCar (87 Lancer 4 door) that we got for 150 bucks, blown head gasket, and a bad motor mount...but it runs! (oh yeah...no power steering...HARD TO DRIVE) Other than that, I drive a 1990 dodge caravan (Chrysler) V6 sadly...no turbo...with 170K miles or so and still running strong. It usually has a pirate flag on the roof and/or some Christmas lights. I used to have a recliner in there in place of one of the back seats, made an excellent place to dine during lunch time.

Computers. See the computer page...

Building anything. See the Car Restoration page

Astronomy. I own a telescope and like looking at stuff that is less bright than a 60watt light bulb, and more bright than the pitch dark blackness of the abyss. I didn't take APS A! haha...too bad for you seniors...

Bill Nye the Science Guy. I love him and could probably pull off a really good imitation if I tried hard enough. *Searches for Bill Nye episodes*

Also...I LOVE taking pictures and playing around with my $500 digital camera goodies...

Some electronics/stuff in my room that looks neat...or did at one time

This is my floor covered with Vacuum tubes, previous to the great rearrangement of the room...

This is a electron tube lamp, basically all the heaters in the tubes produce light that makes for a dim, but cool, lamp!

(Update) It broke into pieces...probably a good idea though...the friend I made it for has no safe place for "her precious"

Its not a Geiger counter...no Geiger/Muller tube in this baby...its a "Radiation Survey Meter"....right...

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Last Updated: Thursday, January 15, 2004