What cool stuff do you do outside of Rc?
 

Post your various creations, jobs, etc that you do outside of RC.


Recently installed a electronic induction charger into my blackberry.

Ripped out of my best friends's sister's Palm Pixi.

Puts out 5v of power, wired right into the usb port in my phone and can use any induction charging base.

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s...10202-1224.jpg


I also work with Action Packed Productions and entertainment As a dj and lighting designer.

http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._1660261_n.jpg

Im all the way on the right.:whistle::whistle:

We were recently contracted to my (ex) high school to do a Lighting install in the Performing Arts Center


We ended up getting close to 60 thousand dollars in lighting just to do one show.

We got six of these big moving lights, along with a hazer, strobes, high intensity LED lights and more. Took us 4 days to install, and a week and a half to program them all.


Link to video :
http://www.facebook.com/video/video....50384650905615


Sound system includes 6 18inch subwoofers, 10 15inch midbass drivers, 24 8inch mid/upper units, 24 6in tweeters, plus the countless monitor speakers for backstage.

Our lighting dimmer rack consumes about 66,000 watts during a show- Mind you they are mostly LED's. and the sound system is about 40,000 watts.:gasp:

And of course when we dont feel like working in the school, we go out in the parking lot and have some fun.:intello:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EP9cEE4F3qI

Sounds like alot of fun, save for the week and a half of programming...

Brunette in the front is cute (the female), I am sure Harold or Mike (hippie) will prefer the other two brunettes...

I am currently remodeling my house. Purchased last March, we did the kitchen 1st, and I have 4 more bathrooms do, and open up 1 closet into some unused attic space. The kitchen was the major project, as I had to remove a large section of a wall, reinforce the opening with a 15" sttel I beam and 3 3" tubular steel pillars. All welded in place, and it is very strong. Then I had to reroute gas and electric, do a bunch of drywall work, paint and finish all of the wood trim. And reinstall the cabinets, plumb the sink, dishwasher and garbage disposal.

Keep in mind My father and I did all of this, only thing done by a "professional" was the counter install. The backsplash was installed by my wife and her mother, they are the tile experts!! It has been a job, but I am almost done.

Before shot, see the giant brick pillar, about 1200lbs of bricks, all broken and moved by hand. This part sucked the most.

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/b...kfast_area.jpg

Some afters, you can see one of the steel pillars, that has been cased in wood and I just need to put 1 final coat of paint on.

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/b...en_phase_2.jpg
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/b...phase_2__2.jpg
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/b...phase_2__3.jpg
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/b...a/kitchen1.jpg

I also have all kinds of smaller projects going on. Recently re-did a few 4 wheelers and painted my motorcycle, 99 honda cbr1100xx.

I play darts (electronic soft-tip), and I'm actually pretty good if I do say so myself. Usually just play in the local leagues for fun, but I have been to regional tournaments in Green Bay and the big Bullshooter International tournament in Chicago.

As fate would have it, every year at the Chicago tournament there is a gigantic bondage convention at the same hotel. That's definitely a sight to behold, all really nice folks though. I think Linc and Harold just took up an interest in darts... :whip:

I'm with Linc, the girl is pretty good looking! Besides RC I like to shoot guns, both for fun and competitively. I'm not great at it but it's in my blood and I really enjoy it. I have beat a local SWAT officer in a pistol shoot though so that counts for something. I also enjoy cooking. I have worked in a pizza shop for most of the last 10 years as a part time job and I also enjoy cooking at home. Until 3 years ago I was also a big snowmobiler, I lost interest because of rising costs and dwindling trail availability.

I was dabbling in ornamental iron art a few years ago, I was only doing it for a few months when I had to start taking care of Dad. Well, Dad passed a couple weeks ago and now I have the time to think about starting it and other stuff back up again. I really like the idea of working out of home and tax free :whistle:


Linc, The kitchen is PIMP ! My wife would go nuts with all that space.

I don't do much. Odd electronics design, programming, disc golf, reading. My wife wishes I would take more interest in fixing up the house (she would love that kitchen linc), but I see no sense in spending time/money in something that may float away in the next flood...

Yeah, my house took in 18" of water during katrina. Before I bought it, but it could happen again. I just figure what the hell, that is what i pay ins for, and the kitchen is really nice so I will enjoy it while I can. We stayed uder 10k for the whole thing, inc all of the appliances and the counter. And we have some good stuff, power in/out microwave drawer, top end gas oven with a warming drawer and the quitest dishwasher I have ever heard (or not heard in this case!). Well worth the 2 months of evenings and weekends.

I would probably do more to the house, but for some reason, any bigger project I do never turns out right. Either I mess something up, or the way it was built causes all kinds of difficulty (and lots of me swearing). I do much better with small projects, hence the R/C hobby. Progress is faster and mistakes are a LOT cheaper to fix. lol.

I do have flood insurance now (didn't have it prior to last year's incident since I didn't realize my house became part of the flood plain at some point), but regardless, I have a hard time putting time and money into something that has a very high chance of getting wrecked. It just seems too inefficient and wasteful no matter who pays for it.

RC, Boating, ATV'ing Snowmobileing, guns

http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/c...2009SeaRay.jpg

http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/c...RILLEEX400.jpg

http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/c...u4333/1016.jpg

http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/c...5-09-09006.jpg

My Wife:
http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/c...owmobiling.jpg

JetSki, TaeKwonDo, Urban Climbing, Bonsai, and soon will be autocrossing my RX8. :)

Other than RC trucks I like drag racing my 92 GMC Typhoon.

I really only get to go a few times a year but it's a ton of fun.

The truck has been a best of 11.6@118 and I'm hoping for a high 10 second past this year.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...Momspic006.jpg

Nick

That typhoon is sick!!! It and the syclone are a couple of my favorite ever vehicles.

Since becoming paralyzed whenever I'm out of bed and healthy it's all about r/c.

Before I was cripplyzed I loved to wrench on foreign and domestic autos. My first car was a '72 chevelle and my last was an '84 crx.

I loved snowmobiling, averaging 2-3000 miles a year.

I installed car audio for a while, I got into high end home audio for awhile (b&w, krell)

Mostly I chased the poon and partied. One might say my accident was God's way of slowing me down. I just say I hit the back of a semi going 90mph with an '84 CRX.:na:

I'm into my home audio system, guns, and enjoying having my feet up in my favorite chair LOL.
We do camping in the summer, have a 4 wheeler for the kids, I've got my project 71' suburban, but mostly in the winter it's 1080p movies at reference level volume and preparing my RC stuff.

Well armed wife :-) Custom DPMS LR-308B (AR10 .308win)
http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/c...5/DSCN4778.jpg

Hobbies and more.
 

God was not trying to slow you down. He said stop the BS and get real. We all go through those stages in life, and unfortunately someone pays the price. All I can say about that is that we wish there was something we could do to reverse your situation Harold. I could not imagine being in your shoes, but I bet your kid is glad to have you no matter what.

Well my efforts in R/C only started 4 years ago after my wife gave me a 3906 E-Maxx for my 44th B-Day, so I have a long way to go from what I hope to achieve in this hobby. I love to cook, and I can do anything that looks & tastes good. The best part for me is to see the expressions on my family and friends faces when I get to share some of my dishes with them. It is great to put a smile on the faces of those you love.

My dad always told me not to put all of my efforts into one thing, and to diversify my skills. Jack of all trades always came to mind, and I have tried to excell on that path. I have driven truck, operated all kinds of heavy equipment, been an auto mechnic, and an industrial mechanic, as well as a rollercoaster and ride technician/mechanic at Universal Studios in Orlando for six years. I have been a welder, poured cement for a while, installed roofing, siding, stuco, done home wiring, plumming, and done just about everything in regards to home construction. I was part of a team that built homes from the foundation to completion, and even final sale. My last project some of you have read about, which was completely remodeling our rental home in California in a two month period. That was some seriously hard work, but man did I have a great time doing it. The final product was worth every minute, and we finally have renters living in the house who are very happy with our efforts.

Besides pouring myself into work I have always loved waterskiing, motocross, basketball, hiking and camping, and runing marathons in my younger life. Now as I am about to turn 52 life has slowed me down somewhat. I spent a couple of hours out back yesterday splitting wood for our fireplace so we can have a few more fires before moving to Prague. Of course I spent a couple of hours at the Spa last night trying to recover from the pounding. I am an expert pistol and rifleman, but do not keep any wepons in our home. I also used to DJ back in the 80's and was really into audio and video electronics, which are still evolving in ways the are just amazing to me, but I try to keep up with things. I think overall woodworking is my favorite field of choice, because I love creating something amazing from a hunk of wood. Fabricating anything is like doing drugs for me. I get hooked once a project starts.

Forgot.
 

OH yea I forgot about four wheelin. While living in Hawaii for nearly 6 years I took up four wheelin and spent a lot of time out on the West coast of Oahu playin in the mud pits and quarrie area. It is the one place on that Island that has no roads or easy access, and in fact if you try to enter from the south the only way to get in is to drive over a path that sports a cliff on one side that drops about 50' to the ocean, and on the other side is a boulder about the size of a cement truck. The path is just wide enough for the average 4X4 and if you look over the edge there are several vehicles smashed on the rocks below being pounded by the surf. I would never do that now. It is amazing how fearless we are in our younger years thinking that we are invinceble or that we are always going to be the lucky ones. I watched guys trash brand new $40K SUV's crying about how their wives were going to kill them for being so stupid. Still it was a lot of fun for me while it lasted. Life is good.

These days it is all about International travel for me. Taking trips to Bejieng, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Paris, Amsterdam, Germany, Austria, Korea, Thiland, and a few others have been a real highlight in my life over teh last 6 years, and we hope to take quite a few more before we are done. We have also taken a few road trips accross the USA in our first few years together, and we have both gotten to experience places neither of us has ever been before. Seeing the world is a true blessing.

Boats (everything except for deep sea fishing), bikes (DH/DJ/BMX), landscaping (stone masonry mostly), cooking, rope splicing, leatherwork (steering wheels, marine fittings etc)

motorcycles, golf. My favorite pastime is spending time playing ball, basket ball or softball, with my daughter as well as watching her play those 2 sports

Used to dirt bike, but haven't gone very much in the last 5 years (haven't gone at all in the last 2 or so) due to my dad hurting his knee. Used to Jet Ski, but we stopped about 7 years ago when the family friend we used to go with sold his boat.

I wrench on my car and my dad's street bikes all the time.

I just recently got into photography, and that's pretty much what I've been doing lately. I'll go on a 2-4 night "photography camping" trip where we basically go camping but take photos for most of the activity that's not eating or sleeping or driving. Here's my Flickr with just a very small portion of my photos.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/50582539@N08/

BP, those are some very impressive photos! I am a beginner at photography myself. I need to spend more time practicing to get some quality shots like yours. Very cool.

+1 BP very cool pics!!

Thanks guys!

kulang, it really is just putting time into it and getting a feel for it. At first your keeper rate is lower cause you still have to learn what settings to use and when. I've had my share of photos destroyed by the wrong f-stop or wrong shutter speed (well, ok, shutters speeds are far less important for landscapes, but I also shoot my dad at track days on his street bike). Soon enough you can really use certain aspects to make otherwise boring compositions really interesting.

I started back in April of 2010 and have already clicked off about 10,000 photos or so (probably half of that is timelapse, though).

Skydive and ride my Wide Glide.

Sparky

http://www.flickr.com/photos/53825637@N06/5426289998/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/5382563...7624878110307/

You guys do some really cool stuff.

I'm a proffesional Dad after work hours and weekends. My daughter is a handfull and she is only 2!
I do the photography stuff too. Been doing it since the mid 90's. I still suck at it compared to my uncle. But it's fun nonetheless and heck alot cheaper with digital then when I was using 4 rolls of film a week. I don't use the best lenses either, but opt for the old school stuff(~20yr old). All the little shortcomings give the pics character. BP takes some really nice pics fo' sure.

I mess around with PC's and laptops. Currently my fastest computer is a workstation laptop. SSD drive has the same 7.2 rating as the I7 processor. Just silly and is being used for playing mp3's, and my photo's. Messing around with the latest touch screen AIO pc's and found my favorite. It will hit the market in a few months.

I use to love biking at Memorial Park here in Houston. But time has not been on my side for a while now. Loved to skateboard around the neighborhood with my son too. But a broken shoulder stopped that too.

My relax time is in front of my Audio setup in the house. I don't know what classification I would be in, as my setup contains old school equipment, pro audio, mid-fi and hi-fi stuff. I'm not into that hometheater deal. And if I were, I wouldn't be able to afford it, unless I gave up my beloved RC's hobby. I use a PC to play HD movies and music as well. Use the tv to watch family pics and whatnot. This pc is also connected to my 3 amplifier audio setup. Been into audio ever since I put a pair of headphones on. Been an apprentice at age 14 with this guy that use to build/design speakers from scratch. That's right, from scratch. Cones, baskets and motor assembly. He only had a six grade education, but man did he know speaker building. Some people just have the talent.

R/C is the next "cool thang" I am doing. Most of my cool stuff is behind me.

Right after high school I played & started on a championship semi pro football team for 5 years as a defensive end.

Then I was able to/had to lose almost 90lbs and started racing ATV's(X-country & motorcross). Did that for about 7 years. The last year of which I spent traveling the east coast competing in Quad Wars with the USHRA at Monster Jam events. That was a whole lot of fun. I stood side by side in drivers meeting with Tom Meents & Dennis Anderson.

Let see, then came almost 7 years of tournament paintball. Traveling to CA, TX, and Canada just to name a few. Was able to hook up with the pro teams and really live the lifestyle. As well as working at the pb store and building fields whenever possible.

My last year of paintball was my first year of r/c in late 2005. I have been traveling to r/c crawling events and competing at a few National events from time to time for the last 3 years but still try to bash my MT's whenever possible.

You guys that do the digital photography, I have heard that the money spent in digital photography (for like a nice DSLR, lenses, etc.) makes RC look cheap by comparison. Is this true?

The initial investment is high, but lenses don't go out of style. The body does, but you keep those for a while too. RC is more expensive for me.

It's a lot like RC, depends how insane you want to go.

One of the lenses, (we call it the "nifty fifty"), is only a $120, but it has better corner sharpness and less chromatic aberration than a $1500 lens, so you can go kind of budget with it and still get great results.

On the other hand, one of the telephotos I dream of owning is a 400mm f/2.8 IS, and MSRP's for 8 grand, goes for 7200 or so on Amazon. Then there's the 800mm f/5.6 IS that costs 12K, and the super-rare 1200mm f/5.6 costs 100K (yes, really - there's only rumored to be 10-15 in the world).

A lot depends on the photographer, not the equipment, though the equipment just allows you more composition possibilities, so it can matter. Believe it or not, some of the photos in my flickr were taken with a Canon G11 which is a $450 point and shoot (that I got refurbished for $282 shipped to my door), so you don't NEED expensive equipment, but it certainly helps.

The big difference between RC and photography is that in RC, stuff loses value really quickly. In photography, not so much. Bodies usually drop in value pretty quickly because they pump out a new model every year or so for the consumer line cameras (for Canon, it's the "Rebel" line), while the higher end bodies see replacements every 2-3.

Lenses on the other hand get updated in cycles that usually are 5 to sometimes as long as 10 years, so other than the roughly 5-10% loss you see in value after you buy it new, they don't really drop much until a replacement is released.

I do the best I can to renovate and fix up the house. This a couple pics of the house we had a year ago. Now a lot of the work I did in that house has to be done again on the new house. I'm getting to old for this.

The front needed a little landscaping to make it purdy.

Before
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...ng_before2.jpg

After
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...ing_after2.jpg

And the backyard needed a little deck to soak up the sun or to lounge in the shade.

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...k_termine1.jpg

Disc golf here too :great:

What a great relaxing sport and it complements RC as a hobby well, due to the low cost.

That's definitely one of my major gripes about RC. I guess it's good if you like to buy used stuff! But it's just not the same as getting that brand new kit, taking it all out of the box, everything clean, perfect condition, and building it up yourself. And that's my other gripe, not enough kits anymore.

I'm a University student, get my BS in General Engineering with Civil option in may!
(anyone willing to hire me? great GPA for my school, Tau Beta Pi member, willing to travel just about anywhere) haha.

Other than that I work at the dorms as an RA, and it is a very fun job, lots of good kids on my floor, unlike the other floors.
I also unicycle on occasion, quite fun!

Job hunting??
 

Anyone job hunting right now I will suggest looking on (State.Gov). For you engineering types look up jobs for (FMO) which is a facilities Managment Officer, (ESO) Electronic Services Officer, or a (GSO) General Services Officer. Each of them have to do with maintenance, installing, or refurbishing services within the US Embassy community. For you IT geeks there is (ISP) which is IT services. There are also clerical jobs in the (OMS) field "Office Management Specialist".

The way hiring works is when the Department falls low in its manpower for a specific field a hiring notice goes out. Experience depends on the area of work, because they like to start people from the bottom and train them their way. When you are called for an interview it is your responsibility to make it to DC for that interview. Once you have an interview they will tell you to stand by your phone or email for the next class. Then a class is formed to train candidates for whatever field is needed and a pool of people is filled. Upon completion of training you will be assigned to one of our hundreds of Embassies around the world. The first and second tours are two years each and you go wherever they need you to go. After that there is a bidding process every year to compete for openings throughout the world and most tours are three to four years in length. We have gotten our first or second choice every time so far and are seeing the world on the Gov dime.

Working for the US Department of State is an international job that requires travel to just about every continent/island on the planet. There are only a very few places in the USA like DC. So if you do not like to travel then do not waste your time trying to get a job working for Hillery. Most of the jobs are great and the pay and benefits are the best in Gov service. Good luck, and if you have any questions I will do my best to answer them for my friends here on RCM. I am not a Gov info man, but I can share what I know. There are killer opportunities to be had and all it takes is a little motivation, patients, and determination.

I do a lot of shooting, I haven't been doing compition in a while but I used to shoot benchrest with a Ruger 10/22 that I modified. It can put 5 rounds in under 5/16" (8mm for you metric guys) at 50 yards. I also shot sillouete with my Ruger Mark II 5.5" bull barrel Target model. I can put 10 rounds inside the 1" square of a benchrest target at 50 yards. It is heavily modified as well. We shoot 40, 50 75 and 100 meters. It is a lot of fun. As soon as I find a nice semi auto I like and can afford I am going to start shooting in IDPA. I could use my .357 mag but it requires too many reloads and even with speed loaders I am not fast enough.

I also build my own speakers and have been installing car audio since 87' but really got big into custom alarm systems. Right now my taurus is hitting 135db with 2 12" Soundstream SPL 12's and a Reference 500SX. It's funny to tell people that "It's just a pair of 12's and a 150W (rated) amp." I can remote start anything with a starter and have done everything from 18 wheelers to riding lawnmowers and everything in between. I like doing the weird customs like popping doors using photoeyes so that after you disarm the system you wave your hand in front of the eye and the door pops open. That usually drops peoples jaw. I haven't done any in a while since work is just too crazy and I haven't kept up with my DBA for Custom Car Concepts.

Jeff

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I had posted that I was going to do this in a thread but don't remember which one, but it fits in well here

Wow.....that sure looked exciting.

- I enjoy troubleshooting computer hardware/software problems
- I am obsessed with L.E.D. Technology (fear of the dark from my childhood days)
- I enjoy growing mushrooms
- I ride with CMC as well.
- Also enjoy long walks at the beach and having my back scratched.. LOL HAHAHAHA

I went back into the archives & found some 18' skiff sailing from my vintage & found a great vid of guys I sailed with at times (& still do sail with from time to time) on the Nokia skiff in Auckland NZ. I doesn't look that fast but it's 30mph+ with the spinnakers up...

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Lots of fun there.
 

Now that looks like lots of fun there. That is one very demanding sport of endurance. So PBO this was your pass time in your younger days? What an exciting way to spend ones weekends and holidays. Very cool hobby.

That's awesome dude!... Love water sports...

Was more than a hobby back then but not a fantastic living. I could bore everyone to death with all the technical details of skiff sailing but 18's are authentically Sydney & in local sailing terms they are the apex of the sport. The modern 49er was created for the Olympics by another skiff sailor of the era & bears a strong resemblance to the 18' skiff - because he designed a lot of them also