Unusual activities for a programmer

Pages: 12
So I was just curious as to if any people here do activities that you wouldn't suspect a person that's into computers participating in. For example, I use to box, I ride dirt bikes (just sold my CRF450R </3), and I work out sometimes. How about you guys?
I have a decently active sex life.
Jokes aside, I don't think my life's got something "weird" for a programmer.
Since I can't think of "unusual" things for a programmer, I'll post some random stuff.
I prefer tea to coffee.
Unless I get three or more coffees, coffee on its own doesn't make me nervous.
I do a lot of stuff to clean my house.
I'm not so fat (actually, I'm under my optimal weight - and I really love fat people!).
I worked as a construction worker.

Oh. And I hate people. Just some.
Aside from programming, I'm a (very bad) YouTuber. (Or, more technically speaking, "content creator")
Last edited on
Hmm...

Martial Arts
Violin
Fine Art
Archery
Camping/Hiking/Canoeing
Cooking & Baking

Not all at once, of course. And I have significantly less time for things like that anymore. (Fooey!)

My latest recipe was because I had no money to buy Chinese food, but a pantry full of wonderful things.

 "I am not Chinese tortilla rolls"
INGREDIENTS
12-16 oz can of chunk chicken breast (or equivalent)
~3/4 cup Sauerkraut (preferably, shredded cabbage will do)
handful of Broccoli florets, chopped to 1/4-1/2 inch bundles
1/2 Onion, minced
celery seed (to taste)
~2-2 1/2 cups of rice (either fresh or from a previous meal)
3-4 eggs
milk (optional)
10-inch flour tortillas
oil
duck sauce or orange sauce or whatever you like

PREPARATION
In a medium sized sauté pan or skillet add a little oil and grill the sauerkraut, broccoli, onion, celery seed (and any other vegetable you'd like to add, like thinly sliced carrot) until the onion carmelizes. It should begin to smell like egg rolls before this time. Remove to a bowl for later.

Add a little more oil and grill the rice until warm and just beginning to brown. While grilling, whisk the eggs and milk. Push the rice to the edges of the skillet and add the eggs to the center and cook to scramble. (Make sure to turn down the heat!)

Mix everything back together and separate out to a warm serving bowl.

Add enough oil to about a half inch or so (no need to waste) and turn the heat back up to medium warm. Lay out a warm, not-too-moist tortilla and spoon the mixture into it and wrap. (The warmth keeps it from cracking. The moisture helps it say rolled-up while frying.)

Fry briefly in the oil. (Make sure you have a pair of tongs and turn it until done.) The shell should become crisp but still a little pliable -- if it turns into a chip you've fried too long. (If it burns your oil is too hot. Add some more and turn the heat down.)

Pile the finished rolls on a paper towel to soak excess oil.

Serve with favorite sauces and a dark juice (like cran-grape blends -- not those horrid 'cocktail' juices).
Serves 5 - 8 people.

These are big (like real egg rolls), not those little dollar-roll things most people consider egg rolls.

Just a small happiness I can provide.
These are some interesting things so far. Keep them coming! And by "unusual" activities I mean something that contradicts the negative connotation of being a programmer. Some people think that programmers are lazy people who just sit on a computer all day.
HA! I WISH I could sit at a computer all day. I don't actually have a programming job, but I played basketball and football in high school. I play the trombone. I have been the person at the doctor's office who does medical insurance related stuff. Right now I'm a captionist. A little different from the average programmer I suppose.

From the average stereotypes, I don't wear glasses for reading/computing, I HATE wearing dressy clothes, and I am actually pretty strong for someone who doesn't really work out. But I DO have slight OCD, lol.
I think if I could negate the health hazards, I'd love to sit on my laptop all day. There's just so much to do. I mean if I'm not programming, I'm on here or other sites reading stuff about programming, or I''m on YouTube (sometimes still watching programming related stuff, but mostly listening to music).
I have a girlfriend.
closed account (z05DSL3A)
photographer and luthier.
I'm constantly trying to start a band. I'm a decent drummer and I play a little guitar. Anyone wanna start a psychobilly band?
@Grey Wolf
Holy crap! You're a luthier! That's cool!

I bought a violin at an estate auction (nothing very expensive, but it is a nice one) that some idiot mishandled before I got and the fingerboard had been knocked off. (I'm furious!) At least they didn't dislodge the sound post.

In any case, I started looking up what I needed to do to glue it back on and soon realized I'm not qualified to do it.

(As it is, I'm still saving up to get some professional help, so I haven't even been able to play it yet except for once before the auction began.)

:O(
Besides programming, my hobbies are (this will be quite a list): electric guitar/bass, vocals (my favourite technique is throat singing), writing (songs, short stories, poems; I usually delete them after a while because they're no good, and I know I can do better), substance abuse (mostly supposedly-performance-enhancing supplements like nootropics), reading about organic chemistry, biochemistry/pharmacology, biology, psychology, philosophy or literature, watching movies about mental illnesses and drugs (Girl, Interrupted and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas are my favourites of each respectively), playing video games and occasionally tree-climbing. I'm looking to take up photography and one or two martial arts but I can't afford either at the moment. I also tried to teach myself to fire-breathe but I couldn't do it and I don't have anywhere to practice any more.

I have a stupid number of hobbies because I'm perpetually bored and I can't stick with one thing for a long time. Apathy leads to anhedonia leads to ennui.
Last edited on
closed account (z05DSL3A)
Duoas wrote:
Holy crap! You're a luthier! That's cool!
Yeh, I used to do it for a living but there wasn't a very good market for it. I mainly built and worked on guitars.

I haven't managed to do anything serious since I moved house, I haven't got a workshop now. :0(

If it is just the fingerboard has come loose/off then it should be a relatively easy case of cleaning the old glue and re-glueing the fingerboard. Use hide glue, something like Titebond Liquid Hide Glue. It shouldn't cost much if you have that done at a shop.

If the fingerboard or neck is damaged, then you are into a more expensive repair

I'm not sure what should be weird for a programmer. A lot of programmers from my experience have a lot of creative outlets actually.

I myself do piano, karate, wrestling, actively, and I do drawing, music composition, whatever time to time, though can't claim to be that good.

My sensei at karate is actually a programmer himself, and he has a ton of creative outlets.
I own several firearms and often go to the shooting range.

Here are images of my two favorites that I own. (Too lazy to upload myself but here are the same models)

http://www.anthony-industries.com/images/stories/virtuemart/product/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz663.jpg

http://www.hk22rimfire.com/images/2245265_rs.jpg
Let's see...

Piano, video games, and a lot of math. Weird math. Not the stuff you'd need for programming, but the stuff that is just... interesting. Quasicrystals, for instance, are a great deal of fun.
nope :/ i just make pizzas, spend some time with my gf, and then go home and write code and tak to people on irc. damn nice picture name giblit
closed account (3hM2Nwbp)
Mechanics (possibly engineering? I'm "uneducated" so I don't think the term "engineer" fits well.)
Welding
Crotchrockets
Collecting "tactical" equipment (I think my next big project is going to be a tank minus the armour plating...but I think it's 100% legal to mount a (semi-auto) turret gun in my state. I have my eye on another broken OC3 dozer...how cool would it be to be able to say that you own a friggin tank!)
Last edited on
If you have the money and your state allows class III weapons I'm sure you could get an actual machine gun to mount on it. I'm sure with enough money and paperwork you could buy a fully functional tank with the cannon and each shell registered as a destructive device?
Pages: 12