So what do you do when you're not playing guitar?

[Robert****]

Just thought it might be fun to talk about what people here do when you're not playing guitar.

I am web guy full time - I do web development and design. Sometimes simple websites, sometimes more advanced web applications. For those who don't know what a web application is, this forum right here is a good example of one.

I have a family with 3 girls, age 3, 13 and 16, plus a little dog, a Miniature Pinscher.

I also run, everything from 5 kilometer races to marathons.

I don't get so much time left over to actually practice guitar or compose/record stuff, etc with so many other irons in the fire.

[Spudman***]

I did 80 miles on my bicycle the last two days. I'm trying to build to a consitent 200-300 miles per week. That takes some of my time. I ride a lot. Otherwise, for work I build products at department stores and I'm a Reliv distributor. My wife and I spend a lot of time backpacking and mountain climbing.

We have an 8 yr. old daughter who is now able to climb with us. Mrs Spud now also rides a road bike.

For fun we hop on our 1100cc motorcycle and tour around Idaho.

[ted s]

I work as an intstallation tech for a company that ryhmes with foneywell, networked controls for buildings (hvac & fire alarm) Married coming on 15 yrs, no kids, 2 cats. My wife and I purchased mountain bikes a couple yrs. ago and enjoy cycling. Been working on a 68 Torino GT for the past couple yrs. part time (my father has a welding/fab business). Wifey and I are going to Myrtle Beach next month for our 15th.

[Sblack]

I have a wonderful wife and two magnificent boys, 3 and 15. We spend a lot of time together hanging out as a family. We also have a dog.

I am a full-time language arts teacher in a public school and a part-time adjunct professor of English at a community college.

Any time I get outside of work and family is spent playing guitar, reading, working out, and surfing the net for the next "deal of the century" on music gear. I spend too much time on the latter.

[Plank_Spanker]

I'm an aircraft quality assurance inspector / avionics tech to pay the bills. My big hobbies besides guitar are amateur astronomy and marine fish keeping.

I also like gardening with my wife, and cooking great meals.

I'm also a pilot, but that's another story..................

[Mark]

Hey Plank Im a Pilot too! Havent been flying much the last few years. I own my own Plumbing business and my wife and I enjoy riding our motorcycle and Jetskiing.

[t_ross33]

I'm a Project Manager for a small Cleaning & Restoration company. When your house floods, sewer backs up, or your kitchen catches fire, we're the guys who clean up the mess, help clean/restore contents, juggle the interests of the homeowner with the interests of the insurance co. (who usually pick up the tab and pay our bills). It's interesting work, I get to meet a lot of nice folks, and I feel like we are providing a much-needed service during a stressful time for homeowners. I like helping people out.

As mentioned many times, my wife has her own catering company and is the Food & Beverage Services Manager at the Humboldt Golf Club. We've been married going on 14 yrs and we're both turning the big 4-0 this year.

We have 3 daughters: 7; 9-1/2; and coming up 12.

When I'm not playing guitar, gigging, jamming or surfin' for a deal I like to read, spend time outdoors, fish, camp etc.

[Hogfullofblues]

I work for an insurance company doing a job that is difficult to describe in less than 100 words, so let's just say insurance adjuster is close enough. I spend a month or three every year at natural disaster sights and do some traveling when home also. So all that time in hotel rooms (and the oldest boy) got me started playin internet poker, and now the wife and I are regular riverboat gambler types in a low budget sorta way.
Both boys are out of the house (well, the youngest finds reasons to be home every other day and just walked in) so it's just the wife, cat and me. Winters is a lot of hibernation, summers are weekends at the cottage keeping the 100 year old building standing, drinking yummy Canadian beer, fishing, swimming, BBQing and such. I also have a Hog and we usually get some good time and miles on it and if we're not riding it on a long road trip, then we get in a good vacation too.
By the way, Ted, Myrtle Beach's Bike Week is usually in May every year and it's one BIG party. Just wanted to mention that in case.

[marnold***]

As I mentioned elsewhere I'm a Lutheran clergyman by trade. There is basically no "off time" unless I'm on vacation. I've been married now for 10 years with three boys (9, 7, and 5) and one girl (3). We've also got a dog named Biggles (Monty Python reference). Besides gitfiddling, I also brew my own beer and dabble in web design.

[Jimi75]

Okay, besides being a passionate musician...what do I do????

I've been married for 6 years and have two wonderful kids. A boy of 5 and a girl that turns 3 in a couple of days. My greatest challenge is being a good father to my kids and make the best out of the weekends, because in real life I am a project manager who trades world wide and sometimes it is tough to get your head free of business. We pretty much travel throughout Europe and visit pure nature as often as we can. A lot of weekend trips that are very often spontaneous.

I like reading movie scripts and being creative in other ways than music. I do not spemd much time in front of the tv nor do I have a play station or so. I am pretty much down to earth and enjoy the simple things in life, I am not materialistic.

[sunvalleylaw]

I am a married father of three: boys 9 and 7, and girl, almost 4. It is a busy household!

I have two paying careers. I am a lawyer, solo practitioner, with a somewhat general practice. I like to try and help people in practical ways, and add an empathetic and personal touch to client relationships. I like my clients to be educated to make legal decisions with my input.

I am also a ski instructor/coach and in addition to holiday and by appointment private lessons, run a weekend kid's "freeride" ski and snowboard team. The idea is train race and comp type skills, but do it for fun, without having to get into a start gate. It is an alternative to traditional race teams. I love education, and it is a passion for me. I think a lot of parallels can be drawn between life challenges and learning to ski well. I am fortunate that I have a flexible "main" career that allows me to spend time with a passion. (now with guitar, passions!) As our family grows, I may seek to pass on being "in charge" and just coach. We'll see.

My wife and I are very outdoors oriented and the kids reflect that. In the winter, we alpine ski, nordic ski, and sometimes snowshoe, skate, or whatever. In the summer or non-snow seasons, we mountain bike a lot, road cycle some, run some (usually trails or intervals) waterski, and hike and camp. We used to enjoy running in races (my wife does well with marathons, I prefer 1/2s max), but running competition has temporarily fallen to the side during these younger kid years. My wife and I also help lead a Cub Scout den, and yes, the little girl gets to go too!

Marnold, I also used to homebrew regularly, but that hobby has faded a bit too. Maybe one batch a year now. Since guitar, I have not thought about that hobby at all it seems.

Lots of irons in the fire, like Robert says.

[Danzego]

Wow, so many interesting people....and then there's me.

I WAS a computer technician, but like everything else, the good ol' mega-corporations of the US have turned my job into something A) that you need a piece of paper (and not experience) to get your foot in the door and B) the rest of the jobs in my field that I could get otherwise are going and have gone out of the country.

I got sick of the computer tech thing because, frankly, I'd grown tired of fixing people's broken crap and having them take their woes out on me. I thought about going back to college, however, that's the closest thing I had to a profession and felt I needed to stay with that since my fiance and I were to get married soon. Then I was unexpectedly "freed" from my last job, which was a technician on Best Buy Geek Squad. My fiance and I were to get married in a few months after that and I argued that I should just try to find another tech job. When I couldn't find something suitable and figured out that I'd end up going to school anyway just to stay with the tech thing, I went back to college.

So now I'm back in school, studying to become an elementary education teacher and work part time at a videogame store. I was very apprehensive about getting married since being in college full time and working only part time meant we have to live here at her parent's house and I felt we shouldn't get married unless we have our own, but she doesn't mind and her parents were all for it. We got hitched July of last year.

I live with her and her parents on their Christmas tree farm in Oregon. Over 100 acres of farmland, a forest with a pond, creeks, etc. and it rocks being able to just hop on the ATV at a moment's notice and go cruising around. Definitely a lot more laid back than when I lived in Chicago. I'm SO lucky that I had the opportunity to go back to school and live with her parents, and my wife has enough put away to where I don't have to work full time to pay the bills (but man, when I get my chance to start teaching in '09, I'm sure going to have to make it up to her). Other than that, I go to school, work, and play guitar and videogames when I can.

See? Boring.

[sunvalleylaw]

Danzego, boring? You gotta be kidding. Where in Oregon are you? I went to law school in Salem, and enjoyed visiting various parts of that state.

[t_ross33]

Don't worry DZ. We all have to start somewhere. I lived with my future wife at her Mom's place for 6 months before we got married (saving up for the wedding). In SEPERATE ROOMS of course It's cool that your in-laws are so welcoming. I can't even make mother-in-law jokes - we get along so well

As far as the career switching goes: way to go! I come from a family of teachers and have the greatest respect for that profession.

And having moved from Mississauga, Ontario (neighboring Toronto) - with Greater Toronto Area population of millions - back to my roots in Saskatchewan and a small "city" of 5,000, has been the best decision of my life (outside of asking Mrs. T to marry me ). Boring as heck and I love it!

Trev

[helliott***]

What a wonderful variety of folks and lives gather here!
I work for a daily newspaper, executive editor. Among the stuff I do there, our internet businesses, our daily lifestyle/A&E magazine section, oversee IT needs for our newsroom, develop and administer the editorial budget, write editorials and sit on the editorial board, etc.
Happily married, coming up 28 years. Proud parent of a 17-year old basketball star, now transforming into a pretty good guitar player. My wife has a great job, executive director of Ronald MacDonald House, a facility that provides lodging for families of hospitalized children, so the families have a low-cost alternative to hotel accommodation when they need to stay during treatment, surgeries and illnesses among their kids.
I'm pretty active in the community, sitting on a community poverty reduction task force and on a board for an organization that helps new immigrants and refugees adjust and settle in the community.
When I'm not working, volunteering or playing guitar, I love basketball, squash and racketball, work out as much as possible, go for bike rides when the weather allows. We're dog folks, recently lost our faithful friend of 13 years, now trying to train a whacky Australian cattle dog/collie cross.
And we love to travel. Just returned from a trip to Cuba, spent time in Havana. Old Havana is incredible, as is Cuban music, which we didn't hear enough of. I love to sit in with the bands we see, and had a chance to do a bit of that this year again.
Hoping soon to put together or join a band soon as I've been out of it for a while now and the jones is back in force. Meantime, I'll keep shedding and enjoying my time here and all the cool people.
Cheers!

[warren0728]

Meantime, I'll keep shedding

hey you didn't mention you are a snake!!

ww

[helliott***]

Oops. Small omission. But it makes playing the guitar very interesting indeed -- not only no opposable thumbs, no arms period. All teeth and tail.
Then again, I play rather good scales.

[Danzego]

Thanks for all the kind words, t_ross. Moving out here just me and what I could fit in my Blazer and 800 bucks in hand, trying to find a decent job, I've been here at the house for quite a bit longer than 6 months. I'm sure you know what a blow to the ego it is to be living at your fiance's parent's house in, yes here too, seperate rooms. But I'm working hard in school, getting all A's since getting back in college, so I try to make it worth it and show my appreciation to them.

sunvalleylaw, I live a few miles west of the Sandy "city" limits.....I can't believe Sandy is actually considered a city....up 26 towards Mt. Hood (which you can see from the house, matter of fact). So only an hour and half or two away from where you where.

[sunvalleylaw]

I know Sandy. Hood is where I did my certification exams for instructing. In addtion to inland salt water, I miss seeing views of the Cascade volcanoes once in a while. Very pretty country where you are living. As you can maybe tell from my post in this thread, I highly value education. Good on ya for pursuing it and for knockin em dead with the grades.
:-)