Entertainment for the Restless Mind...

I have a number of hobbies, some of which are relaxing and some ... aren't. Nevertheless, I do think that it's important that we engage in things outside of our normal day-to-day work, so here are a few that hold my interest:

Silversmithing

Probably my main hobby focus is silversmithing. Why? I'm not really into jewelry all that much, but there's something about being able to hold up a finished piece -- from the barest amateur work to the most beautiful professional piece -- and say to the universe, "Hey! I made that!" I'm having a lot of fun with it. Sally and I have made some friends (parents of one of Ailsa's classmates) who are in the Society for Creative Anachronism, so I think it'd be fun to get back into that and maybe make some period silver pieces. I'm keeping a photographic record of everything I make. You can see my "gallery" here.

Society for Creative Anachronism

Recently we've started participating in the SCA on fairly involved level. Some friends of ours (the parents of one of our daughter's pre-school friends) are very heavily into it, and we are getting more so (due to their influence, hi Leslie! :-) ). My silversmithing hobby fits in very well. My wife and I are both very interested in the "arts and sciences" side of the SCA. I've also started going to fighter practice and picking up rapier combat again, so that's turning out to be a lot of fun. I've even -- amazingly enough -- been making most of my own garb and armor. We've met some great people; I really like them a lot. I'll post pictures of our outfits and such at some point. Being in SCA has really become our main hobby now, but it's great that so many of our other hobbies (including my wife's stained glass work) fit in so well!

Hammered Dulcimer

I recently started learning to play the hammered dulcimer, something I've wanted to do ever since seeing Maggie Sansone perform at First Night in Annapolis, MD. It's a surpisingly easy instrument. The instrument is thousands of years old and was originally played by nomadic peasants, so Iguess you'd have to expect that. I've come a long way in just a few short weeks. As you might imagine, this also fits in well with SCA, though I've got a long way to go before I'd be willing to let anyone hear me play. This hobby has had to take a back seat to most other things, mostly because the only free time I have to practice is generally when either my wife or kids are asleep!

Flying

I was a Naval Flight Officer in the Navy (until I was medically retired due to losing my hearing from meningitis), and really loved being in the air. I had dreams of becoming an astronaut -- I chose VQ-4 as my squadron because at the time they were based at NAS Patuxent River, MD, next door to the Naval Test Pilot School. My logic was that the Navy was more likely to give me the shore tour I wanted if they didn't have to pay to move me. I never got to test that theory, though. In spite of my hearing loss, I was still able to get my private pilot's certificate (it's not technically called a "license," by the way, though I generally do anyway). I learned to fly in a little two-seat Cessna 152 (see below), a plane that was so small my instructor and I couldn't even fill it up with gas or it would be too heavy to get off the ground! After learning the usual stalls, maneuvers, and navigation techniques (pretty easy for a Navy navigator), I was awarded my certificate in January 2005. I got qualified in the Cessna 172SP (four seats and a lot more power, so as to bring the family along), and started on my instrument rating before deciding to quit my job at NASA (and so dried up the extra money we had). Someday I'll pick it back up again.

Cessna 152 -- N5436L
The plane I flew for my first solo

But wait, there's more!