Hobbies? or: "What chromatographers do in their spare t

[Uwe Neue]

I want to add a few words about Veronika’s love for high peaks, in chromatography and otherwise.

Years ago, I asked her what she was doing in private life, and she said: I like mountain climbing. For somebody who lives in Switzerland, this did not strike me as something terribly unusual.

Last week, I found out that she climbed the “Seven Summitsâ€

[tom jupille]

Spare time? What's that?

Okay, I'll jump in:
Fiddling with a motorcycle (Royal Enfield Bullet 500 Military; you guys from India may recognize that );
Keeping up with 2 large (labs, of course!) dogs;
Scuba diving off Hawaii every couple of years;
Visits to the grandkids when possible (not often enough!);
Keeping the Forum running;
Trying to get my guitar playing up to the mediocre level.

[zokitano]

Trying to get my guitar playing up to the mediocre level.

Yesss! Thank God, another guitar player among chromatographers

Rock and Roll, Tom!

[Kostas Petritis]

Mainly tennis which I picked up 5 years ago and I am now a decent NTPR 3.5-4.0 player.
Vacations in general need to be close to the sea (Mediterenian sea, Hawaii, Mexico...).
If I had more spare time and money they would probably go towards more travelling...

[DR]

Interesting stuff!

Veronika - I suspect most of us would like to hear from you more than once per year!

Tom - where do you get Royal Enfield parts? Same company that makes the rifles, I'm guessing? Do you keep a marine aquarium?

Mary - I'd be happy to point you towards a ton of readily available info on aquarium plant keeping, just say the word.

I think the only area a little short on diversity is dogs - I think mine is the only small(ish) one - a Beagle/min. Schnauzer cross.

PS - define "ancient" when it comes to a BMW Cabrio... My father once had an old BMW for a bit (an old 328 - not sure if it was a roadster or coupe, but it was from the '39-'49 era)- he did a little work on it & sent it to the next in a long line of car restoration junkies.

[bluejay]

In the winter, shoveling snow and some skiing now and then.

The rest of the year, as much whitewater rafting as I can.

-Julie

[tom jupille]

Tom - where do you get Royal Enfield parts? Same company that makes the rifles, I'm guessing?

That's a long story. The original English company (the same one that made the rifles) went out of business along about 1970. However, in the mid-50's, they set up a sister company in India. That company kept making essentially the same design (actually, still in production today). Enfield India bought the rights to the "Royal Enfield" name in the mid-90's. The US importer is Classic Motor Works:
http://www.enfieldmotorcycles.com/

Do you keep a marine aquarium?

No, too much trouble, plus I prefer to visit on their terms. Here's my "Tom & Ray" picture from 3 years ago:



In case you were wondering, I'm the one on the left.

[juddc]

PS - define "ancient" when it comes to a BMW Cabrio... My father once had an old BMW for a bit (an old 328 - not sure if it was a roadster or coupe, but it was from the '39-'49 era)- he did a little work on it & sent it to the next in a long line of car restoration junkies.

"Ancient" = About as old as your dad's 328, which would have probably been a roadster unless custom bodied, i.e. Wendler, etc...The 328 is a real milestone car, IMHO.

It's a 1938 327 Cabriolet brought home by my own father after he served in the US Army in Germany in the early 1960's. The 327 and 328 have many bits in common, however the 327 is more of a tourer than a full-on sports car.

[Chris Jones]

Pffft. Cars.

Get a motorbike! Four wheels moves the body, but two wheels moves the soul

[WK]

Chris,
Using 2 wheels in the UK with the traffic you have a good chance of ending up a soul.
I guess the roads around Perth are reasonably long and quiet!
What about touring using 2 wheels without the engine... now we're talking
WK

[juddc]

I'd love to get a bike. I think I might like a Ducati, but the traffic situation is the same here in greater New York as it is in the UK, the temperature was -3 deg C this morning, I have a >100 km round-trip commute, and the family would be upset. I have an uncle who lost a leg on a motorcycle through no fault of his own - he was run into and left on the side of the road at night.

Forgive me for commuting in another old BMW - my 20 year old 535i is quite a good all 'rounder, though a bit of a pig on fuel.

[Mary Carson]

Mary - I'd be happy to point you towards a ton of readily available info on aquarium plant keeping, just say the word.

Actually, I did quite a bit of net-surfing on aquarium-keeping at one point. It had useful work ramifications for me at the time--kind of useful to know what sort of pharmaceuticals and other chemicals were being promoted to maintain fish health

[Chris Jones]

I'd love to get a bike. I think I might like a Ducati, but the traffic situation is the same here in greater New York as it is in the UK, the temperature was -3 deg C this morning, I have a >100 km round-trip commute, and the family would be upset. I have an uncle who lost a leg on a motorcycle through no fault of his own - he was run into and left on the side of the road at night.

Forgive me for commuting in another old BMW - my 20 year old 535i is quite a good all 'rounder, though a bit of a pig on fuel.

A 100 km round trip! And you used metric!

Wow. You do need a bike. Duc's are nice, but expensive. Go a Honda, they never break down. The weather in Perth is prettymuch the same as San Deigo so it's good bike country. Unfortunatley it's might flat so twisty roads are few and far between.
Yeah, motorcycling can be risky. But that's why we do it. I ride through crazy traffic from time to time. You just keep your wits about you. And if it rains, you just get wet. We don't have to contend with ice though.

[danko]

Playing some music.
I love to play these guys: Bach, Handel, Telemann, Tarrega, Sor, Carulli and Giuliani.
The instrument? I’ll let you guess. Only one rule: No cheating – googling the last 4 composers.
Actually, you may google Giuliani but without any attributes. I guess you’ll get thousands of hits on one certain Rudy

[chemwipe]

Pretty interesting, a variety of interests with all of you here.

I have my hand in a few things (of course, when I don't have to work any OT):

Cooking (I cook so much now that eating out never sounds good)
Record collecting (5000+)
Toys (1980s action figures and such, no joke)
Recording (released 4 CDs since 2000)
Recording equipment (addicted to late 80s and early 90s samplers)

Oh and the wonderful Internet, it's long replaced TV for me.

cw