Thirteen Things I Do With My Time

Episode #29 – There was some discussion last week about how many RSS feeds I read, and whether or not I could have a life outside of reading them.

 So, to allay any fears that I am some sort of hermit (though I do have those tendencies sometimes), I thought perhaps I would share some of my avocations (or hobbies if you prefer) with you, to give a better picture of me than I have done so with all of my talk of the hundreds of RSS feeds I keep track of.

 So, in no particular order, I give you thirteen things I do with my time:

1. Social Networking: I run a largish social networks and product review website for pipe smokers. Right now it is transitioning to a new code base, so it take up a lot of my “work” time.
2. House Keeping: I work from/at home, so I have taken over most of our domestic chores: laundry, washing up, cooking, shopping, etc…
3. Mountain Biking: There is not a lot of opportunity for such right where I live, but I make do with it as best I can.
4. Photography: Though I have been remiss in posting new images, I do shoot a lot of pictures, hopefully improving as I go.
5. Reading/Researching: I spend a good bit of time reading philosophy and political economy, and working through what I have read. If I ever decide to go to university for such, I am *ahem* well-prepared.
6. Exploring East London: I live on the East side of London, and blog about the goings-on and interesting places there on another blog of mine.
7. Writing: This is intimately tied to number five above. I work on the craft of writing almost every day, usually for a couple of hours.
8. Devil Sticks: A form of gyroscopic juggling from ancient Egypt or China depending on who you believe.
9. Ontology: (In the Information Science sense, not the philosophical) I am deeply interested in how data models are created and used to represent concepts and the relationships between concepts. More than being a blog, this website is my personal experiment in ontology.
10. Walks/Treks/Rambles: Not only my favorite way to travel (on foot), but my favorite thing to do with a lazy day. Pick somewhere to start, and/or a direction to go, and just see what happens.
11. Talk/Discuss/Debate: I really get a kick out of talking to other people and finding out what they are all about, or learning something about what they are passionate about.
12. Cards: I am an avid card player. My favorite games include Gin, Poker (Omaha Hi-Lo and Limit Hold ‘em), Spades and Tonk.
13. Minimalism: The last several years of my life have something of an exploration of what is actually important to me, and has seen me shed 90% or more of my possessions (and debt), and yet I still find things to divest myself of.