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This is one of those things I think everyone(who wants to improve anyway) dabbles in. I have over the years besides programming. I have dabbled in the following.
Photography - won a few awards called it good enough. The reward is awesome. The amount of issues whenever you shoot portraits can make the hardest programming problem a breathe of fresh air. Still I do love shooting senior portraits. Kids are awesome. They just want to have fun.
Woodworking - My dad was a very good woodworker. I am a decent hack at it. I have all the tools and the knowledge and some of the patience. More patience would be better.
Sports - Volleyball - Used to be good when I was young and could actually jump. Racquetball. Quite decent and still improving.
I have also tried my hand at glass blowning/bead work. Cooking(bread, grilling, smoking etc...) and probably a host of things I can't remember.
Next up. I would like to learn a language besides my native tongue. I would like to learn to draw and/or paint.
Just remember it takes 10,000 hours to achieve mastery. How to Become a Master at Anything in Life[^]
To err is human to really elephant it up you need a computer
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Lucid dreaming.
It was only in wine that he laid down no limit for himself, but he did not allow himself to be confused by it.
― Confucian Analects: Rules of Confucius about his food
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Being more adept at hiding from the Missus.
Being retired, I should be able to claim more of my time as my own.
Doesn't work out like that. I just have more time to do the jobs she wants doing.
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Fishing!
I am 63 years old and the last time I caught a fish was in 1996. Before that lots of trying but nothing.
This year I have purchased a Sea Eagle STS10 inflatable fishing boat with trolling motor, a nice fish finder, a couple of poles, and some lures/bait.
I live in Michigan and we have a lot of inland lakes for small fish like Bass, Bluegills, Crappie, etc.
I built a 100 amp hour Lithium Iron Phosphate battery for my trolling motor and fish finder.
I have been watching YouTube fishing videos all winter.
I am ready to catch fish (and mostly release). Hurry up warm weather!
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Quote: Give a man a fish;
You feed him for a day.
Teach a man to fish;
You won't see the bugger for weeks!
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Come down to Louisiana. You can go after Tarpon, Speckled Trout, Red fish, Black Drum and Flounder, to name a few.
A bad day fishing beats a good day at anything else!
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Building acoustic guitars. So much harder than electrics. Work in progress.
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Singing. I had excellent vocal music teachers back in high school so I know basic technique, breathing, etc. pretty well.
Until my stage fright kicks in. I can speak to hundreds (and have) with no problem. Ask me to carry a tune, and all that technique goes away. I even have a hard time singing the national anthem at events where that's a thing.
I have to replace the steering wheels in my cars every couple of years they're so traumatized by listening to me, as that's the only place my voice works  .
Software Zen: delete this;
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I want to say poker. I enjoy playing and learning.
However, I suspect being an expert would end up being like a card counter at blackjack, where it becomes a very boring grind.
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agolddog wrote: where it becomes a very boring grind.
The very reason why I dropped playing chess in competitions.
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Singing. My voice requires cathedrals to be reconsecrated if I try, so it is not just training. Oh to be able to sing like Bjorling.
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I decided to jump into a new hobby. As I have few years professional experience with embedded systems, I think Arduino based hardware will be a nice toy. Also not bad learning experience for someone interested in robotics. I have two questions:
1. A book. Do I need one, and if I do, what is the best reference book for an experienced C++ programmer.
2. IDE. I see there is an Arduino plugin for VS. I assume it's C++ based?
Thank you in advance!
There is only one Vera Farmiga and Salma Hayek is her prophet!
Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.
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1. I learned without a book, and got scouted here on this site so I'm building these things professionally now, though I've moved beyond the Arduino framework. It was a good starting point.
2. PlatformIO is a better IDE than Arduino's because you can use it with VS code which gives you intellisense. It's harder to get it set up though. I use VisualGDB which integrates with visual studio but I don't use the Arduino framework with it. It also costs $100 or so depending on which license you get.
Real programmers use butterflies
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Thank you! These are the kind of answers I was looking for.
There is only one Vera Farmiga and Salma Hayek is her prophet!
Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.
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honey the codewitch wrote: got scouted here on this site so I'm building these things professionally now
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I found the O'Reilly Arduino Cookbook by Michael Margolis ISBN 978-1-449-31387-6 quiet good. It's pretty much ANSI C rather C++ though. Have fun! 
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Thank you! I'm a simple man, I like C. 
There is only one Vera Farmiga and Salma Hayek is her prophet!
Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.
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The MciroChip Studio is a great IDE, I use it without the Arduino extension running C++.
MicroChip provides plenty of documentation for their devices and is good reference.
If you know C++ and are familiar with embedded you should be good to go!
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Mike Hankey wrote: The MciroChip Studio is a great IDE,
Out of curiosity, what's it currently based on and has it changed much over the last few years? I used it a half dozenish years ago for a PIC32 project; at the time it was based on one of the 2nd tier java IDEs (netbeans???); and the best I could say about it was that it wasn't as klunky as Eclipse.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, weighing all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies.
-- Sarah Hoyt
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MCS is based on Visual Studio Isolated shell, so if you use Visual Studio now you will be right at home.
In addition it has a great debuger that also has a great simulaor.
I know nothing about the one they use for PIC, haven't done anything with PIC.
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Visual Micro plugs right in to VS and works a treat.
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I started with a sampler pack that came with a selection of LEDs, , pots, resistors, capacitors, buttons, a motor and a servo, MOSFets, h-bridge, LCD display, breadboard etc and a starter "Arduino Projects" book. The projects in it are very basic, though. There are plenty of references on the web, and the standard IDE is very basic so I use Visual Micro in Visual Studio. Doesn't cost much, and works well. If you're already experience with C++ and embedded systems and hardware you'll be flying in no time.
If you buy 3rd party copies of the arduino you may have to install a different USB driver - the CH340 chip is widely used.
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