NOTHING TO DO WITH CARS

[Spiddy]

Over the last year I've really enjoyed this forum, met (not in the physical sence) lots of interesting and diverse people and feel I've actually come to know many of you. Although we've never met, by picking up on what you all say I've built a mental picture of you each. But there are gaps. We all talk cars - obviously - but what about other hobbies and interests away from the automotive field?

For instance, I'm currently building a model railroad - if it's good enough for Rod Stewart it's good enough for me - so I'd like to know of like minded nurds in Fiat land.

Help me fill in the gaps, I'll probably never meet you but I'd sure like to know you all better. Does this break forum rules?

[mbouse]

<gasp> something other than c.a.r.s. ??? wadda ya thinkin' ???

actually, that sounds really good right now... we're all too serious about the recent developments here.

i'm a big family guy, and thoroughly enjoy my girls and their kids. biggest joy in my life was becoming a grandfather. the day i heard "Papa" for the first time, i got tears in my eyes.

when the two year old comes over, all wrenching stops. all internet chat ceases, as does anything anyone else would consider serious. She loves to be with papa, outside! we walk, we blow bubbles and draw with sidewalk chalk. papa is wrapped around her little finger, and she knows it.

her cousin, now one years old, is beginning to take a shine to his papa too. he knows when there are folks in the room, he becomes the center of attention; and he loves it. he's learning how to command papa's attention and loves ANYTHING with wheels on it (i can't wait!)

[wengr]

I am a longtime musician. I play solo fingerstyle acoustic guitar, where my predominant interest is in arranging traditional Celtic and old English music for the six string guitar. I play out some, when there is a call for such, but also play frequently in a local\semi regional rock act. I also do alot of teaching of guitar\bass at some local music stores. We got a piano late last year and I'm having some fun trying to teach myself. The best thing is, I can mostly make my own schedule which leaves time to stay at home with my 2 year old and await 2 more that are on the way. Should be an adventure at 45yo. I must admit, Fiat grease and high end guitars don't mix. Going thu nitrile gloves like crazy.

[narfire]

After 26 years in the logging industry,falling and helli logging all over BC,I got out of it 5 years ago. I was going to get myself killed or perhaps worse get someone else killed. The major companies wanted things done cheap and safety was the first casualty. I have bought a wonderful Wood mizer, made in Indiana, sawmill and am currently going like a "raped ape" to fill custom timber orders for customers. Working 6 days a week kinda sucks but being too busy is a good problem at the moment.
Play time involves over 50 soccer twice a week,competative league with 7 teams in the valley.(it's the beautiful game)
Also been a paid on call fire guy for the past 17 years.
This missus tolerates my activities and passion for everything Fiat as she knows where I am. She even said on Sunday after a short drive in the car," the car sure hugs the road eh" boy what I smile I had on my face.Its all worth it after the frustration these cars can offer at times.

Good idea on this diversion, love to read some other stories as well being new(late last year) here.
Chris

[kristoj]

Like Mike, I am heavily involved in family activities. With a 7-year-old boy and a 9-year-old girl, it's pretty much some sort of sports activity each night and all day Saturday. I have been married to my H.S. sweetheart for 16 years, but we have been together for 26 years. My wife works part time as an accountant for a large UK-based aircraft company, and I am an executive at a multi-national company based in Ohio. My job requires a fair bit of travel and generally long hours, so I don't really have time for any hobbies outside of cars (which has been my passion since long before I could legally drive).

Sorry to be so boring, but I'm pretty much a one-trick pony -- cars, cars, cars.

[mdrburchette]

Kids are a major part of my life too. Work is also a big part of it. Ron and I have our own business that entails building interior tent packages for the PGA Tour corporate sponsors. This takes Ron out of town for several weeks at a time so this keeps me at home making sure the guys are working and have materials, the kids are taken care of and the grass is cut.
I've got three girls: 23, 12 and 10, and a 2 1/2 year old grandson. The younger girls play softball so I practice with them and go to all the games. My 12 year old is into music and plays violin and piano. I started taking piano too and find I really enjoy it although I'm terrible at it! My 10 year old is into gokart racing so every Friday night, I load the trailer and take her to the local track where I then take care of the kart and advise her. It sure is easier when Ron's home, but we do alright when he can't be with us.
I also help Ron when he's racing and I take time to do events at the local road course with my cars and am in the process of building a Fiat vintage racer.
I like to garden and I'm real active in church and my car club. My Fiats keep me extremely busy. It's sorta like a crying baby getting the others crying. When one Fiat is down, it seems the others follow.

[Europa]

I have 8 & 10 year olds at home. So most of the time its family stuff, kids sporting events etc. I am a decent amateur photographer with digital photography equipment. I capture moments of my kids as much as possible. I have photographed weddings and other events as a favor to friends. As a family, we also like to travel (RV, cruise etc.)

[kilrwail]

My three grandsons (9, 7 and 2) are really important to me, but I don’t see them as often as I’d like because they live 30 miles away and have these crazy schedules of activities. That’s my oldest son (31) and I have a second (29) in Memphis and the youngest (18) is still here, until he starts university in the fall. Like Wengr, I have been playing guitar since I was about 14. It’s a great hobby which I can enjoy anytime, particularly in our long winters. I have four acoustic guitars and one electric, so there’s lots of variety – Clapton, Eagles, folk, blues, etc. My son has a drum kit here, but our musical tastes are rather different – but we do play a good version of “Smoke on the Water” together. I’ve had my Spider since new 31 years ago and it is my cruising sports car. I take the Porsche to various tracks often and rally the Mazda both locally and across Ontario. I enjoy making and fixing things around the house, I read a lot of novels and I wrote a book about my car passion. In case you haven’t guessed, I’m retired (and single)!

[azygoustoyou]

I'm from Wheeling WVa. I joined the Air Force in 87 and it brought me to NJ. I have three kids, 21,11,and 8. My family is everything to me. I currently service MRI's with cryogenics. I'm good at carpentry, architecture, electrical, fabricating, and currently pursuing welding. I am a semi-pro billiard player. If I don't know how to do something. I figure it out. I built this garage just for my Fiat and Harley of course.

I really enjoy working on my car as well as having conversations with everyone about it. I hope to be driving it ASAP.

[radiopilot]

I like this thread since some of us cannot make it to FFO and other car meets and give us the soft side without the mechanic's angle.

Just like Wengr I play the piano and have been playing since I was 6 yrs old... my son 17 yrs old and daughter 20 yrs old both play piano and my son plays the trombone for three orchestras here in Savannah and also the Skyelite Jazz band at his high school... very talented and gifted musical children play on that jazz band... they played for President Clinton, all over the U.S., Europe, and Australia.

This is me playing some holiday music with the family.



Savannah Arts Academy Skyelite Jazz Band... my son is the trombone player holding his trombone but not playing.


My wife is an elementary school teacher and we've been married for 24 years this year being our 25th year, she is an avid equestrian jumper/hunter and that is how we met. My daughter is a medical school student at Mercer University. I am an aerospace engineer and design rocket/missile stuff for major defense companies and NASA, but my love is music and I run a small radio station here in Savannah. Other than cars I do woodworking, RC cars and airplanes, and gardening.

Nick

[htchevyii]

I guess I don't have a lot to add here. I like music, but am not coordinated enough to play a instrument and can't sing. I like wood working, but don't have room or time for it. I work as a "back counter" parts guy for a Toyota, Honda, Mazda and Scion dealership, meaning I work with the technicians. My biggest hobby by far is cars and with five, I don't have time for much else. My dad is into cars too, so we help each other out. He got the sports car bug too, but bought an MGB . We both have Nova's . Between that and home improvement/maintenance and spending time with my lovely wife and doggie it seems I'm always busy. My wife Heather is a dental hygienist and enjoys cooking ,gardening, jewelry making ang hiking. We are approaching our 10 yr anniversary. She is very supportive of my obsession. I've got some gas r/c cars, but haven't used them for a year. We like to take one big trip a year if possible and lots of little weekend trips. I've mostly been a V8 guy until I bought the '82 for Heather. The car goes along very well with our like of weekend trips and wine tasting. It's a lot of fun to head to the heat for the weekend in a convertable and drink some wine. I've found the FIAT community to be a tighter knit group than most of the other make forums, most likely because we're a somewhat small group compared to others and depend on others for help and answers that can't be found elsewhere. I know if I had to rely on books and magazines to answer my FIAT questions I'd have given up and moved on, so thanks for all the help.

[4babycar]

I have two little girls 7 and 4 that keep us quite busy with all of their activities and we try to be very involved in their schools. My wife and I are H.S. sweethearts and she was and is still my best friend. Her current job is a stay-at-home (HA!, stay at home?) Mom and Girl Scout leader. She is also very active in local theater and routinely runs the fund raising campaigns for them and does quite well. For me, I am a mechanical engineer for a small eng. services/R&D shop in Lynchburg, Va. I also work for 2 adventure race companies as part of their climbing staffs. I also teach rock climbing, adventure racing instruction/certifications, etc. I really enjoy being outdoors so I hike, backpack, white water paddle - open boat (canoe) and just this year kayaking. Before our move 2 years ago we spent many hours restoring a 1950's brick tudor and are just now starting on our new home. It is so much harder with kids! Finally, since both of our families are withing 10 miles of us we are constantly doing family things too. This is especially true for my wife's 17 and 18 yr old sisters for whom we are still considered non-parent enough that they come over just to hang out. Some where in all of this I try to fit in a bit of Fiat enjoyment and tinkering too.

[So Cal Mark]

this is a great thread, and as Mike stated, a nice diversion from the frustration of everyday life lately.

[sptcoupe]

Great thread. Right out of college and into the Marine Corps in 1969. Didn't miss much from '69 to '95, when I "retired" (boy, did I get an "F" in retirement 101!). Last 14 years have been involved in commercial real estate in SoCal, and lately, the airport privatization business, which keeps me on planes and out of the country about 80% of the time. Still married to my college sweetheart, and we celebrated our 39th last month. One son, 36 and newly married, and living in San Diego. He works as a "Certifed Ethical Hacker" (that really is an official designation), which menas he is paid to break into the US military's top secret communcations systems, and if successful, design the fix. Way beyond me. He is a car nut, too, and composes techno music that he performs as a DJ at various clubs around SoCal. Carol is an accomplished painter (not cars) and photograher, and totally runs our household. I have been an avid flyfisherman for 45 years or so, and am really having fun learning how to catch these Texas bass after mostly fishing for trout all my life. Put myself through college playing and singing in a 100% acoustical folk group that will be performing it's 40 year reunion concert the 27th of this month. Scary, since ourt last performance was the 30 year reunion concert (duh), ten years ago. We like about any sport, especially soccer, and are die-hard Packer's fans. Really have enjoyed the friendships made through our family's 37 years of FIAT ownership and fanaticism, and through forums like this one.

[mbouse]

II like music, but am not coordinated enough to play a instrument and can't sing.

what i do cannot be mistaken as singing. more like wailing or moaning. Just ask Racy Dave.
my solution is a stack of CD's and/or an iPod. Great stuff!