What do you geek out on , besides toy collecting?

[drquest]

I've read all of these with interest. I wish we were all more local, as so many of us on here seem to navigate to similar things, which is cool I think.

With that, my interests are varied, and unfortunately a lot of things I've been priced out of. I have a lot of things I collect, including vintage toys. Sometimes it's rather shotgun'ish as I collect what I like, and don't have to have it all in a particular line. I used to host local Toy Shows, did those for several years, and had to step back from that some when my kids were younger, as anyone the shows were a lot of work, as anyone can tell you. I probably should try to spin that back up, would help me get rid of all of these boxes of stuff in my garage.

Beyond toy and collectibles, I've always been a car guy, and enjoy old Fords, Mustangs in particular. I sold my last one that I had owned the past decade in October 2021. COVID had pushed prices up so high and I was able to sell it for more than I had paid for it, so it seemed ok to let it go. Plus my daughter was getting married (happened June 2022) and a little influx of money to help offset all of those costs was appreciated. Which has me without something to tinker with, and unfortunately costs are still high IMO, so replacing that probably isn't in the cards. My middle son is driving age, so most of my car interest is spent towards his interests, which unfortunately isn't Mustangs, he has a Dodge Charger 392 Daytona, so we go to car shows together and spent some time over Christmas brake on his car. Installed a new strut tower brace on it, which is functional and looks great.

I'm also a technology guy. My day job is network, Internet, connectivity etc(almost 24 years now) so I do spend a lot time in that field, both new stuff, and older vintage stuff as well. My youngest son enjoys vintage video game systems and luckily I had kept a lot of what I had when I was a kid so he uses that, and has been adding on to his collection, so that keeps me busy.

[Liu Bei]

I've read all of these with interest. I wish we were all more local, as so many of us on here seem to navigate to similar things, which is cool I think.

With that, my interests are varied, and unfortunately a lot of things I've been priced out of. I have a lot of things I collect, including vintage toys. Sometimes it's rather shotgun'ish as I collect what I like, and don't have to have it all in a particular line. I used to host local Toy Shows, did those for several years, and had to step back from that some when my kids were younger, as anyone the shows were a lot of work, as anyone can tell you. I probably should try to spin that back up, would help me get rid of all of these boxes of stuff in my garage.

Beyond toy and collectibles, I've always been a car guy, and enjoy old Fords, Mustangs in particular. I sold my last one that I had owned the past decade in October 2021. COVID had pushed prices up so high and I was able to sell it for more than I had paid for it, so it seemed ok to let it go. Plus my daughter was getting married (happened June 2022) and a little influx of money to help offset all of those costs was appreciated. Which has me without something to tinker with, and unfortunately costs are still high IMO, so replacing that probably isn't in the cards. My middle son is driving age, so most of my car interest is spent towards his interests, which unfortunately isn't Mustangs, he has a Dodge Charger 392 Daytona, so we go to car shows together and spent some time over Christmas brake on his car. Installed a new strut tower brace on it, which is functional and looks great.

I'm also a technology guy. My day job is network, Internet, connectivity etc(almost 24 years now) so I do spend a lot time in that field, both new stuff, and older vintage stuff as well. My youngest son enjoys vintage video game systems and luckily I had kept a lot of what I had when I was a kid so he uses that, and has been adding on to his collection, so that keeps me busy.

I like vintage tech in general, video games and consoles included. Part of the fun, for me, is getting suboptimal toys, consoles, game cartridges, etc… and restoring them. There is something very satisfying about restoring a damaged, neglected item to its former glory.

I have a white Japanese Sega Saturn plus controller that I imported and restored awhile back. It was filthy yellow and couldn’t read discs, but now looks virtually factory new. Will be adding a TerraOnion MODE to it and another one to my Dreamcast (also a restoration project) later this year so that I don’t have to worry about replacing lasers anymore.

[drquest]

I like vintage tech in general, video games and consoles included. Part of the fun, for me, is getting suboptimal toys, consoles, game cartridges, etc… and restoring them. There is something very satisfying about restoring a damaged, neglected item to its former glory.

I have a white Japanese Sega Saturn plus controller that I imported and restored awhile back. It was filthy yellow and couldn’t read discs, but now looks virtually factory new. Will be adding a TerraOnion MODE to it and another one to my Dreamcast (also a restoration project) later this year so that I don’t have to worry about replacing lasers anymore.

Same thing with us. I've been considering doing the mod on our Dreamcast as well. Got the whole online thing up and running on the Dreamcast via a Raspberry Pi. Not that we used it all that much but it worked

[Liu Bei]

Same thing with us. I've been considering doing the mod on our Dreamcast as well. Got the whole online thing up and running on the Dreamcast via a Raspberry Pi. Not that we used it all that much but it worked

I wanted to get a second Raspberry Pi to get my Dreamcast online too, but haven’t been able to get one without paying scalper prices for some time, so I’ve had to hold off.

If the brainless bureaucrats in Washington ever manage to accidentally get the economy back on track, I’d like to go back and get that project done. The Dreamcast community has really worked their butts off to keep that system alive and relevant.

[Jorge Galvan]

The Road Warriors (Hawk and Animal) were the best tag team ever, all Vince could do up north is make a silly poor copycat version called Demolition (Ax and Smash) with make up stolen from KISS. The NWA was much better than WWF.

And they all got it from BRUISER and CRUSHER.

AWA was pretty good too.

[drquest]

I wanted to get a second Raspberry Pi to get my Dreamcast online too, but haven’t been able to get one without paying scalper prices for some time, so I’ve had to hold off.

If the brainless bureaucrats in Washington ever manage to accidentally get the economy back on track, I’d like to go back and get that project done. The Dreamcast community has really worked their butts off to keep that system alive and relevant.

I happened to have a few extras of the Pi's, and was able to do it. Honestly it was cool but I haven't signed back on with it in at least a year I bet. But yes I agree it's been an odd couple of years for buying stuff at prices we assumed were stable. Just shows how precarious the economy actually is.

Another tech category I appreciate is old TV's and stereo equipment. This Panasonic Videosphere is one of my favorites. This one is not mine, but mine looks just like this one down to the clock. Some didn't come with the clock.

[Liu Bei]

I happened to have a few extras of the Pi's, and was able to do it. Honestly it was cool but I haven't signed back on with it in at least a year I bet. But yes I agree it's been an odd couple of years for buying stuff at prices we assumed were stable. Just shows how precarious the economy actually is.

Another tech category I appreciate is old TV's and stereo equipment. This Panasonic Videosphere is one of my favorites. This one is not mine, but looks just like this one down to the clock. Some didn't come with the clock.

That’s rad. I’m a fan of old TVs as well, especially vintage American brand CRTs. My next target is a vintage C64 monitor similar to the one I grew up with.

[Makernaut]

I happened to have a few extras of the Pi's, and was able to do it. Honestly it was cool but I haven't signed back on with it in at least a year I bet. But yes I agree it's been an odd couple of years for buying stuff at prices we assumed were stable. Just shows how precarious the economy actually is.

Another tech category I appreciate is old TV's and stereo equipment. This Panasonic Videosphere is one of my favorites. This one is not mine, but mine looks just like this one down to the clock. Some didn't come with the clock.

That’s rad. I’m a fan of old TVs as well, especially vintage American brand CRTs. My next target is a vintage C64 monitor similar to the one I grew up with.

I'd probably dig hanging out and talking shop with the two of you. I've always been more than a little fascinated by tech, but it's a broad interest that doesn't necessarily translate to knowing a lot about any ONE thing. However, I am particularly drawn to tech that died off in the evolutionary sense. Things that might have been "technically" better than what won out in the long run due to market forces or consumer tastes. There was a resiliency and ruggedness in some of that stuff and times might have been better when you could still "open it up and fix it" without voiding the warranty.

[Wee67]

Another tech category I appreciate is old TV's and stereo equipment. This Panasonic Videosphere is one of my favorites. This one is not mine, but mine looks just like this one down to the clock. Some didn't come with the clock.

I went through a very brief old TV phase. Been trying to find some info about one I had but sold a while ago. I picked it up in a thrift store in Tampa. It was was a large red sphere, but larger and a bit more ovalular than the Videosphere. It had a red visor that slid up to reveal the screen, almost like an astronaut's helmet. I don't even remember the manufacturer. Maybe Sony.

[Wee67]

I found the Memorex MSP-TV 1300 Video Ball, but it looks smaller than the one I had.