Things I do in my “spare” time to keep me sane. Also, I’m a geek, so these sort of things turn my buttons.
3D Printing/Modeling — I have an Ender 3 S1 3D printer that I got for Christmas 2024 and I have had an absolute blast with it ever since. I have heavily modified it and now I go through an immense amount of filament printing everything from practical items to fun trinkets to my large project of my own pipe organ. I have taught myself FreeCAD so I can design my own models and I use Ultimaker Cura for my slicer.
Airplane Tracking — I run my own ADS-B and UAT tracking station that tracks aircraft on the 1090MHz and 978MHz bands and decrypts the telemetry data that they transmit. I also feed to many different plane-tracking sites and have my own tracking database that collects data on the various airplanes that come in range of my system and stores the data for later analysis and tracking. You can check out my system here and watch planes fly over my house: http://home.nathanpralle.com/tar1090/
Ingress — I play the augmented-reality mobile game called “Ingress” which is a global capture-the-flag type of ongoing game. I have played in every city I have ever visited, all over the world, and it really helps me explore cities and new places and meet new people. I am Agent Tarsi210 of the Enlightened, Level 16, home cell is AM01-HOTEL-08. Join us!
Tuba Player — I play tuba, having originally started on trumpet, then transitioning to euphonium, and finally to tuba, where I have stayed since 1996. I have played with the Hampton Municipal Band since 1991 and with the North Iowa Concert Band for many years. I currently play a 4-rotary-valve V.F. Cerveney 681 4/4 BBb tuba. I am also working on repairing an old Couesnon tuba but that’s still a work in progress.
The River City Barbershop Chorus – I discovered the great and wonderful hobby of barbershop singing in the spring of 2001 and never looked back. I am a baritone. Although I haven’t sung with them in a few years due to being so darn busy, I’m still a member, and hope to get back to it sooner than later.
Construction/Home Improvement – Any home improvement we do, I do. Or I do with my father. And my father and I do construction work together, mostly rough work, but some finish work, too. I’m incredibly grateful that he taught me how to be useful with my hands, it’s saved us thousands in labor charges, and I’m intimately familiar with every aspect of my home’s construction, from electrical to plumbing to framing to finish. The only issue now is I’m too cheap to hire anyone else to do work for me. 🙂
Vintage Computer Collecting – I have between 30-40 different machines in my collection right now, ranging from Commodores to Apples to TRS-80s and some “small iron”. I adore fiddling with both modern and old technology as I think it’s important to understand where we came from in order to properly move forward.
Gourmet Cooking – I love cooking in the gourmet style and try to give myself challenges to rise to, to exercise those abilities.
Gardening – Maybe not my biggest hobby, but I enjoy having a nice garden and flowers. They’re nothing spectacular, but they are pretty and give me food, which I appreciate.