New Hobby Pans Out, Mostly.

I have a tendency to take up hobbies quickly and many times without thinking them through entirely. I bought a guitar because somebody at camp played a killer rendition of Rocky Top. Couple of years later, I can sometimes play a decent Comfortably Numb or Heart of Gold, but that's about it. I bought a damn nice guitar, too, so it's a shame.

Then some guys opened up a skateboard shop down the street and I figured this was how I was going to get to work from now on. Couple of skateboard trips (a few falls) and the realization that it's incredibly hard to skateboard uphill and my skateboard sits under my bed, probably waiting for some lazy summer moment when I don't want to walk to the ATM.

Flight, of course, is my ultimate hobby, but I only have the one exploration flight under my cap - but that one's still a work in progress.

But for the first time since I picked up hockey a new hobby finally paid off - fishing.

I am obsessed with the show River Monsters. You may have seen it - a Brit named Jeremy Wade goes around the globe trying to catch - surprise - river monsters. There are some issues with the show. The premise is that he is trying to "investigate" mysterious events leading to death. So, it sensationalizes just a bit. But - it is incredibly entertaining and I watch it for hours.

Then, one day, it hit me. There are rivers near me. I need to go catch a river monster. I went out to a shop in Renssalaer and got set up to go fishing. So far, there has been some success. I caught this "monster" in the Hudson at Schodack Island, and I caught a smaller little guy at Lock 7.