Rob Knop's Gratuitous Hobbies
...and what do I really mean by hobbies, anyway? I have observed, with some chagrin, that in today's society we all define ourselves by our jobs. When meeting somebody knew, you always ask, "what do you do?" People then will ask me, "what does your wife do?" It can be very frustrating if you don't personally define yourself by your job— which is certainly the case with my wife. But, even more than that, it disturbs me that our society thinks this way, as it indicates that's what's most important about us is the way in which we serves as cogs in the global economic machine.
So, what this page is about is what do I find interesting and important? While, yes, it is my job that I get paid for, I have the good fortune of being able to do a job that is something I care about and that I really want to be doing anyway. So, the following are things that I enjoy spending time on:
Physics & Astronomy. This includes teaching at Quest University, as well as (hopefully getting going again soon!) doing some research with students in astrophysics. In addition, I'm an occasional amateur astronomer; I'm not a real amateur, as I don't spend enough time at it, but I do have my own 8-inch Celestron SCT telescope that I enjoy using to observe astronomical objects.
Music & Theater. I'm an amateur violinist and an amateur actor/director.
I love Shakespeare plays.
Comptuer Nerdism. I enjoy computers for their own sake. I'm a free/open-source software nerd, and use Linux on all of my machines (servers, desktops, laptops, and even of a sort on phones and tablets). I enjoy computer programming, as well as 3D computer modelling (using Blender). Much of the programming I've done has been in support of both research and teaching in physics and astronomy, and a fair amount of my 3D rendering has been as well. And, indeed, now that I'm at Quest where I teach more broadly, I've taught Programming, and will be teaching 3D Computer Modelling and Animation (in February 2013).
Virtual Worlds. I worked for Linden Lab, the creators of Second Life, for two years. I'm still involved in Second Life, and have an active interest in open-source virtual worlds. I haven't done a lot with it recently (as my job at Quest keeps me too busy), but I do have fantasies about further integrating it with my educational pursuits.
Reading. I very much enjoy reading for fun. I read a fair number of different things, but I would have to say that my favorite fun reading is science fiction, with mystery/thrillers as a close second. When forced to come up with a favorite novel, I currently list A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge. Other favorite authors include Charles Stross, Robert J. Sawyer, and Neal Stephenson.
Blogging. My blog, "Galactic Interactions", is only rarely updated nowadays. It has been more active in the past, and was probably most active during my last few years at Vanderbilt when, among othr things, I blogged about the angst of being pre-tenure and not being able to get external funding. Although I blog about all sorts of stuff, ideally I'd like to be the sort of science blogger who presents topics in physics and astronomy in a manner that's accessible to the general public— whether it be recent discoveries, or basic concepts. However, keeping up with that takes effort, of course, and that effort is something that's been mostly triaged away in recent years.
Consuming Media Like A Typical American Sheep. Yeah, I watch movies and TV shows. My favorite movie of all time is Terry Gillam's Brazil, but I'm a giant fan of things like Star Wars, some of the Star Trek movies, Memento, Shakespeare In Love, The Matrix, and numerous other movies. My wife and I typically watch DVDs while we eat dinner. Usually, we're watching TV past seasons of TV shows, including both USA TV shows and vast quantities of British mysteries. At the moment, we're working our way through Fringe and The Mentalist, as well as idly through some of the aforementioned British mysteries.
Video Games. I've got an XBox 360. Given my horror for all things Microsoft, I sometimes sweat and quake with the cognitive dissonance, but I rationalize it away by saying that if Microsoft were a games company, and didn't screw up the world with Windows and Office and so forth, the world would be a much better place. (Oracle, however, is far more evil than Microsoft nowadays. Indeed, Apple begins to give Microsoft a run for its money in the evil department, and keep your eyes on Google.) I like a wide variety of games— FPS (Halo!), racing games (Burnout!), football (Madden!), RPGs (KOTOR! Mass Effect! Skyrim!). My all-time favorite game on the Xbox, however, is Grand Theft Auto. (GTAIV would be at the top right now, although I also very much enjoyed all the games from the GTAIII era, and San Andreas in particular.) On the computer and MMO side, I spend some time playing EVE Online (on my Linux boxes, using Wine to run the Windows client).
Role-Playing Games. I started playing D&D back in 1978, when the first-edition Dungeon Master's Guide had just barely been released. I've played RPGs on and off ever since. Although considered horribly geeky, I find that they're a great creative outlet and can be lots of fun if you play with the right group. For a few years, I was the volunteer webmaster for Grey Ghost Games, the publishers of Fudge, and Fudge remains a favorite system of mine. I'm also fond of GURPS. Recently, I've been playing a lot of Pathfinder. With a gaming group in Nashville, I'd played a fair amount of D&D/4e; going back to the 3d style in Pathfinder, I'm finding that despite some attractions and benefits, D&D/4e was a step backwards, system-wise. As with my music, not only the limited time afforded to me by my all-consuming job teaching on the block system, but also the limitations of living in a very small town have made it impossible for me to find a gaming group up here in Squamish. However, starting earlier this year, I gamed semi-regularly with several Quest students.
Unicycle. I can ride a unicycle. It's something I picked up as a student at Harvey Mudd College.