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Re:What I learned today: Never apply for a job by fedorabbit on Wednesday July 06, 2011 @09:07PM (#2736709)
It's like addiction actually. need adjustment! Good advice!
Re:What I learned today: Never apply for a job by roundsquare on Wednesday July 06, 2011 @11:38PM (#2737035)
I'm going to suggest indoor* wall climbing as a hobby. Lots of nerds like it because its actually very analytic. Doing a particular climb often requires analyzing where the hand/foot holds are and figuring out the best way to use them. If you've ever done any work in AI, you run into problems where you its hard to tell if you have a bug in your code or if your learning algorithm isn't very good. Its the same with climbing: is my method bad or am I just doing it wrong?

Edit: one other benefit, if you find a wall you can just go during its open hours and meet people after you get there. In my experience, people will see you struggle with something and swing by to give you a quick tip ("try putting your feet a bit higher", "try using your left hand over here", etc...)

*Indoor because its less intimidating and the walls often have custom made climbs for various skill levels.