Diversions

• Parenting: Turns out when you space your kids apart by 8 years each you spend a lot more time in the "parent of young kids" stage of life than you normally would. (Or as I sometimes put it, the "so, what did you used to do for fun?" stage.) That said, I've managed to shoe-horn in a few other things.
• Blogging: It's a guilty secret of mine that I seriously considered becoming a science journalist after getting my degrees. My blog has allowed me to scratch that writing itch without having to meet a deadline should I not have anything to say that day. I took a 10-year hiatus from it starting in 2010 and when I came back I discovered that everyone had moved to either FaceBook or Substack, so I guess that makes me retro now.
• Poi: Poi is a combination of juggling, dance, and pyromania all set to music, so it's no big surprise I've taken a liking to it.
• Trap making: For over 30 years my friend Jay and I have exchange trapped presents at Christmas. When I say trapped I mean it in the classic Circle of Death game style — if you open the present carelessly a buzzer will sound or explosive cap will trigger. It all started when we were designing traps for live-action role-playing games, but quickly became a challenge to one-up each other each year. We often start planning our traps many months in advance (usually long before we worry about what gift to give), and I've also started trapping nice wood-inlay boxes that I just keep around the house to surprise unwary visitors. I've put up a gallery of some of our more recent traps.