I must be in a mid-life crisis

I hear you. I'm 38 now and got my first motorcycle at 32. Now I'm looking to add a CBR1000 to the garage. Well it's either going to be a CBR1000, an RC51, or two or three L lenses. I'm torn... LOL

sounds like you need to add shooting bikini models to your skill set.

I worked with a guy who one day came into my office and I playfully smacked his flabby gut to give him a hard time and it felt like a rock. I said, "Dude, when did you get into shape?" He bought a Harley and then I said, "Next thing you know you'll have a mistress and a red convertible."

What I failed to know was that the woman standing in the room with us WAS his mistress, and soon after he got busted by a lady who told his wife and all heck broke loose.

Mid-life crisis was a term given to people who are spending their money on fun stuff later in life when it was believed you were supposed to be an old fuddy duddy.

But I don't buy it. As far as I'm concerned, you spend all those years broke and chasing your tail trying to get ahead and when you finally get there, it's time to enjoy it. I've gone back into model rocketry, model boats, photography, have a Miata I absolutely love and do a lot of traveling. Enjoy it. You earned it.

^^^
You do model rocketry as an adult? What a nerd!


I recently lost one in the woods, one in the sky (don't know if it ever came down. Went up over 2000 feet and that was that) and another one is across the street on my neighbor's roof in the rain gutter.

So I'm a nerd too.

But why stop there. Get a rokaku and combine it with photography. I love KAP (kite aerial photography).

This photo was taken with a Canon SX110 attached to a seven-foot-tall kite.

Well, actually, the camera is attached to a lightweight aluminum rig which is attached to the line about 100 feet below the kite.


If you look closely at the top-right corner, the house with cars in the driveway is mine, and that's me in the front yard flying the kite.

MikeFairbanks wrote in post #14781531
^^^
You do model rocketry as an adult? What a nerd!


I recently lost one in the woods, one in the sky (don't know if it ever came down. Went up over 2000 feet and that was that) and another one is across the street on my neighbor's roof in the rain gutter.

So I'm a nerd too.

But why stop there. Get a rokaku and combine it with photography. I love KAP (kite aerial photography).

This photo was taken with a Canon SX110 attached to a seven-foot-tall kite.

Well, actually, the camera is attached to a lightweight aluminum rig which is attached to the line about 100 feet below the kite.


If you look closely at the top-right corner, the house with cars in the driveway is mine, and that's me in the front yard flying the kite.

Now that's awesome.
Actually now that I think of it I can't say that I am actively launching anything. I started this major remodel project on my house about 3 years ago and haven't really touched my rockets since. I got back into photography 2 years ago because I wanted something I could do in the few spare hours I have every now and then. The rockets I was building were level 2 and level 3 and required an FAA waiver to fly and a really big freaking area to do it and that just takes too much time.
So sadly I haven't had any crossover between my photography and rocketry but that will change next spring as I expect the remodel work to be complete this fall.
Once her kitchen is done I "can do anything I want". lol
All of my good rockets are in my garage attic and I didn't own a digital camera until after I put them up but I think I'm gonna get them out and shoot some pics soon. I probably should for insurance purposes but I never really thought about it until now.
I do have two pics that I took with my wife's P&S several years ago so I could send them to Estes and see about getting some parts to complete them. Here they are.

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That's cool. How high do they go? I kept losing mine and haven't done it in a while. Usually I just buy the simple kits and put it together in a day or two. My highest was 2000 feet but, as mentioned before, it's still up there somewhere.

The scale model kits usually don't go too high. The Mercury Atlas flew on 2 C motors and hit about 200ft. The Saturn V launched on 4 D motors and hit about 500ft.
But those are the pretty-boys of the arsenal. They are heavy and designed to look neat and make lots of noise. If they go too fast, they shred parts. I have a 4 ft rocket with a 2 inch diameter body tube that flies on a single J motor that regularly breaks the sound barrier. It hits 4000-5000 feet.
I also have a two-stage beast that is an 11 foot stack that cleared 11,327ft once. It's in pieces though. The drogue chute deployed at the right altitude but the main chute deployed late. It came down hard and cracked the payload bay, the avionics board, and lost a fin. Oh well, you live and you learn. She will fly again. Next time I'll use a more expensive avionics package that includes a secondary chute deployment charge.
It can be a lot of fun but like photography, it sucks you in. Next thing you know, you have your car parked in the driveway and a missile in your garage and neighbors start looking at you weird when they see you with the garage door open. Of course that's nothing compared to the looks when a friend picked me up for a launch once and was hauling a trailer with his 12 ft long V2 replica. Looked just like this. http://ldrs31.org …oads/2012/02/IM​G_0302.jpg lol

And no. I never built anything near that extreme. That thing cost him well over $20,000 and took three years to build.....It costs about $400 for a single flight, but it is awesome to see. I haven't talked to him in years. I had forgotten all about it until now. I need to run him down and see if he is still flying it. Maybe I can get some pics!

Of course, if you think that V2 is crazy, take a look at this. http://www.likecool.co​m …t_Launch--News--Gear.html
I don't know these people and I wasn't there to see the launch, but I can only imagine what it must have cost........

The good thing about a mid life crisis is that it doesn't seem to be fatal. I think I've had one my entire working life, and I'm 64 now. Or maybe I just never grew up to experience mid life.

BTW, the kite shot is pretty cool Mike.

Oh geez, I missed out again. I didn't know I was allowed to blame things on mid life crisis at 40! I wasted 10 years making up legitimate reasons for buying toys. Now I am 50 and my kids think a new pair of tennis shoes is a mid life crisis purchase so I got nuthin to be ashamed of now- Look out! All those missed opportunities, all those hours spent trying to find ways to rationalize toys......

[QUOTE=kfreels;1478343​3]
And no. I never built anything near that extreme. That thing cost him well over $20,000 and took three years to build.....It costs about $400 for a single flight, but it is awesome to see. I haven't talked to him in years. I had forgotten all about it until now. I need to run him down and see if he is still flying it. Maybe I can get some pics!


An expensive hobby to rival photography? And a cool one to boot - don't let anyone ever call you guys nerds!

And we'd love to see some pictures.

My mid-life crisis started in my 30s and continues to this day

Rapidly approaching 37 and I can feel it coming on.

I got a nice little annual bonus at my day job in mid June and have been sitting on it. A friend of a friend was selling a late 70's Mercedes convertible... in Colorado. And I'm in Tampa. Good price, lots of recent work done. So I flipped a quarter - heads, I buy a 5D3, tails I fly across the country and buy a convertible sight-unseen.

The coin chose the convertible.... but my wife chose the 5D3. So now I'm the proud new owner of a 5D3.

Oh well, I can go out and take pictures of other people's convertibles I guess

I'd kill to be approaching 40 again. Mid life now? Just wait

Those rockets are freaking insane, kfreels. Dang.

But now that we're still on the topic of crazy middle-aged stuff, my next mission involves marrying this and this:

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