These are in no order real order except the first one, which is the most expensive and most enjoyable.
Mountain biking
I am an avid mountain biker and have ridden trails in 4 states and counting. My first bike was a Wal-Mart bike that I borrowed occasionally in 2009; it was not sized correctly and I ended up breaking multiple parts on it before picking up a used Ironhorse Sinister Sport in summer 2010. It was a relatively good investment, but design flaws and subtle problems bloomed into a host of repairs over the next year. In summer 2011 I pre-rode, entered and finished my first race, the Keweenaw Chain Drive, which was a 16 mile cross country race on the very rough Churning Rapids/Maasto-Hihto trail network in Hancock, Michigan.
During fall 2011 I made the decision to upgrade my bike. I now own a 2012 Kona Hei Hei 29, an absolutely beautiful trail machine which has components and geometry optimized for cross country riding. I couldn’t be happier (but I’m glad I didn’t test-ride the Pivot Mach 429 when I was in Moab because I’m sure I’d be bike-jealous). After purchasing my Hei Hei I started riding the Copper Harbor trails and found that they were a blast. The rest of the world seems to be realizing this as well, because they were named an IMBA epic ride.
A few resources on trails in the Houghton area:
Writing in LaTeX
For most of my undergrad career I have done my homework in LaTeX and have found it to be a rewarding experience. (To be expanded.)
Camping
As generic as it is, I enjoy camping. I own a bombproof tent but pay the price in weight. I have camped in the winter in a quinzee as well, which I would do again in a heartbeat.
Downhill skiing
(To be expanded.)
Cross country skiing
(To be expanded.)
Snowshoeing
In 2010 I bought a pair of MSR Denali Ascent snowshoes, which allowed for some of the funnest walking I had ever accomplished until I snapped one. MSR is an excellent company and despite the circumstances of the break they offered to replace the pair. There was a problem but it was easily solved my MSR: at the time of breaking, MSR no longer made my snowshoes! Their solution was to send me a new pair of the latest shoes at that level, a significant upgrade. I now use MSR Evo Ascent and couldn’t be happier.
I usually romp around the Maasto trails, the Tech Trails or up in Copper Harbor.
Functional Programming
I enjoy learning Haskell and have written a few utilities in it including:
- Lecture slide compilation framework built around Hakyll and Pandoc (TODO link to it)
- flowbot / signal analysis program?
Here is a cool comic: https://ro-che.info/ccc/