What are some of your other passions and interests beyond swimming?

Originally posted by dorothyrde Oh yes, and Illinois basketball!!!! Yay for Illinois! I moved a couple of years ago but I will always be from Ill. in my heart. I've been so excited this season. :)

There is more to life than swimming? hmmmmmm.... Reading(love James Patterson stuff) Cake Decorating Crocheting(teased a lot about the old lady hobby!) Crossword puzzles Scary rollercoasters Swimmy :)

great stuff do you like joan and melissa on the red carpet? ande Originally posted by Fishgrrl Great question Ande! What feeds my soul...hmmm.... Outside of the water... Film studies, books, art, music, people of all kinds, my husband, my friends, school, my job (I have a great boss), karaoke bars, poetry readings, hanging out at Borders, In and Out burgers, a good cup of coffee (especially after a morning workout!), an even better bottle of beer after a horrendously long day, watching the Oscars once a year (it's all about the red carpet), exchanging funny emails with my sister; truth, peace, simplicity, color, clouds and rainy days. And sometimes 70's tunes and really awful cult horror films do it for me. and hotdogs at a Giants game. Especially if the Giants are winning.

Scansy, I haven't made it up to Hershey yet. I have heard there are some good coasters up there. I prefer the high tech new coasters to the old wooden rough ones(too tame). The best one I did last year was Batwing at Six Flags in MD. You pretty much ride looking straight down at the ground for most of the ride. Amazing adrenaline rush! The coasters at Busch Gardens in Va are also great.Alpengeist is my favorite there. Swimmy :)

Originally posted by James Well, is there anything else than swimming? Well, yes there is, with my wife and kids standing behind me. I coach my kids t-ball team from April to June. Then comes golf rounds between swimming workouts. Also Yankees games on the radio in the summer, and Cleveland Brown Games in the fall, yea Scansy, Stealers goin' down this year!!! Go dawgpound :D Also I love watching Spongbob with my kids!! Most enjoyable part of my day. You know what they say about the Browns right? The best years of their history were 1996, 1997, 1998!:D (For those who don't know, those were the years Cleveland didn't have a team!:cool: )

Originally posted by Karen Duggan Scansy, I remember reading "Hawaii" in high school. The only thing I remember is it was a really thick book!!!!!!! Yeah, Chesapeake and Alaska are both about 800 pages and Centennial is just over 1000. Great stuff though. I think Hawaii will be the one I go with after this.

Originally posted by Scansy Outdoors - especially fishing, hunting, skiing and gardening (vegetables and flowers) In the fall - coaching youth football - (this usually has a big impact on my "recreational" and swimming time) Reading - my favorite author is James Michener (It's a new addiction - I have read Chesapeake (twice) and Alaska and currently I'm working on Centennial) - I just wish I could read more than 20 pages at a time at night. It takes forever to finish his books at that pace! And when I have a bad day at work and need to vent some frustration on the way home I like loud, obnoxious, head banging music (currently have CD's by the following in my truck: Metal Church, Hanzel und Gretyl, Seraphim Shock, Metallica, Megadeth) I used to have time to read....still have about three books sitting on my desk waiting. I have read all of Michener's stuff a long time ago. I liked them. I like science fiction a lot too. Music- Aerosmith, good for a bad day at work!

I can always be found mountain biking and road cycling in the spring, summer, and fall. In the winter I xc ski and snowboard. Year round, I drink beer and read. :)

swimming for sure. but other than swimming??? these are just the top 5: photography the outdoors knitting ("too young" for it supposedly but i love it!) my kitten friends and family

Originally posted by Swimmy There is more to life than swimming? hmmmmmm.... Reading(love James Patterson stuff) Cake Decorating Crocheting(teased a lot about the old lady hobby!) Crossword puzzles Scary rollercoasters Swimmy :) Rollercoasters are awesome. My whole family loves them - (except the four year old!). We go to Hershey Park a couple of times each summer - they have a new one (Stormrunner) that starts you on flat ground and somehow accelerates you to 70 miles an hour in under two seconds. Then shoots you up a hill that comes back down "nearly vertical" (their words). I can say that when you are on the ground looking at it and especially when you are riding it feels like vertical. Then it does the standard loops, corkscrew stuff. It's a relatively small amusement park, but Hersheypark has rollercoasters that rank with any park I've been to. They have two "new" wooden ones that really toss you around too.