Re: (OT) How do you relax and "recharge"?

[japhy]

Well, when I was a kid (sorry, perspective: I'm 23 now, and I'm talking about when I was around 8-12 years old) I played with LEGO sets a lot (primarily Castle sets). I still have a lot of them left over, and I've recently bought some of the new Castle theme sets, and stuff from eBay. Oh, and I found BrickLink where I can buy individual pieces!

Ahem. As I was saying, when I was much younger, I played with Castle LEGO sets. And now, when I'm at home, if I need a coding break... I play with LEGO sets. I've come to the point where I can create realistic structures. And if I can't tear myself away from the computer, I can use a program like mlCAD to produce 3D representations of my LEGO structures, and produce step-by-step instructions for other people to use to build them!

So I play with LEGO when I need a break. It brings me back to my childhood and uses a different part of my imagination (from the part that I use when coding Perl, that is).

[jhourcle]

And for those with disposable income, and who prefer the modeling style of Lego play -- the Lego Death Star just shipped.

If you prefer just free form building, the buckets of bricks are really cheap, compared to the model sets (about US$0.02 per piece, vs. US$0.10 per piece)

As for other sorts of imagination -- I also play various computer games (I love the Zelda series, along with other puzzle games), and watch lots of TV (cartoons and educational programming, mostly).

But as for the OP's question in it, there was the premise--

when you need to work long hours in front of computer

I'd say the most important thing is to not let yourself get to the point where you have a dire need for recharging -- I'm getting old (just hit another one of the 'x0' birthdays today) and I just can't pull all nighters for multiple days in a row like I used to. And I don't want to -- when I realize I'm not making progress, unless I have some major reason for pushing through, I take it as a sign to go rest. Often, my best ideas for a project come from when I'm not directly thinking about it.

Work on your time management, and you won't 'need' to work long hours in front of the computer. (sometimes you will get in the zone, and 'want' to work long hours, but that's a different thing entirely).

Update: As for 'breading' -- yeast breads take too much time and effort (even with a mixer that can do the kneading). I stick with banana bread -- when they start to go off, freeze them, and when you're ready to bake, you can defrost them in the microwave or the sink.

[runrig]

As for 'breading' -- yeast breads take too much time and effort...

Time, yes, but not much effort with a bread machine. Dump all the ingredients in, and 3 hours later, you can have Honey Wheat Beer Potato Bread (tm)(pat.pend.)(and breadsticks don't even take that long) (-:

[poqui]

If you are going to take the steps of:
Lego
and
disposable income
then you *must* look into Mindstorms

It takes more time than I've had lately, but its loads of fun.

[Taulmarill]

And for those with disposable income, and who prefer the modeling style of Lego play -- the Lego Death Start just shipped.

*drool* me want's to have it ... it's ... it's my precious...