Why Do Other Geeks Leave the House?

JG_Elliott asks: "Being a geek getting more and more frustrated with shopping trips, I've turned to the internet to buy things to save time and effort. This made me wonder, other than leaving the house for work/lectures/school, why do other geeks leave the house? What is in the big wide-world that you can't get online (other than real sex)? What do other geeks get up to in their spare time, that they recommend, as something to do out of the house?"

Life

[empaler]

Excercise, fresh air, sun.
The ability to poke at my greens before paying for them.
Oh yeah, and I have WLAN and my are is heavily saturated by unsecured networks.

My Car

[Sheeplet]

I can't race my car inside, that's why I go out there.

Why not?

[Vincman]

I think a more interesting and honest question is 'Why do people not leave the house?'. Is is related to past experiences? Is it a result or cause of social phobia? Is it related to the satisfying of short-term objectives? Is it related to intelligence or laziness? Is there a correlation between any variable (e.g. happiness) and time spent ouside?
So does the good of outside-activity outweigh the bad, or vice versa? The relationship between obesity and inmobility has already been discussed numerous times [google.com].
In my opinion, there are lots of reasons to leave the house, which outweigh spending time inside. The best answer was already given: Life is out there! Nothing beats the sweet smell/feel/taste of ... (fill in gap yourself)!

Train Spotting

[nukenerd]

You put on an anorak, find somewhere you can watch trains going past, and write down their numbers.

My Top 3

[wolf-]

Soccer, Kneeboarding, paintball.
All non-computer related activities.
All semi-healthy.
All adrenaline pumping.

oddly enough, golf

[grocer]

golf is good and relaxing...not to mention a fine way to enjoy a cigar outside. If that doesn't lose my geek statues nothing will...although I probably lost my geek status sometime around getting married and dealing with children...

currently, tho, I do have to admin the house...which consists of 4 desktops and 3 or 4 laptops...of which I have 2 iBooks, 1 WinXP, 1 Win98, 3 WinME, 1 FreeBSD, and 1 RedHat...plus the collection in the basment..oh, well...

D & D

[jellomizer]

Playing D & D is usually a lot more fun in Real Life vs. over the internet. Actually using Dice and having a paper stat sheet. A board with squares and some putter figurines (I Have monorail operator Homer Simon from Simpons Monopoly). It is just better that way. It is not always can I do it Online but more of is it better offline.

Work From Home

[Tarwn]

I work from home, which means a guaranteed 9+ hour stretch of having to be indoors. Then I get off work and have to play a few minutes of stress relief in the form of HL or BF1942. By that time I have to go sit down and relax cuz I'm tired from the long work day. After about 30 minutes of that my computer chimes and starts up Stargate, so 50/50 chance I'll watch it live rather than let it record it (I never go back to watch the recorded ones, wierd I know). Then I or my fiance makes dinner (she has now come home from work). Then I sit with her for a while, then a little more gaming or work on a side project. Then bed time.

Complete list of Leaving the House:
- I smoke and my cat has fragile respiratory (projectile cat snot sucks) so I smoke outside. 15-ish trips/day tothe side patio
- We just moved a month ago and have a horrendous lawn, so 3 afternoons outside doing yardwork and 1 trip to Lowes for way to expensive equipment
- Food shopping. I eat better than my fiance (I grew up eating fresh food) so I have to be there to do stuff like order the deli meat and pick out fruit and such. Haven't signed up for the Lowes food delivery pogram yet :)

Food shopping and buying cigarettes are the only reoccurring trips out of the driveway. Sometimes it worries me that I don't leave as much as I used to, but one plus side is that for the first time in 6 years I am putting less than average mileage on my car...and while I do enjoy things that can't be done at my house, there are many more things that I enjoy more at my house. Plus we have pampas grass. It's evil. I cut the 12 foot one down to two feet, I feel the need for a maniacal laugh coming on....

Re:THX1138

[MillionthMonkey]

Unfortunately, this little gem is only available on VHS. Hey George Lucas! This is the best movie you ever made. Release it on DVD!

THX is about a bleak futuristic society that lives underground following some unmentioned apocalypse. (The movie doesn't elaborate on this, but the people that still live on the surface- "shell-dwellers"- are short little bearded mutants who grunt instead of talking, so I guess the movie takes place after a nuclear war.) Life underground is highly efficient and regulated, sex is illegal, daily ingestion of sedatives is required of everyone by law, and the police are polite but ruthless nuclear powered robots. LUH-3417 was hot (I forget the actress who played her). SEN-2541 was a great bastard too. And it's a delightful showcase of early seventies technology. My father was a mainframe programmer and loved this movie. He would point something out every few minutes (look look, it's FORTRAN!).

The end is awesome. After you watch this movie, you'll want to go outside more often.

Re:Life

[Metal_Demon]

(rant) Okay I don't want to comment on this, but I HAVE to. For starters (Score:5,Insightful) for a one line opinion (that doesn't even answer the question) is silly. That however, is not my main issue. Instead I must argue that life is EVERYWHERE. I am constantly busy and extremely happy and I almost never leave my room when I don't have to. The only thing "out there" is people, most of whom suck, oh yeah and the sun (the bain of my existence). Anyways, point being the outdoors isn't for everybody and I wish people would stop trying to insinuate that people who don't like the outdoors are somehow messed up. (/rant)

Re:Why not?

[slaker]

I'll bite and respond in a serious fashion:

1. Allergies make 3 of four seasons unpleasant for me. Snow handles the other one. I usually have to wear gloves and a mask to be outside for more than 10 minutes.
2. No social life. In my case, this is a literal truth. Zero. None. I'm severely depressed and suffer from accute social anxiety. Theoretically, the proper treatments for those conditions involve medication and acclimating myself to different conditions, but this has been an entirely negative experience for me, to the point that I'd rather just be a shut-in.
3. Minimal in common with anyone I might randomly meet. I don't like sports, drinking alcohol or any popular form of music. I'm not religious (this is a huge one in Indiana, where I live). My personal interests are not even remotely conducive to socialization.
4. Crippling shyness. Distinct from anxiety, I'm also very shy. I only speak when spoken to. I actually feign being mute in public, since that's easier for me than returning a greeting. I'd never, ever walk up to someone and say "hi." I've found that other people are not worth any amount of trust I put in them anyway, so the more distance I put between them and myself, the better off I am.

On the positive side for staying in:
1. I've spent a vast amount of money to have a place where I enjoy being, up to and including a small movie theater in my house and media access in every room; I have my books, the ever-changing internet and wonderfully comfortable furniture.
2. Home is where my pets are. They are a great comfort to me.
3. Climate control + air filters

"Life" may be out there, but in here, I am safe and comfortable, and I don't feel sick to my stomach for no good reason. No one says anything stupid or cruel about my appearance or obvious social deficiencies.