Hobbies

Whenever he gets a spare moment away from his electronics repair shop, Abdul Karim Hadi sneaks off to what he calls the "radio shack" in the corner of his bedroom, flips a switch and escapes to the outside world. Hadi could use the Internet or a cellphone to connect with friends near and far, but his choice is decidedly more retro. "With ham radio, you can meet people around the world," said Hadi, 48, who has been "hamming" since 1978. "It's also a hobby you can do on your own.

The pickup with "Official Rocket Recovery Vehicle" on its side bounced across the rutted dry lake bed kicking up silt. Andy Tryon glanced over his shoulder at his baby cradled in back. In a few minutes, his crew would gently place the Desert Hawk on the launch pad and arm it with an igniter. Showtime, and Tryon was nervous. The rocket represented three months' labor. He needed to solve the engineering flaw that doomed the Desert Hawk's three previous launches.

MORE than a century before technology-inspired treasure hunters put geocaching on the map, British hobbyists known as "letterboxers" headed out on their own trails. An outdoor activity not unlike treasure hunting, letterboxing has its roots in the craggy moorland of mid-19th century Devon, England. It is said that "Letterbox 1" was the result of a hiking guide having left a well-hidden container of letters, presumably written to subsequent hikers, along a trail -- thus the name "letterboxing."

EVE and Don Cohen spent last week gearing up for the 20th annual all-day party at their Cheviot Hills home. The preparations meant scheduling more than 80 amateur chamber musicians to play in five rooms Saturday -- changing partners every 45 minutes plus grazing on a potluck dinner, sampling wines and watching a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta unfold in the backyard, complete with live orchestra.

AS a full-time sales rep for national van-line companies for 12 years, Ellen Sullivan understood radical moves. One day she decided to make one herself. Sullivan and her chemist husband, Paul Bernhardy, sold their Orange County home in Monarch Beach -- they were empty-nesters -- and bought a spread in San Diego County's rural Valley Center. That's when they added a new line on their resumes: hobby farmers.

RICK NORSIGIAN discovered the object of his obsession one sunny Saturday seven years ago at a garage sale. A painter for the Fresno school district by day and inveterate antique buff the rest of his waking hours, Norsigian was combing through suburban castoffs when he came across a time-weathered wooden box. The crate was heavy with old glass-plate photographic negatives.

All aboard! Allied Model Trains is leaving the station. This week, one of the nation's largest model train stores is closing its longtime home in Culver City: a half-block-long replica of Los Angeles' Union Station. And fading along with it, says owner Allen Drucker, is the model train industry. "It's just a dying hobby," said Drucker, 58. "We probably have another good 15 years." Drucker will hang up his cap after 32 years of running a miniature railroad hub.

It was short in length -- but long in its reach. The Grizzly Flats Railroad's steam engines traveled for 70 years along a 500-foot-long stretch of rails next to the San Gabriel home of Betty and Ward Kimball. Along the way, the Kimballs' picturesque narrow-gauge line helped inspire Walt Disney to build the famous passenger train system that circles Disneyland.

ON a bright afternoon, about two dozen people gathered on a bend overlooking the San Gabriel River. The idyllic sounds of birds and flowing water mixed with the low growl of gas-powered suction dredges. Clusters of men (and one or two women) crouched in the water with vacuum hoses, circular pans and sluice boards. Their goal -- in some cases, their obsession -- was the same. "The gold looks so good underwater," gushed Coel Schumacher, a 19-year-old junior at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

REMEMBER when comic books were considered too juvenile to be read? Now it appears that they have become too valuable to be touched. A company in Sarasota, Fla., has created a sensation among collectors by taking their comic books, both rare vintage issues and brand-new ones, and encasing them in plastic slabs that make them both unreadable and instantly more valuable. The Captain Marvel and Donald Duck comic books that arrive at the offices of the Certified Guaranty Co.