Happy Gillmore

My car was broken into and my Garmin 60cs was stolen off of my dash. (Note to self. Don't leave GPS visiable when not in car.) I now recommend using a bean bag instead a dash or windshield mount so your GPS can easily be moved out of sight. But I digress. I am looking to replace my 60CS with a unit that I can have aviaition software, and turn-by-turn software in the same unit. Is that possible? I have read in this forum that you can run topo and turn-by-turn even when Garmin says you can't.

I have thought about doing just that, a micro on a public webcam. The only thing that has held me back is increased security awareness since 9/11. My thought is, if this is a public webcam then someone maybe monitoring it and if they see someone hunting around the bushes they might send out the cops. Even without webcam caches there have been plenty of conversations between cachers and the local authorities albeit police or security staff. I know it happened here yesterday with another cacher. Whenever I have a conversation with a cop, curious neighbor or security person I explain exactly what I am doing. Once they know there isn't a problem. I then "deputize" them as the unofficial cache patrol and ask them to keep an eye on the cache to make sure no one "muggles" it. They usually get a laugh at our use of the term "muggle" and are very willing to be deputized. Then they have ownership in the cache and its wellbeing.

There are Traditional Caches, Multi-caches, Virtual caches, Letterbox Hybrids, Event Caches, Unknown (Mystery) Caches, NGS Benchmarks, and finally Webcam Caches. With thousands of non-webcam caches to do I think you could keep yourself busy enough so you don't have to make any obscene gestures. Just stay away from the webcam caches and everyone will be happy. It is the same principle if you don't like gay bars stay out of them. Don't go there just so you can make obscene gestures at those who do. If you want people to respect your rights respect theirs. They have a right to be gay and to visit a gay bar. Cachers have a right to put up webcam caches and watch them. If you don't like either just stay way. It is nothing to get upset about or to make obscene gestures over. It's a matter of respect. The last thing I want to see is a grandmother making obscene gestures. That just isn't a pretty picture.

I'd be glad to give some direction but what is the question?

zcubed, as my teen-age son would say, "ROFL!". I was going to mention that there is a caching team here locally that is putting out phobia caches. I couldn't remember the names of the caches so I did a search on geocaching.com for phobia and found 29 caches! I talked to the team here and they said they are going to put out a phobia for "sticking your hand into dark spaces and having to feel around for a cache". Yikes! I hate that. It gives me the heebie-jeebies! I have missed more than one cache because I just couldn't do it. I guess we, or at least a some of us, could use some therapy.

I just had to place this note. I'm in my office looking for some papers. I found over 50 pages of printed caches! I haven't looked in my car, or in my house for print outs but I was surprised at how much paper (and ink) I have used just on the cache pages that are lying around, not counting the over 200 caches that I have done and printed out pages for. My office is looking better already. I'm loving this paperless caching.

monimoni, I am glad you are happy. I did contemplate whether I should send the information to you directly. I thought, however, that would defeat the purpose of a forum, i.e. to share information. If I would have sent this only to you then others who might be interested in the information would not have gotten it. Again, don't take offence where none was given. I have not made any malicious comments or attacked anyone. I do agree that actions speak louder then words.

Well said DiscGolfer.

Wrangler, excellent information. I have wondered how people combined everything into one unit. You explained how. Great job.

I still after this one.

I'm glad it helped you. It certainly helped me. I am a "dash and cache" kind of guy. I like FTFs. So I am waiting for a new cache to pop up so I can see how well this all works in the "heat of the moment". From what I can tell it'll be great.

TeamGonzo, what is with you? Can't you just accept the fact that a concerned person is trying to help? Your rebuttles are not wanted, they are off subject and not appropriate. This thread is not about civil liberties. If you are so concerned about protecting someone's right to state their opinion then stop stepping on my right, that you say I have. If my comments help those who need help, great. If not, that is fine. But don't tell me I can't offer to help just because you don't like it. End of subject.

It wasn't given in malice. However, some times offering help is not always accepted well. I have personal experience with friends who have this clinical problem. It is nothing to make light of. It controls their lives more than you can believe. I am offering a hand, not a put down. It is interesting to note the page full of logs from people saying "get over it", but the one post offering help gets slammed. EDITED for spelling.

Just an observation. The posts on the linked page are from people who bought the expensive PDAs. My Zire is my second PDA. If you are interested in buying a PDA for geocaching buy a cheap, used one. If you find it is now your first love then go for a more expensive one, then either keep the cheaper one for caching or sell it on ebay.

monimoni, The first step is to recognize the problem. I hope this helps. Social Phobia What is Social Phobia? Social Phobia, or Social Anxiety Disorder, is an anxiety disorder characterized by overwhelming anxiety and excessive self-consciousness in everyday social situations. Social phobia can be limited to only one type of situation?such as a fear of speaking in formal or informal situations, or eating or drinking in front of others?or, in its most severe form, may be so broad that a person experiences symptoms almost anytime they are around other people. Signs & Symptoms People with social phobia have a persistent, intense, and chronic fear of being watched and judged by others and being embarrassed or humiliated by their own actions. Their fear may be so severe that it interferes with work or school, and other ordinary activities. Physical symptoms often accompany the intense anxiety of social phobia and include blushing, profuse sweating, trembling, nausea, and difficulty talking. Treatment Effective treatments for social phobia are available, and research is yielding new, improved therapies that can help most people with social phobia and other anxiety disorders lead productive, fulfilling lives. Getting Help Locate mental health services in your area, affordable healthcare, NIMH clinical trials, and listings of professionals and organizations. ------------ Complete article: Social Phobia

Step by step instructions: Paperless Caching

Since downloading the 487 caches to my PDA I haven't gone caching so I don't have any feedback. However, I am very interested in reading the replies from those who have been using a PDA for a while. This is what I expect from going with a PDA: 1. Stop calling my wife to read me the information on the cache page because it didn't print on my paper copy I had with me in the field. 2. I have lost/dropped a few cache pages along the trail and had to go back looking for them (some found, some not). I expect not to be dropping my PDA. I expect I'll be a little more careful with that. 3. Go caching on a whim. Hey, I have 487 caches in my hip pocket. No need to go home to look one up. Or if I find a cache and have more time I can do a "nearest caches" search in CacheMate and keep on caching. 4. Don't have to clutter up the car with cache papers and don't have to look for the print out I can't remember where I put, thus having to kill another tree to reprint it. (Well, maybe not a tree, just a small branch. I don't know how much wood a single piece of paper takes.) 5. Caching with a GPSr, cell phone, and now a PDA completes my geekness image and helps me secure who I am.

I recently went to Kitsap county to do one cache and did three in one day. My first find of the day took me 2-1/2 hours. If you get bored with caching try doing a night cache during broad daylight. On my second cache of the day I met a fellow cacher in the parking lot. Someone who I hadn't met since I hadn't done a lot of caching in Kitsap county. We looked together and logged our finds after about 20 minutes. Jim got an FTF after several other well known cachers had DNF'd the cache. The last find of the day was suggested by Jim and we again did it together. It took about 20 seconds. It was very rewarding after the two previous caches, especially the first one. How would I rate these 3 caches? Cache 1: I was very rewarded by achieving a long time dream of finding a night cache during the day. Very gratifying. Cache 2: It was wonderful meeting a fellow cacher. I look forward to running into Jim again as I go back to Kitsap for more caching. Jim's second trip to this cache. Cache 3: This was Jim's second trip to the site. It was fun figuring it out before I even got out of the car and watching Jim's jaw drop. Bottomline: Like I tell my kids "fun" is an attitude. So is "quality". I have had sat and while eating low quality food "pizza" while visiting with old and new cachers all while having a wonderful time. If it is possible cache with a friend. That way you have fun no matter what the "quality" of a cache is. ONE NOTE OF WARNING: This post from Fledermaus might be devious in deed. He has some really difficult caches out there. Don't be fooled by his kind invitation. He is only taunting you. If you don't think so see how many DNF's he has on caches he has hidden. If you find you are bored with caches, see how many Fledermaus caches you can do in one day without a DNF.

I love it! I'm paperless too. I don't use a PDA for anything so I bought a Palm Zire (M150) on ebay for a buy now price of $30. I followed the directions for paperless caching at Florida Geocaching and it worked perfectly. I have 2mb RAM. I did a pocket query for all caches within 20 mile radius of my home, excluding my finds, and ignore list. I found 487 caches and downloaded them to GSAK then to CacheMate and still have RAM left over.

I did buy a Zire M150 on ebay yesterday. I got if at a buy now for $30 plus $7.75 shipping from someone who I felt much more comfortable with. It turned out great. I got a shipping notice last night! That is very fast. Now I have to decide weither to use GSAK, Cachmate or if I can just copy and paste into Memos. Any suggestions advantages/disadvantages?

I am looking at these PDA's on Ebay and a lot of them have velcro on the backs. Enough of them to make me wonder why the universal use of velcro. I know it is used to hold them to something but I don't see the need. Any input/experience with using velcro on PDA's?

FYI, Icenrye, I know you are not endorsing anyone, but the link you provided to ebay is for a seller who has 98% possitive feedback but has 104 negitive and 104 neutral feedback. That is a LOT of neutral and negitie feedback! I would caution buying from this source.

Pros/Cons for Palm Zire M150 (a lot are on ebay for sale) Pros ?: 1. UBS sync cable, I don't have to spend more $ on a cable because my laptop doesn't have a serial port. 2. Cheap, I only want to use it for paperless caching. 3. Easy to read mono screen. 4. rechargable batteries, don't have be replacing with AAA Cons ?: 1. no backlight, too dark to see? 2. 2MB RAM, not enough for holding caching programs and 20 caches? 3. Too low end? I should be thinking about using it with other programs, and for additional uses. 4. No color screen, does this make it too hard to read? A bid just closed on this. Sold for $53 w/shipping. Is this a reasonable price? Any other recommendations, comments, concerns before I start bidding on one?

I don't know that much about PDA's but I do know that I don't have a serial port on my laptop. Do you know if the Palm on Ebay has a USB connection, or which ones do? I want to go paperless. Also, how much RAM do I need to run GSAK downloads?