Mark 42

Pink and Blue Horseys...

I may have the only picture of a Washington State quarter... if they select my artwork as the design (judging is in 2005). I'm no artist, so it'd really be quite a feat for me. I just sorta sketched & refined a few times, and it came out really good, which blew my doors off. It started as a concept, and I just built the elements into one graphic. I was amazed... it was beyond what I consider to be my own talent level. I guess every idiot has moments of lucidity, eh.

[RANT] I saw one cache log where a guy had taken a keychain and left a quarter from his home state. I was curious, so I looked at other logs by the same person... sure enough, a few keychains and pens and such taken in exchange for state quarters. I mean, you could call an ordinary one a "Hard to find 1992 quarter", but it's still only worth 25 cents! [/RANT]

True stories are best, whether they have a happy ending or a broken ankle and a DNF. I did delete anaccount of a dog-owner attack from my cache description to avoid scring off people who might think that it is a dag and bunghole infested area (I haven't seen the Bunghole with the Doberman since the day I scouted the territory befor placing the cache).

"...the traditional game will remain purely free" I gues the MO caches are non-traditional.

EOM

http://www.mindcontrolforums.com/archv-hm.htm http://www.tackamarks.freeservers.com/ My only problem with the Members Only caches is that I can access them, but my wife can't. I can't see paying $60 per year so that both of us can do MO caches... I figure she can accompany me on any that I find interesting enough to go look for. But to me, the fact that a cache is MO is a point against it, and given two caches that otherwise look equally interesting, I would go after the one open to everyone first... partly because I like to have people read my log entries (if I find anything humorous or interesting about a trip to a cache). I live in an area where new caches appear at such a fast rate that nobody seems able to keep up. I think I've seen an average of 4 to 7 (?) new caches per week just in the immediate area of Tacoma. I think I see about 10 to 15 new caches per week within the 15 mile radius I set at the autonotification website. (I had to reduce it from 25 miles to 15 because of the overflow). Just Look how many are in this area, and see how many new ones are within a 10 mile radius. I don't think anyone will run out of caches to look for.

So far, my wife has not logged a FTF on either of my two caches simply because we didn't want to even look cheesey. The first one, she only knew that I had found a hollow tree in the park that we had talked about placing a cache in. She only had coords, and that one bit of info to find it with. The second one, she had no inside info, and still has never even seen the amazing wilderness area in a space surrounded by houses and city where you would never expect miles of trails (which is why I placed it there). Part of the problem is that I can tell her when it goes online (though I myself have to watch for it), which gives her a head start. I may just start telling her when I submit one, and let her look for it to come online herself (provided she has no info that is unavailable to everyone else). "I'm not Responsible... just ask my wife, She'll confirm it"

So far, my wife has not logged a FTF on either of my two caches simply because we didn't want to even look cheesey. The first one, she only knew that I had found a hollow tree in the park that we had talked about placing a cache in. She only had coords, and that one bit of info to find it with. The second one, she had no inside info, and still has never even seen the amazing wilderness area in a space surrounded by houses and city where you would never expect miles of trails (which is why I placed it there). Part of the problem is that I can tell her when it goes online (though I myself have to watch for it), which gives her a head start. I may just start telling her when I submit one, and let her look for it to come online herself (provided she has no info that is unavailable to everyone else).

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So far, my wife has not logged a FTF on either of my two caches simply because we didn't want to even look cheesey. The first one, she only knew that I had found a hollow tree in the park that we had talked about placing a cache in. She only had coords, and that one bit of info to find it with. The second one, she had no inside info, and still has never even seen the amazing wilderness area in a space surrounded by houses and city where you would never expect miles of trails (which is why I placed it there). Part of the problem is that I can tell her when it goes online (though I myself have to watch for it), which gives her a head start. I may just start telling her when I submit one, and let her look for it to come online herself (provided she has no info that is unavailable to everyone else). "I'm not Responsible... just ask my wife, She'll confirm it"

I'm not associated with the company selling them... I wanted to know how much would they cost in various quantities with shipping costs included. Once I did the research I figured I'd share the results. The forums are messed up though, so this may not work. I may try to edit this post to clean it up later today or tomorrow morning (If I make it before the cutoff period for edits). http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/ctd/product.asp?sku=ZAA%2D095&AID=10279846&PID=1275160 Quantity Cost Each Subotal Shipping Total Cost Each 1 $3.97 $3.97 $5.99 $9.96 $9.96 2 $3.97 $7.94 $5.99 $13.93 $6.97 3 $3.97 $11.91 $5.99 $17.90 $5.97 4 $3.97 $15.88 $7.99 $23.87 $5.97 5 $3.97 $19.85 $7.99 $27.84 $5.57 6 $3.97 $23.82 $7.99 $31.81 $5.30 7 $3.97 $27.79 $7.99 $35.78 $5.11 8 $3.97 $31.76 $9.99 $41.75 $5.22 9 $3.97 $35.73 $9.99 $45.72 $5.08 10 $3.97 $39.70 $9.99 $49.69 $4.97 11 $3.97 $43.67 $9.99 $53.66 $4.88 12 $3.97 $47.64 $9.99 $57.63 $4.80 13 $3.97 $51.61 $11.99 $63.60 $4.89 14 $3.97 $55.58 $11.99 $67.57 $4.83 15 $3.97 $59.55 $11.99 $71.54 $4.77 16 $3.97 $63.52 $11.99 $75.51 $4.72 17 $3.97 $67.49 $11.99 $79.48 $4.68 18 $3.97 $71.46 $11.99 $83.45 $4.64 19 $3.97 $75.43 $12.99 $88.42 $4.65 20 $3.97 $79.40 $12.99 $92.39 $4.62 "I'm not Responsible... just ask my wife, She'll confirm it"

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Duplicate Post. [This message was edited by Mark 42 on November 07, 2003 at 03:21 PM.]

Forums are messed up today. Sorry 'bout the multipost (no pun intended). [This message was edited by Mark 42 on November 07, 2003 at 01:22 PM.]

I think I would have detached the sign from the post and thrown it down hoping to land it on top of the cache, followed by the hardware that attached the sign, and the post if I could work it loose and pull it up. Then I would have stuck a new altoids tin & logbook in the post hole. Then just logged TNLNSL.

Has Travis found this message thread yet? I sure hope he has a strange sense of humor!

Did Travis have problems at Easter when he was a kid? Maybe we should do a series of bright yellow 5 gallon buckets with huge geocache logos on them... placed in the open in clearings in forests and such. I bet a decent metal detector could find an ammo box!

You could always disable the cache with a note saying something like "Please don't submit online log entries until so&so has gotten his unofficial FTF so that we can see how many DNFs it takes him. Once the disable has been removed, have at it." That way people could still go out and find the physical cache and sign the paper log, but so&so would not know if he will be the real FTF. Otherwise... make a mock up of the cache page and email it to the intended finder. BTW, there is an endorsed exclusionary policy on Groundspeak... you can make a cache accesible only to premium members. I have no problem with that, but would not mind seeing all caches available to everyone. I have a premium membership, but my wife doesn't, so I don't know what would happen if she tried to log a find to one of the limited access caches. Getting my first FTF was a fun goal, but I probably won't go out of my way for another one anytime soon. "I'm not Responsible... just ask my wife, She'll confirm it"

quote:Originally posted by TMAN264:The upsetting part to me was the threat of log deletion. Caching time for some of us is only available in limited quantity, so if we see a new cache in our area, and go to it, why should we be penalized for trying to have fun? I know the above is a hypothectical situation.... It's not all that hypothetical. I emailed my wife to let her know a new cache had come up, and that my 6 yr old would be extremely excited about a bionicle theme. I told her it'd be a chance for a FTF, and could very well have sent her on quite a trip to go find it. Then, I later read it again and saw that I'd missed the "No FTF allowed" clause. I had to call my wife and tell her so that she would know that there was no rush to go to it, and she could wait until she comes to this area (near my work) to do a FABULOUS cache that I had recently placed (She deliberately does not do any of mine as FTF, even though she is given little or no inside info).

Well, I do have some good news... I actually got my first real true actual FTF

I think "Lesson Learned" is a good way to end it. I guess the best is to look for the worst case scenario... and find possible pitfalls up front. Of course, that's what I do for a living, but some find that annoying.

quote:Originally posted by Bull Moose:Isn't the point of a first to find that you beat the other people there fair and square? Bingo.I think it would have been better to email TravisL the minute it went online, and just put something in the description like "Let's see how many DNFs TravisL can log before this one is found". I saw it, called my wife so she could take our kids (my son is a HUGE bionicle fan) to go be FTF on it. At one point I put a link to "Bionicle the Movie", and the link got editted out. After that, using some keyword searches for some names & terms in the cache description I found an even more direct link. I still have no idea how to find the cache, or if the incorrect cache coords given are a starting place, or totally unrelated. But that part is fine... we all have the same clues and the same chance of finding it. I have one pseudo FTF that I still don't consider a true FTF, and I'm trying to actually do a fair & square FTF. No harm, no foul though. Maybe a "Only Mark 42 can be FTF" would make up for it... (Just kidding). "I'm not Responsible... just ask my wife, She'll confirm it"

The cahe at the URL below has a reserved FTF. I thought that was a bit cheesey, but didn't want ta make waves (the person is also a really good cache approver, and I would like to get a new cache approved again in the next few weeks...) But when my Wife used the exact same word, I had to comment. What do y'all think? Here's the URL: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?pf=&ID=100915&decrypt=y&log=

Thanks! So, if I understand you right, if I don't have the privacy codes feature, I will hear everyone's transmissions, which may even sound like they are walking all over each other, but the people using that feature will only hear each other. Right? I do wish I could turn up the squelch just a bit to stop the static from cutting in and out. I suspect a weak signal is triggering it. I wonder if there's a trim pot inside the radio somewhere. Are some brands less prone to this annoying phenomenon?