CordedTires
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Posts posted by CordedTires
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Only made three autocross events last year. But geocaching is something that I mostly (but not always) do with my kid. Much better.
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I know of at least 5 cachers in our local area that use the sidekick while geocaching (to pull up cache pages, read logs, log their finds, grab and drop travelbugs). The sidekick rocks, what can I say. The biggest drawback of the sidekick is that the browser doesn't support javascript. Since geocaching.com uses a lot of javascript, it can be annoying, but usually there are work arounds. Danger is eventually supposed to release a version of the sidekick browser that supports javascript.
--Marky
I find mine invaluable for geocaching too. It's wonderful for those hard multi questions....like the melting point of platinum, and so on. Also good for reading logs when having trouble at a cache. It's even good for the forums (am on it now).
My only problem with it is that due to the state of the t-mobile network I can't depend on having a connection. So I still usually carry paper for backup. But it's still worth it.
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Not much discretionary time, between work and family. My first hobby is autocross....solo racing, parking lot, cones. Driving my Mini Cooper S, not quite as much as I'd like, though I certainly enjoy weekends geocaching with my kid as well. There's another geocaching autocrosser in my region (Philly SCCA). The two activities actually have a lot in common: they both give you a completely different view of ordinary reality. If you've never tried it, you should.
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You will find that a lot of letterboxes are placed very close to existing geocaches. In many cases, the letterboxes were there first.
Indeed, Stone LivingRoom, JennyJump, Ten Mile Lock on the D&R and Let the Be light are all caches that come to mind where cachers have found the LetterBox while searching for the GeoCache.
Lock it Up is one like that - virtually everybody seems to find the letterbox first.
Happened to notice this thread just now after finding the cache this am (on the second attempt after way too much effort, extremely enjoyable in hindsight, of course).
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Maybe humanity is divided into two categories:
1) those who will rescue baby rodents, and,
2) those who won't
I am full of admiration for Auntie Weasel and other members of #1, and sincerely wish you and Bob Vole the best.
My only experience with baby squirrels was when I opened the car's hood after driving home from work and found a nest of pink nekkid squeaky things on top of the lovely warm engine. (It was a VW GTI VR6, and it was QUITE warm.)
The heads did look like Bob's, sort of, though Bob sure doesn't look like a squirrel to me.
Anyway, after we nixed our neighbor's idea of hors d'oeuvres (he's a real old style country gent), my husband flung the whole nest into the woods - I'm not blaming this on him, you understand, just making it clear which category I fall into.
Then a few days later the bereaved mother came back and chewed various important bits of rubber and wire under the hood. I can't really blame her.
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Maybe Caching could be good therapy for slightly challenged folks (Tring to be Politically correct). It sounds as if it has been a good thing in your son case.
Yes, exactly. Sort of like Special Olympics.
But to get back on topic, the larger point I was stumbling around is one of those "we all have our own particular disabilities" things.
Like, I can't find things when they're under my nose. Trust me, that's a real serious disability for a geocacher.....
And the original poster is caching-partner-impaired.
This thread has me so inspired, I'm going to make a real attempt to get to my first cache event this weekend and meet some people!
(Oh, and don't worry about being politically correct. Being ordinarily polite is plenty good enough
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Much to my disappointment, my husband confided to me that he really doesn't enjoy geocaching all that much. (We've only been at it for a month or so now.) I guess following your wife around in the woods isn't exactly his idea of a good time. I really enjoy it, and I don't want to stop, but I'm a bit nervous about geocaching on my own. I'm pretty small in stature, and don't want to get into any situations that I can't get out of on my own. Does anyone out there have a spouse that doesn't share their interest, and if so, how do you handle it?
That is pretty much my situation, with one twist. My husband enjoys hiking and will occasionally come along for a single cache in the woods. But frequent caching and tupperware in parks leave him cold (to put it mildly!), he just has other things he'd much rather be doing.
Most of my caches have either been with our 16-year old autistic son, or alone (while he's at camp this summer). My husband and I did go on one expedition with some local cachers and it was extremely fun, I'd love to do more of that. I've been a little reluctant to join up with other cachers with my son, we do have to go slowly (he has some physical issues too, as do I). Also (this is the main thing) when he's had enough, that's it - we gotta get out of there. It's hard enough for me to head back when we're 300 feet away, I wouldn't ask somebody else to, and waiting in the car is not a real appealing prospect.
The thing I am the most worried about is my son twisting an ankle or something (and maybe feral dogs, though we haven't run into any so far, and we have a big hardheaded German Shepherd so I have some dog sense). I'm not strong enough to get him out of an area if he hurts himself, and I can't leave him alone at all. In fact, typing this, some of what we've done seems foolhardy, though none of it has been in remote areas. But a fifteeen-minute walk back on a little-frequented nature trail in a local park can be pretty isolated.
On the other hand, I always carry a cell phone, and limit attempted caches to terrain 2 or less (though you can't always go by that). And jeez, we can't just sit in the house. It's been good for his self-confidence to get out walking. When I'm proud of him for getting over a trail section that was a challenge, you can tell it means something to him.
Also on the good side (in the geocaching context), when we're in a town park, no matter how strangely we're behaving, NOBODY approaches us except other parents of disabled kids
. That's a degree of freedom that probably most geocachers don't have. So on balance: you have to go with what you've got. On the same theory, while I try to use common sense about where to go caching, I'm not going to let being alone stop me from going. I've really enjoyed the caching I've done on my own. There's a special pleasure in being able to go at exactly your own pace, and doing exactly as much as you want.
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I have a motorsports hobby, and am female. This intrinsically confuses people (and has, on these forums).
The older I get, the more I like dynamic range. (like....geocaching and autocross as hobbies....different in lots of ways...though I do know another geocaching autocrosser, and both tend to attract techies.)
It's good for your brain. We older folks need that. Remember that, all you Temporarily Young People.
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You can be sure that the point you raise is one that is very much in my thoughts. There are currently 4 geocaches placed in Bedford, NH where I live. These caches have been placed by three different cachers. I have emailed each of the owners to find out if they have already "paved the way" by working with the town officials in placing the caches. I had been hoping to leverage any goodwill they had already established. However, it turns out that all were placed unbeknownst to the town. As such, I think you're absolutely right that it may jeopardize the existing caches to make the town officials aware of the fact that I would like to place an additional cache.
We must have been typing at the same time. So you already know the local situation, and you're not as lucky as me. I don't know what I would do in your case. Probably post a topic in the forums like you did.....
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That happens all too often. People have been placing caches for years (well 3-4) in places, then some well meaning newbie comes along and "engages" the authorities in a discussion in hopes of getting explicit permission and its over.
I've heard of many success stories, where someone asked permission and found an enthusiastic park manager, but for every one of them, there are the stories where some jurisdicitons decided to put a stop to the "scourge" of geocaching once it was brought to their attention (usually by a geocacher), or they made unreasonable demands, such as requiring million dollar liability policies before placing a cache.
Well, I am a well meaning newbie who has just recently been through this. But I figured out a middle ground, that's worked nicely for me so far.
I asked a couple of local cachers who'd placed traditional caches in similar (jurisdictional) places whether they'd gotten permission. They had. In fact, one was very anxious to keep everything extremely above-board with the local townships etc., as she's spent a lot of time in negotiations with them (though there is no published policy).
So I gritted my teeth, simply called up the Authorities in question (2 caches), and asked. They said yes. Some minor stipulations (clear container) in one case, no problem. In fact one said (and I quote): "Go have fun with it." Now THAT's a park manager! I did get turned down by somebody else (land owned by a public golf course), no problem, didn't put it there.
I don't think there is any substitute for finding out what the local environment is like, and the only way for you to do that is to contact a couple of the prolific local hiders. Most likely they will be happy to give you all the information you need to make your decision about what to do.
I certainly don't believe explicit permission is always needed (micros on publicly owned land, for example, though I'm sure opinions vary widely). But my husband is extremely property rights conscious (much more so than me!!), and I'm happy if he's happy.
Also, as a cache hunter, I am just more personally comfortable with the idea that the cache I am looking for has permission (including of course policy that allows caching). I do enjoy looking for those caches just a little bit more. So it feels sort of good to provide that bonus as a hider. Since I'm very new at this, I don't know if I will feel the same way in six months.
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I do have one find where the logbook was so soggy I couldn't write in it.
I've never found a logbook too soggy to sign (and I live in the Seattle WA area - with a mild reputation for liquid sunshine). But then I carry one of those 'space' pens that write anywhere on anything. The one time I found a cache with the lid missing, full to the brim with water, a logbook that would tear without very careful handling - I signed with a short message. So you can work around anything.
For those of you who live where it doesn't snow, melt and re-freeze, you should realize that well hidden cache containers occasionally freeze solid into their hiding places. This would be difficult to work around unless you bring some kind of safe heat generating equipment (all sorts of unfortunate images spring to mind).
If you try to dislodge a cache like that (and it's plastic) you risk breaking the container, which I've already seen a couple of.
I like Imajika's list.
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I don't know about purple jeeps....but does purple prose about yellow jeeps count?
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/log.aspx?LU...6c-e6fc91dbe76f
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Bother me? yes it bothers me a great deal!
Why isn't there a path of caches around me like that?
Talk about a fun walk...It bother me not just for the reason quoted, but also because I didn't think of this myself! What a neat idea! If done well, and it sure sounds like it was.
Did ONE person place all those caches? it sounds like it.
I love seeing what people's devious twisted minds can dream up that still is within a certain set of rules. Or at least close. (Hey, same thing with motorsports.) Isn't that part of what makes geocaching as fun as it is?
But when somebody gets close to the limit, it is going to give some other people that vague feeling of offense that the original poster mentioned. In my opinion (opinions differ!), you're no more holy if you're dead square in the center of the rules than if you're on the boundary....as long as you're on the correct side of the boundary. Cheating makes me as angry as the next person. But getting up close to the edge of the rules and taking full advantage of them? Cool.
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Since I don't really do cache marathons (not really interested in speeding from cache to cache, not saying it's a bad thing, just not for me) so I always attempt to log every find from the cache site. Some times it's not possible because of no cell service, so I have to write my logs as a note and log them later. Kablooey, who is also a sidekick user, was trying to write an e-mail submitter program, where you would e-mail your log entry in a specific format and it would submit the log entry for you. That way, you could enter your log entry even if you didn't have service and the e-mail would get sent automatically when service was restored.
--Marky
That's a nifty idea, let me know if you get it working. Though I'm not sure I'd use it much as I'm a onesy-twosy max per day type of cacher.
OTOH I have real bad CRS so I do like to log ASAP if I can.
Here's to thumb typing and acronyms,
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My husband has been a good sport about my latest enthusiasm. We went looking for our first one together. He still will come along sometimes, though not as often as I'd like. But he did sort of make a face today when we had to walk through the doggie relief area at a rest stop micro.
I'm sure he figures it's a lot better than some of the motorsports stuff I've done (especially the dirt track).
My kid is ok with it as long as I am careful not to try terrain that is too hard for him. My 83-year-old parents came along once, enjoyed themselves, and are politely interested.
I just got back from a family gathering where all my cousins laughed quite a bit at me. You do WHAT?!?
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The coolest thing that I've found is a Palmphone. As long as I have cel phone coverage I can whip out the phone, look up a page, search for nearby caches, and even log finds.
A hiptop is also very cool. As long as I have coverage, I can look up the answer to trivia questions on my web browser. Makes multis significantly more pleasant.
The hiptop (Sidekick) also has PDA functions, email, AIM, as well as being a phone, but they don't matter for caching, as the Sidekick web browser gives you access to the real cache page....assuming coverage of course. Coverage is an issue, but when it's there, it's great.
Logging finds works great too, and unlike most phones I've seen, the keyboard is big enough to be comfortable (still thumb typing of course).
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Another hiptop user who thinks the addition of the requested feature would be just fantastic. It's really the only thing needed.
The best thing about caching with a web browser? Being able to find answers to questions for multis.....like for example the melting point of platinum.
I do often log finds on the hiptop, as it's pretty comfortable to type on.
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1. People who post logs like this:
Found part 1 in 4 minutes. Found part 2 in 2 minutes. Found the final cache in 3 minutes.
I don't even want to analyze why this bugs me. People should be able to log whatever they want, after all, and if they want to keep track of their time stats, I really shouldn't care.
2. People who complain about genuinely pointless things on forums, like I just did.
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The other common thread is that we like finding hidden stuff.
Yeah, what he said.
48, female, geeky (found geocaching from the Scientific American article: say no more.) Was accessing the internet through Mosaic before some of you were born. Actually used punch cards my first year at work. Engineer. Physics/math major. Married to a speech therapist/private pilot/guitar player. Our kid rides the short bus (no joke). Have a hard-headed German Shepherd.
Played D&D some a long time ago, and think there are far too many lawful people around, especially on forums. Give me chaotic any day, good or otherwise. I have loved maps and the feeling of knowing just where you are ever since seeing those great British Underground maps. Read The Hobbit when I was 8 (found it on a trip abroad) and the first two LOTR books shortly after....I waited for months until the Return of the King finally shipped from England.
It's the sense of wonder about finding things out that is so appealing. When you find out there is a whole different way of looking at the world, that was hidden from you before, but learning something opens it up to you: that is perfect.
Motorsports did that for me too. I used to just drive a car. Then I started autocrossing....this is going to be hard to explain briefly. So I'll just say that it literally opened up a whole new world for me. Now 18-year-old tattood kids with ancient rusty VWs will occasionally talk to me on terms of equality, and I know which dirt track all those haulers are going to on Friday night.
I showed a friend at work the geocaching map with all the local geocaches shown, and his jaw literally dropped. That's exactly the feeling. All that was there, and he didn't know it. Like the transit of Venus....we live in a world of wonders, but so many of them are hidden.
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Wowie Zowie.
"Editor's note: avroair has also written a geocaching article for Scientific American."
I read the SA article - great article - had never heard of geocaching, sounded like fun, and besides my husband had an old Lowrance Airmap 100. Now here I am a few short months later, trying to figure out how best to wear my new antenna on my head.
Did you stop and consider the DRASTIC AND IRREVERSIBLE changes you would make in people's lives by writing that?
Seriously (no, seriously!), thank you.
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Could I suggest using waterproof paper? I've used it very successfully on some of my micros that aren't waterproof. It works great:
You could suggest, but this obviously needs some more emphasis. WATERPROOF paper, folks. Problem solved.
EMS sells this sort of paper too, look for a yellow notepad ("All-Weather Pocket Journal - Rite in the Rain"). I am currently field testing paper from one of these in a fake rock - which doesn't seal nicely at all. It is working just fine.
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When people are jerks, they are often jerks in all directions. So if somebody is a PITA whiner about how long approval takes, very likely the same person is going to be a PITA do-nothing when it comes to fixing their own stuff. You're not going to be able to legislate them into being decent human beings, and they'll just find some other way to annoy you.
The inverse (converse?) is much more pleasant and profitable to concentrate on. Now that you've gotten the rant out of your system, you can take a deep breath, sit back and think about all the really great people you know who you can count on to behave well no matter what the situation. Even in situations more important than (say) geocaching.
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Agreed--I just spent a good 10 minutes in the company of a rather friendly watersnake this afternoon. He didn't run and let me take several photos from about 3'-5' without becoming the least bit aggressive. He eventually approached to within 2 1/2' of me before turning back quickly. I thought I'd startled him at first, but he met another, smaller and darker, watersnake at the edge of the river. They then swam off together. (I'm assuming a he, because of the size--~3' long).
However, many folks don't realize that copperheads--like virtually all snakes _can_ and do swim. There is a notable difference in the appearance between watersnakes and copperheads once you've seen it, but that bugger last night just wasn't cooperating with my headlamp.
We were caching near a pond within a mile of our house a few weeks ago. Heard a big "plop", went to look for the frog, but it wasn't a frog, it was a pretty good-sized snake. Kind of tan with stripes. It got itself in the pond fast when it heard us coming, and stayed there with its head sticking out of the water actively looking us over for a good long time. Kind of odd being looked over by a snake. Then it swam away. Not at all a scary experience at the time, but y'all have taken care of that.
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. That's a degree of freedom that probably most geocachers don't have. So on balance: you have to go with what you've got. 
Talk about a fun walk...
Needs Archived?
in Website
Posted
It's perfectly good West Virginian. The big boss at my work comes from there, and now we all say things like that ("needs fixed").