Semper Questio

hmmm - i don't recall seeing this option when i installed. since i have SCADS of disk, i normally alwasy take the full install option. I'll have to check on that! If I just spaced it, I'll have to put that in the WTHWIT (What The Heck Was I Thinking) file!

No, MapSend - the Magellan product - but that thread may give me some leads. Thanks.

I thought I had seen this topic before but could not find it in a search, so sorry if I'm reinventing the wheel here. Has anyone been able to get MapSend Topo to run from the hard drive versus CD? If you have, could you share the technique? Thanks!

I, too, like the "Mark a waypoint" option for locationless, though I'd leave it as a counted find. Like others, some of my locationless took more effort and thought than many regulars. I like the other poster's suggestion of check boxes for general cache condition covering the most coomon maintenance issues just to save typing. A maintenance log type seems pretty rundnandant when you are already logging a find or DNF. While we're on the topic of logging, how about taking a bug from a cache when logging a find by being able to pick a TB off a list of those in the cache? When the sunmit button is clicked, and 1 or more TB's were selcted, the logger is asked for the bugs' numbers to verify the logger really has it/them. Would sure make picking up a bug a whole lot easier. Thanks Jeremy!

When you log your visit to a cache - either as a find or by writing a note - you go below the area where you type in your comments and click on the bug(s) you want to drop off and then submit your log entry. That should do it. If you've already made your cache log entries you can try editing your entry to drop your bugs (I'm not sure you can do it there) or just post a note on that cache in addition to your original log and rop your bugs with it. Hope that helps. HW

I've been using my Palm IIIxe for several years now and my AAA's last about 2 weeks on average. I use it all day almost every day, though not for caching and I very nearly never use the backlight. I tried rechargables in it and was VERY disappointed in their peformance. Not only did they not seem to last nearly as long, their overall lifespan seemed to dminish very rapidly with recharges. I tried both nimh and nicad. Also, if you try rechargeables, be sure to reset your palm so it knows what kind of batteries you are using. The remaining battery life gauge still won't be very accurate with anything but AAA's but it will be a little closer than if you didn't make the change at all. My personal opinion - stick with the AAA's. It just isn't that big of a deal to change them every so often. HW

Just another example of what "granning" is for. I found a TB in Texas that was never supposed to leave the UK. As it turned out, the sister of a co-worker (all of us cachers) was going to London in a few months. I contacted the TB's owner and asked if he wanted us to hold it and return it to the UK and he said he did. So I passed it to the the sister via the co-worker. She then "grabbed" it from me, taking the bug from my inventory and putting it in hers. When she got to London she put it in a cache, logged it accordingly, and it is now back in it's homeland all safe and sound. Hope this helps illustarte a real-world use of "grabbibg" a bug. KC

Dude, (to Shop99er), she doesn't detest it. She just isn't as rabid about it as we are! Usually she's the one that suggests going and she does the driving while I navigate. But when it comes to bushwhacking, that's where she gets off the bandwagon. As for anti-GC (or perceived anti-GC) articles, I kinda like reading them. They sometimes point out areas where caching or cachers could stand some improvement. Other times it's just funny. In any case, so what? Everyone is entitled to an opinion. Just my 2/100 of $1 Kilted Cacher

Yes, bugs' dates start from activation, but mileage starts from the first cache. I don't know if there is any way to start them over. The only way I know of to goose up the mileage to more closely reflect it's travels once it is on the move is to virtually move it around. By that I mean you don't have to physically move it if you are quick enough on the web. All you have to do is take it from whatever cache it is in and, using the write a note feature for the logs, check it into a cache, take it back out immediately, and then drop it back into the cache it is really in. A few things of note with this. 1. Get the intermediary cache owner's permission first. 2. If you want accurate mileage between you and it, you must use an intermediary cache about halfway between the two so the mileage both ways (present cache to intermediary and back) comes out to about the distance you want. 3. If the bug has moved since you placed it, you have to factor that in somehow. Point being you can do it all via the web and you don't have to go fetch it. Just do a little planning and then do it fairly quickly so someone else who may be trying to log the TB also doesn't get terribly confused. Hope this helps. HW

I'm not really bored with it - I've not been doing it that long - but I'm already getting very flustered with the proliferation of micros in places where, with a little effort, a traditional cache could go very nicely. At first, I thought micros were a pretty cool challenge, but my last few have been more of a an exercise in - "Where could I put an ammo can? Oh, there's the micro." But it seems to me that micros are quickly becoming, in my opinion, a rather cheap, easy, and low-maintenance (OK, lazy) way for a person to place any cache rather than placing a micro because a traditional just wouldn't work there (or som other compelling reason) or placing a traditional that may take some thought and on-going effort. Just my 2/100 of a $ HW PS - Sorry - Forgot to qualify my post. I was recently in the Northwest caching with my brother (the reason I "lurk" in this forum) and LOVED the variety of caches, locations, and so on. Lots of new challenges and a compeltely different style of caching required. The micro problem I referred to I have noticed on my home turf (Central Texas), though I suppose it may be happening elsewhere as well.

Pretty simple. I wear kilts and I like caching. There ya go. Sorry it isn't more interesting.

Hi all. A couple of us will be heading to Reno for a work-related conference but we will have time to fit in some caching while there. Can anyone suggest some "must-see" caches that aren't too difficult and won't take too much time? We will be staying at the Reno Hilton, possibly without wheels, and want to get in as many caches as possible in our limited time and with our limited resources so we can't stray too far or take on anything too challenging. Thanks!

It's not just newbies. I have a bug that was picked up by an experienced user and I'd been waiting to see where it ended up enxt. Next thing I see is that someone esle picked it up from the same cache, then I got a not from them saying they had in fact gotten it form a different cache. My response? Oh well, no biggie. It isnt lost and it is still moving! That's a lot better than a great many bugs out there!

This reminds me. I saw a 'traditional' cache the other day in may area that required solving a cryptogram puzzle to solve it. Shouldn't that be a 'mystery' cache? If so, how does one go about getting it re-catagorized? (not my cache)

Goo dpoint. Those kinds of issues would have to be resolved and put in writing as much as possible, within reason. Perosnally, I would say (using your example) just a repainted common object would not qualify. After all, painted fire hydrants aren't that big of a deal. Of course, that doesn't draw a definitive line. Let's face it, a mural is just a painted wall, but Wyalnd's painted walls are pretty remarkable as are many other murals around the world. Perhaps it's about time the GC.com afforded the cache approvers some degree of anonymity/flame protection to enable them to do their job. Perhaps some volunteer appellate approvers? Geeze this can get complicated!

Caches aren't supposed to be buried in the first place. From the website under "Off-limit (Physical) Caches": "Caches that are buried. If a shovel, trowel or other “pointy” object is used to dig, whether in order to hide or to find the cache, then it is not appropriate." Cache Listing Requirements/Guidelines If this is, indeed, a buried cache, perhaps the owner should be contacted to be made aware of this so it can be adjusted accoridngly and if that doesn't work then the cache should be reported as not abiding by the guidelines.

I had read that part of the issue with locationless caches is the amount of storage all those pics take up. Well, last night, after a fun afternoon of locationless hunting, I was thinking about this and thought of a way this could be resolved and, possibly, help a bit with funding. Make the photos for verification work the same as emails for virtuals. You send the photos to the cache owner and they in turn tell you you can log it. Then, if they want to post the pics of their locationless finds, they can do so on their own website and link to it on their cache page. This would serve 2 purposes. 1 - reduce the photo storage requirements. 2 - Encourage only those folks that really want to maintain these caches to do so due to the added work of having to verify them. Now, here's the funding part. By default, do not allow photos to be attached to locationless cache log entries. However, make an added cost option to buy 'x' amount of storage space to support your cache and gc.com can host your photos in your logs. This could even be incremental (pay more to get more space) and part of the process would be once the space gets full, the older pics get automatically trashed unless the cache owner opts to pay for more space. If the owner lets their space subscription expire, all the pics get trashed. Of course there is some application development and accounting issues that would have to be worked out, but these are a couple of ways to help get locationless caches back in gear. Also, to aid in controlling these caches and keep them from getting out of hand I think locationless caches should be reviewed prior to activation (don't know if they were before or not) just to be sure they are not set up to find common objects. After all, what's the point of doing a cache to find something that most people pass several times a day? They should all involve some amount of effort. I yield the floor. SOryy for being so long-winded!

I'm an eBayer too and I ignore the stars. I find it easier to read numbers than to remember what all the little stars mean and the stars are just more clutter on the screen IMHO.

Try TravelGIS

Thanks, that's what I was looking for.

I know I have seen this discussed before, but I can't seem to find it. Is there not a web site where I can enter Lat/Long coords and have the position displayed on a (hopefully printable) map? Thanks, HW

I got my ST Map at Sam's Club bundled with the Map Topo software and a case plus I got the 3 yr repair/replace warranty offered by Sam's for a total of about $220.

When you edit detials there is a check box under the location fields that defaults to using HTML in your description fields. To get line breaks and such you must use HTML formatting. If you don't want to do this you need to uncheck this box. All the HTML will be stripped from the decriptions. I have heard that the text may get stripped as well so you may want to copy that somewhere first.

Best bet - use a pair of flat-tip tweezers and grab the tick's head as close as possible to the skin and pull slowly and gently back towards the tick's body. You do not want to crush the head or leave any part of the tick's head under the skin. Both can cause all kinds of problems for you! Once the tick is out put some peroxide or triple anti-biotic on the bite site. Watch the next couple of days for excessive swelling and/or discoloration. Sorry I can't help with the lyme disease symptoms to watch for. I'm not a doctor. I only play one on the GC forums! Seriously, I've used this technique for years and it's always worked great. HW

I love the latest tweaks! You've done an amazing job and your response to the feedback has been exemplary! Can't wait to see what you and others come up with next! I haven't been doinf this long enough to know what to ask for, but I know when I see something I like and this is one of those things. Thanks!