[Cemetery caches.]

Cemetery caches go on my ignore list. They are disrespectful, and should be banned.

 

Thank you for trying to force your opinion on everyone. I'm glad you're not running the site.

 

WOW! That was incredibly rude! OP asked opinions. Only opinions that agree with you are permitted!

 

Sorry. It was the way you worded it. Just flat-out saying "They should be banned." That makes me think you want to take away something other people enjoy.

Hind sight tells me that I should have not posted my opinion because it only upset someone and they will tell all their geobuddies what a big person they are because they "made" me delete my post. I don't care, they are not my friends anyway. I don't get mad easy but I can hardly wait until the caches that they placed in the park where I work come up for review, thats where my input does count. Seems they are not maintained very well, maybe someone else can have a chance to place a few caches, someone like my uncle. It's not a good idea to send a nasty email to someone that you don't know anything about. Their realailty check is in the mail along with my uncles new cache placement requests.

Wow. I rescind my previous balanced and conciliatory posting. You're just nuts.

[Cemetery caches.]

I thought it was inconsiderate and disrespectful to place a cache inside a cemetary so I did not attempt to find it but I did post a note stateing that I thought it was a poor place for a geocache.

 

I think it is a you say this I say that thing. Some people think of a cemetery as hallowed ground where no foot shall trod for reasons other than to mourn or pay respect to the dead.

 

Others think of a cemetery as a gathering place where the opportunity to remember the dead keeps them "real", a place to bring life to.

 

It's a very modern concept that cemeteries are sterile, solemn places. I think they are fascinating - they expose so much about the people who bury their families there. I learn about people's cultural history and customs, I see incredible creativity, I see imagination being used to express love and grief, and I see traditions that maybe even the people who bury there don't know about.

 

I enjoy a cache at a cemetery - they take me to graves that I would never see otherwise. I get a chance to think about the people there, to imagine their lives, and to wonder about their deaths. I think of it like this - are you really dead and gone when people still think about you?

 

Both opinions are valid - and should be respected.

 

I don't think that anyone other than the cache owner should be asking you to remove a post.

 

On the other hand, I don't know that your choice of posting that a cemetery is a "poor place" for a cache is really appropriate, either. If you were expressing "I choose not to do these" there shouldn't be a problem for anyone but it sounds like your post could have been taken as a bit judgmental or accusatory.

[What Happened to "Free"?]

I'm appalled. I'm outraged. I'm seriously considering building an alternative caching site that I pledge will NEVER make users pay for the simple coordinates to caches that others have, out of good faith and fun, hidden for all others to hunt, find, and enjoy.

I'm glad you were able to figure out why you couldn't get access but... there is one point in your (admirable) rant that maybe has been missed..

 

Not all caches are places for "all others to hunt". For a variety of reasons, premium members sometimes DO place caches they intend only for other premium members. Maybe the swag is of a higher quality and they don't want um... uncommitted?... cachers to find them? Maybe the cache was hidden for a specific group of friends... there are a lot of different reasons.

 

So even though you have been validated (Isn't that satisfying? To be valid?) doesn't mean you can get to every cache.

 

Just being picky here...

[Mad in Missouri!]

I agree that it isn't about the swag (if it were I'd be at a jewelry store, not in the dirt and bushes!) but c'mon. There is a big difference between not being about the swag and being about the trash...

 

I once found one of those little plastic tips that an electrician uses to cap off the ends of wires.

 

 

One man's trash is another man's treasure.

 

The hubby is a sparky. He thinks marettes are the bees knees. They live in every pocket he owns along with electrical tape when you add his leatherman .... he's a work in action.

He would love to find a marette in a cache box ~ he would assume it was another sparky saying hi.

 

"Marette"?? That is so cool. Thank you - I've learned a new word! My husband has three friends who are electricians and they also always have them all over the place. I always just call them those "little plastic tip thingees..."

[Mad in Missouri!]

 

I carry around a bag of swag when I'm out caching. If there is something I want to trade for, I trade and have been known to restock a cache when it was pretty bare.

I've seen everything from rocks to wine bottle corks left for trade items (I guess some consider these signature items), but I don't become mad at it. I just shake my head and move on.

 

 

This is a perfect example of perspective. I also carry a swag bag - I use it to trade and to restock if a cache is dry. I always try to leave something weather I take something or not.

 

The perspective part here is that... I once found a rock and I took it. I guess the person who left it had the same mindset I have - it was a really beautiful rock and I'm sure that's why it was left as swag!

 

So a rock is a rock, and the Barbie head theory I can totally believe but I also imagine (wild speculation - not judging anyone or anything other than speculating!) this could be an opportunity as a parent to talk with my child:

 

Kid: I'm going to leave the stub to the movie we saw 'cause the movie was so good!

 

Mom: Little Johnny that's a really generous thing you want to do - to share that fun memory. I know that stub is meaningful for you but others might not understand how much fun the movie was. What if you keep it and we can put it on the fridge for you to enjoy? We can leave something else that you think is nice.

 

Kid: (hand in swag bag) How about this tiny yellow rubber toy duck? This is a great duck!

 

Mom: What a wonderful idea. That is a great duck!

 

Wow... can you tell I'm not a parent????

[Mad in Missouri!]

I agree that it isn't about the swag (if it were I'd be at a jewelry store, not in the dirt and bushes!) but c'mon. There is a big difference between not being about the swag and being about the trash...

 

A movie ticket stub? The cap off a pen?

 

I once found one of those little plastic tips that an electrician uses to cap off the ends of wires.

 

There's a specific activity that is all about taking trash out with you... but it doesn't mean putting it in a cache in the mean time...

 

I like to leave swag but it's always something like a little jewelry charm, a fridge magnet, a green toy soldier... it's a trinket but it's not trash.

 

I feel your pain, Missouri. I feel your pain.

 

However - I've been in public bathrooms with rich people who didn't wash their hands so I don't think it's about premium membership. It's about class.

[Secret handshakes, codewords, and other GeoIdentifiers]

My understanding (as a newbie, also) is that there is indeed a secret handshake. I've seen it:

 

There are two people walking along, approaching one another. They pause and appear to be shaking hands. But if you look very closely, you'll see that there has been a very smooth transfer of two AA batteries from one palm to the other.

 

It's sort of like a platonic mating ritual.

[Found it logs]

I haven't been playing very long but so far, the logs the make me smile are the ones where I am told I've done a good job. I've hidden it so that it's not obvious but still findable. I've had a couple where the person had to come back twice - but they did it with enthusiasm and had that "victory!" feeling when they found it.

 

As a looker, I most enjoy the ones that I can't just walk up to. I am going back out to Katy today to find one that I'm pretty sure I've figured out but I couldn't find the first time. I like my victories to be fun, so I like to make sure that the people who find my hides will feel the same way.

 

And then there was the log that talked about the evil things coming from the ground to attack... that made me really laugh.

 

And there was th one about the police showing up....

[walking poles for disabled]

Hi David - I am also disabled. For me it is a (formerly!) broken knee and pelvis - and I have very little cartilage in either knee, and a seriously damaged meniscus in the other. And oh- there is also the tendon in one ankle that popped in half...

 

Thus the name Gimpy..

 

I use a cane to cache, but I can't do the hides that are up the sides of mountains. My cane is designed like the one third from the left (the black one) on the page you linked to. I couldn't play this game without using a cane.

 

Go for it! You'll never regret it. And yes - if you can talk with either an orthopedist or a physical therapist before investing that is a great idea. Don't hesitate to get out there and have fun.

[Urban/Suburban Caching Without Looking Like a Weirdo]

...Also, most of the caches I've been going after in these settings there is no reasonable explanation I can think for being there. Weird neighborhoods, suburban strip malls, abandoned construction sites, etc....

 

If you aren't a wierdo, then you don't look like one. Besides for someong to walk up and say, "gee wierdo, what reasonable explanation do you have for being here?" They themselves have to be there to ask you the question and of course be weird by the fact that they think it's wierd to be there.

 

 

I agree with the "If I'm weird how weird must THEY be to be sitting around wondering about me being weird" school. I quickly adopted the theory of single mindedness. When I think I've found it I just go for it. I don't thrash around like I might in the woods, there is very little cursing, and I rarely slap at the trees because they have offended me, but I pretty much just go dig for what I want. But I live in Houston so my weird pretty much fades into the background.

[What's the Beef about PREMIUM MEMBERS ONLY caches?]

It's only $30 a year. That comes out to... about a buck a day?

 

Interesting math. about 8 cents a day.

 

Hehe yeah I noticed that this morning and thought awww man... I knew someone would call me on it.

 

I plead being filthy. I was still picking pine needles out of my hair from having thrashed around fruitlessly in the woods yesterday afternoon. I hate pine forests.

[What's the Beef about PREMIUM MEMBERS ONLY caches?]

I pretty much DID join the first day... before I found my first cache. But thats just me. I had wanted to do this for a while when one day my husband said "Honey have you heard of...?" I said "HONEY!! I can't believe you want to do this!!!" So it was sort of a done deal in our house.

 

I just hid my first cache. (Waiting for it to post. It's killing me.) It's a multiple with a $5 FTF prize. I've made it a MOC so that the first couple of finds can get the decent stuff in it. I'm planning to make it open to all because I figure the "let's go for the heck of it and not bother to take care of the cache" people might not bother with a multiple. I could be wrong.

 

I might do all MOC. Not sure. It's only $30 a year. That comes out to... about a buck a day? C'mon... there isn't another hobby in the world that is this cheap.

 

OH and BTW - handicapped caches? C'mon. People complain that a cache isn't? Hey folks - I'm all beat up (note the name?) and some caches me and my cane just can't get to. THAT'S OK. No one can do everything other people can do no matter what the subject. I look at it this way. I can't do all the caches you might be able to do but.... I get the best parking spaces!

 

Oh sure, the first person to respond to me did plop down $30 the first day. But see, you knew about geocaching, and wanted to try it for a while.

 

As always in these threads, everyone seems to be concentrating on MOC's as if they were the sole reason for premium memberships. They are one of just dozens of features available to premium members.

 

These forums are dominated by premium members, and only the most active and social of geocachers are premium members. You do all realize the overwhelming majority of accounts are not premium, don't you?

 

We went premium because my husband wanted to do all the cool premium stuff (he's hard core geek) and I wanted the things like watchlists, bookmarks, etc (can't remember which I got for joining but it's the one I wanted!).

 

It makes sense that the vast majority of people are free accounts and that's perfectly OK with me - I think of it like NPR. Listen, don't listen. If you listen and want to make a donation that's great. If you don't it's OK although the product might be better if you do. (I think of this everytime the server here gets bogged down and it takes forever to load).

 

I'm fine with folks both ways. But I did my first cache members only just because it's my first one. I probably will never do it again. I love the idea of mine being the first one a new person finds - which is why I'll change this one to public as soon as there as been a FTF.

 

This is just my comfort zone. I've found a few caches that are members only that were light skirts. What's up with that? Do you really think a tiny log stuck in a film canister in a Kroger parking lot is special? Those are the ones I wonder about...

[What's the Beef about PREMIUM MEMBERS ONLY caches?]

I pretty much DID join the first day... before I found my first cache. But thats just me. I had wanted to do this for a while when one day my husband said "Honey have you heard of...?" I said "HONEY!! I can't believe you want to do this!!!" So it was sort of a done deal in our house.

 

I just hid my first cache. (Waiting for it to post. It's killing me.) It's a multiple with a $5 FTF prize. I've made it a MOC so that the first couple of finds can get the decent stuff in it. I'm planning to make it open to all because I figure the "let's go for the heck of it and not bother to take care of the cache" people might not bother with a multiple. I could be wrong.

 

I might do all MOC. Not sure. It's only $30 a year. That comes out to... about a buck a day? C'mon... there isn't another hobby in the world that is this cheap.

 

OH and BTW - handicapped caches? C'mon. People complain that a cache isn't? Hey folks - I'm all beat up (note the name?) and some caches me and my cane just can't get to. THAT'S OK. No one can do everything other people can do no matter what the subject. I look at it this way. I can't do all the caches you might be able to do but.... I get the best parking spaces!

[What is your geocaching outfit?]

Clothes per se are not my problem. I mostly do urban hunts so I just wear whatever I'm in at any given moment. Shoes are my problem. I generally only wear them in stores and at work.

 

The other day I was on the edge of a parking lot, stomping around in some bushes, when I stepped on a sharp rock. I'm going to have to work on the "you're going off into the bushes - put on some shoes" mantra.

[Accidents while looking at your GPS]

One thing I learned to watch as I'm walking around is where my HEAD is.

 

At a cache last week, I had been wandering around on a concrete slab for about 15 minutes looking for a micro. It was an old industrial slab that had two large 3" metal pipes sticking up that turned to 45degrees at about 5' off the ground. I'd looked inside them and held onto them for balance, but it wasn't until I thought I saw something on the ground below them that I decided that the pole and my head could occupy the same space. The pipe won.

 

But I didn't give up - I found the cache before checking for blood...

[who should log a find when caching as a team?]

My husband and I cache together. We sometimes take our dog with us. He does not get credit for the find because if it doesn't smell like dog pee or cat (lunch) he doesn't care. :-)