Steve&GeoCarolyn
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Posts posted by Steve&GeoCarolyn
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I'm a Mac user and I use GraphicConverter, which is an amazingly powerful shareware program that does a variety of things and includes support for geocoding. I prefer it to PhotoShop for most things (I have both). You can use it forever without paying if you're patient with waiting for it to start. I bought a copy because I am not patient and because it is a phenomenal product at a very good price. (I recall it was $40.)
You can do batch conversions to the size you want and also do other batch processing far more efficiently than PhotoShop does.
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Once it dries, if anything is readable, you could scan or photograph and upload the picture to your log. I might do this even if you couldn't read anything.
I might do that (if it hasn't fused into one paper mache tube and become impossible to unfurl). I enclosed a picture of the soaked log as it was on Saturday in my online log. Based on other entries, the log has apparently been wet for more than a year and we had a major flood last May, which I assume drove it over the edge into permanent gloppy wetness. A previous picture of the wet log showed it with signatures on it. My photo shows it with blotchy colors but no signatures, so I'm assuming that the water eventually lifted the ink from the paper.
But it would be interesting to have a photo of it, if that ends up being possible.
I have no idea why they would want it. A mushy wet log is like a used toothbrush...nobody wants one.
One of the things that has amazed me reading the forums here is how passionately people care about things that others find silly or unimportant. So even though I doubt that this particular owner is picky about logs, I don't want to assume I know what would be important to him.
I usually PM the Co asking for a message within a set time period. I've generally stated 2 weeks. That gives the Co a chance to reply and make arrangements to receive the log. Havent received a reply yet.
If I haven't heard from him, I'll drop him an email. I don't want to be pesty. That seems like a good way to go. That way he knows what's going on.
Thanks for everyone's advice!
Carolyn
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I'd probably go with a month.
Thank you! I will wait a month before removing it from the net pocket, then. That seems reasonable.
Carolyn
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On Saturday we found a micro (GC1JEBC) with a log that was pretty much mush being held together with water and inertia. We stashed the ruined, unusable log in the net pocket of our pack, dried out the cache as best we could, folded several clean sheets of paper (after signing one), put the paper in a ziplock bag and placed it in the cache and sealed everything back up. So we hope that we've left things better than we found them. In our log I explained what we'd done and offered to send the ruined log to the owner once it has dried sufficiently to be put in an envelope. (It looks to me as if all the signatures have washed off the log, though.)
As I think on this, I realize that I don't know how long to keep the log awaiting contact from the owner just in case the owner wants it. Obviously I don't want to keep it forever. But if the owner turns out to be sentimental about logs (even sodden, ruined logs), I don't want to toss it too soon, either. How long would you keep such a log before tossing it?
Carolyn
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Wow! It's amazing that one can be gone for a very long time and come back to the same conversations. I suppose it creates some sort of stability in the geo-world.
We got our first FTF about a month ago, though we weren't going after it as a FTF. It was just a great puzzle by one of the great puzzle cache masters in our area. For some reason it just clicked with me and it was a joy to solve. We left late the next morning. We eventually found the cache and were happy to see that we were late enough to have the woods to ourselves without meeting up with any FTFers. We'd worried about that. We don't want to meet others in the woods. My beloved wants serenity. I want to pretend that we are lone explorers in the wilderness.
One of the best parts of caching for us is seeing who else found it and what they said in the logbook (if anything). We both look forward to that. My beloved (who was sitting in the very awkward and precarious position required by the terrain) said, "There are no signatures."
I said, "There have to be. We're way too late for the FTFers. Are you sure you have the right notebook?"
He checked again. "There's only one."
"Toss it to me and I'll check. Maybe someone is playing tricks and hiding their signature." (I've read the forum so I know this sort of thing happens, though we have never actually seen anyone do it.) I went through every page while my beloved was hanging on trying not to fall to the ground accidentally. No signatures. "It looks like we have our first FTF," I said. I thought he looked a bit disappointed or perhaps annoyed that I made him hang on while I reviewed every page of the notebook without finding anything.
Later that day we saw that others had logged it, some quite disappointed that they hadn't gotten the FTF and I felt bad that I'd deprived the people who care about FTFs of this one since the FTF didn't matter much to us and if we'd just waited another few hours someone who cared about FTFs would have gotten it. But I can't imagine holding off on searching for a cache on that basis. Everyone plays their own game in this hobby and sometimes our games collide in odd ways. There's nothing to be done about it.
Carolyn
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Just returned from a trip to Chicago and enjoyed almost the only geocaching I've had time for since August. Chicago is a beautiful city and we found a cache in the center of that beauty. So here are my shots from Down in Front (GC1PTQM)
View from the Cache
City garden near the cache
Red tree against white building
Sculpture in Millennium Park (near cache)
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Could you knock it off with the drug references? To this moderator at least, it's offensive. This is a personal request and not a moderator post. Thank you.
I apologize, Keystone. I truly meant no offense.
Carolyn
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I sometimes even wonder who put the sticker on the log...the person whose name is on the sticker, or maybe their close friend?
Exactly! If you have the signature it is a fairly low-tech operation to do the handwriting analysis and compare it to previous samples as part of the forensic log analysis and online log reconciliation. With a sticker you must do a much less reliable and much costlier DNA analysis to determine whether the cacher who claims to be there was actually there.
Carolyn
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How do I...
...Ionly by catching them and convincing them somehow that they should be a mod for the greater good would be ok as a mod. Maybe.
I always assumed it was extortion. No?!?
Surely drugs are involved somehow. Why else would Allanon pointedly note that the new mod had to be "rolled out"? Clearly they over-drugged him and had to roll him to his mod station.
Carolyn
Updated to point out that I, for one, welcome our new Mod Overlord.
I sure am glad that you decided to not commit geoforumcide. But I do wonder what little naive you might possibly know about drugs.
No geoforumcide, but my job seems to be engaged in a campaign of geotime-icide extending through early December. Don't they know I need to be engaged in geocaching and geochat? <sob sob>
As to drugs, I will have you know that I have watched every episode of The Avengers, Get Smart, and Alias multiple times as well as every James Bond movie over and over. From my educational DVD watching, I know that drugs are commonly used by powerful organizations like geocaching.com to turn intelligent people into willing servants. What other explanation could there be?
Carolyn
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How do I...
...Ionly by catching them and convincing them somehow that they should be a mod for the greater good would be ok as a mod. Maybe.
I always assumed it was extortion. No?!?
Surely drugs are involved somehow. Why else would Allanon pointedly note that the new mod had to be "rolled out"? Clearly they over-drugged him and had to roll him to his mod station.
Carolyn
Updated to point out that I, for one, welcome our new Mod Overlord.
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We prepare a couple of lists of caches. This morning it is caches with puzzles we've solved, caches with a low difficulty but high terrain, and caches with Beaver in the name. Then I discard the micros from everything except the puzzle caches.
I skim the cache descriptions and fly down to the gallery of each cache to see the photos. I might read the log if the pictures are interesting or if it is someone whom I know writes good logs. I'm really not looking for clues. I'm trying to figure out whether the site is pretty and whether it has any of our instant turn-offs (dead animals, garbage) and whether we will need special clothing (swamp boots, etc.) before approaching. I also use the logs and cache page to try to estimate the length of the walk before we go so that I know how much water and food to pack. If we have any injuries (far too often) I also use the logs to try to figure out whether it is a safe cache for that particular injury.
We have an Oregon, so everything goes in that for paperless caching. This morning we will be trying out our new iPod Touch with a bird manual to help us identify birds as we go. Eventually I hope to find a fungus manual for the iPod Touch.
Once we're searching, we use the logs and hints if we're stuck and need them for clues.
When we return home, I write up our log and upload our photos. Then I leisurely look at everyone else's logs and photos, comparing our experience to theirs. For me the logs are one of the best parts of geocaching. It's like being a part of a grander adventure.
Carolyn
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I would love this too!
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I am moving this thread from the Geocaching Topics forum to a spot beneath a random rock somewhere in another forum. Maybe the Luxembourg forum.
I am suddenly disappointed that we have not travelled to Luxembourg through the magic of Keystone's pipe.
Carolyn
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Some cachers like to spread out the contents of the cache and post a photo saying "here's the condition of the cache". I never quite got that. My theory is that they are sensing types and I'm an intuitive type, if you're familiar with Jung/Meyers-Briggs terminology.
Your theory doesn't work for me. In Meyers-Briggs terminology I'm a ENTP (and pretty far to the extreme on both the N and T). Most of the photos I take are for me or for my friends. The cache contents photo is the one I take for other people. Here are the reaons I take those photos (in order of importance to me):
1. For the cache owner so that they can see in an objective fashion what remains in the cache and the condition of the cache. I can say that the log book is damp, but does that get the message across as well as this photo of us pouring out the water that filled nearly the entire cache? (I would never have included this awful photo if I hadn't believed it useful for the cache owner.)
2. For new cachers so that they can see what caches typically contain in our area. As a newbie I was extremely worried about what to bring to trade. Seeing other people's pictures of cache contents calmed me down enough that I was willing to go find a cache. So I'm paying forward my debt to others who included cache contents photos in their logs.
3. For travel bug owners whose TBs may be missing. I would find it comforting to be able to "look inside the cache" for my missing TB and even more comforted if I spotted my bug there.
4. I think seeing the historical progression of cache contents is kind of fun and I assume others enjoy that as well. So this is my small contribution to that.
Carolyn
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SWAG refer to?
In the geocaching world swag is the stuff left in the cache for people to trade. The idea is that you take something you like and leave something of greater or equal value.
Carolyn
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Right now I have a travel bug that I've been holding for three weeks now. The caches we've found that we thought we could put it in have been too small (or too dangerous for the TB). I'm not going to put a travel bug in a cache with a history of disappearing travel bugs or one that is filled with water or has any other problems. I consider moving a travel bug to be a sacred trust. Other caches we'd hoped to put the TB in we've had to DNF. So here we are. It is not just that life gets in the way, it is also that caching has no guarantees. Sometimes you don't find the cache. Sometimes the cache won't work for the TB.
Carolyn
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anybody want an update on my neighbor's cat?
Not really, but what about your neighbor's cat?
I encircled mrbort's cat.
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Nice photos! I especially like the one of your daughter with the GPS. Very cute.
Carolyn
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My family and I went on our first geocache excursion today and I got a nice picture that I'd like to post on the cache page. Problem is it's a spoiler. I'm just wondering if it's ok to post pictures of the finds and/or the area around the cache. I don't want to give anything away if it's not allowed, but I'd love to post the pic. TIA!
First, it's generally not ok to post a spoiler photo. However, there is a world of difference between what you (as a new cacher) think of as a spoiler and what the cache owner thinks of as a spoiler. The area around the cache is usually not a spoiler. In fact, I nearly always take a picture of the area near the cache and call it "View from the Cache". The cache itself is often not a spoiler. I also take photos of caches that are in normal containers (ammo boxes and lock n locks) to show the contents.
What I don't post a photo of:
1) The cache sitting in its hiding place;
2) A distinctive cache that is very special and unusual;
3) A distinctive location if it would give away the answer to a puzzle cache.
In general I've found that people truly like photos of the areas around their caches. I've recieved some nice comments on mine. I'm told that pictures of happy people and happy children holding the cache are especially desirable as photos.
Carolyn
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I suggest we set up a schedule for this sort of thing, to avoid confusion.
Mondays: Name change query
Tuesdays: Road-nav gps questions
Wednesdays: Poor swag complaints
Thursdays: "HOW LONG I WAIT FOR PUBLISH?!" inqueries
Fridays: Poor log lamenting
Saturdays: "User cache rating" suggestions
Sundays: Poor quality caches
First Monday of the month can also be Virtual Cache query day, and every second Friday can be "User cache rating" suggestion day. The last Wednesday of every second month can be the indignant "I QUIT, AND YOU ALL SUCK" outrage day.
Am I missing any?
You are missing pretty picture day. Can't miss that one. It's the best day.
Carolyn
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I blame the corn farmers and military industrial complex.
No, no, no... I keep tellin' ya'... It's a vast Left Wing conspiracy!
Can't we have both? All controlled by the great puppeteers of the Illuminati?
Carolyn
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A DNF should not be looked at as a demerit of some sort.
It is just the outcome of a seach. You looked - you Did Not Find. Simple enough. Think of it as a story to share. It also provides valuable feedback to the cache owner and future seekers. Even a semi lame DNF like "looked for 3 minutes before the smell from the bakery across the street lured me away" provides information - it tells future seekers to eat a hearty meal before trying this one!!
That would not be the take-away message for me. For me it would be, "Remember to bring money to buy baked goods and practice the big-eyed starving look before deploying it on my beloved."
Carolyn
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I've never understood that. I take great pride in all my DNFs, and will log them religiously, going so far as to log multiple DNFs if I failed more than once. I am at heart, a story teller, and DNFs help me tell my story to the caching community.
This expresses my view of DNFs perfectly.
I do wonder what cache owner's make of my lengthy DNFs: whether they like them or would prefer I didn't log them. I've seen people here express some angst over DNFs logged on their caches but I don't know what the collective cache owner opinion is. (Though in truth, all that matters is my local community and they seem like a pretty laid back bunch.)
Carolyn
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found our 90th cache today - getting there but feel a bit flumoxed by the puzzle and multicaches - have found two but from spoilers and instinct - can solve the puzzles (i think) but do not know how to enter them into my Garmin Venture H - im obviously doing something completely wrong and missing out in return - its got to the point where i just avoid looking for any of them - quite sad
Hi!
What I do in my Garmin Oregon is mark a waypoint. Then I modify the name and coordinates. I modify the name to read PZZL <Name of Cache> so that I can find it easily in the field. I then modify the coordinates to match the puzzle solution.
I'm hoping that your Garmin is similar to mine and that this will help. Good luck and I hope that you will have many fine puzzle caches ahead of you.
Carolyn
Formatting photos before uploading to Log
in General geocaching topics
Posted
One more tip I learned when I worked for an art director. Always take larger pictures than you need. Then crop them to a more pleasing composition when you get them back to your computer. (Then reduce their size to the appropriate size to upload.)