UndercoverNinja

Three 30 cal boxes for 10 bucks? Dang, I'm going to the wrong surplus stores...

Several possibilities here: Scuba Toys Some folks might say, "well, what's wrong with good ol' Rubbermaid, or Tupperware?" I say, "nothing!" I'm just hunting for squarish, rectangularish, watertight boxes with hinged lids. Ammo cans could have worked, but the lids hinge on the short side, not the long side. If any of you know of some good boxes, let me know. I'm still lookin.

Option 2: Joe Diver Dry Box I'm sure this isn't new to the scuba divers out there.

Take a look at this: Sport Utility Dry Box Don't know if it would eclipse the popular ammo can, but it looks like it'd make a decent alternative...

It makes me wish I had a dog *even more* just to be able to work on the GC badges...

can I put this on my Found It! card? that is, when my finds get into the quadruple digits?

I set out to make my first cache a FTF, but it wasn't bad coordinates or pending approval or unposted finds that "took away" my FTF, it was just that I started a couple of hours later than the FTF team. D'oh... Still looking for that first FTF though...

Let me know if that railroad car cache comes to life...I got a sofa I'd trade for...

So I'm poking around the net looking for dog training sites and I come across www.dogscouts.com. Neat! I find the Dog Scout Handbook and I'm flipping through the pages, so to speak, and I find Merit Badges. Neat x2! I'm scrolling down the (extensive) list of badges that seems to rival the list of available merit badges that I remember from my own days in Scouts, and I find... Letterboxing I, II, and III and Geocaching I, II, and III WHOA!! Didn't see that one coming! So I start checking out the merit badge requirements for them and it becomes readily obvious that whoever put them together is an avid and no doubt ambitious cacher herself! For example, for Geocaching III, the Dog Scout has to have come along on at least 50 caches in three different states, with pictures to prove, has to participate in the placing of at least 10 caches listed with GC.com (at least 2 of the placements have to be themed or events), at least 5 TBs found, at least 3 TBs released, and at least one planned GC event held. All verified by checking GC.com. Not a bad list of proficiency requirements for cachers without dogs, too. Anyway, just wanted to pass the website along for you to check out. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Well, I guess it could be good or bad, depending on your perspective, but I'm a little surprised that no one has mentioned the Gerber Legend series yet... I personally carry a Gerber Urban Legend multi, and I selected it because it was a little smaller than the original Legend, all of the tools could be used without unfolding the handles, the jaws had cutters that you can rotate to a new surface if they get dull, the handles were rounded and fit well in my hand and the tools were locked in place when engaged. Sure, it's not exactly a one-handed operation to use the pliers, but I'd need both hands to do most of my plying anyway...

If I had the chance to unearth a treasure chest, you could put four question marks on it and I'd still go for it!

Couple of other crypto reference books... "The Code Book" by Simon Singh - good history and explanation of the math concepts "Codes and Ciphers (and other clandestine cryptographic communications)" - I can't remember the author, but it's about four inches thick, black dust jacket, probably sitting on a "Similar Interests" table near The DaVinci Code at Barnes and Noble. Just ask a bookseller...it was something like 12 bucks and it covers everything from hieroglyphics to semaphore to RSA data encryption. It even has practice exercises in the back! There's also another one that's been re-released in paperback, it's just titled "Cryptography" and I think the author is William James, but I'm not 100% on that. It's written from a WWII perspective, so it doesn't go into developments post-Enigma. Also has practice exercises in the back that cover ciphers more than codes. Good Google search phrase: "coded messages" - should get you just about all the cipher and code references you need. "cipher messages" might get you some different sites...generally, phrases including some combination of "code", "cipher", "message", or "method" should net quite a few hits. this has been one of my more persistent hobbies over the last few months...

Right now I'm in a stage where I go after the ones that haven't been found yet (and are not 5/5). I expect I'll be going through other stages, like all the 1/1's w/in 50 miles, 2/2's, 3/3's, multis, virtuals, etc. I don't know about everyone, but I make caches destinations, regardless of whether they're near other caches...

Thoughts on less-than-lethal options? Since they sense their surroundings with their tongues, would OC spray or foam be better than a pistol or would it just make them angrier? Unless it would just make them strike blindly, I don't see a downside to carrying pepper spray for snake encounters...

I didn't expect to find this article when I was checking my email today. Not that GC needs a recruiting hook, but this would be a good intro for people who have never heard of the sport. Enjoy.

I know one cacher, Darkmoon, who's found all the caches in Oklahoma (as of last month, anyway) and i'd like to be able to say the same thing about Colorado, but there's almost 1000 here (I think) and some of them are on sheer rock faces. So, unless I take up rock climbing, there will always be a few in this state that I'll never get.

I don't know if you've thought of this route too, but you may want to check out a police supply store. I've seen convertible pants that are geared toward bike patrol officers, but since I wasn't in there for bike uniforms, I don't remember how much they were.

I've got a pair of Danners on right now. I've had them for nearly 2 years (come August) and I've almost forsaken all my other footwear for them. I work as a security officer, racking up 8-10 miles per day on duty, and there is nothing I'd rather be wearing than my Danners if I've got to do some steady walking. Now that I'm caching, I fear I'll have to get another pair for work...takes a while to get all the mud off and bring the shine back.

Did you get the additional hint also? I think I'm thinking too hard about it.

how about a "caravan" of cachers?

Hi, I'm UndercoverNinja and I just want to say... I'M ON TO YOUR GAME! YOU CAN'T FOOL ME! You want me to be at this meeting so you can beat me to the newest cache and get the FTF! AH HA! I've exposed you! *runs out the door, GPSr in hand*

I was thinking of a rooftop with an observation deck so that it wouldn't be unusual for people to be up there (for security reasons, obviously)

Precisely.

would it be considered a bad hide if the cache was on a rooftop? Thanks.