coffee/wired

Just for S&G, I did a search for "pocket query" and came up with absolutely nothing that was helpful. So then I tried to do search for my phone, an HTC Hero, but that's not allowed, apparently the HTC is an issue and "hero" doesn't have enough characters. So THEN I tried "hero pocket query" and got this: One or all of your search keywords were below 5 characters or you searched for words which are not allowed, such as 'html', 'img', etc, please go back and increase the length of these search keywords or choose different keywords. Google it is, I suppose.

I've been a daily user of the Internet for 12 years and a daily message board user for over 7 years and I had no idea you could do that. Exactly. I'm technology-friendly but I still have zero clue how to use waypoints, pocket queries, or anything else. I can upload the cache to my GPS and that is it as far as using the technology goes. I haven't looked so far to find out how to use those features, perhaps I will do that this morning. I'll tell you this though - chances are, if I don't find the answer, I won't ask it here. I won't bother to search either, because rarely does the search engine work for me. I will more likely Google it and cross my fingers, or ask one of my seasoned cacher friends, which I am thankful to have. Had I not been mentored by a couple of experienced, awesome cachers, I'd be SOL and probably still looking for that first cache

So then why all the fuzzy coordinates lately? The last few posts indicate that cell phone GPS devices are quite accurate. I'm seeing a lot of FTF on noob caches in my area say the coords were off by 60 meters. So what are people's theories about why poor coords seems to be a rising trend? I don't know. I haven't ran into fuzzy coordinates. Occasionally, my Garmin will go wonky and say that a cache is somewhere that it's not, as much as .80 miles off, while my friend's Delorme is saying the cache is right here, and since the clues to the cache point to the spot the Delorme is pointing, I go with his. This has happened several times with my Garmin, to the point where I don't fully trust it. It is dead-on 90% of the time, but we have our Androids (a Samsung Moment and an HTC Hero) for backup. We don't cache WITH them yet; we use the Garmin to load the caches and find the caches and use the phones as back ups. Perhaps people with soft coords are doing so on purpose to make the find harder (I certainly hope that's not the case). Perhaps they don't bother to stay in that spot long enough for the GPS to settle down. Perhaps, like our very first hide, a GPS with no previous problems reads inacurately and you get a 300' discrepency between where your coords are and where the actual cache is hidden, but you don't know it because you have no reason to suspect that the coordinates are off. Or perhaps the coordinates aren't fuzzy and people are failing to account for the different readings on different GPS's so their GPS says the cache is 10' away but the hiders GPS puts the coordinates at Ground Zero. In other words, people are expecting too much from the technology. You should rely on your gut, your instinct, your experience, and your eyes, then your GPS.

The free GPS app on hubby's Android phone is only off by a few feet compared to what our Garmin eTrex Legend reads. We use both units when placing a cache, and the last one we put out was dead-on for coordinates. So far we've had good readings with his phone.

I've already RSVP'd for our get-together here. I am considering going in costume, which would go along with the themed cache I am putting out to celebrate the 10th anniversary.

I'm putting out a themed cache this week, so I know that I will occasionally have to restock it with the themed items. No biggie, it won't be far from home and it will give me an excuse to get outside and it's likely I can find the swag on clearance just about anywhere, at any time. Sometimes, the random stuff in a cache is funny. Sometimes, it's just annoying. Sometimes, it goes so far as to p*** me off. Thankfully the latter is less common than the former.

I've only encountered a porcupine so far. He was very lazy and let me take a bunch of photos of him. He had chosen the underneath of a cattle guard to make his home and was sunning himself as we drove over him. I don't count the spiders and scorpions as those are part of everyday life here in New Mexico, so much so that when caching I try to find a unique bug to photograph. I haven't seen a rattler yet while geocaching, but I've been within a foot of them more times than I care to count. I was a "free range" kid growing up in the desert, so rattlesnake, coyote, and bobcat sightings were just part of life. I once witnessed a fight between a coyote and a bobcat. Cat must of been injured, cause the coyote won. Then the coyote howled. That was cool.

I've found quality swag vs. junk to be about 70/30. More often than not, there's something decent. Occasionally it's empty. My kid's happy to find the cache. If there's anything good in it, then that's just a bonus. I carry a swag bag with me when caching and if I see something I (or she) wants, then I trade. I typically have items that kids would like - quality stickers of whatever pop idol/disney character is currently "in," nice pre-sharpened pencils and erasers, small notebooks, small toys, unique rocks (if you have a rockhound, which my daughter is, then you get the rock thing, and with rocks/gems I only trade like for like, I won't take a Polly Pocket and leave a rock, for example), swag from other caches that's mean to be placed in another cache, etc. I've even been known to put a few quarters in. If I were to put out a large cache, I would occasionally re-stock it with swag. Maybe every three months or so. Not expensive swag, mostly likely Dollar Store stuff, or stuff raided from my daughter's ever-expanding toy box. I think people who take something and leave nothing, or leave junk, are probably the same people that leave dirty diapers in parking lots and don't bother to pick up the trash bag that landed next to the dumpster instead of in it. In a word: disrespectful. Every game has them.

I haven't even found any geocaching apps for the Samsung Moment. I must not be looking in the right place. I did find an accurate GPS in the app market. Used it today and it was within 3 feet of the Garmin, so pretty accurate.

Oh, I am totally going to hide a cache in my Christmas tree then call up our friend with the coordinates. If I catch him when he's not at home, he won't be able to look and see that it's not a real geocache. Bwahahaha! (We practically have to drug him to see him outside of geocaching, so this should be fun "payback" for him ignoring us. I'll be nice and have a pot of coffee waiting.) I think I'll do the money thing with my daughter as well. Thanks for the ideas!

I don't think that those rules are Draconian or unreasonable and so far no one has had a problem following them. So... would you casually use "whore" in conversation with your daughter, wife, pastor or boss? If not why use it here? Yes. My boss uses it, my husband uses it, my mom uses it. It's casual slang. People casually toss around the word "retarded." Example: "Oh, don't be retarded." "This movie is retarded, why did you rent it?" Retarded originally meant a person of limited mental capacity, but now it's casually used in place of "stupid" or "foolish." I rarely hear the word "retard" used in it's original form anymore. It's been replaced with the more PC term, "mentally disabled." And of course it's also used to describe resistance to outside influence, such as "flame retardant." The meaning of the word has changed and now has many different uses, which I feel is what has happened with the word "whore" as well. I just can't get upset over the use of either word, but I know many people who do. To each his own. P.S. My child doesn't read forums. Ever. If she had her own computer, I'd block access to 99.9% of the Internet. She would be allowed at to visit age-appropriate websites, just as she is allowed to watch age-appropriate shows.

Haven't bought one yet. Using a loaned Magellan that's about 10 years old, maybe even older. But it works! Rumor is we're getting a Garmin eTrex Legend HCx for Christmas.

I didn't see a price for the GPS cradle. Any idea on the price range for it?

I have an '08 Silverado with the off-road package, so I can go pretty much anywhere. We also have an '81 Honda Accord for the paved roads (uses a lot less gas than the truck.) I really, really, really want a Jeep Wrangler. But I've wanted one of those forever. I want a beat-up old one that I can use and abuse the heck out of.

I'm confused. The touch isn't set up to be used like the iPhone, which uses cellular/wifi signals, right? So how are you possibly geocaching unless you have wifi at all the places you geocache? My iPod Touch can only use GPS when I have a wifi signal, which is sparse where I live. I thought there wasn't any other way for an iPod Touch to acquire satellite signals for GPS navigating? You can't even use it as a phone unless you buy the hardware, get the app, and have a wifi signal. What are you doing different with your iPod touch?

You might be a geocacher if... When thinking about a spot in your city, you see it in your mind as you would on Google maps. You raid your mother's junk drawer, find a rubber chicken, and declare, "I could stick a micro up this guy's butt." Only the guy from the alarm company is there and hears you say that, and gives you a funny look, and you get annoyed because you have to explain yourself. You go to Wal-Mart and head straight to the spray paint or tupperware aisle. You research the best glue to use on dirt.

We love caching in the rain. You're almost guaranteed to not run into any muggles that way!

I worked for the U.S. Census Bureau a while back, which involved driving all over the place, in town and in the boonies, and doing a lot of work on a handheld computer (which is not much smaller than my GPS.) In the two months I was driving and walking about, even on private property, only once did someone ask if I needed help. I was out in the oilfields that day, and the guy probably thought I was lost. That experience taught me that you are not near as conspicuous as you think you are, even when you are doing something that looks suspicious. I drive a big Chevy Silverado, it's not easy to miss, yet no one seems to notice the big truck parked on the side of the road (maybe they figure I'm just some farmer checking his barbed wire fence..... for a cache....lol) I also keep my Nikon D40 in my truck and if I'm feeling odd about looking for a cache, I just take the big camera with me. Then there's no question of what I'm doing.

Are you going to shoot me if I say yes?

I like finding business cards. I like seeing who was there before me. I don't think of them as advertisements. Come on, what are the chances I'm going to be buying soy burgers anyway? lol In regards to religious pamphlets, I find them distasteful. It says in the guidelines: Solicitations are off-limits. For example, caches perceived to be posted for religious, political, charitable or social agendas are not permitted. Geocaching is supposed to be a light, fun activity, not a platform for an agenda. While it may not be the intent of that cache to be solicitating members to this church or that church (and I have no way of knowing if the cache owner put that pamphlet in there or if another cacher did unless they say so in the logs), I feel that a cache is no place for religious pamphlets. A cross, or a rosary, ok, fine, leave that. But don't try to get me to convert to a Jehovah's Witness while I'm out on my hike. Ring my doorbell on Saturday morning like a normal person LOL My daughter would love to find a piece of quartz. She is a total rockhound. We even BUY rocks. Yes, we spend money on rocks. It's her hobby, it is nowhere near "junk" to her. I'm not going to feel bad if we leave a cool looking rock or mineral in a cache. I carry in my geocaching backpack all the supplies I feel I need: a "swag bag" with swag to trade or just leave, which includes new pencils, stickers, bracelets and soon our signature item; a notepad and scissors to replenish log books if the current one is full; and ziplock bags. I try to leave a cache in better shape than I found it. It's my way of "paying it forward." Like most things in life, it will probably be back to bad shape in no time, but that doesn't mean I leave it in bad shape. I think it's a good lesson to teach my daughter, and if I made one kid happy because she got to trade for a Hannah Montana sticker that you (general you) might think of as lame, then, as the sayings go, "You can't please everyone" and "My work here is done"

I drink a lot of coffee. Hubby loves the "Wired" energy drinks. So coffee/wired.

Going somewhere I wouldn't usually go. The photos I get to take. The time spent with friends and family. Being in on something that's kind of secret.

I'm using an old old Magellan GPS unit. There's no fancy software involved, no "send to GPS," heck I can't even get it to use the "go to" function. I plan my route before I leave the house, write down or print out the coordinates and other relevant info, grab a thermos of coffee and my Nikon, and I'm good to go. I don't even turn on the GPS until I'm parked and ready to start hunting. One of my team members has a new GPSr unit and I can't use it to save my life. Too complicated. I'm "cachin' it old school" and lovin' it!

Lately, I've been carrying this ginormous camera I borrowed from work. It was the first generation digital SLR, so it was state-of-the-art...almost ten years ago. My little modern pocket Canon takes pictures pretty much as good, but this thing is so huge and professional-looking, it answers the question "what the heck is she doing out there?" from 100 yards. I always have my Nikon D40 with me, so it's handy to use as an excuse. Especially since I generally have 300+ pictures on the memory card to back me up as a photographer, and macrophotography is my passion, so why wouldn't I be taking pictures of bugs/leaves/soil? There just might happen to be a cache there as well I do feel... odd.. about sneaking around. Mostly I worry that someone will see me and the cache will get muggled. I have excuses in case I am questioned (and don't have the camera) like, "I'm looking for my friend's bracelet, she says she lost it here last night" or "My daughter needs leaves for a school project." Only once have I told someone what I was actually doing, but the guy had just stopped traffic to make sure my daughter and I got across a busy intersection safely, only to find out that we needed to cross back over. He had offered to walk with us further because "no one in this town stops for pedestrians" (so true.) So I had to let him in on it, I don't think he "got" it though. He's probably still wondering what GPS is and what it has to do with money LOL

Does it matter? No signed log/and or cache not actually found = no find. What if there is no log in the cache because the cache had been recently muggled, contents dumped, original container taken, but contents of cache (no log book, it probably blew away) put in a temporary cache by the last person to find it (the person before me)?