Jump to content

Velvet

+Premium Members
  • Posts

    58
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by Velvet

  1. Not a feature yet...but for our local group, the person who's taken the lead on posting accomplishment notices asked everyone to post a note (NOTE, not find ) to the same archived cache of his. This works if you're interested in keeping track of numbers for your local cachers, and you can use it to access their profiles when you want specifics. Plus, we all know we're being stalked and by who
  2. According to CNN, 200,000 people were evacuated from Wilkes Barre & surrounding areas. NEPA cachers, hope you're all doing all right!
  3. Teams splitting up aside, I'm wondering just how they knew they had found that cache. Do they keep some sort of record? How did they miss logging it? Could they describe the cache or contents? Pictures? Journals? TB's that were in the cache? Reputation? Even if they were part of a team, how do they know they were with the team at that cache? Someone mentioned a long while back about someone going around to archived cache pages and claiming late finds when in fact they had never been to the cache. The theory was there is no proof otherwise and what's an owner to do? It's a tough call, but I wouldn't hesitate deleting a log I though was bogus. I went solo after about a year of team caching...I knew which ones to log by going through the team account and logging the ones that mentioned me already. I've been signing the same name into logbooks from the beginning, but only he logged them online at first. When I started going out on my own more, I started logging on my own...I went through his profile of "found" caches and looked for logs that mentioned that I was with him, and logged those myself on the same dates. I imagine that's how most people do it...now when I cache with someone who either doesn't have an account or I know won't be able to log online for awhile, I mention them in my log too so there's a record that they were there with me. Could I describe each and every cache and it's contents after a year (or more)? Probably not......
  4. "Velvet" is the name of a character in one of my favorite series of books (the Belgariad/Mallorean series by David Eddings). She is the Huntress...a spy and an assassin who kicks some serious a** and traipsed all over the series' magical world to do it. I was looking for a hunting-type name and thought of her since hopefully I'll be able to cache all over the world, and that's how it came about. Funny enough, there's another cacher in the same city who also chose her name from this same series!
  5. OK, OK, I get it......our other unit is a Garmin, does that count? And no, I never had this problem with that one. If we ever have money, the plan is for me to upgrade and pass this one along to my stepdaughter who's about ready to have her own GPSr. Oh well, guess I'll just have to deal in the meantime and not keep too many waypoints in there at a time.
  6. I did a search on this, but either I'm not using the right keywords or it hasn't really come up... I turned on my GPSr yesterday morning (a Magellan eXplorist 300) to see if I had already marked a particular cache. I went to my Points of Interest List.................No Objects Found. Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!! The day before they were there. The batteries are new (and had not been changed in between when the POI's were there and when they weren't). This happened once before, right after I got the unit, but at that time I had thought I had done something wrong because I was still figuring it out. Now, I am NOT HAPPY. Has anyone else run into this? Is there a reset button on this unit I may have accidentally pressed? I looked all over it and in the manual but didn't find one that's labeled "reset", but I've learned from other things that doesn't mean it isn't there. So what do I do now? Just re-enter the points and move on? Or is this a defect I should take up with Magellan? I just turned the unit on now, the ones I re-entered yesterday are all present and accounted for...this is is just really weird. Thanks for any help you can give.
  7. Thank you. I have already coresponded with our DC volunteer and the wheels are in motion to secure the location for the final. The final cache WILL BE IN DC!!! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  8. Yikes! How's THIS for a homecoming! Not NJ, but still.... http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/06/...r.ap/index.html
  9. Believe me, if I get a legit bid on it, I'll sell it. Let's say I started the bidding at $1, with a $7500 reserve, and the bids topped out around $1200. The value of the O.C.B. would then be set at $1200. Moun10Bike coins are going for over $2000, so I would think this 'Holy Grail' of Geocaching (as it's been called) is worth at least that much, don't you? This way, with even one bid, the value is set at $7500. But is it even worth it for me to let it go for $100, or $1000? Nope. I have spent several times that amount out of my own pocket to haul it around to Events, showing it to the community, which I can no longer afford to do. Unfortunately, the O.C.B. appearances will be few and far between, from here on out. If it doesn't sell, so be it. It'll never be offered for sale again, but I thought I would put it out there and see if any serious geocaching collector wants to 'take it over'. If it doesn't sell and you do decide to give it away, you could make it the final prize of some kind of Amazing Geo-Race (like the 50-state multi-cache or similar). Don't leave it in the cache, obviously, but a token of some sort that the FTF of a seriously difficult task would retrieve and present to you for the OCB. Not a solution to the financial problem, obviously, but a way to pass the torch and still be assured that the recipient is both a serious cacher & has the necessary means at their disposal to continue your work with the OCB.
  10. The containers, as I said, are not sealed. There is no way to verify that the contents are what the container says they are, or that they haven't been tampered with, either before being placed in the cache, or later, by someone else other than the person who originally left it there. It would be very foolish for anyone to assume that this item is untainted and safe to use. What should I do? Should I just ignore this, and hope other cachers have the sense to remove and discard this item, and not use it? Should I email this person directly, and advise him of my opinion on this matter? Should I refer this matter to some representative of Groundspeak and let that representative deal with this person? Any other ideas? In person or direct email is best...is it homemade lip balm or store-bought? If it's homemade lip balm (or some other kind of specialty thing) that the cacher intends as a sig item or something like that, you might suggest that they leave cards in the cache that are "redeemable" for the lip balm...could end being a good way to meet people I sometimes do something similar when I have extra Mary Kay samples - I'll leave my card in the cache with a note written on it of what goodies are available free for geocachers. I wouldn't leave the items themselves in the caches for the reasons you mentioned and also because it could damage the product. The compromise might be better received than a straight up "knock it off"
  11. For the final, there's been a volunteer to place the cache in Washington, DC. As a former Washingtonian, that gets my vote if the District doesn't get it's own cache in the series. The geographical center is a good idea, but essentially gives one state two caches in the series and leaves DC out (as usual, lol). Isn't taxation without representation enough discrimination against our cachers in our nation's capitol, lol? As for concerns about longevity, there are plenty of areas in DC where a cache could remain safe for quite some time. Besides, what could be more representative of the country as a whole than a cache in the nation's capitol? As significant as the geographically central coordinates are to a GPS-based game, I would MUCH rather complete a journey like this in place like DC than on someone's pig farm, which is I believe where someone mentioned the geographical center actually is. Besides which, no one has yet said they are able to hide a cache there, whereas there has been a volunteer for a DC cache. Soooooooooo ::chanting:: Cache for DC! Cache for DC! Cache for DC!
  12. Vinny, I appreciate your response to my earlier post and it does clear up some of my questions regarding why the family of the climber who died is not upset with the other climbers. I had seen that statement by his mother out of context and it seemed a bizarre reaction to me, but makes more sense now. So I guess the only question I'm left with is: what happens if one of the "tourons" (LOVE that word, and can think of sooooooooooo many non-Everest applications for it!) becomes incapacitated that high up? Are they, too, left to die? Or is there some safety measure in place to rescue them? Say, for instance, someone breaks their leg and cannot stand or walk under their own power as this man could not. Are the tour groups instructed to cut their losses and leave the person to die alone, or do they have a plan in place to get them back down? I do understand what you're saying about pulling a rescue team out of thin air in a resource-poor environment, and that makes total sense. It also would make sense to me if the answer to my above question is that because these groups are not US-based they are not subject to the same safety requirements they would be here in having backup emergency plans. But if there are NO plans to extract someone who gets hurt and can't move themselves, then "tourons" are even crazier than I thought....and if there ARE some kind of plans in place to rescue someone climbing in a group, I would think those could be applied to someone encountered along the trail. Velvet PS...I am planning to read through the link you provided earlier for more context about this particular situation, I just think we have an interesting discussion going here Now get back to work on those books!
  13. I like the part where the local joined the out-of-towner for the "complimentary breakfast" and rode to the trailhead in their "rental SUV" Granted, we don't have all the facts, but my first instinct is that there was a breakdown of communication here......whenever I hike with a new partner, I've found it's a good idea to go over any maps that will be in use BEFORE starting on the hike to make sure everyone is on the same page about the route.
  14. Well, at least that would make the rescue of poorly-trained, poorly-equipped and largely unskilled unfortunates who fall ill at the top much easier! And, if they do install that elevator, I could hide an extreme cache inside the elevator shaft, at the top of it; seekers would need to exit the elevator car via its rooftop hatch and climb up the shaft to the roof to grab the cache from one of the pulleys. BTW, since this topic of the Brit climber has re-emerged here, one thing that my mountain climber friends keep reminding me about regarding Everest, which is true of any mountain summit over about 23,000 feet, is that even with supplemental oxygen, even extremely well-trained climbers are so exhausted and so enveloped in "brain fog" at that altitude, due to the low air pressure, the extreme cold and the exertion, that it is rather equivalent to being very much drunk. In other words, their judgement and their thinking are very poor and very cloudy, and the vast majority of the outfitting services, in fact, insist that the people on the team who are above 24,000 feet cannot and must not make any major decisions for themselves, but rather must receive instructions from trained guides who are sitting safely at "base camps" at a much lower altitude. Vinny, I agree with your point about the problem of commercial tours taking over something as grand and dangerous as climbing Everest, but I think your last paragraph brings up a point that goes back to Team 360's OP. When the groups ascending the summit are connected to base camp by radio, why would they not be expected to radio that same base camp to arrange a rescue party for the stranded climber? I understand your point that the groups themselves could not physically have rescued the man (which is a point I have also seen raised by the 'experts' commenting on the story in the media)......but why could they not activate their own safety measures and call for help for this man? As someone else mentioned, we do not ever hike without our battery-operated radios, even at low altitudes. We use them when we're seperated on the trail (either accidentally or on purpose, such as for cache hunts) and keep extra batteries handy because they are also a safety measure for us should someone get hurt. The GPS helps there, too, we know that we are able to mark the position of an injured hiker/cacher and either call for help over the radio channels or if one person has to leave to get help there will be communication capabilities as long as we are in range. Maybe this is where the training/preparedness comes into play, but I don't see why the same safety and rescue preparations that we use on low-altitude trails where the biggest dangers are rocks and animal encounters shouldn't be employed on a climb that you know from the outset will be extremely dangerous. I am guessing that the base camp guides would have a Plan B if one of their hikers were injured on the mountain for rescuing them, why is it too much to ask that they implement that plan for a dying stranger? Very interested to see your response....
  15. Hehehe, mine does the "gotta pee" dance on command when we get to the point where we should leave the trail and start bushwacking. Kids in general are their own answer to "What are you doing?"
  16. We run into this a lot. In our household, we have two GC accounts because we cache seperately often. Only one of us is a premium member currently. When we cache together, if we find an MOC, I log it as a premium member and mention in the log that my other half was there with me and also signed the book. Most hiders in our area will then email me with permission for my other half to also log the find thru the backdoor. If they don't, he doesn't, and it's no biggie. His name is in the logbook and also on the page in my log, and we're not smilie-obsessed (both caching since '04 and still under 100 because we're picky, lol). I think it all depends on why the hider made the cache MOC only in the first place. For someone who it's important that only people who support GC financially be able to log it, they would not be happy with someone logging thru the backdoor and we would respect that. It's more often the case around here that the hider makes a cache MOC to either a) control the geo-traffic or hide their caches from muggle/pirate problems in the area. Those owners are usually happy to let non-premium members who are accompanied by premium-ies log the cache and record their find. I don't think it's ok to "replace" an MOC find with a log on an entirely different cache, active OR archived. Email the owner of the MOC and politely present your case if you really want the smilie, or else just let it go and remember the fun you had searching with your friends regardless of membership status. In either case, ask one of your friends who can see the page to mention you in their log, and that way the owner knows that you paid the cache a visit regardless of what s/he decides
  17. Don't be so sure people wouldn't say it over the phone...I finance caching by working in a call center, you would not believe some of the things people say to complete strangers because it's anonymous People threaten violence against you and your family, cuss and scream and yell....and I only take incoming calls where people are (supposedly) asking for my help! I can't imagine what people who do outgoing calls encounter.... But back to topic...you are absolutely correct that people treat one another in anonymous environments much different than they ever would face to face.
  18. Check out the PA Third Wednesdays event...we do this. The current owner of the event is KurtRoedeger, previous owner was MissJenn. Either of them could tell you how it works with the new location every month. You can find the event on the calendar on the Third Wednesday of every month
  19. We found one a couple of weeks ago in the PA State Game Lands, apparently a hunting couple of Muggles accidentally sat on the cache They wrote a nice note and put the cache back (obviously)...in light of some of the negative things that have happened in the SGL's, we thought that was really cool of them.
  20. If someone will be kind enough to volunteer to cover my moving costs, I will happily take Hawaii off your hands
  21. Actually I've found driving to be faster than flying most of the time. When I flew there it was 5 hours door to door, including driving to the airport, extra time for security, snagging a rental car, driving to my office, etc... Driving is usually 4 hours, at least going down. I think the total in tolls is around $9.75, at least from where I am in northern NJ. You're probably right, I didn't think to factor in "getting to the airport time" At the time, I lived within a fifteen minute cab ride of LaGuardia.....coming from Manhattan you could take the subway very close to the airport and cab the rest of the way. As for security, it isn't too onerous on commuter flights. I made probably 90% of these trips with a Palestinian co-worker so of course we were "randomly selected" for additional security every single time. But, for these types of trips you very rarely have any checked luggage so the process is pretty quick. As long as you have your ID accessible and resist the urge to over-accessorize it really doesn't take long. And this was all in the months immediately following 9/11 when the place was crawling with National Guardsman, my guess is it would be a little more relaxed these days.
  22. The end goal is to encourage local and global geocaching and to reward those who are dedicated to it (IMO). The state caches should be located in areas that are significant for that state. We may even be better served to "adopt" existing state geocaches and ask the owners to place a special page in their caches listed the others, and giving the clues. Of course others could be newly planted. I think most people would be excited about this and would be honored to have their cache requested to be a part of it. The final cache woudl have to be something totally over the top. You have to give a reason to pursue it. I think this could really lead to the spread of geocaching - and force people to branch out in the areas they cache. Each stage would need to have some sort of clue. The difficultly comes in finding a system that utilizes 50 clues, but that would be possible. Math of some sort is always an option. After you collect every clue, there needs to be some challenge to decypher, but not so much as to make that the hard part - the hard part is collecting them. I personally would add one requirement - you must vist each cache. People would be tempted to cheat, and just get people in each state to email them the clues. Make it interesting - make it worthwhile - make it a task worth completeing. How about a 50-character alpha-numeric clue, 1 character per cache....you place each character next to the name of the state in the alphabetical list and eventually the full message is spelled out. Definitely require all 50 logs to be signed for the final cache to count, or else some Wheel of Fortune whiz could jump right ahead
  23. I've solved the cipher, and am working on getting my team together to start the physical hunt......see you down the rabbit hole http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...46-e2a1481f9d72 Wonderland (GCV09V)
  24. Trains are actually a good bet for you in this situation. When I lived in NYC I traveled to DC at least once a month for business, here's the rundown: Planes: fastest, but most expensive. Commuter flights leave from LaGuardia to Reagan National every hour or so. The flight is so short you're never allowed out of your seat per the time guidelines to/from landing. From National you could rent the car or take a MARC train out past DC traffic to rent one. The flight is about an hour. Trains: Also leave at least every hour. Amtrak runs Metroliner express trains through Baltimore where you could pick up a rental car, or take the Metroliner local which has more stops but will drop you outside the traffic. It's about two hours by train. Automobiles: Waste of gas and time. The one and only time I decided to drive down instead of the other two options, it took 6 hours each way because of traffic. And, as Pol pointed out, there are MASSIVE tolls each way when you figure in NJ Turnpike, bridge tolls, and the way Delaware racks you. Add those to your gas money and rental fees and you might as well fly
  25. What cache is it for? Post a link, I'll be happy to take a look and see if I can ID a starting point for you.
×
×
  • Create New...