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d+n.s

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Everything posted by d+n.s

  1. Look how handsome he is! definitely not a cacher...
  2. Hopefully this thread doesn't turn into a tired and boring debate about climate change. Not because I don't value intelligent discourse, but because people on the internet tend to just throw poorly cross referenced google snippets and talking points at eachother... To address the question: In the US things tend to be pretty spread out and public transport tends to be pretty weak partially because of it. If you tried to cache in TX without driving, you'd never find any good caches. Our cities are kinda' poorly designed for modern public transport and rely heavily on using highways to even get to the grocery store sometimes. Our state is the size of some countries. You couldn't, for example, take a bus from my house to a State Park and there is really no useful rail option. Seattle was a little better. We didn't use a car the whole time I was there and we got everywhere we wanted to go. Still, on the last day we needed to rent a car to reach Snoqualmie. I'm trying to imagine caching without a car in Missouri and I can't. For better or worse, they are built into the design of our lives and cities. Consider how young some of these cities are compared to European ones. Cars didn't take very long to become a reality in American west cities. That is something hard to fight when you have other bills. I'm thinking that most cities in the American east are more likely to have been designed from the ground up for pedestrians, horses and thus efficient public transport, but thats just a guess. Never been and I'm not an expert... just thinking out loud. Regardless of how you feel about CO2 emmision and environmentalism, I don't think it's hard to argue that American cities could be designed better in order to break the cylce that forces one to have a car... In the meantime, a large part of the hobby is fueled by your urge to see new and interesting places. Currently, this is extremely hard to do in most American cities. It shouldn't be surprising that we hop in our cars to see such wonderful places. You might cut us a little slack. Even if it's a tad unfashionable to do so EDIT: We don't drive on the trails here... Not normally at least.
  3. Thanks for the replies! I won't be moving it along until I have properly "retrieved" it. I guess I'll just watch it's activity and feel it out. The rate things have been going (slow) Monday seems like a safe bet.
  4. What day do I post the beauties? "I hate it when logs just say 'FTF'" "Logged from your mobile device!? Who cares!?" "A rant about blank logs" Also, what day do I post my thread about how we always have the same threads? I agree
  5. Also, it seems wierd, but logging your "did not finds" online not only helps everyone out, but increases the chances that someone will send you a friendly hint. People generally WANT their caches found. A few other things (some of which have already been said): -look for a small or regular if you can (our fist find was a micro though. It took us 20 minutes, but it felt good) -go for an easy cache -don't take the coordinates too seriously. Really, when you are within 30 feet of the cache start looking. There is a good chance (especially around lots of trees, power lines or tall buildings) that the cache is 60 feet away from where it thinks it is. It's just the nature of the tech. Yours might be a little off, theirs might have been a little off, someone might have moved it a few feet last time it was found... -read the past logs and the caches title for a few extra hints and context clues -think about where YOU might hide something -extra eyes help -spend a decent amount of time before giving up -when in doubt, shoot the cache owner an e-mail and politely ask for a nudge. Most of them are glad to help a new cacher out. I like the advice about finding caches with lots of photos, but I would NOT look at the photoss until you've completely given up. Our first find was a pretty special moment, and we all (it was a group "why not?" moment when we tried caching on a whim) remember how freaked out we were when my wife found the little thing. It would be a bit of a shame to spoil that without giving it the old college try... That said, don't let frustration stop you from finding caches. Spoilers might be necessary. I imagine urban hides in NY to be much tougher than the ones around here simply due to the traffic of people, tall buildings and security scare potential. So, if you DO need to spoil the first few finds, definitely do it.
  6. Dumb question as usual: We attended our first event and grabbed a bug at the end of it. When we were "discovering" other bugs at the event, we decided to only "discover" the one we took for now and to let the owner know we had it and we'd "remove" it soon. The logic here, was that a lot of people would be logging discoveries over the next few days and it would be easier and simpler for them if we left the bug in the event cache. I see that not a lot of people "discovered" the bug still, but I'm not sure how popular that really is and if I'm being overly accomidating. I recently saw some weirdness happen with a coin getting discovered way late and was hoping to avoid that from happening. Anyway, is it common practice to leave a bug "in" an event for a day or so after the event? If so, how long should I wait to "retrieve it" officially/online? Sorry for the weird question
  7. I like the idea of the bottle cap on the nano really. Makes the nano a little bigger As a non-drinker, I have a weird fascination with bottle caps. They feel slightly less like trash than some other things and more like some artifact, lol. Basically, I think they're sorta' neat when they look nice. Kids historically kind of like bottle caps right? what is it about them that appeals to some? I imagine if I used one as a hide, I'd try to make it with a nice one. Not some random "bud light" cap, but rather a local root beer or something interesting to look at. Also, with stuff like this, you might as well make 2 right? That way, when there are issues you can easily replace the cache instead of going through some rush to make another one. P.S they can be made into pretty good sig items too, if you just have some bottle caps you are looking to reuse. I should probably clarify; in just about every thread there's at least one thread where someone just uncorks on the OP for no reason whatsoever. I just don't get it. And no, the forums I generally participate in aren't all like that (which is why I pick the ones I participate in so carefully). I just don't get it, but that's me. Yes there are some good eggs on here, but the bad ones really do drag the place down sometimes. (I know, it's life, that's people, etc. I know) I've actually noticed this too. What's sad is that it's often someone who didn't read the OP giving a condescending answer to a question no one asked.
  8. Honestly, I don't have kids, but I remember being one... I think an easy trick worth trying for parents is siimply making finding a micro a bg deal. As you get close just be like, "Okay guys this one is a micro, and you know what that means. Its going to take a really good cacher to find it!" And then be crazy impressed when the little one finds it, "Woah! How did you find that little thing!?" Probably something everyone is already doing, but I imagine handling it like that...
  9. I hate the term "treasure hunt" because a. Its a little embarrassing to call the stuff you find in them "treasure" b. It starts people with a misconception that they get to keep the cache and it's contents c. It makes people think of digging d. It's not about WHAT you find for me I usually say, "Its a game where people mark cool sights, things and places by hiding a box near it and posting the box's GPS coordinates. You find the box and sign a piece of paper to prove you went there. Usually there is stuff inside people trade, but sometimes there isn't. A good cache will point out a park, shop or even just a cool tree you might not have noticed otherwise if you hadn't slowed down." Not catchy, but thats the gist of how I describe it.
  10. definitely helped us plan our Seattle trip
  11. We've found 3 The Necropolis is maybe my favorite of them all This shows that easy PnGs won't get all the points despite some of the early fears I read. Many of these are either old or complicated EDIT: Make that 5
  12. I like the idea in theory. I love virtuals afterall. I basically like anything that takes me to a neat location, and care little about toys and stuff... That said, you can do a Q&A multi to put a container away from a sensitive area and still take people to it, and it seems easier to just bring back virtuals than to invent a new type of cache that does something similar and still requires something be left in the area. Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of just going somewhere and "discovering" a sticker, but I don't think it has a clear niche in the current/past mix of caches. Expecially with all the whining we'd get about how much more creative an ammo can under rocks would be than these little tags...
  13. Too bad, I had a DNF recently that I thought was pretty awesome (if not a massive tribute to my stupidity) and I sorta' thought... you know... maybe, just maybe someone else will actually like this one. eDIT: It was THIS one, if anybody cares. When we got home, we read THIS and decided it was a likely enough assumption, that we were okay to keep assuming it was rue in the name of fun.
  14. I think his happened to me the other day. My "distance" would close in on the cache, but the arrow was pointing backward. After a quick calibration (hit menu from the compass screen) it was fixed. When you hit 20 feet, no GPS will act great all the time. I have found that "holding ti level" has become more difficult lately. Not sure what the issue is there...
  15. I feel really dumb, because I e-mailed asking for the address and forgot I already had it :/ Sorry! The other half of D+N.S has the e-mail account this stuff goes to. Anyway, it will be mailed out tomorrow!
  16. Yes, some of the reviewers have been coming up with some clever names. Better yet, the guy who posted the SBA, and was sought out by the Police as a Geocaching expert was "Spanish Bombs". That's a Clash song, by the way. This might shock some people, but I don't think this was all that "stupid". I've seen much worse. This was a pedestrian bridge. Am I crazy, or should I give it up and grab my torch and pitchfork? The song is cool enough, that I'll forgive them
  17. I recently took a travel bug on vacation to Seattle with me and dipped it at the well known spots (Space needle, HQ, ape cache, snoqualmie Falls) and took photos along the way. Handed it to someone going home to Missouri next.
  18. Any chance you could find a better chain? I once saw the awesome job WriteShopRobert did attaching tags to a toy car. He used "Nylon Coated Steel Leader Wire" from a fishing store, crimped. It looks extremely secure. In this case, it looks like the little tag on the gecko would break first. An alternative would be to use stainless steel aviation-type wire with aluminum ferrules. Agree, the chain is weak. In general this trackable doesn't seem to be designed for long life in the field. We didn't upgrade the chain because after all, it is attached to a piece of plastic... We were just hoping to add something that would allow more people to realize that the tiny thing was in fact a trackable! We often use one of those keychain rings instead of a wire. Easy to find, attach and durable. The downside is that thy are still not too hard to remove, but if someone wants to stal my trackable item, they are going to. But yeah, a fancy chain isn't going to help us here considering the tags themselves seem pretty fragile. Oh well, it was free
  19. That is exactly how I cache... a 60CSx for my handheld, and a Nuvi 255W for navigating to the park/cache site and for paperless info. I use GSAK and this macro and I get everything that the Pocket Query give me . Us too. I carry the 60csx, she carries the nuvi 255w (yep exact model)or an ipod with the description and she usually makes the find. That said, it was just us with a nuvi and printed stuff for the first 100+ finds. Worked pretty well I think, just frustrating sometimes. I know there is software that condences the cache info into a much more efficient and printer friendly format. Might be a happy medium?
  20. Here is mine: TB46ZBE Probably too cute, but I didn't pay for him, so I'm going to try a cute one.
  21. Some of us, believe it or not, have lives outside of geocaching. Sometimes that life takes precedence over your bug. It's not about keeping them. It's about doing other stuff that precludes, at times, logging the bugs. My friend is lucky to even log the caches he finds half the times. He does move the bugs he picks up but sometimes they're not logged correctly due to his lingering confusion about this whole logging of the bug thing. Tried to walk him through it but he's better as a hands on learner. I lagged in moving some bugs when I got back from vacation last year. I even lost a couple bugs for a little period of time. Putting my dog to sleep and dealing with my job were more important to me than the bugs I had picked up. Sorry. It's not about being responsible for many people. It's about life for a lot of people. Many people's lives do not revolve around this hobby. Life getting in the way =/= someone who isn't actually into/able to move a bug taking one anyways. Don't put yourself in the same boat as people who have no respect for other people. I have enough faith/respect in the users of this forum to believe they understand that "stuff happens" and that they can understand the difference.
  22. In the future, it would be a pretty rad feature for the smartphone apps though... cool idea
  23. There may be anecdotal examples of free users who are more hardcore than premium ones, and anecdotal examples of premium users who are brand new, but I think it's safe to assume that the people who pay a yearly fee are more likely to have read and understand the guidlines. I also think it's fair to assume they are at least slightly more likely to treat travel bugs and other peoples caches with respect. I completely understand why PMO caches exist, and if I did something that would be really hard to replace or if it was in an area that required a bit of cautionI might consider placing one. Especially now that people use smart phones to find them. Let's say you had a cache on the side of a cliff that could get the finder killed, I can understand why you'd want to discourage someone who lacks a firm grasp of the T/D ratings or what the ettiquite for caching is from finding it. Not saying you SHOULD, but I understand why you might. That said, there are a few parks in San Antonio that are entirely populated with PMOCs by the same user and it sort of bugs me. Not the end of the world. Nothing to get upset about, because I'm sure they have rtheir reasons, but it seems selfish in more than one way. At the end of the day, I think complaining about the way a CO chooses to present their cache is a little short sighted. They didn't have to list it at all. They could have just told friends about it. Theycould have taken it to another site. For whatever reason, they chose to slightly limit the flow of users to their cache or take advantage of the special features granted to a PMO cache (you can track who is looking at it I'm told) and that is that. It's their $20 box. Just be glad they placed it at all.
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