RockyRaab

I am a professional writer - and I STILL get misinterpreted at times. Whether by tone or voice (those are technical terms) I make mistakes in informal writing, such as posts or logs. Here's my advice, (unsought as it is): if a log or a post ticks you off, ignore it for 24 hours. Then come back, re-read it, re-read it again, then let it rest a while longer. If you must make a reply, do it in the most over-courteous, inoffensive way you can imagine -- and then lighten up a bit. Imagine yourself as a British Navy officer in 1812, when every nuance of your language could involve you in a swordfight to the death. If you still feel like being hotheaded, brash or curt, may your god protect you. In short, give things the benefit of the FRICKING doubt!

Oh, pshaw. (written as a PC expedient to "Oh, pschit.") Whether you are a hider or a finder, simply define your stick/tool as "blunt" and get over it. You find it or you don't. It's just a cache, for Pete's sake!

Maybe I'm a Double Premium Member, because they charged me twice on my automatic renewal. Once on Feb 5 and then again on Feb 27. I sent an immediate email on 2/27, but no reply yet. The point being, perhaps there is a wobblebobble in the knuten valve escarpment - or something.

Dittos on the "bookmark" function, Doc. Except that I don't bother tediously entering log comments into my Palm, or using GSAK to do the same. I just pull up the individual cache pages when I get home and enter my comments then. I just find that simpler and avoids all the typos (graffytos?) of using the Palm.

With well over a quarter-million active caches (and no telling how many defunct ones) in this world-wide game, I believe that the answer to ANY question that asks"Has anybody ever..." would be "Yes." If it's a cache - it's been done. Period.

Aside from the buried aspect, which has been mentioned till grievously wounded, check out one of my hides. Czech's Cache #8

Nothing beats a white truck, a hard hat and a clipboard. (Unless you're going for a cache that's two miles up from a trailhead, in which case a hiking staff, a backpack and an open map is the ticket!)

It's been a long time since my last Latin class in high school, but I'd translate "veni, vidi, sivi" as "I came, I saw, I returned (it)." Meaning the finder put it back as found. A highly appropriate and commendable thing to do.

Bill and Tammy, Off topic, but may I offer my congratulations for what is perhaps the best, clearest written cache page description it has been my pleasure to read. Thank you.

Remember that this sport is played without referees or supervision. Nobody is looking over a cacher's shoulder when he trades one item for another. For people whose conscience is a spent force, trading down is the standard. I seldom trade anything anymore, but I always carry a full spectrum of swag just in case I see something I might actually want. I do try to stock a new cache hide of my own with good stuff. The higher the difficulty level of the cache I hide, the better the swag it gets stocked with.

Lately, I've been concentrating on making my caches out of the ordinary. I thought the first unusual one I created would be a real booger to find, but it's never logged a DNF. I lowered the difficulty rating on that account. The most recent one is even more devilish, and one cacher logged that he'd made four trips to find it. After a clue from me, he finally did log a smilie - with a real compliment about how clever the cache is. I think I'd like to see perhaps one DNF for every ten smilies or so, just to reinforce my cache-crafting skills. That would be a pleasure, but I don't think it's a perverse one.

There are two issues here. One, whether you may bring a GPSr into the cabin as carryon. And two, whether you may USE a GPSr while in flight. For the first, I am not aware of any TSA regulation that prohibits the presence of a GPSr in your carryon luggage. It would be considered the same as any other portable electronic device. (It may have to be screened separately, or be examined, but it is not forbidden to possess one. That said, regulations change almost daily as new threats are discovered, so do not take this as written in concrete.) For the second, it would be the policy of an individual airline to allow actual use of a GPSr while in flight. Different carriers allow different things, and a list of "allowed devices" is almost always printed in the in-flight magazine. If it is not specifically forbidden, you may be able to negotiate use with the flight crew. However, what the captain decides is absolute law, written notice or no. Don't argue, or you may arrive in cuffs. I would not be surprised at all to have inflight use prohibited either by a given captain, a carrier or by the government. I can all too readily imagine the scenario, "OK, Achmed, our GPS shows that we are now over water (or Chicago or Hanford Nuclear Research Center). Hit the button!"

I questioned what I thought was a spurious set of finds once and got thoroughly hammered for it right here in this forum. Never again. My enjoyment comes from finding good caches and placing better ones. But as far as policing who claims what, I say "Frankly, Scarlett..."

Got my 250th yesterday and decided to end the year with that nice round number. Took two years to get there, logging 200 finds in 2005 and only 50 more all of last year (but I wrote and published a 430-page novel in that year, too!) I plan to sell my business and retire in February, leaving lots more time for writing and caching among other fun pursuits. Can't wait.

From 1980 until 1985, I was one of the media spokesmen for NASA at KSC. I did launch commentaries for unmanned and Shuttle launches, and was at the press stand when I wasn't commentating. Later, I worked for Thiokol and again was at the press site for almost every launch. I saw 25 Shuttle launches in person from only 3.5 miles away. To say it is awesome is an extreme understatement.

"Same "pole" repell each other, opposite attract each other ." (sic) That's true. When I was a teenager, I went to a Polish wedding. Some of the Poles there were pretty repellent. Flies wouldn't land on some of the worst ones. But the bridal pair seemed to be pretty much opposites (one of them was a guy and the other one wasn't) and they sure seemed to be attracted - at least to each other. Not only that, one of the bridesmaids seemed to be attracted to anything in pants! So it must be true. (Don't be a boar about it, suscrofa. Or do we have to twist an arm to be humerous?)

...and when that's all done, hunch expectantly over your computer to read the FTF and other "find" logs as they pour in. (If you get more than two DNFs in a row, please hustle out to the cache and see what the problem is. Please. Check that it's still there and also re-check the coordinates. Then post a note that you checked it, editing the coords if necessary. That makes you a good cache owner.)

I wouldn't, briansnat, but I do eat eggplant. Seriously, if you clearly described it as strenuous, suggested using an ATV and such, then why not? We have one locally that's atop our second-highest mountain, requires an 11-mile climb of 6,000 feet along a footpath. People do log it.

Going through some cache descriptions for an area I was going to visit soon, I read one that said "This cache will be removed and archived on (date)." I was there the morning of that day, found it and signed the log as LTF. Whether the thing was actually ever removed or archived, I don't know, but I claim it as an LTF.

Just offer the archives on CD, el Diablo. If they aren't worth a couple of bucks to people, there's your answer.

Skipping over almost the entire middle mass of this thread, I will attempt to define "wow" versus "lame" as applied to caches. Ahem... "WOW!" caches are those which excite you when found, bring happy memories months later, and have you thinking, "Man, I wish I can someday place a cache like that one!" "lame" caches are those which disappoint you when found, are forgotten by the time you get back to your truck, and have you thinking, "Man, I hope I never place a cache like that one." How's that? (My first and likely only reply to this thread.)

I wholeheartedly agree. I found almost exactly 200 caches my first year, but only 40 since. Somehow, the thrill of still another "log only" micro has somewhat waned. I still love to find full-size caches in scenic places, still like innovative containers almost anywhere and tolerate even a ho-hum hide if there's a real reason to draw me to an interesting place. I'm committed to placing nothing but clever new containers (or at least containers not seen in my home area before) or ammo boxes in great places. The sincere and copious compliments I've received for my series of hides may indicate that there are plenty of other cachers who feel the same way. For those who like them or for whom numbers are king - well, I wish you joy for posts and rails festooned with key boxes.

One could say there's no real need to own a GPS - or go geocaching for that matter. No, they don't get paid to talk about GSAK. But it is the best tool for the job of paperless caching with a Palm-based PDA. It's cheap, the service is topnotch, you never have to pay for upgrades, and you can even use it for free if you like. What's to complain about?

I've watched a Shuttle landing from the roof of the VAB, and it WAS spectacular. I was never able to get close to the edge of that thing, although I was able to rather blithely walk across the open-gridwork catwalk across the high center bay inside the VAB - a jaunt that made more than one reporter gasp and clutch reflexively at the chain-link walls! The press site is the closest they allow anyone to a launch. I know those lying weasel reporters are expendable, but they required an escort and that was usually ME!

That's why I posted the space.com link, my friend. They relay most launches, even Russian, Kourou and those privately-developed ocean-based ones. I only have dial-up but I can still get audio of most of them. There are four launches this month, and eight in December, worldwide. I hope that helps feed your launch fix! (Oh, and you haven't lived until you've seen a launch from the press site. Only 6,000 feet away for Deltas, and three miles for Shuttle. It literally makes your guts shake.)