Rebel

Come join us for food, fun, and fellowship on February 16th in Macon. We'll also be discussing the stand-up of the first CGG District. Clicky Clicky

I did much the same for one the state rangers required to have a lock on it. However, I used marine sealant at the hole for better water protection and a cap nut on the inside so folks' fingers wouldn't get nicked.

Wow, go away for a few days and a lonely thread gets lively! First, big congratulations to ParentsofSAM on her win! She's going to be a fine addition to the GGA SC. I wasn't elected in this round but I've put my hat in the ring for a special election to fill the slot of an SC member who is departing ahead of schedule. CR, I know that my answer was a politician's answer. I've been a member, and former SC, for several years and know what the problems are. All I can say is that I'll work hard to fix the problems.

I'm willing! If I get elected we'll get together and work something out. And, if I don't I'll make a pain of myself until it happens. How's that?

Greetings! If you are a Georgia Geocachers Association member and have not checked the GGA Forums lately, this information may be of interest to you. The GGA is holding an election to fill vacancies on their Steering Committee. I am one of the candidates and I'd like your vote! I live in Locust Grove and am a past member of the Steering Committee. I think that I can best represent you on the committee. On the GGA Forums, several questions were posted and below are my answers to those questions. If you go to www.ggaonline.org and click the link on the left to the forums you can read what the other candidates have written. You must be registered on the forums and have "members forum" access to read the forum and to vote your choice. Thank you for your time and attention! Why should I vote for you? Please let me answer this one last. What kind of caching have you done this year? I’ve done the fun kind. I’ve gone on hyper-planned cache hunts with friends and alone. I almost always have my GPS and PDA loaded with cache information of the area where I plan to be whether at home or away. I’ve hunted easy peasy micros under skirts and driven a hundred miles round trip to snag a puzzle cache. I hunt caches as the whim strikes and time allows. I’ve also hunted caches at times of great stress and found the find to be a welcome break to the tension. What, in your opinion, is the most pressing “problem” with the GGA, and what will you do to help “fix” it? Quite frankly I see several problems and will do whatever is in my power to solve all of them. Can you separate your personal views with those of the SC (as a whole), and how would you resolve a conflict? To a certain extent the answer is yes and to a certain extent the answer is no. I will always have my own opinion and outlook on things and will, if I feel I’m correct, present my point of view clearly and concisely. If I am outvoted I will support the group decision and not backstab or undermine that decision, What do you hope to accomplish in your tenure as an SC member? I hope to help bring the GGA back to the forefront of geocaching groups in the US. There have been some observations that annual events/happenings within the GGA (Coin/Calendar/SC Elections/Monthly events/etc.) seem to be handled haphasazardly at the last minute. What do you suggest to remedy this? Elect me! Really! During my previous term of office on the SC I made a real pain of myself in reminding the others that things needed to be done. The end result a lot of times is that I was the one who wound up making it happen. Look at the very first GGA geocoin as an example. I led the charge, gathered member submissions, ran the voting, ordered the coins (and had them here in sufficient time for the anniversary meeting), collected the monies, and made the distribution. My promise to you is that I will do everything in my power to make things happen when they should happen. Have you organized or posted a Geocache Event? I have organized, hosted, and MCd many geocaching events. I was the primary impetus behind the very first Annual GGA Challenge (this was even before I was on the SC) and have had my hand in four of the six challenge events that have been held. I’ve also organized smaller events in my local community. I am very proud for having organized an event in Bremen so that a cacher who currently has limited mobility could meet and spend time with Geocachers. Do you consider yourself an “organized” cacher? Yep, sure do. I almost always have my GPS and PDA loaded with geocache information for the area that I’m going to be in. In the case of planned hunts I have maps and other useful information to make the hunt go smoothly. My expertise with mapping software has been recognized by DeLorme in that I am one of their beta testers for their Topo USA software series. What is your favorite color? I don’t have one. Really! It all depends on my mood and the time of the year. Some days I wear light colors and others I wear dark. In the spring I love the green of new life, in the summer I love the blue of the sky and water, in fall I love the yellows and golds of the trees, and in winter I love the white of the snow and the grey of the clouds in the sky. And now, the first question – [drumroll] Why should I vote for you? I moved this to last as I feel that it is actually the most important question. You should vote for me because I am the best choice. I am proven in my abilities to work in the SC and with individual Geocachers, state, local, and Federal parks officials and land managers. I’ve discussed geocaching with folks at the US Congress and with some of our elected officials at county and state level. During my previous tenure on the SC I got many things done and coddled, cajoled, and *spoke loudly* to prod others to do the same. I get things done. I am reliable. If I say I'm going to do a thing then I'm going to do it. In those rare instances where I see I cannot do as promised, I enlist the aid of someone else to get the thing done. I do not just dump the task on the others and force them to do something they hadn't envisioned doing. (OK, there was one instance where this happened but there were matters of a lack of respect and elitism that had to be addressed and by doing so those issues were driven home.) I am hard working. I will put in the time and effort required to make things happen in a timely and quality manner. I try to make the effort expended appear transparent to the members so that they can enjoy a quality time at meetings and events. I start the task with enough time to get the job done right but am also willing to fill in at the last minute to make something happen. I'll MC a meeting, meet with officials, cook the hot dogs or clean up the meeting area - whatever is needed to be done I will do. I am steadfast. My opinion is my opinion and most likely won't change. If outvoted by the consensus system I will support and work hard at the decided upon path. However, if I feel strongly that I was correct I will revisit the issue from time to time. Telling me to "Get over it" doesn't work with me if I am right. I cannot promise that if elected I will fix the GGA SC. But, I can promise to do the best job for you, the members, that I can possibly do.

Bumpety bump!

Woot! Simply amazing!!! I've added the FTF honors to the Georgia cache's page.

Just noticed this thread today. Sounds like a really cool coin! Thanks.

Yep, still checking in from time to time. An old timer for sure. I even have that boy from the mountains beat by 2 days.

The 6th Annual GGA Challenge event is being held October 13th in Jackson. It's always a lot of fun and the caches range from devious to easy. Food, fun, caches and cachers; it don't get much better! Clicky Clicky

nevermind

Just got this:

This is a good one also. Geochecker

Just my .02 and probably worth half that, but couldn't you and your friends get personal travel bugs and put a watch on each others' bugs? You'd get notifications for each cache that the bug was dropped off in and retrieved from. Downside is a lot more keyboarding and mouse clicks to do it right. But, would work. I'm glad to hear that they're working on it. As I understand it it will be an "opt in" option.

I'm in!

If you haven't already, you might try contacting the cache owner. Interesting your TB passed through one of my caches. A TB went missing from that cache and the TB owner contacted me. I went and checked the logbook and saw where someone logged as taking a TB but they didn't log the cache online or electronically retrieve the TB. I scanned the log page from the book and emailed it to the owner and then marked the TB as missing. Some time later the cacher finally logged the cache and also retrieved the TB. As for the OP question, finding a cache with no TBs where there are supposed to be some wouldn't necessarily set of any alarms with me. If it's a popular cache someone could have been there earlier and taken them and not logged them yet. Now, if months or weeks have elapsed since the last find it might make me pause a bit. Seeing if the cache owner can help you might be best.

It's already out there. Georgia In fact, it was the first one placed. We appreciate the offer of course.

I agree. I consider my CAA cache as special. In fact, I had a DNF recently and ran right out to check it. Before I could get back to the computer to post a maintenance log the cacher who DNFd it had returned and logged a find (we had to have passed each other on the road). I'm quite aware that folks may travel a great distance to snag that one cache so I'm extra attentive to it. This does cause me to think about what to do if it does get muggled when I'm not in a position to respond quickly. Hmmmmm . . .

Y'all done good, Groundspeak. I for one thank you for confirming to me that you will do the right thing. Very well done!

Well done, Groundspeak!

The info on the GGA website might help: GA Cache Guidelines

"Do you not agree that if someone does not continue to pay for his/her membership, be it charter or premium, then the individual should revert back to being a member?" If one hasn't paid, then one is merely a member. "The only way to keep your 'status' as a charter or premium member is to continue to pay." No. When one is in a paid status then one has the designation that was applicable when they first became a paying member. It doesn't follow that they would become whatever the current designation is as they aren't new to the game. "If you decide to stop paying and later decide to again by a subscription, why should you regain charter member status?" Let's not assume that he made a decision. The fellow may have been in hospital, off to war, or on an extended honeymoon or whatever. That he had lost interest in caching is an assumptiion that I wouldn't make. "You should be able to buy whatever membership is available at the time you want to rejoin." As I recall, there are only member and premium memberships available at this time. He was Charter when he initially signed up and charter he should remain. "BTW, Jeremy used the term 'subscription' when he talked about charter memberships way back then." Yes, but I feel it was in a generic sense and not meant to be lifelong. If that was the meaning then it should have been stated that one would lose Charter status if one didn't maintain membership. "Also, the joined date has nothing to do with when you bought a membership." Correct. But, it also shows early interest in caching and this site. [edited to delete duplicate word and add] I'm done now. Please carry on.

Thanks for the blast from the past! What's telling to me is what it doesn't say. It doesn't say that if you let your membership lapse that you'll be "demoted" in any way. I read it as talking about a subscription to the service, not a committment to always renew. Most likely the concept of premium vs charter memberships wasn't even thought of at that point. ScottJ signed up as a Charter member and Charter he should remain - it shouldn't matter if he had a lapse. Look at his "joined" date. He's one of the pioneers.

That analogy isn't really the same as Scott's situation. Unless, of course, you were given a nice plastic embossed, etc., card when you first signed up with AAA oh so long ago. I feel that once a Charter Member, always a Charter Member. If it weren't for my Paypal subscription automatically running, I'd probably suffer a lapse every now and then.

If you see a cache hidden "Georgia Style" that means under a pile of pine straw. In mid to south Georgia there is plenty of Spanish moss. You've given me an evil idea . . .