infiniteMPG

LOL I've actually had a couple log that sounded like that.... For the micro-bashers, here's a good article.... The Dreaded Micro Wonder if they'd also be tempted to place the coords to a well camoed and tough to find nearby micro in an ammo can tossed at the bottom of a tree that you could find in the dark without a flashlight in 30 seconds?

I prefer strategy games but words will do.... First off I'd have to assess the intention of the person hiding the cache as maybe what you think it should of been may not be what the owner had in mind. If there was a better place nearby maybe they didn't see it when they hid the cache. Maybe things were different when they placed the cache. Maybe the poison ivy sprouted up shortly after the cache was hidden. Maybe we shouldn't judge anyone's handiwork any more critically then we want our own judged, as I doubt there's a cache in the world so perfect that it could of never been done better. We've been to plenty of caches where we find an ammo can tossed at the base of a normal tree in the woods and twenty feet away we see another twisted totally cool tree with a big gaping hole in the roots just screaming for a cache. Yeah, we look at it and think in our opinions that would of been a "better" hiding spot, but that's as far as we take it. Sign the log and move on. Maybe they thought there might be snakes in there. Maybe they didn't see it. Maybe they didn't think it was as neat as we did. Nothing to be gained in pointing that out except to try to prove our opinion and perspective is better then theirs... which it's not, it's just different. Agree with that. There's a series of about 60 bus stop caches in the area and they don't float our boat so we don't seek them. But on several occasions we find a cool spot while cruising around and when we check we find there's a bus stop nearby blocking the hide. Oh well... part of the game. Even though we might not want to hunt the bus stops we're never going to work to get them eliminated or write critical logs as some people enjoy them.

Definitely! I just need to find the almanac that lists what those days are BEFORE I load up

Also might take into consideration that someone restricted to a wheelchair could get the cache in the parking area and possible not get to it a couple hundred feet away at the foot bridge. So they would of never got brought there as the terrain rating would of been filtered out of their PQ and they'd of totally missed out on even being brought to the area, thus opening the opportunity and introduction up to more people

Yeah, I did. I was just confirming if that's what you meant. I believe inspiring people to do their best works a lot better then insisting on it. Especially with kids where I believe it's better to teach them how to do their best on their own rather then only doing it because they're told to. Just trying and doing your best can be fun even if you loose, just like your race example (which I assume you still had fun doing or you wouldn't of done it more then once). I just believe that someone trying and doing their best hiding a cache, even they don't do as good and someone else expects, should be no more negatively judged then that person loosing the race while trying.

Guess I still kind of have a personal debate on when to shoot in RAW or JPG.... Unless I'm totally displeased with the compression the camera itself does it's just a lot of photo editing after the fact on a ton of pictures. Agree on that because even recently I have had my A100 hanging from my shoulder and trucking thru the brush caught the strap on a branch and had it yanked off my shoulder, just barely grabbing on in time to keep the DSLR from crashing on some rocks. Then again an almost embarrassing story from yesterday, too. Doing some cache maintenance and replaced one on a nice local pier. Nice restrooms on the way out so I made a pit stop. No coat hooks to hang my camera on, no shelves or bins or anything and being at the beach, the floor was soaked. I looked around and the sink was clean and dry so I started to set my A100 in these so it wouldn't dump on the floor and didn't realize the faucet was an automatic one. While starting to set it down the water came on full force but luckily the camera was not under the stream. That would of been a major dee-dee-deeeee move.

They publish that to reduce their legal liability. I agree, many people don't use common sense or judgment and lack respect for others, the big issue is they want the free ride their lawyer promises them when they get hurt because of not using common sense. With GC I think it's more of a factor that most all of the GC community would play by "the rules" if it was clear as to what they were. Vagueness leads to issues of interpretation and opens the doors to the game being pulled in different directions because of different interpretations. Doesn't mean it has to be harshly regulated, but more clearly explained. People hiding caches around electrical boxes should have the common sense to know not to put anything inside or anywhere someone could accidentally contact live wires, but people seeking the caches should have the common sense to not open enclosures or stick their hands where live wires are. Same goes for people who run up and shove their hand inside a dark hollow in the side of a tree or way up under a rock where they can't see. Do we need to stop people from hiding caches where snakes and poisonous spiders like to live, too? You can't outlaw caches that put people at risk because in some way, all caches do, you just need to be sure people understand the potential dangers. If all people used common sense we wouldn't need seatbelt laws....

So you're saying you can accept that when you yourself put forth your best effort and still loose yet you can't accept that someone may be putting forth their best effort to hide a good cache and still only able to put out what you consider a lame cache? You honestly think that every cacher has the imagination, skills and creativity enough to place really good hides? What if the rest of the people in that race started saying if someone can't run a decent race then it's not worth having them participating in the race at all? There's a reason we have 1 star caches, wheelchairs. For someone on foot those caches would seem pretty lame. To someone in a wheelchair they're a blessing. While I will admit that there are a lot of caches out there that don't seem to have much effort put into them, we don't know if that's maybe the best that owner can muster up. But if an owner hides caches that you don't like doing, filter them out. There are cache series local that I have no interest in doing as I don't see them as fun. I filter 'em. Never gonna go on some mission to get them eliminated as I see from some logs that some people enjoy them (or at least they're polite and say so in their logs). That's the way to play, not by trying to be the judge, jury and executioner of caches not meeting our personal standards. Most of us are in GC for the fun of it and as soon as it stops being fun, we'll stop playing. Caches we might not like happen to be one of the risks, best to just grin and move along, the next one might be better

On this, the 7th anniversary of 9-11, we need to celebrate the freedoms we have and the sacrifices that were made for us to have them. And yes, the ability and the right that both you and I have to freely voice our opinions is a gift we were both given by those who fought to protect those rights. The least we can do is respect each other's rights to do that. Never said anything was a "lovely" gift but it's only a "gift" when we unselfishly do it with the intention to please others above ourselves. I don't see your steps, your farts or your words as "gifts" unless they are given with the intent of pleasing someone else. In the previous "crack pipe" example at least the crackhead was giving the pipe with the intention of pleasing someone else, even if it was through a pretty screwed up perspective. Maybe there needs to be a clarification of "gift", try this from the dictionary - "as to show favor toward someone, honor an occasion, or make a gesture of assistance". If the things you do meet that criteria then yeah, you don't have to do them perfectly as long as you do them sincerely. From the sound of it your intention was to do them for yourself with complete disregard for others. Doesn't fall into the "gift" category. Sounds like you look at shopping for gifts to make others happy is a chore and a bother to you. Sounds like you're missing the point of giving and of Christmas. I totally enjoy shopping for Christmas gifts as the whole time I am imaging what would make someone happy, not trying to meet some volume quota of packages for under the tree. Nope, just hinted that I'm glad I don't look at geocaches (or gifts) that people take their time and effort to do as bothersome garbage if they don't meet my personal standards. You're entitled to feel that way, but to me that's as discourteous as slamming someone's gift on Christmas if it's not the colour or style you wanted. I do accept that, I just don't agree with your view. And there's something wrong with everybody winning???? I don't feel everything is a gift either as anyone with a dictionary knows a gift is something done for someone else. When you fart I doubt it's to please someone else. Your opinion and you are entitled to that. But that's just your opinion. To the cacher following in your footsteps that same cache might be fantastic to them. That's why we need to tolerate the caches that don't meet our personal standards and just move along because while we can complain all we want, the ONLY caches we have the right to enact our personal standards on are our own personal caches. And as soon as we act against someone else's cache with our personal standards then we're taking the opinion that our standards are somehow better then the owner's. Insisted or encouraged? And if a child tried as best they could but still didn't meet your standards of what you thought they should be able to do, did you boot them off the team?Because if you didn't then why can't you accept that maybe a cache you consider "lame" and "not worth the space they take up" is the "best effort" the owner could muster up????? ...cont.....

I did when my kids were the players. And it still makes me smile big to see parents totally wrapped up watching their kids stumble around the bases or huddle around a soccer ball. Guess that's why I volunteered and coached as much as I did. I didn't sit there and complain to get some other parent's kid out of the lineup because they didn't play as good as I thought they should and I sure wouldn't sit anywhere near anyone who did. Didn't say you had to feel good about it but having consideration and respect for others takes a much bigger person then being inconsiderate and intolerant of things that don't please us. The world is what we make it and if it looks all dark and dim then we need to check our glasses. Won't congratulate you but do appreciate the fact that you took the effort to voice your opinion. Although people might not agree with it, no one can deny your right to voice it. Never will say you're "wrong" for your perspective and opinion but not the way I'd like to go thru life.

That is totally cool! My kids are grown and I still do for them what I did when they were little. The last Christmas present would be an envelope on the tree with a single card in it with some location in or around the house, like "UNDER THE 1996 SOCCER TROPHY" or "INSIDE THE BOX OF CORN FLAKES" and there they would find the next clue. I spend some time putting them out the night before and usually there would be several dozen of them. It was kind of like placing a multi-cache. The kids would race like mad to try to find the next hint and at the end was their primary gifts. They still love it but it's pretty close to geocaching (which neither of them have any interest in.... yet). Always loved that stuff and I guess GC was just a new outlet for it since the kids are grown. Never really related those together until I saw your message. Thanks!

Yup, the Pentax uses the SD but the Olympus Stylus series uses the microSD. I agree, microSD isn't very rugged. Seems like a tough call between the 1030 SW and the Optio W60. The 1030 SW seems more rugged and has an automatic lens cover but the W60 has a 5X optical zoom rather then the 3.6X and uses the SD card while both of them have super-macro settings that allow focusing under 1".....Hmmmm.....

Seems that a rule against that would be nice before the issue got out of hand. What comes next? "TFTH - Want to be a better man? Try v_i_A_G_r_A from Canadian1Pharmacy.com. Cheapest prices on the web" If a spammer got a hold of a GC account they could post spam ads in logs on every cache on the GC site and other then the fact they'd be bogus logs, there is no rule to prevent it, and it would be up to individual owners to police it. And as I have seen with many caches, some owners might check their cache logs once a month or less. Unless there's already something in place to prevent that that we don't know about.

An improvement in expended effort for people to use turn signals would be nice, too, but ain't gonna happen Just like beauty, creativity is in the eye of the beholder. Just like caching, just because some people might not have the imagination and creative talent that others have, it shouldn't mean they should be deprived of the fun of hiding a cache or berated because it didn't live up to someone's standards. Kind of like being proud of a bowl that your kid made for you in art class... might be all flopped around and bent over, but to you it looks like treasure. Don't think you'd appreciate someone coming over telling you how crappy it looked. I doubt anyone hides a cache and walks away from it thinking "That was lame and people won't like it". No matter how uninspired or unimaginative it may appear from the outside, it's their creation and they were at least inspired enough to hide it and we should all feel good in the fact that they did.

Tricky subject as the cache itself is not allowed if it solicits, but nothing I can see in the rules or guidelines about soliciting in the logs. This could open a very confusing door. If a cache is not allowed to solicit but logs are, could a cache owner not get a hide listed and then enter a note log stating : THIS CACHE IS LOCATED RIGHT NEXT TO JOE'S EATERY. THE HOT WINGS ARE INCREDIBLE HERE AND THEY'RE FAST IF YOU WANT HOME DELIVERY (CALL 800-HOT-WING). THE BEER IS ALWAYS COLD AND DURING FOOTBALL SEASON THEY HAVE GREAT BUCKET SPECIALS. ASK FOR THE CURLY FRIES, TOO. AND WHEN YOU'RE DONE DAIRY CASTLE IS RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET AND THEIR CHOCOLATE THUNDER SUNDAE IS A GREAT DEAL FOR TWO!!!! Hmmmmm......

Just did that and the stat I like the best : 730 Finds - Average log size: 60.3 words That's closing in on 44,000 words of text entered for logs I've written.... what's your average log size??????

Okay, now the 1030 SW is one tough cookie. The only drawback I see is it only has a 3.6X optical zoom while the Pentax Optio W60 is also 10MP but has a 5X optical zoom that doesn't extend out of the body. Can't see to find on the 1030 but the W60 doesn't have a built in lens cover so the face of the lens is exposed all the time. Do you know if the 1030 SW has a lens cover? If it's meant to take a beating I would imagine it does, but glass can only handle so much scratching....

But even with that extreme example, if the crackhead did not present a clear and present danger and they were sincerely giving the crack pipe as a "gift", then I would imagine a considerate person would accept the pipe, smile at them, tell them "Thank you, you shouldn't have. It is an excellent crack pipe" and dispose of it properly when removed from the immediate scene. Don't seem someone getting all in their face and yelling at them demanding to know why the heck they would think you'd want a crack pipe and if they were going to give you one at least give you a better one that's not used!

That GC ID doesn't pull up anything. Wasn't meant to. GCD14U..... GeoCache The One For You.....

GIFT 4 SBELL111 - GCD14U

But it does happen. There is a local cache called "Infinite Tread" that was placed to thank myself (infiniteMPG) and a caching Sheriff buddy of mine (Treadmark) for placing a series of caches that Jimear1e enjoyed. And this just came back to light recently as a few days ago Jimer1e asked if I'd adopt the cache from him as he's in the hospital battling cancer. Wish him the best in our thoughts and prayers and on many levels that cache was and is a gift that I am thankful for. This is a nice wilderness cache but it wouldn't matter if this was a LPC in front of Wal-mart, it would be appreciated just the same.

I agree with the risks and sorry to hear of the problems some folks have had hauling their large cameras along. Maybe this thread is better directed towards what's the best camera to haul along on geocaching adventures. I had stated I was looking at the Pentax Optio W60 as it's not only sturdy but waterproof (not just water resistant). I have seen some PAS cameras that are rated to be able to handle getting banged around and are weatherproof (a better term then water proof as weather proof involves things like temperature extremes, too). Not familiar with the Lumix LX3 but I'll check into that. Any other photo-cachers out there with a recommendation? Editing this as I just looked up the Olympus Stylus 850 SW... water proof and supposedly with a floating circuit card that can handle drops from up to 5-feet without damage. Anyone have experience with this?

Slicing and dicing was more like hurling and whirling. The discussion was about you taking offense to someone buying you some Burger King grub, what they did harmed you in no way and their intention was good. Your response was basically you equated that to someone doing acts of destruction, harm and vandalism which even in an extreme twisted perspective can not be perceived as "gifts". In that twisted sense the planes flown into the World Trade Centers were "gifts" (Never Forget 9-1-1). Since we are speaking of geocachers I think it's safe to assume the average participant is a honorable person with fairly decent morals. I would doubt anyone places a cache with the intention of ticking someone off or offending someone. They put it out there with the intent of giving someone else pleasure finding it. Even if someone hides a cache that you might not appreciate, no harm was done to you in them doing it and you still managed to get a smilie. But the next person to find it might totally enjoy it and they may also think the kind of caches you like are terrible. A risk we all take in playing the game and basically a risk we take ever day when we wake up, not everything goes the way we like. We either sluff it off, smile and move along, or we let it dig under our skin and eat us up inside. Smile and move along because Hehehehehe....

Ever see the commercial about you don't have to be perfect to be a perfect parent, where the lady gives her adopted daughter a sweater with a big butterfly beaded on the front, saying "I remember how much you said you liked mine". They hit the nail on the head as the couple nods in appreciate of the gift. Anyone who would look at something given sincerely and balk at it because it wasn't up to their standards or they didn't appreciate the act of giving, they need to take a little time travel vacation back <their age + 9 months> and introduce their parents to birth control. This planet don't need 'em.... Someone might not like a certain type of cache but someone took their time, their creativity and their talents, regardless of how much of each, and placed it out their for someone else's pleasure. It is a gift. And in this Christmas morning world full of "gifts", we each have the ability to choose what "gifts" we want to open. If you don't want one then don't open it, but it might be exactly what someone else was wishing for. I am sure there are cachers out there who's health does not allow them to do rural caches and they appreciate PAG's and even LPC's they can do from a Hoverround or wheel chair. Lame to some, blessing to others. GC aims to please all types.

I have a Tamron AF 18-250/3.5-6.3 DI II Macro Lens and it's good on both ends of the spectrum. I dropped the extra buck$$$ and got it so I wouldn't have to continually swap out lenses. If I got another lens it would have to be dedicated macro. I think I looked at the Sigma you referenced when shopping but I would of had to buy (and haul) another lens to compliment it. I had a bunch of lenses left from my 35mm days from my Maxxum 9000 but didn't realize until after I got the A100 that the old film lenses weren't really suited (and didn't work well) with the digital body. Hated that, too, as I dumped some really nice lenses like a sweet 500mm Vivitar mirror lens with a doubler (1000mm)