Seamus

Yes, no, and it doesn't matter. (How's that for ambiguous?) Yes: If your T-Bug has a specific mission, destination, or a certain way in which it is to travel, you may be best off attaching instructions to it, since there's no guarantee that anyone will read the t-bug page until after they have it, potentially traveling quite a distance before finding out that it's supposed to stay in Jefferson County. No: If it's just a travel bug, and you just want it to move around, or you aren't picky about how it moves, then I wouldn't worry about it. Just hook up the tag and chuck it in a box. Doesn't Matter: In my experience, special instructions and finder tags are often disregarded by the finders. Even with a clearly printed instruction tag, it is not unusual for T-Bugs to deviate from their travel plans. Cachers may mean well, but for whatever reason, the instructions are often ignored. Don't let it deter you, though. It's interesting to watch them as they move around, and often a deviation from the itinerary can result in an interesting side trip that wasn't originally planned.

Related to previous suggestions, our "Rule Number One", which we developed on our first cache hunt: We have a number of other rules, most without numbers, but there will always be Rule Number One. A few others of note: Go before leaving home. "Up and down" is more fun than "down and up". Before telling yourself "No, the cache couldn't be hidden there," look again at who placed it. Make a checklist of stuff to bring. USE said checklist. Mosquitos only bite on days that end in "y". Your batteries aren't as fresh as you think they are. Never underestimate the ability of the human foot to seek water. 1/1s aren't.

The original AS is dead, the topic is closed. Other topics have been derived from it though. Considering that Abject Silliness was in itself derived from other off-topic threads which were swept together into one place, it seems -at least to me - a natural evolution of things.

I would like to point out that although I live in Florida, the results above will show that I managed to avoid accidentally voting for Al Gore.

Add another "no" vote on the poll feature. Virtually every "user poll" I've ever seen has been either poorly worded or obviously set up to favor one of the choices over another. Also almost universally, they are eventually used to push someone's agenda on the group, and things tend to get really ugly really fast. Please. No polls.

From another thread, but these should work...

They do. From the subscription page:

Now we know where "The Scream" went! Back on topic: Money orders cost a few cents. Stamps cost a few cents. Think of it as a "service fee" applied to transactions that don't involve paypal or credit cards. I'm just trying to give some options, here... (Yes, having credit/debit cards, bank accounts, etc. are more convenient, but before I had them, I bought plenty of things - including subscriptions to BBSes - with money orders.)

Money orders are available at convenience stores and post offices everywhere. The other issue is for you to sort out. Hrm. That sounded a lot less friendly than I intended it to be. I agree with Carleen's statement that it's not hard to scrape up small amounts of cash. Three dollars is less than the cost of a value meal at a fast food place. Eat a peanut butter sandwich one day instead of a burger, and you're good for a month. Do it ten times, you're in for a year. Rifle the cushions of the sofa (couch/loveseat/divan/chesterfield), and you can easily come up with more than enough for a month. Mow a yard or two, you've got a yearly subscription. Never underestimate the power of the change jar. The first year I had a change jar, I collected over $250 in pocket change. That's a year's subscription and a lot of Travel Bugs.

Despite appearances to the contrary, this is not actually a test.

I don't have one myself, but there have been numerous threads here in the forums about the series. You should be able to find plenty of information if you do a search. I haven't really been following all of the discussions, but the biggest drawback seems to be a complete lack of a PC interface, limiting the user to manual waypoint entry.

From the "20 nearest unfound" thread in this forum: 10 of them are micros. I see enough streetcorners, lamp posts, and newspaper machines when I'm not caching. 1 states on the cache page that it's in plain and obvious view of a bunch of houses and a church of which I am not a member. I don't want to attract undue attention, and from the sound of it, it's in a church parking lot. Nothing too exciting about that, so I'll pass on it. One is a dog themed cache with a note to please maintain the theme. Okay, I won't go. The TAG club holds its meeting event caches on the first Thursday of the month - so does another club I'm the vice president of. Priorities dictate that I have to miss the event caches. One is on the grounds of an abandoned tuberculosis hospital. It states in the cache description: "I THINK THERE IS ENOUGH IN THE REAL WORLD TO KEEP ME SCARED, LIKE ASBESTOS, BROKEN GLASS, JAGGED METAL AND PAINT HUFFERS AND OTHER PEOPLE TO BE WARY OF." Ummmm...right. Pass. Basically, micros are an automatic pass for me unless there's something really fantastic about it. I cache to see new and interesting places - not parking lots and street corners. I might visit caches with a strict theme if they sound like they're in an interesting spot, if only to see the area, though I won't trade items if I can't stick to the theme. Virtuals and webcams don't turn me on, so I pass on them as well. I've logged one virt because it was "placed" at the starting coords for one of my own caches. Two other virtual "finds" were originally traditionals that got changed to virtuals prior to archival when the caches were removed. They were actual caches when we found them, though. Yes, there are exceptions to everything, but these are my general feelings on things. I won't go after a cache that doesn't interest me just to clear it off my list and get another smiley face in the logs.

(1) Market Square Micro - 0.7 miles - It's a micro in a parking lot. (2) Antimatter Man - 1.4 miles - It's a graveyard virtual. (_) Ash Cache - 1.8 miles - A cleverly hidden traditional in a nice park. Found it. (3) Lost in Waverly - 1.8 miles - Just haven't gone there yet. (_) Rhoden Cove Landing - 1.9 miles - A micro in a boat-landing-turned-park with lots of potential spots for a traditional cache. I found it "accidentally" when I overlooked the note that it was a micro. Once I read that part, the hiding spot was obvious. (_) Pile o' Stuff - 1.9 miles - Another cleverly hidden traditional in a nice park. Found it. (4) Waverly Pond Micro - 1.9 miles - A micro that's been "Temporarily" disabled since May, when it was going to be replaced "soon". (5) On a Wing and a Prayer - 2.1 miles - Been reluctant to find because the cache page states that it's within plain view of houses and a church I am not a member of. (6) Little Big Dog - 2.8 miles - It's a dog themed cache with a note to please maintain the theme. I don't have a dog, and no doggy items to trade. (7) Meginnis Landing Micro - 2.8 miles - Another boat landing micro by the same guy whose boat landing micro I hit before, on the same (currently dry) lake. (8) Ravine Trail - 2.9 miles - It's a micro. (9) TAG Meet, Eat, and Greet (August 3, 2004) - 3.1 miles - An event cache from earlier this month. Didn't go because I have another club meeting on the first Thursday of the month. (10) TAG Meet, Eat, and Greet (September 2, 2004) - 3.1 miles - See above. (_) Smiley Cache - 3.2 miles - Nice cache, but there are questions as to its placement, and the trail has been washed out for quite some time. Found it. (11) Pyro Mycro 1 - 3.2 miles - Light pole micro. (12) Goose Pond - 3.5 miles - Just haven't done it. (13) Lake Ella Park - 3.5 miles - Key holder micro in a very busy park. (14) The Haunted Hospital - 3.6 miles - From the cache description: "I THINK THERE IS ENOUGH IN THE REAL WORLD TO KEEP ME SCARED, LIKE ASBESTOS, BROKEN GLASS, JAGGED METAL AND PAINT HUFFERS AND OTHER PEOPLE TO BE WARY OF." Not in a big hurry to find this one. (15) The Big Ditch - 3.9 miles - A micro in a ditch. (16) Lafayette - 3.9 miles - Just haven't made it out to hunt it. (17) The Tomb - 4.3 miles - A cemetery multi/micro. (18) Miller Landing Micro - 4.3 miles - Another boat landing micro. (19) Blair (Stone) Ditch Project - 4.4 miles - A micro that's temporarily archived due to gang activity. (20) Hidden Path - 4.4 miles - Just haven't gone out to find it yet. Since micros aren't exactly my cup of tea, I don't spend too much time worrying about them. (I've seen enough parking lots and lamp posts.) Others, I just haven't gotten out to find.

APE caches were part of a promotion in conjunction with the release of the remake of the "Planet of the Apes" movie back in mid-2001. There were only a small number of them, scattered throughout the US, and they caused quite a bit of a "FTF Frenzy" well before it became a common thing (due to the fact that they contained movie props for the first finder, and a variety of PotA swag for the rest). I found one when I was living in Maryland, though for unknown reasons, "Crab Creek" does not appear as an APE cache. Biggest ammo can I had ever seen up to that point!

Congrats to Amish Hacker, and thanks to El Diablo for giving us the chance to win a coveted hiking stick. Those sticks really look great!

Avatars are fun. I'm a (currently inactive) member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, and my avatar is supposed to be an approximate representation of myself in early Renaissance garb (No comment as to the accuracy of this representation...). It's a 3D image rendered using the POV-Ray ray-tracing engine - a nice bit of software which I've been tinkering around with for about 10 years now. I have fun playing around with the basic avatar file to reflect various special occasions and "special avatar days": Normal avatar, Cinco de Mayo, Tinfoil hat to deflect the mind-control lasers, 4th of July, Canada Day, Sock Puppet Day Cartoon day, Chicken day, 35th Lunar Landing Anniversary, One-man satellite uplink unit, Traffic Safety Awareness Day ...and a few other assorted avatars: My original "TF" logo, "Safety cache", Mother's Day, Cartoon day, Olympics, Picasso Day As you can tell, I get a kick out of playing around with my avatar. I've also got a good stockpile of avatars I haven't used yet, as well as a number for upcoming holidays and potential "special avatar days" which may or may not happen in the future.

I'd just like to point out that I wasn't being sarcastic in the least. So far as geocaching is concerned, I only see people as cachers or non-cachers. I make no real "class distinction" between those who have four or five finds or those who have several thousand, or between those who are just starting out and those who have been around for years. Sure someone on their first hunt might be "the new guy", but once they've been out to look for a cache, they pretty much become a "cacher" as far as I'm concerned. As someone who has been on the receiving end of a good number of labels, pigeonholes, and classifications, I generally don't put too much time or effort into labeling others.

I originally posted this in another thread, but the instructions still apply here. Give it a shot and see if they help...

Hmm.....what if one finds a cache but wasn't looking for it. What are they then called?? LOL! I was going to say that's what the slop room was for, but Uper covered that pretty well. I'd say it depends on whether they come back to do more cache hunting or not, and base their categorization on that. (Admittedly, it's a somewhat imprecise system...)

I use a rigorous system of classification to pigeonhole geocachers into different categories: If they go out looking for and finding geocaches, they are "cachers". If they do not go out looking for and finding geocaches, they are "non-cachers". I realize that this sort of classification system may seem a bit arbitrary and unfair at first glance, but keep in mind that these are just basic guidelines, and I leave a bit of "slop room" to handle those individuals who don't fit neatly into any of the previous categories.

He can log the TB normally with a "grabbed" entry on the TB's logging page, and possession will change to "in the hands of <GermanCacher>".

Originally posted in another thread... On setting an avatar: First, you will need to save the image from here to your computer. Do this by right-clicking the image and selecting "save picture as". Give it a name, and remember where you put it. You'll be needing it again in a minute. Go to the main Geocaching.com page, then click to "My Cache Page", "Edit Profile", and scroll down to where it says "Your Avatar". Click on "Change/Edit". You should now be at the "Choose My Avatar" page. If you don't yet have an avatar, you'll need to upload one first. Click on "Upload a new image" to go to the "User Image Upload" page. Click "Browse" to open a file browser window, where you need to tell it the directory and filename where you saved your avatar image earlier (told you you'd need it again). Select your image file from the window, and click "open". You might want to give it a caption of a word or two in the next blank down. Finally, click the "upload" button to actually upload your file to the site. When the transfer is done, your avatar will appear, with a choice to edit it if you like. Click where it says "my details". This will bring you back to your account details, so you'll have to go back down to where it says "your avatar" and click "change/edit" again to get back to the "choose my avatar" screen. From here, click the avatar you wish to use. It will show up on the right hand side of the screen, with a "select Avatar" button above it. Clicking the button will reload the page, and the button will be greyed out and read "current avatar" instead. Then, you will need to click on the link that says "re-register the changes". This will take you to the forum login screen. Click on "Enter the Groundspeak Forums" to, well, enter the Groundspeak forums. You should then have your avatar. Go to the "Test Posting Area" in the "Getting Started" forum to post a test message and make sure your avatar is working and looks like you want it to. It's a bit convoluted, but I suppose it's done that way for a reason...

In short, no and no. I'm not really curious as to who is watching my caches; I'm just happy to see that others find them interesting enough to watch in the first place. As to the second question, no there is no system in place for finding out who is watching a given cache. Several schemes have been proposed, but I don't know any details about them. A search of the forums will probably find numerous postings and threads on this subject, and I'm sure someone will come along and post links to a few of them shortly.

Whoops! Sorry I never responded to these questions. GMRS callsigns apparently use a "LLLLNNN" or "LLLNNNN" format. A couple of examples I have found by Googling: WPTB586, KAA8300, WPQS674, KAE1170 With regard to when identification must be made: (Minor reformatting to get around the emoticons here on the forums) I should also note that I can't actually vouch for the accuracy of this information - none of it is from actual experience, as I have yet to hear a GMRS user identify themselves on the air.

I read it as having taken both photos at the same time, with the first photo being of a spot further down the shrubbery, to be representative of what it looked like prior to the damage, and the second being what it actually looks like now. If he wasn't expecting there to be damage today, I can't imagine why he would have bothered to take a photo of the bush in an undamaged state. He's trying to give us something to compare it to, rather than claiming it's the exact same spot. At least that's how I'm reading it...