fauxSteve

Thanks schulesjoe! I cruised several more parking lots and lifted some more of those lamp-post skirts to get there! I also hear that Prying Pandora hit 1900 today! Congratulations!

I solve puzzles by just ignoring them. When a new puzzle appears it goes immediately on my ignore list. Caching is all about finding a box in the woods, and not sitting inside solving stupid puzzles. Somebody had to say it, so it might as well be me!

This is super news! First Google Earth, then Garmin support, and even a new batch of laptops today (we'll see how this whole Intel thing goes). What a day! My backup PC is up for sale as soon as I can upload maps to my GPSr from my Mac.

It largely depends on what you want to do with the GPSr. I just bought a Legend C and am very happy with it. I prefer its small size compared to the 60cs, a feature which was far more important to me than the added memory or other features. An electronic compass can be nice, but it does need to be calibrated fairly often on the GPSr. Plus, it makes sense to just carry a regular compass while caching, hiking, or whatever you might be using your GPSr for--it won't run out of batteries. If an electronic compass or Barometric altimeter is really important, though, the Vista C is priced inbetween the two. Different choices for different needs...

Totally awesome! Once we have a MacGSAK and Garmin begins supporting Macs (especially for uploading maps) there will be absolutely no need for Windows. I just booted Google Earth up on my Mac and that beautiful blue earth is staring back at me! Gotta go fly around the world!

In my infinite wisdom I posted my answer for this thread (before an image there had been posted) in the thread I was linking to... I guess I got confused with all those open windows. So, the answer to your question and row of emoticons is "yes".

Here's a link to another recent thread that discusses the icon and compares what we have and what we might have had. Edited to add that I posted this in the wrong forum thread and you will end up here again if you follow the link. Talk about confusing! My correction is two posts down.

Since I was always of the camp that prefers the process of using the GPSr to get to the location of the hide over a drawn-out hunt at those coordinates, and I believe that caches (except in certain circumstances) should be hidden from non-cachers instead of cachers themselves, increased accuracy will only make the game more fun for me. Remember, the first cache was a big white bucket sticking halfway out of the ground just by the side of a road. If you got there, you found it. While I often enjoy evil and ultra-creative hides, they are, I believe, a subset of caching (like puzzles) and not the standard rule. The most rewarding hide for me is the one that a cacher knows of but the rest of the world is oblivious to. And yes, your opinions will probably differ...

Thanks y'all. I had to lift a lot of lamppost skirts and open a lot of film canisters to get my numbers that high! In truth, my appreciation for the local quality of hides has gone up greatly after my recent holiday travels, so thanks for the hides. I'll see everyone at the cache machine for more number crunching!

All these puzzles are frying my brain, how about a nice box in the woods. Hmm... Sounds like fun!

It looks like OldBaldEagle hit #900 at POCKET PARK PING PONG this morning. Congratulations!

That's good for me. I will be back from the sunny south by then and ready for whatever January brings us...

Congrats nevcowpok! I'm glad I could find your oldie in Carkeek Park yesterday while you were celebrating a milestone. And big congrats to nolenator who hit #700 up at Native Plant Pop Quiz on a Wednesday Night adventure.

I'm out! I have pulled far ahead of fish in the standings, and there is little he can do to catch up. While there are still four days left on the clock, it looks like he is going to be the winner! Congratulations fish! Now the hard part starts... You are still "hibernating", while I am free to go caching! Woo hoo!

EleriandBlade, your Coloured Perceptions puzzle was great one. It was challenging, but not frustrating. More important, it was really fun to solve.

I would say that the first thing to do is see what kinds of puzzles are not common in the area. Then, approach it as someone who enjoys completing the extra step required of puzzles (don't worry about all of the people who ignore them anyway) and think about how much time you would personally invest in it and how much enjoyment you would get from that time spent. I also think that the best puzzles are thematic in nature, from start to finish, and that there is a sense of discovery along the way. It's easy to create a very hard puzzle, but it's much more difficult to create one that intuitive enough for people who enjoy the challenge and inclusive enough to allow more than just the mad first bunch of finders to have some fun. I know that I haven't always achieved these goals, but I'm thinking about them. Start trying some of the puzzles by a variety of hiders, in different parts of city, and see which ones you have the most fun solving. Use those as your models. Anyway, these are just some of my many opinions, and maybe next week I'll hide something that breaks with all of those suggestions. Most of all remember that despite the large number of puzzles that are in this part of Seattle, the majority of geocachers prefer traditional geocaches (some like evil hides, others, like me, prefer the easy ones). If you look at the finders of the puzzles, you'll see the same crazy bunch of names all right there in the first week of it being listed and then a big drop-off in finds. We'll pretty much fight tooth and claw to figure it out, even if the fun is long worn off. That's why some of us are accessing the internet from institutions just to post in the forums instead of out caching... Oops, free time is up. Gotta go. -edited to remove a 'to' the first time I was allowed playtime.

Not really. That just wasn't the point I was addressing. Carry on people...

I actually encourage it. Camaraderie is a great part of geocaching and there is no reason to punish smart people by making them cache alone! Then again, I think I take a different approach to puzzle caches than some of the other cachers posting here. This cache type is something that is not for everyone, but since puzzles are incredibly popular in our community I am more than happy to help out, and even spoil, my own cache solutions for someone who just wants to go hunting instead of puzzling (and I have no problem if cachers go to past finders for hints as well). Besides, the puzzles around here (central Seattle) generally get quite a few hints added after the FTFers struggle to figure it all out. It seems that in some areas it’s really looked down upon for cachers to get together and solve puzzles or share info about the really difficult ones, but that whole activity is one of the cornerstones of geocaching around here. On a main thread note: I've known about this spoiler site for a long time and until this week there were only a couple dozen solutions and many of them were wrong. Don't sweat it, and don't overreact...

Please, please, please? Okay, I'll just take it to California!

TUStosterone? It will be great when FunnyNose, OBE, BHMP, blindleader, TMP and fishiam all bump into each other at that FTF! Nah, I say go ahead and hide it. Taunt away!

Indeed, with nolenator as our witness: the game is on... Good luck fish! I'm looking forward to my malty prize!

This should be fun... I don't plan to hide anything during the course of this challenge, but go ahead if you so desire. BHMP, OBE, FunnyNose, and others will be happy that you did. But it would be sad if it was a thematic taunt and I ignored it

Okay Mr. Master of your own Domain, you have yourself a challenge! Let's make Monday, December 12th the cut-off date. That's four weeks from now. Sure, we can both give in a bit, or grab the occassional ftf, stf, or ttf in our backyard. I figure you'll need your December ftf anyway (not that you've had any problems this month). Therefore, I don't suggest that you have to go cold turkey. Instead, I offer this: I bet you exceed my new finds by more than ten (10) on that date. You are currently at 511 and I'm at 512, so counting should be easy. Heck, I'll even let you find a few of those armchair caches in Germany for free if you want. What do you say, fish? I actually wouldn't be surprised if the number is fifteen or more!

Actually, it looks like the unapproved cache isn't in Latvia, but in Tajikistan. Now that's a jump! Best of luck finding a local cacher considering there aren't any active caches in that country right now. It looks like you need to track down the approver for central Asia.

And it looks like it has been replaced today with a new film canister (now that was a workout for my rusty Latin).