patw4pbj

Against my better judgement, I would actually like to chime in on this topic. I am NOT a DGS member, but have attended several of their events and met several of their members. I have found that they are a fun group to be around and host good events, but they do tend to keep to the people they've known for a while, I completely understand that. I do recognize that they are mostly current or past military and that plays a large part in their associations. I am also former military, but from an older generation. You may not understand the virtual logging, but look at it this way... They are inviting their friends and members, who may be stationed in the four corners of the earth, or back home after their service, to join with them over the internet while they gather to have some fun. Then everyone signs the log so the "group" is together again. Who is this hurting? As for passing lists of TBs. I've participated in this, and maybe you've got the wrong idea. At many events (not just theirs), several persons, including myself, bring a collection of TBs, usually geocoins in a binder. Our collection has about 20 coins, but there are others that have nearly 70 or 80 coins in the binders. There is usually a slip of paper available in the binder to take that has the TB numbers on it for all the coins. This is done because it would be very difficult to remove each coin from the binder in order to see the numbers. This would also limit the amount of people who could enjoy the entire collection in a given amount of time and something might get lost or mishandled (some coins are multipart and may break). Not to mention all the hand oil and fingerprints. SO, 30 people attend the event, most everyone gets a chance to look through the binders and admire the coins, but I've only got a handful of printed pages of the numbers... no problem, share the list with your friends. Most people, not just the DGS, have enough honesty in them to log what they feel they've earned and nothing more. There are exceptions, but really, it's only a game. The DGS doesn't need anyone to stick up for them least of all me, but I'm sure most of them couldn't care less about your, or my, opinion of them either. Let them play the game the way they want to and go play yours the way You want to. I'll do the same. Have fun, Patw4pbj - Pat

try out American Science & Surplus http://www.sciplus.com/ Lots of great magnets for all your needs Have fun, Pat

I first started caching in July 2001, under the username W4PBJ. Found 4 caches, which was most of what was around here, then life happened and didn't start up again until February of 2012 (under name patw4pbj). Been having fun all over again.

Well, here's a couple of examples of other people that have done it GC2MGYK and GC3MF28 .. maybe it'll spark some ideas. For Father's day, my family made me a card with the iPhone Geocaching app with custom coords for a multi cache around our neighborhood. This let them do a private cache that took me a while and was great fun. My final was a box of gifts placed back in my living room. Be Creative, Use it too show you'll put even more effort into your relationship. Congratulations, and Have Fun! Pat

Heck of a funny log! Welcome to geocaching

There's a good selection of them at Geocacher University - http://geocacher-u.com have fun, pat

The app is definitely worth the money. You can get by with the basic membership. But get it anyway when you can. Things only get better.

Adam, congrats to you both. I saw this yesterday when the cache was posted (I'm near wilmington). Hope to grab it next week. Good luck to you both. - Pat (patw4pbj)

Well, thanks Gitchee-Gummee for replying. I had hoped this would generate a few more comments one way or the other. Yea I knew that part about the paper log, but logging online seems to be a big deal. I still really feel that the free app should require a basic account. It doesn't even have to include the option to write a custom log note, just a "Found It - AutoLogged by FreeApp" kind of entry. I want to get an idea that someone has been visiting my cache without having to head out to the hiding place every week to check out the logbook. Have fun, Pat

I've only been playing for a couple of months, so maybe I just haven't seen the light yet, but there's something I just don't understand... Logging seems to be one of the core fundamentals of the game. We log at the cache, we log on this site, we log via phone app, we sign logs at events, we log trackables (hopefully), etc.. we seem to log everywhere. Everywhere but the free apps that is. Those that use the free iphone app (fer instance) are not required to setup an account to use the service, are not required to log anything, not required to be accountable for their part of the game. I don't understand the disconnect? Why not have everyone, free app users included, just setup a quick account, or login via facebook if they choose (not my choice, but some might), but so there is at least a "little" accountability brought to the process, and maybe an introduction to the larger community. I have no problem with anyone wanting to use the free app (I use the paid app because it does so much more). I have no problem with the free basic membership (I used it for months, it works well). I've only got one cache out there so far, but nearly half of the signatures in the logbook are never in the website. I've got the standard "cache notes" and "please log me" labels on my stuff, but it's just not showing up. We've got a handful of teens in our church youth group that we know geocache, none have accounts, several have taken TBs with no clue what to do with them, or where they are now, by their own admission. Nothing ever showed them the way. These kids aren't thieves, they just don't know, and they could care less about reading the forums (yes, we're trying to educated them). I can't even seem to get a solitaire app that will let me play without a username... so is there some reason we're not doing this? Thanks for your consideration, Pat - Patw4pbj

If you use the iphone app to log, all of the "sent" logs are still recorded there (select the "Logs" tab, then the "Sent" Tab) You could use this to compare. If you use the website mostly, check your profile and all the "recently viewed" to see if you can use that list to figure out what is not showing. I have no idea what could have happened, but maybe by using these comparisons, you can find out what is missing. Good luck, Pat

Our favorite muggle response lately is "We're from the college, and we're checking the spider traps." Seems to work well

For film canisters, ask at the local walgreens/cvs photo counter. They've always been willing to give up a handful on a moments notice, and when we said they were for our Girl Scout Troop (a couple years ago), they collected several bags full for us over a month. My wife, NCTatter) once called a company that makes little containers like that and they sent her a large box full (2'x2'x2') of various samples. She gives them out to her tatting (lacemaking) guild meetings. Have fun Pat