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OuttaHand

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Everything posted by OuttaHand

  1. ABC Gifts & Awards I've ordered many poker chips from this place. Excellent quality, decent price, no minimum order, and very customizable. They have several styles to choose from; or you can create your own. Can choose the color of the outer ring; the wordingin the outer ring; can choose from some stock pictures he has or can supply a picture of your own for the center; and can put a dollar amount on it if you wish. I found the guy to be VERY good to work with in e-mailing back and forth, and service was very fast. Mind you -- I have absolutely no connection with this person either professionally or personally. I just really liked the chips I got from him.
  2. You do not need anything real fancy. I wa able to go paperless with a used Palm M500 that I got on eBay for well under $100. It may be wise to choose a PDA that has a slot for externa. memory such as this M500 has. It uses standard SD cards. I have a 32MB card in it and it will hold far more geocaches than I'll do any time soon. I also downloaded (and paid for!) Cachemate and GSAK. Both very nice programs to help you go paperless. I'm certain there are any number of PDA's you could select to get the job done. I'm merely chiming in to let you know that you don't need a top-of-the-line unit. My M500 is about as basic as they get and you could probably find a good one for not a lot of $$$
  3. Bring an extra set of batteries for your GPSr and keep them warm. Keep them in an interior coat pocket, or other warm place. Batteries lose a considerable amount of their power when they get cold. They will go dead, or appear to, when they get cold with the GPSr being held out in front of you in the cold winter air. A note to one of the suggestions above: While it IS a good idea to bring a hiking staff, walking stick, or ski pole of some kind to poke through the snow and find the hidden container, please make sure the tip is not sharp so that you would be likely to poke a hole in a plastic container.
  4. google on 'promotional items' or similar you will find many companies. I an not at home or I'd send you a couple links. Thanks for the link to Michaels above -- I'll check that out. As far as looking for promotional items -- I did find many of those. Problem was cost. It seemed they all had minimum orders of around 100 units at a cost of $2+ each . Sorry -- can't afford that kind of investment for trade items But I'll definitely check that Michael's link and see what I might find!
  5. I'm a sucker for watches & time pieces. So I'd love to find some older pocket & wrist watches. Working or not -- doesn't matter. I have found a couple of newer ones. Found a kids digital watch in one, a regular digital in another, and, lately, a couple of brand new carabiner-type digital clip-watches. Very cool ! In fact, I liked the plastic clip watches so much I thought I might use them as trade items myself. But I'm having trouble finding them. I googled & googled but could not find these kind. They are all plastic, with a digital watch in the solid end, still packaged. The package simply says "Clipwatch" with no real brand. On back it says "Michaels Stores, Inc. Irving, TX" If anyone knows what store or web site might sell these, post here or e-mail me. I think they make great trades!
  6. I'm sure an EOD call IS expensive, but I really have to question the quality of their EOD unit! They solve a bomb call by shooting with a .50 cal round??? My nephew is an EOD tech in the Air Force. He has described all the training and many of the techniques used to defuse and/or destroy possible bombs. I'm fairly certain he has never mentioned "We just shoot it with a big gun". If that HAD been a bomb -- the size of an ammo box -- loaded with C4, etc. it would have taken out the building next to the train without some sort of containment. So given the report, either the EOD dept. is terribly lax in safety precautions; or there's a lot of info missing.
  7. I live in Wisconsin. Had a DNF in Florida. OK --- we didn't go specifically for geocaching; and we did find three other caches while there; but still.....
  8. I did a cache here a couple years ago that is as you've described. It was called "Feel the Need for Greed" and was set up like the game show. You found the $100,00 cache for coords to the $250,000 ........ For that one, they said it was OK to log a find for each seperate stage as each one had its own log book. There was no trick to it, though. There was one, single cache with the coords to the first stage and the description of the series. Every time you found one of the stages, you simply logged another find on that same main cache. You simply added the stage name (number) in your log. You, as the owner of the cache, get to determine how many times a person may log your cache; or in this case, each stage of your cache. So if you want to make a 4-stage multi-cache, with a log book in each one, you can simply put that in the description of the cache and make it clear that, if the finder wishes, they may log a seperate 'find' for each stage.
  9. We were doing a cache that involved moving off the trail into some faily thick tree cover. The needle and distance were both reacting as one would expect when approaching "ground zero" while out on the trail. But once I got into the tree cover, the needle just stopped turning. I had turned off the trail about 300' from the cache. Now -- mind you -- the distance to the cache kept decreasing as I would expect as I approached the cache. When I turned ninety degrees and kept moving, the distance stayed the same, but the needle never moved. When I turned back toward where I thought the cache was, the distance again started decreasing with every step, but the needle stayed "stuck". I did try getting to a fairly clear area and moving rapidly enough that the arrow would normally respond. That did not help. I then shut the unit off and restarted it. Once it got lock it started working normally: the needle pointed as you'd expect AND the distance went up/down appropriately. So -- the question to the masses is this: Has your Rino ever had the direction pointer just stop responding correctly even though everything else seemed like it was behaving?
  10. I think you would be very happy with one of these cases from The GPS Store. I have one on my Garmin 76 and it's very nice. When I bought my Garmin Rino, I went back to the same site and bought the same kind of case for that. Decent people there.
  11. So -- would that make it.. Took Nothing, Left Nothing, Seems Lame ???
  12. I think it sounds like a great cache! I do think, however, that you've opened a can of worms by posting here that you did, in fact, dig a hole. Perhaps it would be wise to wait a given amount of time and then just submit the cache as new. If any questions, you could say that you happened to find a place where a stump had been dug out and removed by the landowner, and then moved the boulder onto it and did the rest. No, it's not entirely honest. But it DOES end up describing the set-up fairly accurately. Oh -- and if that's near me, please wrap the boulder in some kind of cushion because I KNOW I'll end up knocking my head against it in frustration trying to find that thing!
  13. I have an old Garmin 45 that hasn't had batteries in it in years Then moved up to a Garmin 76 Which was "replaced" by a Garmin Rino 120 I love the Rino. Does everything I need it to do. I hang on to the model 76 just in case.
  14. For my custom wooden nickels (sorry -- no image available) I bought the blank wooden nickels at a craft store and use a custom stamp to stamp my own. I got the custom stamp from this web site. It is a quality rubber stamp w/handle and it cost me around $10 if I remember right. I then drill a small hole in the wooden nickel and attach it to one of these compass/carabiners. It makes for a nice personal, geo-caching related kind of trade item.
  15. Here in Wisconsin, we have this one called Covert Cache. It is located in a commercial establishment and requires that you ask the help of the bartender or waitress to retrieve it from its shelf. Yes -- it is a commercial cache because it is in a commercial establishment. But its unique theme and placement is such that it was approved anyway. Also -- the seeker of the cache is made aware, in the cache description, that it may require a cover charge to get to it during such-n-such hours. So IF you try this, you'd be best off to be very up-front about costs, the fact the seeker will need to enter a commercial establishment, etc. etc.
  16. The need of a GPSr is definitely not a requirement of a cache. I've found two that did not require one at all. One was a virtual. I had all the info I needed before I left the computer. A few Google searches and I had all the answers needed to verify the cache. (We still went to the site 'cause it sounded interesting) The other was a real cache in a business. I know -- commercial caches are not allowed. But this one is quite unique in its theme, etc. I put the coords in a mapping program, found the likely commercial enterprise, and visited. The coords were never entered into my GPS. By the way--- that was my 100th cache and it was one of the most fun we've done. So the NEED of a GPSr is definitely NOT a prerequisite to it being a good, or allowed, cache.
  17. I've got cases very similar to that (not that brand) for both my GPS76 and my Rino120 and I like them a lot! I bought one for my GPS76 first and used it for several months before buying the Rino. As soon as I ordered the Rino, that case was the first accessory I started looking for. There is one other issue to consider other than just protecting the screen. I also find that the case provides much better grip on the GPS. It is far less likely to slip out of my sweaty hand in the heat; or my wet hand in the rain or snow. Bottom line: I would really hesitate to take my GPS out in the woods without one. Very cheap insurance.
  18. We have done one commercial cache: Cafe' Cache'. It is now archived and if you read the logs, you'll see that it was somewhat irresponsibly cared-for. I'm not sure how it ever got to be a cache in the first place. It was a pure a commercial cache as ever there could be: An ammo box on the counter inside a cafe. We did the cache, and we enjoyed a snack while there. Was I offended? No -- simply because I knew, before attempting the cache, that it was in a commercial establishment. Did it feel odd? You bet!!! As was stated above, the best you can do is: A) Make a plea to the powers-that-be to allow your particular cache, and Make darn sure you state very clearly on the cache description that it is a commercial cache and that seekers need to understand that before pursuing it.
  19. I see NO problem with your making the cache members only for a week, a month, or forever. BUT... as a member who is seeking it, I would certainly expect to see something that is just a bit nicer than every other XYZ cache out there. I ponied up my money a couple months ago specifically because I was hoping to find some caches of a bit better caliber. So far I have not been disappointed. I've done two member-only caches so far. One was a foreign coin exchange -- had to have a foreign coin to exchange in the cache. The other was a foreign currency exhcange -- foreign paper money only to trade. They were both excellent caches. But I fear that if they had been "opened up" to the general caching population, they may soon have been over-run with McToys, etc. I know -- I know --- paying for a subscription does not automatically make someone a good cacher who is going to respect the cache and the owner's wishes. But you have to admit that it's a lot more likely to be respected by those who have made a financial commitment to the hobby. So go ahead and make it Members Only! But make it a good one, too! Try to make a cache that might make other say, 'gee -- maybe I'll pay to play!'.
  20. I have had a total of 4 DNF's (logged 3 of them as DNF's online) 2 of them were definitely missing and the cache was quickly archived 1 of them I logged as DNF and received an e-mail from the owner that I had not pursued far enough (it was rated 1.5 stars so I didn't go 15' down the steep hill where the GPS was pointing because I thought the terrain rating said I shouldn't) We went back to the cache another time and got it. 1 of them we went back to a week later and found it. Just looked in wrong place the first time.
  21. How about: Geodetic Evaluation of Observation, Calculation , Action, Certainty, Health, and Exercise Edit --- ummm --- obviously you would not line it up that way or highlight the first letter of each word
  22. How about.... * Name of a cacher who is at his/her very first event cache: * Name of a cacher who trades primarily signature items: * Name of a cacher who you saw carrying a trash bag for CITO: (this one might promote CITO during the event!) * Name of a cacher who is using or wearing something that they use or wear specifically for caching only.
  23. A few more came to me......... Spoiler Hint --- that nasty smell coming from somewhere in the fridge Virtual Cache --- debit card (did someone already put that in?) Travel Bug Tag --- Teeny TINY little tag that entomologists put on the ear of an insect to track its movement
  24. Mine is a picture of me, taken by my wife, while doing a multi-cache in the nearby Kettle Moraine area. The coords were written on a tag on the back of the sign. It wasn't until I got home and looked at the picture that I realized the sign was pointing at my belly. My wife thought that was pretty funny and it seemed the perfect picture to use.
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