j_czerwin

I just picked up two TBs on a layover at O'hare. Since my plane was delayed, I logged all that I could using the WAP? "cell phone web access" method. Everything looked right, but now that I have arrived at home and logged on at my computer, they look strange. They: Do not show the state like my other find. Do not show where I picked them up from in the title. I want to drop them off soon, as I fly again tomorrow, but I don't want this glitch to make them lose the mileage..... Help please....

I my beginning days of geocaching, I found probably my first TB and was excited to tell all of my friends about it. It was from Mexico and I found it in the US. I was thinking that I had a cruise in a week to Mexico and that I would take it back there. My friends thought I was deporting the little guy and gave me a hard time about it. Unfortunately after my cruise, I got an e-mail from the owner asking NOT to have it go back to Mexico. It was too late and again I told my friends about the story. Thier practical joke was to send me letters from the owner, who they portrayed as an angry psycho. I got threats and comments that were signed by the TB itself. The TB was vowing to seek revenge for my actions. What made it worse is that the TB was muggled after I dropped it off and so I was feeling really bad about the whole thing. One day, I noticed that the postmark was from MY CITY! I was really freaked out that the stalker was in town... ...at that point my neightbor felt bad for me an let me in on the joke. I was too releived to get angry at him... I eventually laughed -- they really took note of my stories and added great detail to the letters...

How about the ability to transmit your location for others to see. You could see other geocachers on your map to meet up or race to the FTF. You could avoid others you do not want to see. You could have a new cache that is moving all of the time! You could put in a database and identify others you would like to meet or avoid -- like a built in dating option! You could see coins and TBs in transit, and maybe go for the grab in between caches if the other person is willing. And statisitcs --- you could see your effeciencies in geocaching and compare just more than #s of finds.... Everything could be instantaneous! (selectable of course for when you wanted to go stealth!)

I have been wanting to go paperless for some time now. Then GREAT LUCK. I got promoted at work and the new postion comes with a company BlackBerry. I get to choose between a 7520 or a 7100i. I am not sure if it is a problem, but they say the company does not allow me to get GPS service. I am assuming this is a subscription to a tracking system, UNLESS the GPS hardware is disabled in the phone unless you pay a fee. Does anyone know about this or where to go to find out? On one hand I can see that is a way to make $$, but the other it drives me crazy that GPS is receiving only and I should be able to use the hardware if it is in my hand. I am hoping that I can get the BlackBerry, and download some other third party software that will use the GPS internal hardware for me to geocache... in great anticipation of your reply.... THANK YOU

Excellent points! That was my first thought when I saw the original post. I have had a few too and the most memorable ones were when 1. The cop joined me in the hunt and 2. The cop said he wasn't worried about what I was doing to the area, but what the area might do to me -- I was in gang territory.... ...and yes, the owner of the cache archived it with my news... Cops are a good thing for geocachers.

How do you do that?

Good point -- I would add that after it posts, click on map, and then the google map link and look at the satellite view to make sure the icon is near where you hid it == its a good way to catch wrong coordinates before people run around in the wrong place. The excitement on your first will probably have you doing what was already stated above -- staring at your computer and waiting for your FTF!! I went a step farther and put the cache in viewing distance from my home and sat inside waiting to see who it would be and watched them cache. I know - a little creepy!! Murphy's law dictates that if you watch closely for the FTF, they won't come!! "A watched pot never boils."

Before GC.com required us to put in WPs on a multi, they only checked the start and end points. (At leas that is the way I understand it) There were two 3 stage multi caches near each other with the 2nd stages being very close to eachother. While working on one that had the 2nd stage missing, I looked around long enough to accidentally find the 2nd stage of the other multi cache. The cache was not labeled, so I didn't know that happened when I logged it. Then I was working on the second multi cache, and it lead me to where I had already been!!! It took a bit of homework to figure out what happened!

Write the owner of the caches and ask them why first. If it is because of your situation, you can explain. They will be understanding I am sure... Part of the reason they have a cache is to read about stories of the people who found their cache -- you have a story to tell them!!

Free Tip o' the Day: There's a little check box on the submission page " [] Yes, this cache is currently active (Reviewers will not see this listing unless box is checked)". If you leave it blank, you've got all the time in the world to submit the page, place your cache, double check it, test for water- and muggle-proofness, etc. Then, when all is right and ready for the FTF stampede, edit the page and check the box, then wait for the Reviewer to whack the Publish button. Very cool! Thanks for the info -- I didn't think to do it that way!!!

Wouldn't the cache cover the velcro anyway -- the cache itself is as defacing as the velcro? If the cache needed to be removed a little cleaning solvent would get the velcro sticker off just fine. I think it would matter where you are hiding the cache and what you consider defacing. If it was a painted surface, then the velcro would actually do less damage long term, where magnets could scratch the paint and cause a spot for corrosion of the metal. Defacing would be permenant damage in my opinion. Velcro usually doesn't do that. Just my opinion.

I'd love to do it, but if I can't log a ? then I'll pass. That one looks really cool!!

Go hide it. Then fill out the online form and wait. I like to make the log book have the name of the cache and the GC number on it. (and it is a good way to make sure you got the cache name you wanted first) But you can't get a GC number until after you submit the online form. So, I fill out the form first, and then make the log book and then go place the cache-- the reviewer usually takes some time to approve/post your listing so you can place the cache at that time. If it is going to take a while for you to get to your cache location, you can write a note to the reviewer at the end of the online form to not post the listing until a specific date/time. I know it is a little backwards from hiding the cache first, then filling out the form, but it creates some excitement for me when I am in a race to place the cache before the reviewer posts/approves the cache. Not the right or wrong way, just the way i do it.

It's cool you are looking for advice to do the right thing. In this case, it's whatever makes you happy because you can never make everyone else happy. Let geocaching be a tool to teach your son (and ourselves) that we shouldn't judge people because they think differently. Compassion and Tolerance I tell others that things geocaching offers is seeing things that other people want you to see -- be it a physical location or a point of view. When that guy talked to you about the way you log, simply say "That is one of the things I love about geocaching, your different viewpoint!"

#1 What is your longest running cache with the LEAST number of finds. My Terrarium GCX1K4 - About once a month for a find. I keep having to put coins in it to lure people. #2 Why? It is a multi, which takes time, but it is also in the city where you have to find parking and depending on where you park, you pay while you work on a multi. Also, there are a lot of urban people which many people feel uncomfortable being near. (like homeless) #3 Why do you keep it listed instead of archiving it? It is my first cache and why archive one just because it does not get a lot of traffic. I think it is a great thing for those special people that find themselves off of the main paths of life. As long as it's well maintained.

I agree -- another twist a person did in my area was to make other caches part of a multi -- but then make the multi disguised as a puzzle cache that you had to figure out that you were doing a multi requiring information from the other caches. Turns out there was a big number on the logs, and if you logged them all you's have the coords for the final. Booby Prize by DopeyDuck (GCT4ZM)

I understand. Thanks for the clarification. (NOW this is getting interesting again! ) This argument has been made before. I have two responses: If those new cachers truly enjoyed finding those types of hides, who are you or I to tell them that they shouldn’t have enjoyed them, or that they shouldn’t hide the kinds of caches they enjoy finding? Can you defend such a criticism of these newcomers as legitimate? Would you say those things to their faces? “You’re WRONG to enjoy those ‘lame’ caches, and you’re WRONG to enjoy hiding them yourself.” How could any reasonable person be expected to do any navigating around geocaching.com without noticing the wide variety of cache hides available? As a percentage, just how many newbies do you think there are who ONLY notice the ‘lame’ hides and are completely oblivious to the really cool, challenging, creative and otherwise ‘entertaining’ hides? In my opinion: That’s pure speculation, unreasonably pessimistic, and a very unfair accusation to level against the entire geocaching community. Besides, who’s to say that for every hider who gets lazy and plants a hide-a-key in a parking lot there won’t be another hider who gets tired of hiding such lamers, and endeavors to make his next listing more interesting? I think my scenario is a much more accurate description of what I’ve observed in real life than is yours. Your experience may vary. You (or those folks you speak for) are afraid the ‘lame’ caches will take up all the good spots? I was wondering when someone would get around to trying that argument. This is something we CAN quantify – or at least estimate within reason. For simplicity’s sake let’s only consider the United States. United States total area: 3,537,441 square miles. That’s 353,744,100 square tenths of miles. (Yes, I know, you can actually fit more than 100 caches into one square mile while complying with the 0.1-mile rule, but stay with me – forthcoming guesswork will wipe out that tiny difference.) Residential and other private property is largely off limits to cache placement, as is government land, so let’s be generous and take away two-thirds of that number. That leaves 117,914,700 potential ‘parking places’ for Geocaches. Of that remaining area, things like open fields, railroad tracks, expressways, industrial buildings, prison yards, etc make for less-than-ideal cache placement locations, so let’s cut it in half again. This leaves 58,957,350 more-or-less ‘choice’ hiding spots. When I just now checked the front page of geocaching.com there were 339,967 active caches worldwide. I’m going to guess that about half of those are in the USA (Does anybody know?) for an estimate of 169,983 caches in this country. 58,957,350 divided by 169,983 yields approximately 347. That’s 58,787,367 currently available empty hiding spots, or a ratio of 346 available empty hiding spots for every one cache that currently exists. This game will therefore have to grow by 34,600% before we run out of hiding places for geocaches – in the United States. If we assume that so-called ‘lame’ caches make up half of all current cache hides (84,991 lame-o caches), that means you could take the existing number of these horribly non-entertaining hides, double it, double it again, double it again, double it again, double it again, double it again, double it again, double it again, and then double it one more time ... and still have plenty of empty spots left over for the so-called ‘good’ caches. ------------------- And besides ... if you're looking over there at a spot you consider to be 'choice,' and you're whining to me that some lame-o hider has just placed another of those dadgum lame caches in that choice spot that 'should' have had a 'cool' cache, then my question to you is this: If you wanted some particular kind of cache to be there, then why haven't you already placed one there yourself? Last time I checked it was first come, first served -- is there any more fair way to do it? Are Wal-Mart parking lot lamposts really so 'choice' that we need to reserve them for only the 'better' hides? I understand completely, and I appreciate your effort. If someone else agrees with your argument (El Diablo?) but sees it a bit differently than the way you presented it, then hopefully they WILL contribute their thoughts. Wow -- that's a lot of reading for something lame. I don't have it in me. I was thinking that some lame caches are so lame they are cool. Is it possible to talk about lame caches without getting critical of others? Karma...

That is beautiful and could be framed and sold as a piece of art. Exceptional Design!!!

Can you tell me how to do those kinds of searches? I just picked a couple in LA/Orange area and could only get a maximum of 500 on pocket queries. I was looking at GCJVZ1 and another using Disneyland at the center GC4B24 -- Also GCRK1K, GCMGTR, and GCWRHW in the San Diego Area. Not only does the LA area have the ocean stopping caches on one side, but you can see where the nearly 10,000 foot tall mountains put a stop to the caches inland too.

What an informative message -- interesting!! Thanks!! But wouldn't the best way to measure density would be to see how many chaces are in a fixed distance? I guess I was thinking that if you were looking 71 miles away from london, you'd be in the English Channel. But if you looked within a smaller area, it might in fact have a higher density. Just a nerdy thought...

The auto mechanic mirror on the collapsable stick is great and they can be large mirrors too. Same concept, but with a magnet on the end. Also I have another one with detachable tips with hooks and the like that can be interchanged on the tip. Sometimes instead of the mirror, I will use a digital camera and take a photo and then look on my screen to see what was there -- this is great where I need to write down a # on a multi-cache. Also, the flash will let you see in to dark areas if needed. I bought an extendable pole for painting at the hardware store. This one is metal and fiberglass with a comfortable rubber handle on one end and the screw tip for a broom or paint tools on the other. It is a great 5' walking stick that can extend to almost twice as long. I then have attachements for the tip made by putting a lubricant on the threads, then taking car bondo and gobbing it over the threads, and then attaching anything I want to that. When the bondo cures, just unscrew it off the tip. The pole also makes a nice lever for lifting the bottom edge of those bushy trees or shrubs to look underneath. I originally bought this one to put a magnetic cache back on the 15" high ceiling of a pipe tunnel under a road. I bought a collapsable garbage/trash "claw" thing that fits in my backpack and can fold out to make a nice device for reaching that extra distance to grab something, and also for CITO. A few reliable metal wire coat hangers are always handy to make a tool on the spot. The corkscrew idea posted above is GREAT. I'm getting one tomorrow!!

Los Angeles in the US -- you can go on ones in the mountains with snow, and on the beach sand or cliffs in the same day. There are bike paths along the rivers from the mountains to the see and for the power cahcers, some have 50+ caches almost every .1 mile down the path. Others like on Donald Trumps golf course are on an amazing set of cliffs on the Palos Verdes penninsula south of LA where the hike will take a long time, but that's ok with the view looking out to Catalina Island. Another one I thought was neat was when I was looking along the 0 Longitude line. As I started at N 0 W 0 and went north through Africa, then to Europe, then to... WOW London!!!!! I would go to London if not in the USA. Check that one out!!!!

Excellent example -- didn't think about the invitation one....

1. Tons of used condoms in a remote area. -- The cache was on the ground near them. 2. In the city where homeless have makeshift homes and you find you are in thier living room when looking in a bush. 3. There are more, but the worst for me was where someone used it as a restroom a while back. There was no smell because the item hardened up in a shell. It was just about right on the cache and the right size and I reached around a transformer box to feel in the leaves and grabbed the hard tube shape -- thinking it was one of those cammo jobs with dirt glued all over it. It broke open in my hand like a mustard eclair and the smell let me know instantly what was happening!! I did a worse reaction than any "spider dance" we have all done and hopped around freaking out -- seeing a mud puddle and doing my best to wash it off!!! I couldn't even look at my hand for the rest of the day..... made that next sandwich so enjoyable... Now I carry disinfectants, baby wipes, jug of water, and papertowels everywhere. (I just read this area again and appologize for getting the subject wrong! -- it's supposed to be IN the cache -- oops!)

I have had several and I'm surprised not more. One of my hides is even right under a camera used by the police to watch the downtown area. One time I was on the edge of a gang territory and didn't know it. When the cop came I started talking first and told him he did not need to worry why I was sneaking around an abandoned building. He said he wasn't worried about what I was doing at all, but by looking at me he was worried about what the area might be doing to me after dark. He helped me find the cache and then we went on our ways... Upon posting my log, the owner disabled the cache. Another time, the cop was helping, and when another drove by to check up on the solo guy, they joined too. The next thing you know i am with 4 cops looking for it. I found it first. I have others as well, and every time I wonder why so many cops don't know about this. Even my neighbor who is FBI was not aware of it.