Bud

My friends and I collectively make up the "5-star cache team", simply for our uncanny ability to make the easiest 1/1 into a 5-star difficulty cache. Budophylus San Antonio, TX 5-star cache team member (because we can make the easiest 1/1 into a 5-* difficulty cache) What started all of this? Well, I said to my friend: "I'm bored. Can't we find a new sport?" Now, hundreds of caches later...

Oh, what the heck. I put it up on eBay, so take a look if you're interested. Click here to see! Budophylus San Antonio, TX 5-star cache team member (because we can make the easiest 1/1 into a 5-* difficulty cache) What started all of this? Well, I said to my friend: "I'm bored. Can't we find a new sport?" Now, hundreds of caches later...

quote:Originally posted by rayt333:Amazon has this for $280 with a $50 rebate and free shipping. Wow, that's amazing. I just checked, and yes, Amazon does have them for that price. I bought from Offroute back in February just before the rebate started for $295. I'll let it go for $230 shipped, but anything lower than that, and I'll just keep it as a spare. Thanks for pointing it out. Budophylus San Antonio, TX 5-star cache team member (because we can make the easiest 1/1 into a 5-* difficulty cache) What started all of this? Well, I said to my friend: "I'm bored. Can't we find a new sport?" Now, hundreds of caches later...

quote:Originally posted by Tsegi Mike and Desert Viking:It is inappropriate to put an AK in a cache where children might find it. Removed AK left old Easter chocolate bunny. Everyone knows food doesn't belong in caches. Took old chocolate bunny (man, really old, is chocolate supposed to be grey?), and left some rice cakes. Since everyone knows that rice cakes aren't really food. Budophylus San Antonio, TX 5-star cache team member (because we can make the easiest 1/1 into a 5-* difficulty cache) What started all of this? Well, I said to my friend: "I'm bored. Can't we find a new sport?" Now, hundreds of caches later...

quote:Originally posted by tmac:i got contacted monday by someone who wants to to a segment on geocaching(& the ozark mountain geocachers) on his program ozarks at large on kuaf the fayetteville ark. npr affiliate. he wants to do interviews & go on a hunt. hopefully i'll be one of the interviewees, so what i need is a list of what to talk about that is important to the geocaching community. maybe that way i won't forget anything! luckily for us he's not on a deadline so he'll work around our schedule. DON'T DO IT! We had a similar thing happen here in San Antonio. One of the Austin area cachers was in contact with the local news station, and they wanted to do a story. They talked a nice story, and filmed a few people doing caches, then when they story aired, they did a 2-night split. The first night was a short blurb of a story, but the second night they ripped us up, talking about how illegal it was to be doing this. The only cool thing that came out of this was that they labelled us an "extreme sport". Nonetheless, don't trust reporters with anything that you hold dear. They'll go for any angle to sensationalize so that they get ratings, regardless of the truth. But then in my opinion, reporters are on the same lower evolutionary rung as attorneys and HR drones. Anyway, be careful. Budophylus San Antonio, TX 5-star cache team member (because we can make the easiest 1/1 into a 5-* difficulty cache) What started all of this? Well, I said to my friend: "I'm bored. Can't we find a new sport?" Now, hundreds of caches later...

Howdy! I've got an eTrex Vista that we purchased with our tax return in February, explicitly for the map functions. However, it's now redundant with my laptop and Mapsource disks for car navigation, and I've already got another GPSr for geocaching. Perhaps someone else could put it to good use. It's got all of the original packing, documentation and cable, and works fine. It's got some scratches on the front of the case from caching adventures, but the screen is unmarred, thanks to screen protector films, of which I'll include a spare with the unit. Email to budophylus@satx.rr.com if you're interested, and I'll send scans. $250 shipped anywhere CONUS. Budophylus San Antonio, TX 5-star cache team member (because we can make the easiest 1/1 into a 5-* difficulty cache) What started all of this? Well, I said to my friend: "I'm bored. Can't we find a new sport?" Now, hundreds of caches later... [This message was edited by Budophylus on April 28, 2003 at 04:36 PM.]

Sorry, came late to this discussion. I like to leave Get Out Of Hell Free cards as a signature item in all of the caches that I find, not because of it's religiosity or lack and parody of it, but because it's funny. However, I did take a Book of Mormon from a cache a few years ago, more because the cache was full and needed the room, but knowing that I'd find a good use for it someday. That good use came this winter. We've had more Jehovah's Witnesses and bible thumpers knocking on the doors in the neighborhood. So, whenever I answer and they're there, I find out who they're representing, and trade them out some of their propaganda for some of another religion, thank them, and kindly but firmly close the door. Taking it from a largely existential view, none of us has the right answer, so I'm doing a service by disseminating other's research. So, in answer to the subject, go ahead and leave 'em in! I'm an adult, and have a highly honed ability to ignore things that I find distasteful. I can ignore things in a cache, and try to leave it in better shape than I found it, and you may reach someone with your literature. Just don't be offensive, or tell me that I'm going to Hell as an opener, or I'll cache in/trash out that sucker faster than you put it in there. Budophylus San Antonio, TX 5-star cache team member (because we can make the easiest 1/1 into a 5-* difficulty cache) What started all of this? Well, I said to my friend: "I'm bored. Can't we find a new sport?" Now, hundreds of caches later...

OK, after reading the other posted discussion, perhaps the term "mating call" was poorly chosen. "Recognition code", perhaps? Budophylus San Antonio, TX 5-star cache team member (because we can make the easiest 1/1 into a 5-* difficulty cache) What started all of this? Well, I said to my friend: "I'm bored. Can't we find a new sport?" Now, hundreds of caches later...

So, that's the big guy's way of saying "Hey Bay-Bee!" Lots of us carry guns down here in Texas; I'm not sure that I want to make that kind of a sound and become a target. I'd rather go for the cricket clicker thing. Budophylus San Antonio, TX 5-star cache team member (because we can make the easiest 1/1 into a 5-* difficulty cache) What started all of this? Well, I said to my friend: "I'm bored. Can't we find a new sport?" Now, hundreds of caches later...

OK, I have to admit it: I don't know what a rutting elk sounds like. I did find a page of elk sounds, but don't know which of these would be rutting. Would any of these be rutting, or would there be any resource that you could point to? One has to know if one is to imitate. Budophylus San Antonio, TX 5-star cache team member (because we can make the easiest 1/1 into a 5-* difficulty cache) What started all of this? Well, I said to my friend: "I'm bored. Can't we find a new sport?" Now, hundreds of caches later...

Oddly enough, I was just watching Band of Brothers last week, and saw that same clicker in use again. I've got a similar one to that, but way too loud. I don't think you could find the originals except in antique/collector stores anymore. Having said that, I'll be near a surplus store today, and will have to stop in and look. Budophylus San Antonio, TX 5-star cache team member (because we can make the easiest 1/1 into a 5-* difficulty cache) What started all of this? Well, I said to my friend: "I'm bored. Can't we find a new sport?" Now, hundreds of caches later...

Thanks for the replies. My apologies to the first two respondents, who seemed to think that I was criticizing the ranger for wanting to inspect. I know that they're doing a hard job, and would rather have them work with us than resist us. I'd really like for this to be a good PR opportunity for geocaching, rather than a chance for them to have a reason to crack down on us. No one else responded re: other SP cache inspections, so I'll assume that this ranger is either one of the first, and that others will fall into line soon, or that much like any other job that some people don't read all of the memoranda around the office. And no clever geocaching argot? The answers did make sense, though I would have thought that someone might have come up with something creative to at least read about, if not try. Budophylus San Antonio, TX 5-star cache team member (because we can make the easiest 1/1 into a 5-* difficulty cache) What started all of this? Well, I said to my friend: "I'm bored. Can't we find a new sport?" Now, hundreds of caches later... [This message was edited by Budophylus on February 20, 2003 at 04:57 AM.]

We've been notified by a park ranger from Buescher SP that he wanted to have us walk him out to our cache , one of 4 in the park. His rationalization was that (quote from his post) "as a representative of TPWD and Bastrop & Buescher State Parks, I would like to go out to this site with you or anyone else if you have time. I first, would like to know where it is for safety purposes (in case someone gets injured and needs assistance, then I will know where they are) and second to make sure this cache is in an appropriate location. I know these caches are located in state parks and I do think they have a place in recreation, I think if these are located in parks, then the park managers should be aware of them in case of an emergency or other occurrence". Another caching group went out and walked him around to the caches, to which he gave his stamp of approval. However, the story gets trickier here. The ranger then revealed the real reason for the look-see: (quoting from that cacher's e-mail) "there was an incident in Cedar Hill S.P. where a geocacher was trying to locate a cache near dark. An officer approached; Said geocacher thought it was another geocacher and tried to hide; the officer thought, "who is this trying to hide from me??", drew his weapon and said "put your hands up" or something to that effect. After a lengthy discussion, things were smoothed out, but all Parks were notified of this as a "safety issue" and asked to investigate any caches on their premises" My question, and I'm sorry if it's been asked before, but I can't find it in any searches that I've tried: Should we have an international geocaching hail or greeting to warn off other geocachers? "Cache ahoy!" might bring the wrong person, if it's not a geocacher, thinking we'd said "Cash!". Maybe in TX, we could stick with the tried and true "DON'T SHOOT!". Also, has anyone else in TX been contacted to have their cache locations inspected? My wife and I have 3 others in TX state parks, and haven't yet heard from them, so I don't know how many other rangers are actively looking. Thanks for any info/input! [This message was edited by Budophylus on February 17, 2003 at 08:52 PM.]

Thanks for all of the input. I'm planning a few cross country excursions this summer, and decided to go with the Vista for the memory size, even if I didn't need the compass and altimeter. They'll be neat toys to have anyway. Now I just have to wait for it to arrive, and test it this weekend against Ol' Yeller (the basic eTrex). San Antonio, TX 5-star cache team member (because we can make the easiest 1/1 into a 5-* difficulty cache) What started all of this? Well, I said to my friend: "I'm bored. Can't we find a new sport?" Now, hundreds of caches later...

Thanks, Peter. I'm in the San Antonio TX area, but frequently travel to Austin, thanks to the higher density of caches up there. I believe that I'll be using the Roads and Rec guide, also. Thanks for the help on your usage, Timothius. I'm gonna have to find something new to spend that tax return on, and an upgraded GPS is sounding better all of the time.

I know that this must have been addressed somewhere before, but can't find a topic: We're buying a second upgraded GPSr that'll hold maps. How efficient is the map storage, and how quickly will I fill up a MB of storage space? We're considering the eTrex Legend or the Vista, and wondering if 8MB will be enough mapspace for the occasional excursion or if we really should have the 24MB available. What is your experience in how quickly you fill up your memory, and how much memory is generally used for a city? (Yes, I know that there's a lot of difference in city size, but what's it run on average?) I'm not really interested in the built-in compass and altimeter in the Vista; I still use my old Silva just fine. It's only the RAM (and cost!) that's a factor. TIA for any advice. I tried to look it up, but got a message saying that searching is disabled.