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cimawr

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Everything posted by cimawr

  1. <pedantic mode on> Yes, actually, there ARE rules of spelling. (What ARE they teaching them in those schools??) As noted by Greying Jay, "Voila!" is a French word. It translates roughly as "behold!", and is pronounced VWA-LA. The word is spelled with, and is PROUNOUNCED with, the letter V, not the letter W. "Wala" (or "wallah", or whatever) isn't a word; it's someone trying to spell a word which they didn't listen to... or heard correctly from someone who was mispronouncing it.... or copied the written spelling from someone else who did one of the preceding two. <pedantic mode off>
  2. And on the topic... I've been caching for less than a month, but yes, the syndrome hit immediately on doing my first caching run. Fandrel had gotten the bug about a week before, and he and I went out with his 13-yo son. As Tree Ninja (his son) noted on that first run "It makes you start looking at things in a different way." Everywhere I go, now, I see my surroundings in terms of where things could be hidden; I look at containers and contemplate if they'd work for a cache.... and just before logging on, I used the last of a pack of postage-meter labels (I'm at work), and SAVED THE SMALLISH ZIPLOCK BAGGIE. Of course, it doesn't help that the area around my home is literally riddled with caches; there's one less than 500 feet from my front door, another 8 or so within a 1-mile radius, half a dozen in the park where I walk my dogs every day, and similar levels of them in surrounding areas as well as along the three north/south routes (Rt 1, Rt 40, I-95) that I drive at least once a week (to Fandrel's place and/or to agility practice). OTOH, I've already got addictions - most notably dog agility**, but also photography and messing about with computers - which take equal or higher precedence, so caching ain't going to become my *primary* obsession; it's just an additional one. Fortunately, it's one that dovetails neatly with the existing ones. **Which involves using an hour or more each evening either exercising myself and my canine team-mates (e.g. walking or hiking) and/or driving to practice and/or doing backyard training. Not to mention spending entire weekends at competitions.
  3. Sliding sideways from the topic - what a GREAT coat of arms! Question, though... what's the middle dog? I'm assuming the top and bottom ones are either Irish Wolfhounds or Scottish Deerhounds... is the middle one an Irish Terrier?
  4. I'm new to all this, but here's my take on it: First, I mostly solo cache with my dogs (I currently have two). So nobody thinks it all that weird if I'm walking along and divert into the woods. And even with urban ones, I can park a couple of blocks away, start walking, and look like I'm a local out for a stroll. Second, the key to not being noticed - no matter WHERE you are - is to simply act like you know what you're doing and you're supposed to be there. Instead of acting furtive, look people in the eye and greet them. Sometimes easier said than done, though. A couple of times, at urban hides with a lot of people about, I've simply sat in the car and read something... looks like I'm waiting for someone. Third, if directly questioned, I'll simply tell the truth, or at least part of it - for example, "I'm looking for something a friend left behind" is true. Most often, I'm likely to tell the whole truth, especially if I have the GPS out and somebody asks - most people I've talked to about it go "Hmm, that's interesting" and then forget it. And I would ABSOLUTELY tell the truth if confronted by police, a security guard, a suspicous homeowner, etc.. All of which doesn't mean I'd let on where the cache was, or would continue my hunt at the moment (depending on how I "read" the person), but I'm not going to tell lies, either.
  5. Thank goodness that never happens here in the Groundspeak Forums. Heh. I suspect you're being sarcastic there... but trust me, what goes on in that USENET group (and has spread to several others) is NOT going on in here, thank goodness! The individual in question has been plaguing that set of groups - which are unmoderated - for nearly a decade, crossposts to as many as 10 groups (some completely unrelated) at a time, posts obsessively 24/7... AND his posts are incoherent, weirdly spelled rants which are literally thousands of words long. (If you're curious, go to Google groups - which now re-posts USENET and allows posting to it from the Web [rue the day] - and look at either rec.pets.dogs.behavior or rec.pets.dogs.breeds. You can't miss the resident loon... fortunately, he can be filtered out if one is reading the groups as they're intended to be read e.g. via a newsreader.)
  6. Erm... first off, I 'm not sure what's going on is a crime; it's not a "crime" unless there's a law on the books against it, AFAIK. I suspect that geocaches, by their public nature, might not fall under the technical definition of private property... Which means that lawyers have nothing to do with the case. (Oh dear. That pun wasn't intentional! ) Second, what do you mean by "confession of a witness"? Do you mean someone who was actually present when the "crime" was committed, and therefore is an "accessory"? Third, what do you mean by "enough proof"? Proof for what purposes? Proof for you to call the police and charge the person with a crime, or proof enough for "the authorities" on this site?
  7. It's a slight side-step from the original definition, in that logging caches isn't precisely the same thing as posting in a discussion forum, but I think it fits well enough.
  8. Yep. I'd be interested in SEEING the snake the OP saw, to know for sure if it actually was a rattlesnake or just a large snake of another species rattling its tail tip. A lot of people don't realize that vibrating the tail to make a sound is a fairly generic reptile** self-defense technique - rattlesnakes just take it to a higher level with the addition of a sound-enhancing adaptation of the scales on the tail tip. No offense at all intended to OP, btw; A, the post doesn't reference the snake's appearance and/or mention actually seeing rattles, and I have no idea of the OP's level of expertise in recognizing snakes and B, being aware that other snakes may make a rattling sound is a good thing for ANYBODY to know - especially since it may save the life of beneficial non-poisonous snakes. **I've seen lizards rattle the tail, also.
  9. Yep. Giving a second answer to the first question asked in the OP's subject header: "Sock puppet" is a USENET/Internet/E-mail forum term which refers to a poster creating an account with a FALSE IDENTITY, and posting with that identity. IOW, they create a fictional character, create an account for the character, and post pretending to BE that character. It's done for a variety of reasons, including posting false testimonials for a product one is selling, wanting to troll or flame anonymously, wanting to avoid BEING flamed by "regulars" for posting an unpopular opinion or a criticism of a regular, avoiding "killfiles", and/or just plain being nuts. (A USENET community I'm a member of is plagued with a mentally ill individual who not only continually morphs identities, but has conversations with himself via sock puppet. )
  10. I'm new to the sport, as well, and under tree cover I've found that my GPS (an inexpensive Garmin eTrex Legend) can go quite a bit off. Also, standing still/moving slowly seems to confuse it - IOW, if I'm walking at a brisk pace, it seems to operate more accurately than when I slow down and start looking. One thing I've started doing, to reduce frustration when hunting in the woods, is to waymark something which is NOT under the tree cover. Then I use the map view - IOW, good old-fashioned map reading <G>- to get a better idea of where the cache is (supposedly) located. For example, this weekend I was having a frustrating time searching in underbrush for a micro-cache. I began to be fairly sure my GPS wasn't giving me an accurate locations, so I walked back out of the woods to a nearby footbridge which is clear of tree cover, and marked a waypoint for the bridge. I then looked at the map view on my GPS, which told me that the cache should located on a line no more than 10-15 feet parellel to the bridge, rather than about 80 feet parallel as the unit was reading under the trees. I put away the GPS, went back into the woods along that parellel line, and sure enough found the cache within a few minutes. You can also use an ordinary compass to help you figure out what direction to go... as well as to find your way out if you get discombobled while searching.
  11. No. But with plenty of caches in the area, why would I not wait for this one to be ready when I get there? Yes I enjoy the hike, but if I can't sign the log, then it is not a real find. Why spend time doing that when I can hike to a cache that has room on the log? As a newbie to both the sport and the forums, I'm finding this thread both entertaining (in a watching-a-train-wreck sort of way) and informative. And my first thought on seeing the above statement is... "Gee, maybe I should carry some log forms in my caching backpack in case I find a full log.". I carry a pen and a mini-sharpie in case the provided signing implement is missing or not working, I could carry some logs too.... and it's not like a few sheets of folded paper is exactly going to weigh things down! Seems like common sense to me... O'course, as my Mamgi was fond of saying, "Common sense ain't". It also seems like common sense to realize that somone with 300+ caches isn't necessarily going to be able to do maintenence quickly... being a newb, can someone fill me in on history? Is this a case of someone starting out as a collective, and others dropping out and leaving her holding the fort? (I'm also in the Mid-Atlantic, and have some of CCC's caches in my "to look for" list, so I've got more than casual interest.)
  12. Interesting topic! I'm female, mid-40s. Ethnic background mixed - Mam is half Welsh (her father was born there) and half Scots descent; my father's of mostly German descent, but with an admixture of Dutch and Iroquois. Which makes me a Celtomutt, I think... My S.O. is early 40's; he's also of very mixed ethnic background, mostly Sicilian/Italian, Spanish, and Delaware Blackfoot. And neither of us is Christian... IOW, we're pretty far from being "WASPs", although technically we count as "white". He and I pretty much started caching at the same time - he found out about it, thought it sounded cool, ran out to buy a GPS, and called me on his cell from the store.. "Hey, are you online? Go check out geocaching.com!". Which I did, and immediately had the same reaction - "Wow, this sounds like fun!" That weekend, we went out with his 13.5 y.o. son - we (all 3 of us, that is) had a great time, both in the caching itself and in the companionship. His son thought it was cool, and I was hooked - bought my own GPS that week. We've since done solo caching - I tend to like hiking ones, and we live about 45 miles apart, so there's plenty of opportunity for it - and he's also gone out with just his daughter (also 13.5). She, too, thought it was really cool. AND, I'm also one of those "caches with dogs" folks; one of the reasons I like hiking/park ones is that my companions-in-fur can accompany. IOW, I'm a combo of single-with-dogs, couple, and family caching.
  13. 'WascoZooKeeper' wrote: >>I don't understand why OP is being advised to wait a week or more to log a "Needs Maintenance". <snip> > but there's nothing wrong with posting the NM log, too, as long as he keeps it positive. "Container is in bad >condition and has been leaking a lot, all the contents were wet. A more durable container might be a good >idea for this location." Well... since I'm new to this, I didn't realize I *could* make a specific "needs maintenance" log, and have already said something of the sort on the cache's page in my "found it" notes. So posting a NM log at this point would be redundant; which, I think, is why most people have advised waiting. >He's already been there Heh. Not that there's any way you would have known this, but the correct pronoun is "she".
  14. It's an add-on for me - both to my normal habits of spending time out of doors, and to my normal habit of spending too much time on the computer. I grew up in the country (from age 5 to age 14), was usually out of doors all the time, wandering fields, woods, and orchards - plus, my father's idea of a good time on a nice Sunday afternoon was to go out for a long walk in the woods. As an adult, I like to go out with my dogs and hike; I'm also active in the sport of NADAC dog agility, which means I travel with my dogs. I ALSO like exploration by driving, checking out new places, and finding wonder in everyday things... AND am something of a computer geek, since I've been building my own for about 10 years now, like discussion groups etc., AND love mystery stories, crossword puzzles, Sudoku, acrostics... things that take both logic and intuition. So when my S.O. (he's got an account under the name Fandrel) called me up one day, all enthused, and said "Hey, go to geocaching.com and check it out!", I was immediately intrigued; the following weekend, he, his son, and I went out and did some fairly easy urban ones, and I was hooked - had to get my own GPS so I could start hunting on my own. Well, with just the dogs, anyway.
  15. So, I guess if you have to cut a rope you just bite it in half? BWAHAHAHAHA!! That's exactly what I thought when I saw the "I'm a black belt" comment... what on earth does knowing martial arts have to do with what those of us who DO carry knives etc. usually use them for? They're TOOLS, for UTILITY purposes, not self defense. (Gotta wonder if the OP's "black belts" are the sort where you pays your money and you gets your belt in a contracted amount of time, regardless of whether or not you have the skills, or more importantly, the mental and emotional stability and humility that mean you **deserve** to be a black belt. Then again, my perspective is that of someone with a brown belt in a sport where you don't get to be black belt, no matter HOW good your physical skills are, if you don't have the right attitude.) But I digress. Getting back to the subject of the thread: I carry two Leatherman Micras (one pliers, one scissors) and a lightweight Buck knife with a 2.5" blade in my pockets at all times; I don't feel properly dressed if I don't have them. They come in handy every day, in all sorts of circumstances. For flashlights, I have a small flat LED one on my keychain, and a 5" waterproof one (can't remember the maker of either) in my little caching-and-dayhiking pack.
  16. 513 feet from my front door. Three houses up the block to the corner, cross the street, turn left, and there's the park it's in. :-) However, I'm new to caching, so I'm far from the FTF. There are 6 more less than a mile away (7 if you count the webcam cache at a local college).
  17. Clarification : Yes, as everyone's noted, it's only been a few days. I should have made it clear that I'm asking in a "for future reference" sort of way, e.g. if it gets to be a couple of weeks and there's no response from the cache's owner. I wouldn't want to see the cache archived, as it's looked for fairly frequently and is (or would be if in good condition) a good hide, and don't intend to "adopt" it unless specifically asked to; just thinking of possibly doing something to keep it going well if the cache owner can't or doesn't want to.
  18. I'm new to geocaching - started a few weeks ago - and am wondering what the ettiquette is on doing maintenance on somebody else's cache. The cache in question has a "matchbook" theme, with finders being requested to leave or trade interesting matchbooks or matchboxes - it's a cool idea. However, the it's in the woods, with a ground-level hiding place, and the container used is a *nonwaterproof* disposable Glad container. When I found it, the container's interior was coated with nasty black mold, some of the non-theme contents were also moldy, and the matchbooks were soggy and ruined - and the whole thing stank; I mean literally had a bad smell <G>. Even the logbook, in a baggie, was damp and smelly. When I logged my find, I noted the condition, said that IMO the container badly needed replacing, and also stated that I'd be happy to take care of it should the cache owner so desire - I walk my dogs in the park where it's hidden nearly every day, so it would be easy to do. I've got some nice waterproof containers (originally intended for fishing gear) that are around the same size as the original container, and could transfer the logbook and non-ruined contents - maybe adding a new logbook and a geocaching note (currently there's none) - and rehide as the original. However, I've gotten no response from the cache owner... so, my question is, would it be kosher for me to just go ahead and do it, then post a note to the cache page? Or is that a big breach of ettiquette?
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