Doctor A

I wanted to share how I've decided to display the coins I've designed. I really wanted to be able to hang them on the wall, like photos or paintings, especially since they are works of art to me. So I have a friend who has a laser/engraving business, and also is a geocacher so can appreciate coins, and asked him about helping me out with this project. I wanted to have engraving on the mat board, to identify the name of the coins and the year they were minted, and he showed me how he can cut out exactly the pattern of the coins, so that they're held securely in the mat board. At first I'd thought about taking them to a framing shop and just asking them to do squares or circles around the coins, but this is SOOOO much better, to have the actual coin design lasered out and so no white space showing around the coins like I thought I was going to have. Anyway, the first one was finished last night and I thought I'd share how it came out. The other two coins that I designed will be done probably later this week.

Wow! I didn't know I knew myself in Hawaii and mailed myself something from there! But seriously, imagine my surprise yesterday when I got an envelope in the mail that contained one of these super cool coins! I love the pink color. Thanks so much to the mystery giver- I'm honored to receive one!

Sure, Gatoulis, you can use the diary entries that I posted- the first one is something that's been floating around the internet for awhile so I don't think it's copyrighted, and the one I wrote, with the picture of the kitty laying on the table with the Cat Fancy magazine, was what I wrote, so it can be used. When I posted the winners, I didn't even think about the fact that that would compel the Contessa to reveal herself or himself to me if she/he wanted to claim her coin! But I'll leave it up to the Contessa to decide if he/she wants to reveal his/her true identity on here!

Drum roll please... OK here are the winners. Yep, I said winnerS! I had such a hard time choosing, because there were so many great entries, that I have to give more than one prize. There were three that really stood out, and people used different "mediums" to express their creativity, some using writing skills and some using photography skills, so it seemed appropriate to consider those differently and award each type fo "expression". Sooooo... Where'sMyMarbles wins for the best pictures Gatoulis and Contessa Catarina tie for best diary entries (I especially loved the interactive nature of their entries and how their diaries ended up weaving together) I'll be emailing each of those three to get mailing info to send their kitty coins off to them. Thanks to everyone who submitted an entry, it was a lot of fun!

Thanks so much to everyone for entering, and hope everyone had a good Valentine's day- it sure looks like two cats did! I'll post the winners by Friday, after some consultation with a few feline-loving friends of mine, especially since I'm already having trouble picking a winner!

Only a couple of more days left to enter the cointest! Where has Contessa Catarina gone? Perhaps it's not coincidental that the cointest ends on Valentine's day and there seemed to be a spark between her and Gatoulis' kitty?

1. I think the first geocoin I saw and realized what it was was a Dry Creek geocoin, from the local caching group 2. One of the Dry Creek geocoins was the first one I bought 3. Made my first geocoin, or a "family" geocoin in 2007 when I made one fo the birds of a feather coins 4. Made my first trade with one of the birds geocoins, when I traded with a local cacher who has his own coin 5. Found the coins first and then later the forums

Another point on the whole safety issue, which seems to be at least part of GS's thinking in denying this cache... I understand if the rules change to not allow certain types of caches but certain ones are grandfathered in. For example, I know they no longer allow caches where you have to enter a business, because I tried to get one published. There are ones out there but they said they're no longer allowed and the ones in existence are grandfathered. I say fine in that case, since they changed the way the game is played, even though I don't agree, their reasons for making the change were benign. But if the change is due to safety concerns, then shouldn't other caches that have the same safety concerns be archived? I hate to say that, because I don't want to see greykitties' other caches on this trail go away, but it's rather hippocritical if they say that one cache can't be published due to safety concerns but basically say that another cache with the same safety concern can be allowed to stand. So unsafe caches, as long as they were published before a certain date, are allowed to stand? If that is what's done, then they aren't really protecting "safety". Again, the caches like ones in businesses, that changed for maybe philosophical reasons and thoughts about how caching should go I won't argue over, but if the reason for a change is truly because of wanting people to be "safe", then how can you justify "we'll protect your safety on caches published after such-and-such a date, but boy, if you want to go after a cache placed before that date, we don't care about your safety"? The same "risk" would be there if I was a new cacher who went after the already present caches and so had to get the permit, versus if I was a cacher in that area who'd already done all the trail caches and now needed a new permit to do the new ones; but the new cacher could take that risk but the old cacher couldn't? So we protect the safety of some people and not of others?

And one more smart-alecky response... I'm betting that you probably have to do more than fill out a simple mail away application if you want to have any chance of ever getting into this cache: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=gc1be91 Somehow I think someone, somewhere, would be wanting to know an awful lot about anyone going to that cache... but then it generates publicity for geocaching, so I guess maybe that makes it OK? I found this on the NASA site after I googled how to get to the ISS: Q. Can I apply to take a ride on the Space Shuttle? Can I be the first kid in Space? A. NASA has no immediate plans to send children, teenagers or any other general citizens into space. For the near future at least, space flight remains too risky and too expensive for anyone but highly trained astronauts and payload specialists. However, one of our goals is to help industry develop new rocket systems that would make space flight much more simple and routine, so that many more people could go into orbit in the future. So it seems like I'd have to fill out an application of some sort...

Full disclosure up front- greykitties is my sister so I know about this issue and many of the details. But the bottom line is that it seems to me like every cache "invites" people to potentially go places that are going to upset people. I doubt Walmarts really want people driving around their parking lots after they're closed for the night lifting up lightposts, and in some states, there are signs posted saying that if you aren't a customer at a location, then it is trespassing, so in some places, anytime some places a cache under a lamppost at a Target, they may be actually "encouraging" people to trespass, or alternatety I guess everyone could go inside the Target and make a purchase, but then it becomes a commercial cache, which isn't allowed. Every one of us chooses whether or not to pursue any cache. I'd choose not to pursue a cache right now that required me to rappel off of a cliff, because of some health problems, although at one time I would have loved to try that. I choose not to do some puzzle caches because they require me to do more than I want to do. I often choose not to pursue caches in certain areas of town because I know it's a bad location and not safe- shouldn't that be up to me to decide? Or should GS start monitoring things so much that they disallow caches that aren't wise for people to go to at night because it's in gang territory? No, they shouldn't do that, we should make informed decisions when we contemplate going after any cache and if we decide the risk is too much for our personal comfort level, then we can forgo any cache we choose to forgo. So in this case, if someone isn't comfortable sending away for a permit, then they simply ignore those caches, much like some people ignore puzzle caches or multis or caches in gang territory... So there is no finite line that can ever be drawn as to what any person might be required to jump through to find a cache. Heck, handicapped people could start complaining that caches that are placed in a non-wheelchair accessible location shouldn't be allowed under the ADA because it's not safe for them to go try to get up a mountain. So it always comes down to judgment, which unfortunately is made by humans and there are going to be inconsistencies and LOTS of grey areas. But it does seem to me that in this case, the imposition to a cacher isn't really anything more than when I've gone and cached in parks that require me to buy a permit on the spot and then ask for and write down my drivers license number and my license plate info- that could be used illicitly- they could be writing down mroe than that info, like my DOB and address. And I think that what's required to get the permit to find these caches was much less intrusive than that so even though I understand GS asking for clarification and not just publishing the caches without asking some questions- if they did that, there'd be no point in even having reviews- I think these should have been published. And besides that, you know that there are many people out there who would have gotten around this by just NOT putting any of the permit info in and then letting the chips fall, so I think that a CO also deserves some credit and consideration when they are honest and expose anything like this head on. don't think there are many of us who could honestly say that every cahe we've ever hidden has been properly "placed with permission" but we all endorse that when we submit a cache for publication, and in this case she was addressing those issues and getting permission in a totally legit and above-board way, again not like the countless lamppost hides hidden at Walmarts...

Green Bay 17, Pittsburgh 14

Just wanted to let everyone know that the icon is now showing up for this coin. If you want to see it, you can look at the one I activated: TB44VMG. And for those of you who bought or traded for a coin, if you log that trackable of mine now, or have logged it, you'll have that icon on your profile! If I forgot to send the logging info to anyone who got a coin and you want to log one so you don't have to activate one of your own to get the icon, drop me an email!

Oh I think I see geo-cat-love blossoming!

I'm starting to think that maybe Gatoulis IS a cat and not a human- he sure seems to have cat thought processes and lives down pretty well! I don't know how to do it, but I was imagining some pretty funny conversation between the kitties playign in the whack-a-kitty videos, so if anyone knows how to do editing, I'd challenge you to make a funny script from those videos!

Glad people are liking the coins. I appreciate the interest.

I LOVE the diaries! I can't enter the contest, but thought I'd post a diary entry anyway, just for fun... Day 990 of my captivity... Today I spent my required 16 hours sleeping. During the 8 waking hours, I wandered around the house, sharpened my claws on a few pieces of furniture that they provide for that purpose, and then read Cat Fancy magazine. It has such engaging articles in it, but then also sometimes I think its published by dogs because it talks about things like taking the cat to the vet or having various awful surgeries performed on them. I always feel exhausted after reading it and so I stretch out on the dining room table for a snooze… Plus, I know how much that irritates the woman of the house! She lets me go just about anywhere except for the dining room table and the kitchen counters. I dont understand it, especially since she hardly cooks, so she really doesnt use those kitchen counters so its not like Im in the way or anything. But Ive got her trained well- little does she know that when shes gone during the day, I stretch out up there and sleep for hours, then check myself for cleanliness while Im up there. When shes around, I wait til shes sitting over in the living room, comfortably watching TV, and then just to show how well I have her conditioned, I jump up on the counters, causing her to have to get up and come over and try to chase me down. What fun we have! She pretends not to enjoy it, but I think she really does enjoy it, or I wouldnt keep doing it, would I?

Thanks to everyone who purchased a coin or coins. It's been fun to share them. I have a few more left that I'm willing to sell, but am all out of the satin nickel, which went the fastest- it was my favorite finish as well. But feel free to contact me if anyone else would like to buy a coin!

I love the entries so far! I do wonder what Where'sMyMarbles did to this poor last kitten to get her hair to stand up like that. Was she rubbed with a balloon right before the picture was snapped or does she just have a (static) electric personality?

I didn't know River Cacher, but can sure tell by this thread that he was a great person, so his entire family and friends also have my deepest sympathies. As my S.O. has said to me several times over the last year "cancer sucks" and it often takes people away from us much too soon.

Yep, anyone can enter more than one entry, but remember it has to be something that you create. I want to see how creative we can be here, using our forum members!

is actually on a Monday Good point! I was looking at the Jan calender- OK deadline stays Valentine's Day, but it's on a Monday!

Just wanted to let everyone know that the satin silver that I had available to sell have all been spoken for/committed to buyers, so no more of those are available to sell.

Yes, I may not have made it clear enough, but I wanted to have people create something new. Of course I suppose I'll have no real way of knowing if it is new or not, but I'm going with giving everyone the benefit of the doubt that no one would borrow something from someone else. But still, I did get a good laugh out of the link cainrcc posted, and maybe this is cainrcc's original creation? I'm not sure... But now I have to go google keyboard cat...

I've decided to offer a cointest, centered on a cat theme, to go along with my new Cachin' Cats geocoin. I hope it generates some interest and is fun for everyone. So here's what you do... I'm inviting people to show their creativity, either in oral or written fashion. So what I want to do is have people either write/expand on the cat diary that I've copied below, or make a video like the one I'm posting. I always thought the cat diary was hilarious and wished that someone would write more to it, and I LOVE the script dubbed over the video, it cracks me up every time I watch it. So since I've seen that many people on here are quite creative, I'm hoping that people will show what you can do with either of these formats. If you do a video, I'm sure there are funny videos all over the internet that don't have a voiceover- for the video part I'm not expecting people to be able to somehow record a cat doing something funny, since I know that can be hard to capture. But obviously this guy just took a video that was already done and just wrote and recorded the voice part. So youtube would probably be a great source of a video to use. Deadline for the contest is Friday, Feb 14th, Valentine's Day. Together with three friends of mine, we'll be the final judges of who makes us laugh the hardest, and the winner will get one of my new coins mailed to them. Video: (WARNING: there is some profanity in this video, so please don't watch if that will offend you, it's not much, but there is a four letter word): CAT DIARY: Day 983 of my captivity My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets. Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength. The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape. In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the carpet. Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates my capabilities. However, they merely made condescending comments about what a "good little hunter" I am. Bastards! There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However, I could hear the noises and smell the food. I overheard that my confinement was due to the power of "allergies." I must learn what this means, and how to use it to my advantage. Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow, but at the top of the stairs. I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches. The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released, and seems to be more than willing to return. He is obviously retarded. The bird must be an informant. I observe him communicate with the guards regularly. I am certain that he reports my every move. My captors have arranged protective custody for him in an elevated cell, so he is safe. For now ...

Thanks Droo for that picture- it does make it easier to see. So here's the layout of what each finish is, using Droo's picture: First row: (left) Satin Gold (right) Antique Silver (with colored kitties) Second row: (left) Satin Silver (right) Nickel Third row: (left) Dyeing Black (right) Black Nickel Fourth row: back side of a satin silver coin Hope this helps people in making choices!