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ClayJar

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Posts posted by ClayJar

  1. I was just wondering, do you think at some point you might have a moment to mention the weekly chats? If it was mentioned in the Geocaching Announcements forum, at least, it would likely stand out a little more to any neocachers. Anyway, no big deal or anything, but just figured I'd wonder out loud. icon_smile.gif

  2. I was just wondering, do you think at some point you might have a moment to mention the weekly chats? If it was mentioned in the Geocaching Announcements forum, at least, it would likely stand out a little more to any neocachers. Anyway, no big deal or anything, but just figured I'd wonder out loud. icon_smile.gif

  3. Allow me to chime in on the side of "BCCing" a copy of the message to the sender. (I already do this by manually copy/pasting to my e-mail program and then saving the unsent draft to my sent folder.)

     

    It could be implemented in much the same way an eBay "Question for seller" e-mail is sent. The recepient gets a message "To" them and "From" either the system or the sender (at the sender's discretion), and the sender gets a message sent "From" the system and "To" them (with the subject being something like "ClayJar contacting Jeremy from Geocaching.com").

     

    Basically, that protects the recipient (whose address does not show up in the sender's copy), and it allows the sender to keep a copy of the message (for later reference or whatever). Then the only thing you have to do is put a checkbox for whether or not you want to send yourself a copy of the message.

     

    (This would be my ideal, but if just having access to sent messages via Geocaching.com is all you can give, I'll copy and paste myself like I've always done, but I'll be happy to have a backup for when I forget to do it. icon_biggrin.gif)

  4. Allow me to chime in on the side of "BCCing" a copy of the message to the sender. (I already do this by manually copy/pasting to my e-mail program and then saving the unsent draft to my sent folder.)

     

    It could be implemented in much the same way an eBay "Question for seller" e-mail is sent. The recepient gets a message "To" them and "From" either the system or the sender (at the sender's discretion), and the sender gets a message sent "From" the system and "To" them (with the subject being something like "ClayJar contacting Jeremy from Geocaching.com").

     

    Basically, that protects the recipient (whose address does not show up in the sender's copy), and it allows the sender to keep a copy of the message (for later reference or whatever). Then the only thing you have to do is put a checkbox for whether or not you want to send yourself a copy of the message.

     

    (This would be my ideal, but if just having access to sent messages via Geocaching.com is all you can give, I'll copy and paste myself like I've always done, but I'll be happy to have a backup for when I forget to do it. icon_biggrin.gif)

  5. I hadn't thought about the "I don't want anyone knowing where I am unless I need help" aspect of things. (Guess that's why there are threads and not just posts. icon_smile.gif)

     

    Anyway, how about if, when you set your itenerary, you can specify when it should become visible? I would set mine to become visible in one minute, while Wil Wheaton would likely set his to become visible about 24 hours later, even though some of us would like to meet him at a cache (possibly with a Sharpie and a few items).

     

    The itenerary idea is actually rather orthogonal to the missing cacher notifications, though, so if you think it'd be best, we can break it into a separate thread. (As for the notification side of things, I would not *personally* use it, but it sounds intriguing and worthy of discussion in its own right.)

  6. I hadn't thought about the "I don't want anyone knowing where I am unless I need help" aspect of things. (Guess that's why there are threads and not just posts. icon_smile.gif)

     

    Anyway, how about if, when you set your itenerary, you can specify when it should become visible? I would set mine to become visible in one minute, while Wil Wheaton would likely set his to become visible about 24 hours later, even though some of us would like to meet him at a cache (possibly with a Sharpie and a few items).

     

    The itenerary idea is actually rather orthogonal to the missing cacher notifications, though, so if you think it'd be best, we can break it into a separate thread. (As for the notification side of things, I would not *personally* use it, but it sounds intriguing and worthy of discussion in its own right.)

  7. quote:
    Originally posted by VentureForth:

    AND, we have some of the best recurring geo-breakfast's in the country, in my humble opinion of course!


    Well, the bacon *was* a bit overdone... but at least it was there (I won't mention the fact that the GGA came up empty... it'd be cruel... icon_biggrin.gif).

  8. quote:
    Originally posted by VentureForth:

    AND, we have some of the best recurring geo-breakfast's in the country, in my humble opinion of course!


    Well, the bacon *was* a bit overdone... but at least it was there (I won't mention the fact that the GGA came up empty... it'd be cruel... icon_biggrin.gif).

  9. quote:
    Originally posted by Ashibaka:

    Now, I must figure out how I will procure a GPS with a limited budget... eBay, yes, that's it...


    Yeah, just check the prices on new receivers before you head over to eBay... I've seen people pay more for used ones in the heat of the bidding wars. icon_smile.gif

  10. quote:
    Originally posted by Ashibaka:

    Now, I must figure out how I will procure a GPS with a limited budget... eBay, yes, that's it...


    Yeah, just check the prices on new receivers before you head over to eBay... I've seen people pay more for used ones in the heat of the bidding wars. icon_smile.gif

  11. Basically, you have two options that I'm familiar with.

     

    The first option is to purchase a Magellan GPS receiver (MAP 330, Meridian series, or SportTrack series). If you can find the MAP 330X package, it'll come with software; otherwise you'll have to buy it. For the Meridians, you'll also need to buy an SD card ($10 and up, depending on size, and if you buy a 64MB or larger card, you'll definitely want a $20 SD card reader). That'll come closest to your target price, but it *won't* do automatic turn-by-turn directions for you.

     

    The other option is to purchase a Garmin GPS V. That'll run you about double your range (plus software, etc), but it *will* do automatic turn-by-turn directions.

     

    All the Magellan mapping GPS receivers and the Garmin GPS V have quadrifilar (a.k.a. quad-helix, a.k.a. good) antennas, so they should all have similar reception characteristics (but under heavy, wet tree cover, *no* consumer GPS receiver will receive too, too well). The Garmin GPS V's antenna is detachable, which could theoretically be useful.

     

    So, basically, you need to decide how much you really *can* spend, and then figure out which of these receivers fits you best. I can tell you that *I* purchased a Magellan Meridian for the express reason that my caching habits don't fit well into a fixed memory size (8MB for the MAP 330, 19MB for the GPS V, 24MB for the SportTrack Pro, and up to 128MB or more per SD card -- so far -- in my Meridian; I've got a 64MB card in there for now). It has excellent reception, too.

     

    Anyway, figure out if you really want turn-by-turn directions. If you do, you'll just have to keep saving a bit longer to afford the GPS V. If you find that you can be content with twelve giga-boatloads of maps in you receiver without turn-by-turn directions, I'd heartily recommend the Meridian series (which practically have a built-in filing cabinet, now that you can save and load waypoints/routes and tracks on your SD cards).

     

    (Oh, and incidentally, the GPS 310 was the last Magellan GPS receiver made that only goes to two digits east of the decimal point. I don't know which Garmin was the last, but it had to be one roughly concurrent in vintage.)

  12. For BaconQuest II: Water You Loooking For? I drove all the way from Baton Rouge, LA, to a significant distance past Atlanta, GA. I did all the hydrocaches from there back to Atlanta in one day (I found six of the seven).

     

    The next day I ended up at the GGA meeting, and while I was there, I managed to pick up a hydrocaching travel bug. Well, I took it the next day and dropped it about 75 miles away on my way home (it was in the opposite direction, but hey).

     

    Anyway, when I got home and logged the bug into the cache, it wasn't that much later when I found I had an e-mail waiting. It was the bug's owner... He found it quite humorous that he had driven 75 miles to a meeting with a travel bug, given it to a hydrocacher from three states away, and amazingly, it showed up the next day in a cache on the very lake on which he lives.

     

    And the bug came back... the very next day... the bug came back... he thought it was a goner... but the bug came back... it just wouldn't stay away...

  13. With the way I cache, an automatic notification wouldn't work very well. What I think *could* be a really useful thing, however, would be "geocacher's itenerary". Basically, it would be something like the watch lists, but public and temporary. It'd work something like this:

    Before I go caching, I go to Geocaching.com.

    After logging in (or with my cookie), I go to the caches I'm going to hunt and click "Add to itenerary..."

    I go on the hunt. (At this point, anyone who looks at my profile can see the caches I'm planning to hit, and possible the order would be there as well.)

    When I get home and log a cache, my itenerary is cleared. (Alternately, there could be a check box for "Continue scheduled itenerary..." that would only remove the cache I'm logging... useful for those who may log caches wirelessly while on the hunt.)

    This would allow cachers to have one place where people can go to see where they are, which would make life a lot easier for those of us with slightly usability-impaired friends. Plus, you could play FRS tag if you happened to be close enough to a cache on their list. icon_wink.gif

  14. With the way I cache, an automatic notification wouldn't work very well. What I think *could* be a really useful thing, however, would be "geocacher's itenerary". Basically, it would be something like the watch lists, but public and temporary. It'd work something like this:

    Before I go caching, I go to Geocaching.com.

    After logging in (or with my cookie), I go to the caches I'm going to hunt and click "Add to itenerary..."

    I go on the hunt. (At this point, anyone who looks at my profile can see the caches I'm planning to hit, and possible the order would be there as well.)

    When I get home and log a cache, my itenerary is cleared. (Alternately, there could be a check box for "Continue scheduled itenerary..." that would only remove the cache I'm logging... useful for those who may log caches wirelessly while on the hunt.)

    This would allow cachers to have one place where people can go to see where they are, which would make life a lot easier for those of us with slightly usability-impaired friends. Plus, you could play FRS tag if you happened to be close enough to a cache on their list. icon_wink.gif

  15. Scrolling text flies by

    In the window of the chat

    ClayJar is logging

     

    Whether you're a neocacher or old enough to remember when baked beans were in every cache, we'd be delighted if you would join your fellow cachers in the weekly scheduled geochats. We have them every Monday at 8:30pm Central US time. (1:30am UTC, if you want to do the math for your local timezone.)

     

    There are several ways of connecting. The easiest is to go to: http://gcchat.clayjar.com/ with a Java-capable web browser. Alternately, you can use any IRC program to connect to irc.openprojects.net and go to #geocache once you're online.

     

    (Logs of the weekly scheduled chats are available at http://gcchat.clayjar.com/logs/.)

  16. quote:
    Originally posted by Warm Fuzzies - Fuzzy:

    I already used part of your itenerary as an example case; isn't that good enough?


    Actually, in this case, that's perfectly useless. icon_biggrin.gif You see, BaconQuest III leaves Baton Rouge, LA, and heads non-stop (well, non-cache-stop) all the way to the Chicago area before the first cache hunt. (See, I'm doing "Hard as PI" for find #100, since its caching tenure is only two weeks shy of mine.)

     

    So, I'd really like to do a search for anything near Chicago or up into Wisconsin. Anything Tennessee or south I can do (and have done) on weekends. icon_wink.gif

     

    (Guess I'll just do it the old-fashioned way for now... anybody know of any good caches around Wisconsin? Oh, yeah, I should ask in the Midwest forum. icon_razz.gif)

  17. quote:
    Originally posted by Warm Fuzzies - Fuzzy:

    I already used part of your itenerary as an example case; isn't that good enough?


    Actually, in this case, that's perfectly useless. icon_biggrin.gif You see, BaconQuest III leaves Baton Rouge, LA, and heads non-stop (well, non-cache-stop) all the way to the Chicago area before the first cache hunt. (See, I'm doing "Hard as PI" for find #100, since its caching tenure is only two weeks shy of mine.)

     

    So, I'd really like to do a search for anything near Chicago or up into Wisconsin. Anything Tennessee or south I can do (and have done) on weekends. icon_wink.gif

     

    (Guess I'll just do it the old-fashioned way for now... anybody know of any good caches around Wisconsin? Oh, yeah, I should ask in the Midwest forum. icon_razz.gif)

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