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Best Excuse For The Question: "what Are You Doing?"


50Cal

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Never used this one but it crossed my mind a couple times on cache hunts near houses...

 

"I'm doing the initial property survey for a 500 unit apartment complex. The basketball court and playground should go right... about... HERE! Oh, is that your house next door? Gee, I hope it's not too loud for you..."

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My counselor told me to find myself, so I'm looking here. I must be around here somewhere... :) -As they start to walk away- If you see me anywhere around here, be sure to let me know, because I'm definitely the one I'm looking for.

awsome!!!! i love it.

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Well I guess it will be a DBL Whammy for me once I get out there....

 

I am always out using my metal detector ... I just bought a Garmin 76CSX My first ever GPS ... But I was always Intrigued with geocaching... So Now I found a New Hobby to Explore.....

 

And It fits right in with my Treasure Hunting hobbies.... So wish me luck....

 

Maybe I'll get my 2 gig card along with CN & Topo on monday then I can really test out Geocaching.....

 

Back to the subject: I guess I'll have to come up with something good.. Especially with having a Metal Detector by my side.........

They'll Think there is something highly Important around...

Edited by LostLoot
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Muggle: "what are you doing?"

 

Me: "I'm from the local university, cataloging local concentrations of poisonious plants. As a matter of fact, you are standing in poison oak. I would suggest going home quickly and taking a good shower to clean off the chemicals, or you will have a big rash soon."

Edited by Dwoodford
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Some might find this hard to believe but I almost never run into anyone. :cool: I work night shift and do most of my caching in the am. I just finished Caching Across Maryland and only saw one family of three during the whole challenge. In the year I have been caching I have only run into one other cacher

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"Looking for my lens cap" (for my camera). This is good because a lens cap is too cheap to have someone else look for it ...but obviously semi-important enough to look for. Small, too. Helps to have a camera with a lens that takes a lens cap ...with you.

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Was night caching once and having a bit of trouble in the dark (yes, there are parts of Reno NOT covered with neon!) when my caching buddy sent me a text message on my phone asking where I was because she was taking her dinner break. Replied to the text and in 10 minutes I had my very own police officer helping to search! Don't think anyone would question a cop searching bushes in uniform, but it was kinda funny. :ph34r:

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I've explained geocaching a few times when stumbled upon while caching. However, my favorite story is when I made sure NOT to have to explain it.

 

I was out on a trail when along came a 90+ year old man. He snuck away from his retirement home because he still loved to hike (shuffle). He was actually a trail guide in his earlier days. I quickly hid my GPS with the panic of having to explain not only geocaching but the GPS to the elderly man.

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The traffic vest works! I have a geocaching firend who keeps a bright orange vest and a clipboard in the boot of his car!

 

In high muggle areas, he pops on the vest and holds his clipboard and pen in a "i am very important and busy" fashion (the clipboard actually has his geocache printout on it!)

 

Apparently works a treat!

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Policing up my shell casings. That would be a good one.

 

Nah...actually this can actually be a problem when my daughter and I go tromping off into the woods. I have sometimes gotten odd looks. But so far no one asking. Sad statement about our times though.

 

I told one group who was hanging around a cache that they were standing on our scavanger hunt...they looked a little offended but I smiled and explained geocaching. They had kids...no doubt a GPS was in their future.

 

I am in sales and cache while on sales trips. I ussually have a lanyard and security badge for a show I am doing. I will wear that just to make people think I have business in the area.

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If you're way out in the woods, away from any homes, when asked, just say "Filling the tank..."...

 

"What tank?"

 

"Why, the GAS tank..."

 

"Gas tank???"

 

"Uh yeah, the lawn mower gas tank, of course.."

 

Then proceed to walk away into the woods with your arms out in front of you, making buzzing noises and cursing each and every tree for getting in the way and screwing up the "pattern"......

 

If they still wont go away, walk a grid pattern while "mowing", and tell them the GPS is a baby monitor, and ask them if they could please get you another beer from the fridge...

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LOL.... a lot of fun replies so far. But one I heard about recently, posted to the log of a cache nearby, was very clever. When asked what are you looking for? Or what is it that you lost? The answer has to be .... I don't know but I'm sure to recognize it when I find it!!

Edited by Droo
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We were in Carson City NV, looking for a cache in a rockpile ;) in front of a pretty busy shopping center. There were three of us turning over every rock in the planter (stealth went right out the window on this one!) when a couple walked up and asked what we were doing. My friend pops off with "I'm looking for my earring" :anibad: . The couple matter of factly says to us, "Oh we thought you were looking for a geocache, we've looked a few times and couldn't find it" then they walked off. Still don't know who they were as we know the cache owner, it wasn't him. About 5 minutes later we found the cache! Urrrrhhhhggggg! I hate rock piles!

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Why do we need excuses? Is geocaching illegal? Guess it depends on whats in the cache, but most often, the answer is no. Is Geocaching the start of some secret society? As long as people (wtf is a muggle? sorry, i'm a adult, not into Harry Potter) don't see you take the cache out, or put it back, why do we need to hide anything? I've read logs of non-geocachers who have found the cache, have exchanged stuff and placed it back. Some have probably come up missing after people finding it, but that could happen regardless if the secret of the geocaching society is out or not. Hiding your GPS from people you meet or saying its a phone? What is wrong with you people? I just started geocaching a few weeks ago, and think its a awesome game. I love it, but it's a game, stop taking this, and everything else so seriously. I was looking for a cache yesterday in a rather large park, a guy and his kids came up the trail, the kids went past me, the guy looks at my GPS and asks me if I'm getting a good signal on it (I was standing a few feet off the trail with my gps infront of me, trying to figure out where to go next) I replied "yeah, theres a cache around here somewhere and I'm going to find it." (I was no where close to it) He laughed a bit at the way I said it, and continued on his way catching up with his kids. Theres some funny excuses, but why do we need them?

 

 

Please remember a little history about caches before you cop an attitude about being a little covert. During the Cold War, covert operatives would hide a cache in the woods in case they were discovered. It was often, and you may find this remarkable, ammo cans with money, travel papers for neighboring countries, a change of clothes, and numerous passports with assumed identities. There are more similarities. You know that micro in a film can inside a brick or knothole in a tree? It used to be called a dead drop and was used to pass Minox film, AKA micro film, off to another spy without being spotted together. Some of us actually know each other and want to pass things off to each other but know we'll pass a cache before we see each other again and use the system that way. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm! Ever think of those things? Next time you drive by a cache you've done and see someone poking around, honk and wave, because you know what they are up to.

 

Before I invite someone to join in, I like to know a little about them, like their name. Will they take the coins, some are quite expensive, or be a problem because they can? We aren't an "exclusive club" but it does pay to be selective. Some of us put out member only caches to greatly reduce traffic so the cache doesn't get muggled. Have any of your caches been muggled? No. Yes would imply that you have gone to that expense and trouble to think up a concept, BUY some stuff, and actually contribute to the caching community. From what I can tell, you have not. Are you ready to take that risk with someone else's time and money? Sounds like you are totally ready to take that risk with my caches or anyone else who has gone to the trouble. Let me know, I'll be glad to return the favor. Please let me return the favor? Please? Please?

 

Now, my answer as to how to answer the "Watcha doin?" question is simple.

A) Cops asking. I show them a printout from the cache page. They can find all the answers to all their questions and I don't sound like a Kook.

 

:ph34r: others. I'm looking for a game piece. I went to one here in town behind a doctor's office and ane employee came out for a cigarette. (how bright can he be) He asked me what I was up to and I said looking for a game piece. As he finished his cigarette, he said "Game piece?" I said someone else must have gotten it.

 

I don't think we need that moron pilfering the boxes for the good stuff and I don't want to be the moron who brought him in. A smoking health care professional?????????????????????

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"I'm using billion dollar sattelites to hunt tupperware."

 

Straight off the T-shirt, and normally people will lkeave you alone after saying it.

 

Love it - couldn't have said it better :ph34r::D:ph34r:

 

Actually, when I'm hiking/caching I usually have a side arm so I don't get approached too much

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I was out early morning about a month ago. The coords pointed me to a busy off ramp at one of our main roads with the freeway. I parked nearby and was scouting around when suddenly I heard someone call my name. Sure enough a work associate with Dept. of Transportation was sitting in a car with his family looking very questionably at me. I work for the city.

 

Since I knew them all I tried to make small talk, instead of answering his question of "What are you doing out here?" It was a very long traffic light.

 

Finally as they were pulling away, he asked again what I was doing, and I answered that I was checking out the traffic box for them.

 

The end result, the cache had the wrong coords posted, so I was miles from the correct location. Next time I will wear my orange vest to make myself look more official.......

Edited by lories
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I never seem to have a good excuse for it.. I've had people mostly make indirect statements, like "Should you be here?" and "Maybe you shouldn't be here".

 

I did get asked once if everything was okay while walking down the side of a road by someone, so that was cool. There was no pulloff for about 300 feet from the cache, so had to walk along the grass a bit.

 

I've heard of local cachers being accused of dumping trash at a spot. Which doesn't make much sense, since he was in a car parked nearby, walking, and nothing with him to dump.

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Hmmm. I read somewhere that a muggle is a term stolen from Harry Potter. What exacly makes a person a 'non-geocacher'? Lables SUCK!! Since I started to play the game do I have to carry another lable around with me? Throw them off track? If a cache is hidden well enough, it shouldn't be on a track, the cache should be off track, and hidden well enough that people won't see it easily, so you could b standing beside a hidden cache, a person asks you what ur doing, tell them what ur doing, look elsewhere else till the person or people have moved on, then come back and retrieve the cache. I know that some of the postings are ment as jokes, but the answer to what ur doing should always be "geocaching' or 'internet treasure hunt'. Maybe write the web address down for them so they could read about it and you won't have to explain it. Why lie? The information is here on the web for everyone to see if they want. Its no big secret.

 

Jamieb,

 

yep, it is...but you are freaking out about this...dude, get off the meth and then try to hold a semi decent conversation with us.

 

and guess what, in life, there are labels...get used to them.

 

and by the looks of your profile, you ain't firin on all cylinders... "bubblefarts"

 

take your lame attitude elsewhere (now that I said that I'll read the rest of these posts and he will have and I'll seem like an a**clown for posting this.) :rolleyes:

Edited by chilibowl77
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I was looking for a micro near a large vacant lot in an industrial area when a muggle mowing grass at the factory across the street came by and ask me what I was doing. B) I told him I was checking Geo Coordinates around the lot so he automatically jumped to the conclusion that I was a surveyor or a contractor. B) I was driving an SUV and I was kind of dressed like one so I went along with it. ;) He ask If I was getting ready to build something there. I told him that we might but due to the confidentiality requirements of my client I was not at liberty to say who they might be. :P I told him that sometimes when a company is looking to buy property and it gets out that there a really big name the price skyrockets on it so I really couldn't say anymore. :) He said he understood and wouldn't mention that he had seen me or that we had talked. B) He went back to his mowing and I finished the hunt. As I was leaving I drove by him again and he waved at me. :)

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