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COINTEST: The Stop Lurking and come Introduce Yourself


keewee

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Hi! I'm pretty new to the forums, as in mostly just these last several weeks, but have been geocaching (or trying to) since April 2010. We have a few geocoins, mostly that were door prizes, but just bought a grab bag from Toojin so we probably don't count as having 5 or less anymore. (Shoulda read this thread a couple days ago! LOL.) Anyway, we have a blast collecting the coins or pathtags or signature items that come our way ... well, I do, and my kids like the toys to swap. :)

 

Came out of lurkdom to learn a bit more about the finer points of geocaching, and have learned a lot just listening around here.

 

As for me, I'm a homeschool mom, Cub Scout den leader, Girl Scout troop leader, letterboxer, and so on ... so we keep busy. Geocaching has been fun in introducing us to new areas we haven't found before, and persuading my kids to go on hikes with me, but mostly it's my hobby ... there are lots of micros in our area, and while the kids like the easy finds, they get tired of me always adding extra stops to our errand runs. :) So I inflict, I mean share, this hobby with visiting relatives, other Scouts, and so on. We're also ultra muggle magnets, so we've gotten to tell LOTS of folks about geocaching. Amabassadors of the Hunt, that's us. Was a librarian in my pre-parenthood life, and doing reference work is a lot like puzzle solving and geocaching ... including the trying to explain things to muggles bit. Am working on planting a letterbox per year for our summer reading programs, this will be our second year of that, and am hoping to get permission to include a geocache with the hide ... that'll be a blast.

 

Thanks for all the nice and helpful folks on the forums here ... it helps a LOT ... you can glean a lot by just reading logs and seeing what other cachers have done before you, but there's a lot you just have to find people and ask. We're lucky to have a good local group too, with fun gatherings every now and then.

 

Happy caching!

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I am too late for the cointest, but that's ok.

a. I am 1/4 of the RhinoInAToga team. My name is Nichole. There is also my husband, Jeff, My stepson, Michael, & my nine month old daughter, Fallon. We started geocaching in April '11, the day after my birthday, when my husband's niece & nephew encouraged us to join in the game. They thought we would enjoy it, & they were absolutely right! :). If you see our user name in the forums, it will most likely be me as I am more of a "computer bug" (as Jeff says) than my husband.

b. I am a stay at home mother. I have varied interests, from hiking, fishing & kayaking to reading, scrapbooking, & jewelry making. (Of course geocaching is the family obsession) I am never without my daughter.

c.I have been reading a lot about coins & bugs & rules & guidelines on these forums. We are planning to attend the 2011 Geocoinfest. However, being a four person family, we have a tight budget. So I suppose the best question for me to ask right now, is how much money should one save up if they would like to start a small collection of their own, starting with the geocoinfest? Never having been to an event like this, I don't know how expensive they are. Looking at the websites that sell them, there's a wide range of prices. So just an estimate for a decent start to a small collection would be great.

Thanks for the opportunity to introduce ourselves in a unique way, even if some..er..one?..of us were/was late! ;)

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Hi, my name is Jon-Paul (JPBARR) and I have only been caching since May. I found out about caching from a post I noticed on Facebook and I checked out the site. As it happend there were 2 caches within 300m of my parents home, where I was visiting. With no GPS I relied on Google satalite maps and my knowledge of the area to find them. I now am a regular cacher with my wife and have even hidden a couple myself. I seem to have a habit of finding these cointests after they are ended but nevermind.

I have a question concerning geocoin adoptions. If one is adopted over to you, generally it is already traveling, is it ok to change the coins mission to travel to a cache close to you? So hopefully you can claim it?

Also how often do you find people who are willing to give away or adopt over geocoins? I found the money to buy one, which I have sent on its way but would love to have more traveling around and just cant afford the prices they are being sold at.

Happy caching all.

 

JP

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I know the contest has ended, but thought I should come out of "lurking" anyway. My name is Jen and I am homeschooling my three girlies in the beautiful mountains. I just got introduced to geocaching through my friend microman97 about 3 weeks to a month ago. I was instantly hooked! I've showed my mom and friends - and they think it is neat, too! My husband JUST got started last week... and now he at least more TOLERANT of my obsession after finding a lvl 4 that took an hour to find. There is something about geocaching that sends some sort of positive impulses to my brain - I can't get enough, but have found that temperance and moderation is key to continued spousal support :) I bought a premium membership right away because I knew this is something I would continue to love. I carry lots of extra swag at varying levels of neatness and for different interests and ages to stoke caches that have degraded. I try and pay it forward. I only trade up, but often think best policy is to take nothing and leave something. I sign logs unless they are totally damaged or missing (thinking about carrying some extras just to be able to replace missing, full or defaced logs). I try and be the geocacher I would like to find my cache.

 

On to trackables :) so far I have found a few travelbugs (and have one out in circulation). I have yet to find anything but a laminated copy of a geocoin which isn't as cool... I'll be honest. But I understand why someone would do it! I would never keep a coin unless the owner of it said that it was okay. We have such an awesome game that brings a smile to my face and wakes up my inner child... and what makes me sad is that people are sometimes less than honorable. However, I won't dwell on that... I just vow to play fair and keep playing it as honorably, cleverly, and whole heartedly as I can.

 

I use a combination of iphone app and garmin nuvi for caching.

 

I have been making my own pathtags with my girls on some wooden "biscuits" that were pretty cheap. The hubs can't justify my buying REAL pathtags and geocoins (just 2 travel bugs - only one released so far) at this point... so my solution was to make our own. I draw HILLTOP HOMESCHOOLER on the back for them and we use a wood burning tool to trace it. On the other side they decorate whatever they want... horses, fish, landscape, etc. and then burn them. They're quite cute. Our swag is a lot of hand made stuff, arrow heads, polished rocks, toy compasses, earth shaped balls, etc...

 

Well, that's about it. Hope to get to know all of you better :)

 

My Geocoin question: Can you make a "VERSION" of your geocoin with its tracking number on it to send out? Say a wooden version? Also, if THAT one gets lost in someone's hands... can you just make another one with the same tracking number?

Edited by Hilltop Homeschooler
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I'm relatively new to geocaching, I've found 60 caches. So far, no geocoins. I would love to jump into this realm of geocaching, but am still in the learning stages of this sport.

 

My name is jrandleman. It's simply my first initial and last name. Rather boring, I know. My wife tells me that too. I live in south-central Missouri, and have been involved in geocaching since April. Like I said, I'm new...

 

I love to get outside, hiking, mountain biking, kayaking, etc. Geocaching has fit right into that for me.

 

I guess I don't really have any questions about geocoins. I read the FAQs and other information on Craig's site, so I kind of have an idea right now. I will probably have some questions later, though.

 

Thanks!

jrandleman

Edited by jrandleman
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Hi, I'm brand new to the Forum, but have been geocaching for 3 years. Only found one coin, but it was a Pathways, and although it had a trackable number, when I looked it up, it said there were 250 made to be given away and not travel. So that was disappointing, in a way. I wanted to read about where it had been!

 

My name is Sawatdee, which is Thai for HELLO! My daughter in law is a Bangkok native and I have learned about 800 words in Thai. Sabai dee mai?

 

I am a retired teacher, and enjoy geocaching because it is a great way to get outside and enjoy nature and spend time with the family, and I love a puzzle. Another obsession of mine is genealogy, which I have been doing for 25 years.

 

Hope I win my FIRST GEOCOIN!

 

Thanks!

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Hi

 

My name is Mysteriousrose

 

I really like roses so that's easy to explain, the mysterious part came because I started a book blog where I reviewed a lot of mystery books. The funny thing was I'm from Denmark and almost everytime I should write a review, I would need the word mysterious and I really had a difficult time not spelling it wrong. So at one point this became my alias and now I'll never forget how to spell it;-) (I hoped that made sense).

 

I have been geocaching for about 4 months now and I really love it. I also just bought my first geocoin and I can't wait to add more to my collection.

I love geocaching because it gets me away from the computer and out into the nature and I discover so many places that I never would have seen, had it not been for geocaching.

 

Other than geocaching I use a lot of time on my dog Bonita. I'm also about to finish a short film from the Danish filminstitut.

 

It's very nice to meet you all.

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Well Hello. This is fun, here is my story. I am Heather(aka: MamaBear) from TheHeyer4. We are newbies to both GeoCaching and Goeocoins and forum posting for that matter. We have 2 coins and 3 travel tags...that's it. We are also a new homeschooling family and are using GeoCaching as part of our education plan. My 4th grader was having a hard time adjusting to the whole homeschool thing so I was searching for something that would engage him and help unschool him. I hit it right on the dot with Geo Caching :-) Yeah Mom! right. I came by your post while doing some research on a coin we discovered that had the tracking number removed. We were trying to find its rightful owner to return the coin to them(we would be sad if our coin went missing). with assistance from a very helpful Cacher we ended up LURKING on a forum that you had commented on some time ago... I said "oh snap, he must have esp" and here we are commenting on your Stop Lurking page. LOL!

 

My question is: What is the most interesting cache you have found? I hear about payphones with secret codes, caches that need to hook up a car battery to open, super cool stuff like that but have not yet come across anything like it.

 

I love the stories behind interesting caches and coins and swag. So fun!

 

We hope to meet more Cachers out there on our journies.

so, Cheers from here to there! :D

~Heather

TheHeyer4

Bothell, Washington

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Hello all! I'm TheRoadWife (muggles call me Angela) and am "new" to geocaching. Our homebase is in IL, USA (will be Texas in the next year). We travel for my husbands work and in the last few months have gotten 5 countries already! I have about #86 finds right now. JUST got our first 6 trackables (4 bugs, one personal traveler to count our miles and one keychain that others can "discover" me!)

I was introduced to this wonderful game by a friend of mine whos kids love doing it and she uses it as part of her homeschooling/boy scouts troop stuff. I originally started for my kids but then I realized *I* was hooked! My son likes it also but still pretty young to know anything but "geocaching hike time". :D Its funny because now when ever he finds anything outside he calls it his cache <3 He got a treasure chest for his birthday to put his swag in! I'm in love with the iPhone app because we can be in between doing things and just need to blow off some kid steam and I can search in the area and go!

We have found a couple of coins and moved them on their way. I didn't know people collected them till I got on this forum. I would love to start a collection.I'm hoping for a 100 cache finds coin by end of the year!

Is there a place you can get personal WOOD coins made to use for dropping off at each cache you find? And are there kid specific coin collections? Looking forward to getting to know you all!

Edited by TheRoadWife
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Obviously I am new to this, since it was my illegal post that got your response that lead me here. Thanks for the info.

 

My name is Jeff, and my (our) caching name is Jarron&Company. My son Jarron took the geocaching merit badge at scout camp and got us both interested in geocaching. We are up to 55 caches found in about 3 months. We are from Utah, and currently own 1 geocoin (a Boy Scout 100th anniversary coin, what else) that we just placed in California over the Thanksgiving holiday (where we found the unmentionable item). We are excited to track it's progress, but are looking for more to own. So far we haven't found any trackables, but are looking hard so we can join in on that fun. Jarron really enjoys the multi-caches, especially some we've done searching for clues in cemeteries. We look forward to a long and enjoyable career of geocaching, and already want to get a better GPSr. Christmas is coming !! Good luck to all, and see you out there.

Edited by Jarron&Company
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Looks like there has been one or two posts over the last x months. (Sorry have been largely away from forums (and everything else!) due to work commitments)

 

I'll throw all those who've posted in the last few months (since April) into a draw and pick out a lucky geocoin winner. :)

Will do it tomorrow, so anyone who posts between now and then will also go into the draw (normal rules apply).

 

And, will answer any questions people have asked in the meantime... :)

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It looks like our fellow Kiwi from further up State Highway 1 is about to do a draw so it must be time to introduce ourselves. B)

 

Guwapo consists of Papa, Mama and Guwapo himself. Our caching name is our nickname for our little boy which means 'handsome' in Filipino. We have been caching since being introduced on January 2010. It has been a great driver to get outside and see our great country. We live in Dunedin, a few hours drive south of the OP, whose coin collection we are keen to see in person some day. :rolleyes:

 

Geocoin collecting started after the 10/10/10 multi-event last year and although it hasn't become an addiction it is certainly a habit.

 

Kind wish, Salamat

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Hi my name is Narelle and I live in the Northern Rivers District of NSW, Australia.

 

I have been geocaching for around a year now with my two children and absolutely love it. Recently I have found a few geocoins, they have all been trackables so I have moved them on. But I love the feel of them in my hand and some of them are really interesting. That got me researching and I discovered just how many geocoins there are! I now have the bug, I want to collect! lol. As of yet I do not have any geocoins but I'm looking for the 'right one' to start my collection. Either that or hoping to find a non-trackable in a cache :)

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Hello all, the name is Johnny. I like in central AL USA. WOO!

I am pretty new to this (been caching about a month and a half) Gotten by better half into it too:D that's the best.I own no coins as of yet.... been looking to purchase one but haven't found one I REALLY am digging just yet Lots of ones I like but ya know it needxs to be special to start my collection, I am looking into the club although that's quite expensive. :/

I would really love to get one maybe hold onto it for a bit and then release it. :) but who knows...

Have a great day!

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My name is William

i am a diesel mechanic by trade.

Currenty doing manufaturing work because my job market is $#!T here

I live in north east florida

my caching name is myvwrocks.

i have known about geo caching for years just never could afford a gps device to do it.

was able to squeak enough money to get a new phone and low and behold "theres an app for that"

so here i am

 

i have 2 trackables in inventory that i want to put some miles on and see in there logs they have visited other caches but i dont know how to make them do that. can you help?

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My name is Stuart and I'm addicted to geocoin collecting. (Insert 12-step response here! :) )

 

I've been saying for two years that I don't want to collect coins...I have a tendency to obsessive collecting. I kept my coins in a pile, so it wouldn't be a collection. I just bought an album and pages...

 

I'm new to the forums, but I have more than 20 coins.

 

I just posted info about the first coin I'm having made.

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My name is Stuart and I'm addicted to geocoin collecting. (Insert 12-step response here! :) )

 

I've been saying for two years that I don't want to collect coins...I have a tendency to obsessive collecting. I kept my coins in a pile, so it wouldn't be a collection. I just bought an album and pages...

 

I'm new to the forums, but I have more than 20 coins.

 

I just posted info about the first coin I'm having made.

 

welcome to the geocoin forum...i also have more than 20 coins, and look forward to trading or buying one of yours when they come available !

 

ILYK
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My name is Stuart and I'm addicted to geocoin collecting. (Insert 12-step response here! :) )

 

I've been saying for two years that I don't want to collect coins...I have a tendency to obsessive collecting. I kept my coins in a pile, so it wouldn't be a collection. I just bought an album and pages...

 

I'm new to the forums, but I have more than 20 coins.

 

I just posted info about the first coin I'm having made.

 

welcome to the geocoin forum...i also have more than 20 coins, and look forward to trading or buying one of yours when they come available !

 

ILYK

 

Hi nickgatt and welcome to the forums :)

 

The geocoin collecting bug can be a serious one... 2 years of pent-up-wanting-to-collect-coins is dangerous!

 

drneal - you are missing a few zero's from that number.... wouldn't 20,000 be closer than 20? :laughing:

 

(Actually - just how many do you have?, and is it true the corner of your house is sinking under the weight?)

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Hey there. My name is Sarah. I am not new to these forums, I've been pestering you guys for a few weeks now but I thought I'd add to this thread.

 

I have 2 jobs so I have stints of not being able to cache when things are too busy. :(

 

I have 7 coins and want many more. :D well 5 coins in my hand one as is in transit and the last one my other half bought me for when I get to 100 caches (guess what coin that one is :P)

 

I have an earth day mini coin

And the others are posted in the what arrived in the mail today thread.

I have 2 of the same one but varying in colours but those are the only ones I plan to have multiple of.

 

I love the trackable side of geocaching the most which also annoys me, as I'd love to send these pretty coins out into the wild but coins seem to disappear in my home town so am not willing to let them go.

 

Anywho I've rambled on long enough. :)

 

(Btw I don't care if this isn't active anymore just thought I'd post so you could get to know me)

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My name is Stuart and I'm addicted to geocoin collecting. (Insert 12-step response here! :) )

 

I've been saying for two years that I don't want to collect coins...I have a tendency to obsessive collecting. I kept my coins in a pile, so it wouldn't be a collection. I just bought an album and pages...

 

I'm new to the forums, but I have more than 20 coins.

 

I just posted info about the first coin I'm having made.

 

welcome to the geocoin forum...i also have more than 20 coins, and look forward to trading or buying one of yours when they come available !

 

ILYK

 

Hi nickgatt and welcome to the forums :)

 

The geocoin collecting bug can be a serious one... 2 years of pent-up-wanting-to-collect-coins is dangerous!

 

drneal - you are missing a few zero's from that number.... wouldn't 20,000 be closer than 20? :laughing:

 

(Actually - just how many do you have?, and is it true the corner of your house is sinking under the weight?)

 

about 3500, 2582 activated trackables with about another 50 that need to be activated

 

ILYK
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welcome to the geocoin forum...i also have more than 20 coins, and look forward to trading or buying one of yours when they come available !

 

drneal - you are missing a few zero's from that number.... wouldn't 20,000 be closer than 20? :laughing:

 

(Actually - just how many do you have?, and is it true the corner of your house is sinking under the weight?)

 

about 3500, 2582 activated trackables with about another 50 that need to be activated

 

ILYK

 

Wow - that's a lot of activated coins! How on earth do you keep track of them all!? LOL

 

And thanks for sharing - with the numbers you post photo's of in the Mailbox thread I thought you might have significantly more, but I guess you also do quite a bit of trading. Do you know how many coins trades you've done over your geocoining career?

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welcome to the geocoin forum...i also have more than 20 coins, and look forward to trading or buying one of yours when they come available !

 

drneal - you are missing a few zero's from that number.... wouldn't 20,000 be closer than 20? :laughing:

 

(Actually - just how many do you have?, and is it true the corner of your house is sinking under the weight?)

 

about 3500, 2582 activated trackables with about another 50 that need to be activated

 

ILYK

 

Wow - that's a lot of activated coins! How on earth do you keep track of them all!? LOL

 

And thanks for sharing - with the numbers you post photo's of in the Mailbox thread I thought you might have significantly more, but I guess you also do quite a bit of trading. Do you know how many coins trades you've done over your geocoining career?

 

more than 20 !

 

ILYK
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welcome to the geocoin forum...i also have more than 20 coins, and look forward to trading or buying one of yours when they come available !

 

drneal - you are missing a few zero's from that number.... wouldn't 20,000 be closer than 20? :laughing:

 

(Actually - just how many do you have?, and is it true the corner of your house is sinking under the weight?)

 

about 3500, 2582 activated trackables with about another 50 that need to be activated

 

ILYK

 

Wow - that's a lot of activated coins! How on earth do you keep track of them all!? LOL

 

And thanks for sharing - with the numbers you post photo's of in the Mailbox thread I thought you might have significantly more, but I guess you also do quite a bit of trading. Do you know how many coins trades you've done over your geocoining career?

 

more than 20 !

 

ILYK

 

ROTFLMAO... Thanks drneal - I needed that laugh to brighten my day!

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Hello all!

 

I too would like to say howdy!

I have been lurking and trading in the forums for some time, but I can't remember if I properly introduced myself yet.

 

I started caching back in 2006, and the geocoin addiction came early.

Although I haven't had the opportunity to purchase many, I still do have a few kicking around... forty or so, not counting the non-trackable ones, and the other smaller ones floating around.

 

I have had the pleasure of trading some of my doubles in the last mathtrade, and gained a few truly amazing coins.

 

I work fulltime, and don't get out as often as I would like, but if there's a trackable in the area, I make a point of finding it. I may not own it, but I do get the joy of at least holding it for a little time.

 

Thanks all!

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Ok I'll stop lurking! My name is Chris and I got my geocaching name because I'm a filmmaker and I teach film classes. I'm currently a graduate film student at University of Central Florida. In my program at UCF I have to write and direct a feature-length film and decided to make one where the characters go geocaching. I heard about geocaching in 2003 when I worked for Radio Shack and wanted to know more about GPS's. I thought it was SO cool but couldn't afford a GPS. Eventually I got an iPhone and about a month later found the Geocaching App! That was the fastest I'd ever clicked to download anything ever! My wife and I found our first cache at Pikes Place Market in Seattle. I was hooked. Unfortunately my poor wife had really bad allergies so we didn't get out much. Plus we lived in Kansas City where the weather was COLD for half the year. Now I'm in school in Florida and the weather is nice! I'm trying to geocache more but making a movie is a lot of work. Making a movie about geocaching has also helped me learn so much more about it and the more I learn the more I love!

 

The movie is about Erica. She lost her mom to cancer a year ago. She gets into trouble and has to do community service at a soup kitchen. There she meets a volunteer named Ryan. She follows him into the woods and after scaring the heck out of him finds out he's geocaching. She learns all about it and by working at the soup kitchen realizes that maybe life has more to offer than she thought.

 

It will be a family-friendly movie with a lot of awesome geocaching woven into the story. I'm excited to make it for you guys and hope you enjoy it. If you want to see the website and maybe sign up for email updates every now and then you can visit us at treasurethemovie.com. Take care and have fun caching!

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