If I learned one thing at GW8 it was ...

[+wimseyguy]

I suppose with the right level of medication you could say that the kiddie bounce castle looked like this one.

 

[+all Wright]

The lesson I learned at GWVIII is not to make plans with local (to home) cachers or anyone for that matter on the day of the big event. We were supposed to get together for a group pic (my idea) and I completely spaced the time caught up in the moment. Heck, I forgot to eat until near the end of the event.

 

GWVIII was a timewarp. It seemed to only be 2 or 3 hours long and I was there for set up volunteering @ 7am and I didn't leave until after 7:30pm.

 

I've got to have some sig items or path tags for events like this. Going empty handed felt awful when so many people were happy to give me theirs, even for nothing in exchange. I will have something... give me a month and I'll have something.

 

I learned that one at GWIV. I was running the TB station and everyone was really impressed with the new system I had devised and while complimenting on how smooth it went they would hand me their sig item (I think GWIV was pre-pathtag) or in many cases a personal trackable coin. I wasn't prepared and at the end of the day I had a pile of siggys and 20+ trackable coins. You're right. It didn't feel good to get all that in exchange for nuthin.

 

Well I started doing some math on a coin and I got a complicated design together... One small but good quality coin maker refused to make the coin as too complicated for him to do and the cheapest estimate I got was $11 per coin if I did a run of 1000. $13 per for smaller runs.

 

Hmmmm $11k and I can make 998 people happy..... OR I can buy a coin press for less than $3k and make 1000 people happy for $50 to $100 material cost depending on the metal I press AND smashed coins have a wider sales appeal than geocoins. One of my sets will sell for $20 to $40+ on ebay because privatly rolled coins are highly prized by collectors. Everyone who gave me a trackable at GW got a special mixed metal set (wheat pennies, nickels, & foreign coins) with extra coins added in to make up for the fact that I misplaced a bag of my Crappy pennies and only had like 4 of them with me. DOH!

 

I hope I gave you one of my sig coins. I remember meeting you. I gave on to just about everyone I crossed paths with.

 

I would love to see a picture of your press and your coins - having a hard time visualizing what you are describing, but it's very interesting to me.