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First Geocacher To Find 1000 Travel Bugs


JeeperDad

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Why does it seem like so many people in the forums are quicker to criticize than they are to give praise and encouragement for fellow gc'ers? Centris is obviously playing the game in the way that gives her the most enjoyment and satisfaction, presumably much like everyone else here is, right? So I say, CONGRATS to Centris, great job, and here's to 1,000 more! Cheers,

 

-Ken

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In the area where that person is, the cacher's do a lot of "showing" the bugs to each other. I mean, one person exerts the effort to find a geocache and pluck out a TB. Then other cachers simply post a note saying "I saw this bug in the hands of XYZ" or "I saw this TB at a meeting".

 

I don't care about statistics, but what I do care about is this "bug showing" tends to keep bugs stuck in one place for a long time.

 

The cachers in that area have been "showing" one of my bugs around to friends for a couple of months. I understand it is Winter and not the best weather to find another cache to place it in. However, people in that area also have the very first bug we ever found and have been 'showing" it around since September (that's 4 months and counting). We go to that bug's page every once in a while to see where its been , but it looks like it's not going to be released any time soon.

Edited by doodlecat
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I don't care about statistics, but what I do care about is this "bug showing" tends to keep bugs stuck in one place for a long time.

 

I agree. But that seems to be all the rage around here. Oh, that sort of includes the TB hotel/motel - which are used to swap out showed bugs. This area has a high quantitiy of bugs here now, and most have all gone thru this mess. My very first bug's goal was to avoid Any and All hotel/motels, and included a line about avoiding "Bug Mongers" - as I called them. I was then given the "why motels are good for bugs" speech, and ended up deleting the monger line. It was touchy to some. My first Bug was inducted by a finder who then passed it off to C. My second bug - she went after as well, but did not "get" My third is in WI now, hopefully safe from the fray. BTW- there is alot of "politics" in geocaching around here.....;)

 

The whole group of MN cachers (MNGCA)with high bug counts- if you looked into it, youd see they all had the same bugs - many of which are owned by those in the stats race, and most all still hanging around in some event cache, etc.

 

I expect "showing" will become a lot less popular now that "notes" don't count as finds. You have to actually grab the bug for it to count.

 

That wasn't always the case. Thats when the big #'s were accumulated.

 

I heard this recently- There are 3 kinds of lies. Lies, dadgum Lies and statistics.

 

Congrats to the Buig Queen tho- I hear shes now going to change her geocaching objectives.

 

*PS- This post will most likely cost me.....

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*PS- This post will most likely cost me.....

The only thing that this is going to cost you is your sanity for thinking that everything is going to work the way you want it to. I personally release travel bugs and place caches with hopes that they don't come up missing. So if you release a bug and it gets shown to everyone for months on end and then gets place in a cache, I would be jumping for joy that it gets to continue its journey.

As far as goals, I have considered changing the goals to the bugs that I own that do have goals. Most goals never get achieved, so I feel as if I am setting my self up for dissapointment. A good goal for travel bugs should to be able to continue there journey, and as long as they are doing that I will be happy.

Nothing personal just my two cents. And by the way I do not know any one in the state that Centris is in, so in no way shape or form is this to defend what they do. And with that being said congrats to Centris

 

Damenace

Edited by Damenace
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The only thing that this is going to cost you is your sanity for thinking that everything is going to work the way you want it to.

 

Thank You

 

I am one of those people I guess. I'm in no T B stats race, but I have released the most in the state, as far as I know. I'm happy for any kind of post indicating the bug is still active.

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Centris has found many of my bugs ( I released a few in florida just to vex her :) ) and she has done things like attach laminated, more concise info cards to bugs that I could have done a better job on. she has hit a few of my caches several times just to retrieve bugs. she grabs correctly, releases correctly, posts notes, follows, blah, blah, blah. An exemplary cacher, with a great attitude, which is more than I can say for some of the curmudgeons around here. :blink:

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Hey, even the travel bugs themselves like Centris lots and lots and want to see her again :ph34r: as evidenced by this log of hers in this bug's page:

 

"What are the odds??? (Astronomical!!!)

It left Minnesota to Oregon, then to Texas, now back here, all within 7 weeks and 5 cachers..... unbelievable!!!

Poor little bear must be homesick is all."

Edited by Sparrowhawk
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Interesting comments about Minnesota cachers. Perception and reality don't always match though. Doodlecat laments his bug being in Minnesota for months. Well, here is the history of that bug. Dropped in Oregon in September. Changed hands five times (once doodlecat picked it up and dropped it in another cache), dropped in a Oregon cache on 9/20 and picked up by me on 10/6. Spent 90 days in Oregon and traveled 30.7 miles. Arrived in Minnesota 10/6 showed it to Centris, who posted a note. Spent 10 days in Minnesota. Dropped in eastern Wisconsin (240 miles from Minnesota) on 10/16 traveled 1634.4 miles from Oregon. Picked up 81 days later by KC0QEG who brought it back to Minnesota. He has had it for a month. So, 90 days in Oregon, 10 days in Minnesota, 81 days in Wisconsin and now 30 days in Minnesota. As to the first bug doodlecat found, yes I see it is in Minnesota in the hands of a cacher who has not been very active in recent months. He will get out more in spring and drop the bug. We all like geocaching. We all have a little different slant on what is fun. I personally think locationless caches are kind of goofy, but I wouldn't complain about cachers who love them. I suppose we could invent all kinds of rules to govern geocaching activity, but so far the diversity of ideas and interests has seemed to me to be refreshing.

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Why does it seem like so many people in the forums are quicker to criticize than they are to give praise and encouragement for fellow gc'ers?  Centris is obviously playing the game in the way that gives her the most enjoyment and satisfaction, presumably much like everyone else here is, right?  So I say, CONGRATS to Centris, great job, and here's to 1,000 more!  Cheers,

 

-Ken

Well said. Everyone plays their own game. Those who wish to impose their standards on others are missing the big picture.

 

This thread was started to congratulate a fellow tb hound for their dedication to accomplishing a lofty goal. Instead, people chose to use it as an excuse to complain about their own bugs and the way others play the game. That is why I seldom visit the TB Forum. I fondly call it, "The Whining and Unrealistic Expectation Forum," and what better example than this thread.

 

WAY TO GO CENTRIS!!! Keep playing your own game....

 

Sn :ph34r::ph34r: gans

Edited by Snoogans
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CONGRATS CENTRIS!

 

I am an pretty new cacher and hoping to be able to snag my 2nd travelbug on Saturday if it is still there. Being in such a rural area in NW Kansas, just seeing a travel bug is a treat! I will be placing a few travelbugs out in the next few months so you might end up seeing them!

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I was wondering about this as well... 1000 bugs in 372 caches??? That is about 2.6 bugs per cache, seems rather high to me...

Everyone plays the game differently. If someone wants to grab a lot of bugs, it's not too hard (though 1000 is still quite impressive). There are caches like this one that attract a lot of bugs. Bug hunters can go there to trade bugs as often as they wany.

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Con grats to centris on her 1000th bug. Sounds like she's a pretty good bugger!! I would be honored to have her help one of my bugs if she ever got a hold of one! I actually have a TB heading to MN! He's called the '49 Woody TB. He's heading up to the Big Ridge Suprise cache by Team Hooligan. I think it's kinda depressing to see all of these people putting you down for how you play the caching game. Play it the way you want to. Ihave my own version of the game i sometimes play when I get bored of the normal. I find premium member caches when I'm not a premium member! If they give me a loop hole to find it, I will!! Only found one so far! Believe me, it's hard. Although, the only way to claim it is to log into the log book in the cache, there isn't any other way to claim it as a find!! I know I'll get some criticizism for this!!! But, hey, we all play the game a different way. I got bored of finding it the traditional way!! The way I look at it is if you don't want me to find your premium member cache, ya better plan it better than an active member cache!!

V-8 of the Piston Heds

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And today the count is back in the 600s.

 

Such is life I guess.

Life is hard.........Just think of all those "ShowMe" Logs..... :D:o:DB)B)B):lol::huh::D:huh::o:D:D:lol::lol::lol::lol:

I'm totally with you....bons

 

JayBee

 

EDIT: Yu 2......Pnew

 

EDIT: I'm gettin close to 100 posts now, so give me summ respekt.....

Edited by jbhooker3
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lol woah timeout here; where is the explanation for this. How does one who shamelessly touts brakeing numerous "TB number barriers" suddenly lose nearly 400 TB finds? I could see some quiet person keeping this all to his/herself while illegally logging TBs (ok so I couldn't think of another word beside "illegally" lol) but the fact is she was durn proud of all those TB finds. Who knows what happened???

Edited by pnew
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What I think happened is that the rollback from notes finally occurred.

Those bugs logged as "found" with a number are still found. Those bugs logged as notes no longer are.

 

I'm making no judgement call on "fair" or "unfair" since numbers really don't matter to me. This is something that changed that many people never expected to change (even recently, it was common advice to tell someone to log the bug as a note in certain circumstances). Yet it was also something that many people wanted changed (because they took the "find count" seriously and got mad at what they personally thought of as "fraudulent finds" or "inflated count").

 

You'll see people rejoice and see others upset. Don't mistake me for either one of them. I'm just watching the parade.

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I guess it all comes down to the definition of "find". Does it mean "grab"? (It does now). But originally it didn't.

 

The "notes" could have just as easily been a log to Grab and another to Place in any given cache. But before the redesign of the bug pages, you had to do that one at a time...creating a lot of traffic on the site for each extra note per bug.

 

Its always easy to look back and say... "You should have done it different."

 

As more cachers play, the rules get refined. So we live with the change and move on.

Edited by JeeperDad
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JeeperDad is right. My numbers also dropped after deleting the notes. It really doesn't matter though. I know I had every one of those bugs in my hand and could have logged them in and out of a cache. If I am at a cache with a bug that has a clear goal and I can't help it to that goal, should I log it out, and then in, to show I have "found" it? Seems silly. Or, I could physically grab it and take it home and drop it later even if I have done it no good, then I would have a "find" but I would have kept the bug from its goal. I havn't seen a notice that says anyone is paying big money for geocaching stats :unsure: so I guess I will continue to do exactly what I have always done; find caches, help bugs if I can, and read the forum posts to see who is upset about what new issue this week.

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I havn't seen a notice that says anyone is paying big money for geocaching stats......

 

profile

 

interesting rant for someone who doesnt really care-

 

Seeing Is Believing, but seeing is Not finding.

 

The I saw a picture of the St. Paul Winter Carnival Medallion After it was found- Should I get credit for finding it?

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I received an e-mail from a geocacher who said that he would like to trade some TBs that I "recovered" from an unlloged cache. Upon meeting this person he said that he was about third in the nation for total amount of TBs found. As I talked with him he indicated that he would just logs his twenty TBs into one of my caches and that I would log my 20 TBs into one also.

 

He gave me his 20 bugs and I gave him my twenty. I was curios about how "fair" this sort of trading is. Stats for Tbs are not something I'm interested in. Well, the day after we traded I logged on to see where the bugs were.

 

It turns out the bugs had already been shown logged in and out of two other accounts. So the 20 bugs I had 1 day were "found" the same day and then the day found again and then the same day found by the original person I had traded with.

 

Some person in my "CO Sign for Cache West" cache indicated that something sinister was going with the travel going in and out of this cache. That peson who complained in the same person who "found" the bugs the day after I traded them.

 

1000 TBs congrats but I would like to know how many ammo cans, cookie jars, tupperwear boxes and actual field caches wer found and if they indeed included Tbs in the trade goods.

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If you go to your profile page- under user stats- the page reflects the new, correct number of bugs found. If you click the TB icon, then you Still get a complete list of

ALL your bugs found, or noted.

 

Seems to be a stats issue to those who argue this is somehow "unfair"

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First, congratulations to Centris on 1000 bug FINDS!

 

Second, It seems to me that gc.com needs to have TWO statistics for Travel Bugs.

 

1) The traditional FOUND count, as it was up until a few days ago.

2) A new MOVED count.

 

For whatever reason, it has been common practice to log TB finds with just a note if the cacher doesn't move them. It is wrong not to continue to count these as finds.

 

But I can see why people would like to know how many times they have moved TB's. Plus, it gives them another statistic that they can compete on or set a personal goal for. And that has got to be good business for gc.com.

 

Jeremy.com^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hgc.com should make these changes quickly, to avoid PO'ing a lot of paying members.

 

-Rick

 

FULL DISCLOSURE: I gave up logging TB's long ago, as well as exchanging McToys, as both activities bore me. So I have no vested interest in the way this turns out. But I do understand these activities are thrilling for other people.

Edited by rickrich
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I travel all over the USA for my job as a traveling software consultant, and I cache wherever I am when time permits. I was on assignment for 2 weeks in the Twin Cities in Sept and logged quite a few caches and TBs, and also brought many TBs with me that I dropped off in several local caches.

 

It was at that point that Centris contacted me personally, and we arranged to get together for a "TB Summit". She is an exemplary cacher and she was incredibly generous with me and with the many TBs she had access to - she realized that as a frequent traveler/cacher, I'm a good "bug/mileage mover", so she sent me on my way with MANY TBs. I made a LOT of TB owners happy with all the mileage I put on those TBs when I dropped them off elsewhere in the USA (and Canada!) during other travels within the next 45 days after that.

 

Speaking as a "guest cacher" to the Twin Cities while I was there, I can say with authority that folks who bash Centris and others who have upped their TB Find counts with LEGITIMATE Note logs don't know the whole story. Why is caring about the numbers such a bad thing? Just because you care about the numbers and like to increase them (again, legitimately - Centris and the other MN cachers did nothing wrong when they logged all those TB "visits" as Notes - those were the rules at the time!), doesn't mean that it's ALL about the numbers. I visited some outstanding caches in FABULOUS locations all over the Twin Cities, and I let folks know about it with detailed, complimentary notes in my logs and elsewhere publicly. Yeah, I was happy to crank stat numbers while I was at it - what the heck is wrong with that?

 

That doesn't mean that's ALL I cared about. Same concept applies to folks up there cranking TB Find numbers...it is what it is, but it's not ALL there is. I guarantee you that Centris and others up there are not JUST about the stats - but that doesn't mean that they ignore the stats (or aren't proud of them!) either. There's nothing wrong with that.

 

-Dave R. in Biloxi

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Hmm...

PLESE NOTE: This is NOT directed at Centris OR ANYONE IN PARTICULAR!

 

I can now see how there is a lot of grey area in the world of TB's - I would imagine that if it was all to be done all over again, the 'creator' would have the TB be the same as a regular cache. Find it once and you're done. After that, you're just moving the thing and don't get the credit for 're-finding' it and 're-placing' the TB. I also think the TB's should 'forensically' be attached to a cache - by this, I mean the TB has to be removed and traced from a cache that the geocacher has actually been to (and had the TB in it in the first place!) and then placed in a cache the person has actually been to. If it's been off on a 'TB meet' or whatever and never saw the inside of a cache, it wouldn't be counted as a find. Also; if you visit a 'TB hostel' (or any other cache that might happen to have more than one TB in it) then it's a 'take one, leave one' policy, no matter what, both in the 'real' world and on the machine. By this I mean, you CAN'T log more than one TB per cache since you didn't TAKE more than one. Get it? :)

So in other words: No cache visit, no TB credit. No more logging a TB that doesn't have a direct link to a cache you just went to or came from. No more logging multiple TB per cache finds. Find the loopholes and close them. :lol:

Personally, I think geocaching is whatever you want it to be. I don't care about 'finding' or 'moving' Travel Bugs; Myself, I LIKE finding the regular caches and the trading that goes on. Even more than that, I like whatever it takes to get me there. The driving, the hiking, the searching. It's not what's IN the cache that gets me there. For others? There are other reasons - NOW using Centris as my example, it's pretty clear that some people are very into TB's and the culture that goes with being a bug trader. Is that bad? No. Does that hurt you or me? Of course not. You might be into geocaching for oh… just to see what kind of container they use. Others might be of the ‘took nothing, left nothing’ type of geocachers and just note their find (log and/or website) and I imagine that at the very end of the scale (Probably where all the ‘lifers’ will eventually wind up at some point…) is just to simply take the cords off of the site, go there and find it without anyone ever knowing they were ever there; no log of any kind, no trade… Nothing. Just a smile as they see the glint of plastic under a rock and then walk away without ever touching it.

 

Now: Here’s the RESPECT that Centris certainly deserves and seems to be vastly ignored by almost everyone.

 

Traditional Caches found – 292

Multi-caches found – 9

Virtual caches found – 24

Webcam caches – 1

Locationless (Reverse) caches – 2

Cache in Trash out events – 1

 

One top of that, she has FIFTEEN still active regular caches that she owns. That’s FIFTEEN caches she has to baby-sit on a near weekly basis. All those caches she put out there JUST for you and I to find. How many do you have out there? How have you contributed to the sport? I’m not quizzing you. It’s more of a quiz you can give yourself. :lol:

 

It’s never fair to bash a player that is only playing whatever game they want to play with whatever rules they are given, no matter how big the gray area is. If everyone can agree they don’t like the way the game is played, then they can always change the rules.

 

Until then, we either play… or we watch. No one likes a Monday Quarterback. :lol: Even if all of us occasionally like to play one on T.V. :lol:

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If it's been off on a 'TB meet' or whatever and never saw the inside of a cache, it wouldn't be counted as a find.

Makes moving that walking stick a mite bit difficult. I've handed off TBs before because doing so was the best way to advance their goal. We could have done something stupid like logged it in and out of a local cache that we had both visited just by posting notes, but that would have been pointless. A grab was a much more accurate way of describing what happened.

 

Also; if you visit a 'TB hostel' (or any other cache that might happen to have more than one TB in it) then it's a 'take one, leave one' policy, no matter what, both in the 'real' world and on the machine. By this I mean, you CAN'T log more than one TB per cache since you didn't TAKE more than one. Get it?  :lol:

Yes, but do you? Multiple people, including Jeremy have expressed their opinions of the "take one, leave one" policy. TBs are meant to move and the desires of the bug owner seem to be more important than the desires of the cache owner in this case. I'd rather someone took all three bugs from a hotel, left none, and helped them all on their way than took one bug, left a new one to languish and left the other two there to rot.

 

I don't care about 'finding' or 'moving' Travel Bugs

Then you're probably not the right person to suggest a bunch of new rules for the process. I'd rather talk to TB owners since they seem to have a larger stake in this sort of thing.

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The last week has opened my eyes to this newer element in travel bug trading. Didn't know it was happening. With certain exceptions I now find TB hunting to be just as valid as any other items hunted. Another area to set and accomplish goals and have them posted on the profile page.

 

I have a new-found respect for TB hunters who's bug-find to cache-find ratio is several times higher than one would expect. Greatest respect goes to those who actually find bugs in a cache and then place them in a different cache. Some aspects of TB trading still strongly bother me but those are my opinions (and that is what grains of salt were created for). Won't go into that here.

 

So congratulations to Centris for at least 615 travel bug finds, maybe more.

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Today Centris found her 1000th travelbug. (Travel Bugs and Coins)

 

She is the first geocacher to find that many.... and that is a log of travelbugs.

 

Congratulations Centris on 1000!

 

In Arizona, I have earned a reputation as a geocacher who likes to find and move travel bugs. However, many of my fellow geocachers on Azgeocaching.com criticize me for this practice. Therefore, why is Centris congratulated here for amassing a high travel bug find count, yet I get criticized by many of my fellow geocachers for picking up and moving travel bugs more frequently than most geocachers?

 

Note: I always try to move a travel bug as soon as I can after acquiring it. I try to log my travel bug findings as quickly and as accurately as I can. I try not to put travel bugs in caches that are exposed or have a high risk of becoming lost or stolen before the next geocacher visits it. Sometimes I do put a travel bug in a hard-to-reach cache, but I feel that provides a good incentive for another geocacher to make a visit to that cache, and if I could find the cache, then it couldn't be too difficult to reach. (I'm not Superman and I'm just an ordinary guy). I only claim travel bugs that I have actually found in a cache and/or have moved to another cache. I don't claim finds on travel bugs that I may have seen at an event cache and I wrote down the tag number, for example. (I know many geocachers who do this to pad their find numbers).

 

Ken (a.k.a. Highpointer) :back::lol:

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Why is  Centris congratulated here for amassing a high travel bug find count, yet I get criticized by many of my fellow geocachers for picking up and moving travel bugs more frequently than most geocachers?

Are you sure you read the whole thread or did you skip over some of the replies just after the first post?

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I have read the thread through I i must be missing something. I checked centris's stats on her profile just now and it says only 627 TB's and 6 Geo coins. found I see she also owns 31 TB's. Where did 1000 TB's come from if there are not in the stats?? Although 627 is very impressive !!! And she deserves credit for that feat alone.

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I have read the thread through I i must be missing something.  I checked centris's stats on her profile just now and it says only 627 TB's and 6 Geo coins. found  I see she also owns 31 TB's.  Where did 1000 TB's come from if there are not in the stats??  Although 627 is very impressive !!! And she deserves credit for that feat alone.

First: this is an kind of an old thread.

Second: the rules on travel bugs changed. Notes once counted as finds. Notes no longer count as finds. Now in order to get a find, you need to actually "have possession" of the bug.

 

So what happened is that her find count changed retroactively.

 

A closer look at this tells you what's really happening. You can decide for yourself if it's a game you care about or not. Anyone could have picked up and extra 40 or so bugs at Sax Man's campout. Under the old rules they just would have written down numbers and posted notes for all of them. Under the new rules they just would have grabbed all of them or check them all in and out of the campout.

 

Or you can just logs the ones you brought there and log the ones you took home, which most everyone else seems to do.

 

Which game you choose to play is up to you.

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Imajika is right about TH&G. Their number of TB finds goes up daily, it seems. I know they've found several of mine and I'm thankful when they do because it gets the bugs out of the vortex that is Colorado caching.

 

One of my bugs that's still caught in that vortex has traveled 100+ miles in 6 weeks and only seen 4 caches between Northern CO and Denver metro caches. I'm thinking of snagging it myself and taking it out of the cycle to parts unknown to see if it fares any better.

 

Congrats are in order, still, to Centris.

 

(Gotta stick up for us folks out here in the West, ya know?)

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