Does Your Family Think You Are A Dork?

March 4, 2004

Does your family think that there is something “wrong” with you for geocaching? My teenage daughter is embarrassed to no end by the fact that am geocaching. Everyone in my family understands my tendency to play with gadgets (especially electronic ones), but my daughter is totally creeped out that I go “lurking” around looking for treasure.

We are planning a trip to Albany next week for a college orientation meeting. There are enough caches on the campus and in the downtown area that I could probably have a 6-8 cache day without a lot of hassle, and my daughter insists that if I bring my GPSr, her social life will be ended before it begins. Now, I wasn't planning to set the GPSr on the table at lunch and announce to her future classmates that I am a complete dork, I am very discrete when seeking out a cache. Has anyone else run into this.

Rossinator.

4k · March 4, 2004

My family has known I'm a dork for many, many years....long before I ever discovered geocaching......

March 4, 2004

Hi I'm laserman and I'm a nerd I like geocaching, star trek, gagdets, computers, . . . the list goes on and on (even dance like a complete nerd).

My wife calls me a nerd about once a week, I smile and remind her that she's the one who married a nerd. On the other hand my daughter and son didn't have a choice but to be associated with a nerd. My daughter was upset the other night because she couldn't find her geocaching hat, it made me smile inside. Hopefully she'll feel the same when she reaches her teen years.

March 4, 2004

I've been a "dork" all my life and am proud of it!

My kids (2 girls, 4 and 8 y/o) love to go with me. My wife doesn't really get what it's all about yet, but she's going to go with me this saturday and we'll see what she thinks then.

4.7k · March 4, 2004

no. my mom caches. my dad caches. my partner can be pressed into caching. my sister does not cache, but she thinks it sounds interesting. i have no other blood relatives.

my stepmother caches, my brother in law has cached and probably will again.

and although my family does not think geocaching is dorky, i am kind of a dork anyway. although i prefer the term "geek".

2.2k · March 4, 2004

i haven't any kids to worry about. my brothers both geocache. our parents are glad that in our late 40's and early 50's we still go on roadtrips together. everyone else just thinks i'm ecccentric not a dork, geek or nerd. i'll take eccentric any day.

4.8k · March 4, 2004

Well, most people think I am a dork, but not necessarily because of caching! fortunately they still hang out with me and seem to enjoy my company. I tend to think I am more of a geek than a dork, but this topic has been debated to death among my social circle, and I won't get into it here. Hmm I did have a point, what was it? Oh..... My parents really like to cache, so no, I don't have this problem with family. Of course my parents are also geeks like me! I would go so far to say that they are even geekier than me, particularly my father. That is why I like them so much!

Edited March 4, 2004 by carleenp

March 4, 2004

Yes, but my sister is looking for her first GPS, my bother is a lost cause, but thats because he is a dork

March 4, 2004

I'll admit that I am a dork, a geek. I like my computer, my multitude of laptops, my palm pilot, my game boy, my XBox, my GPS and on and on and on. But, the fact that I'm so darn cute offsets a lot of that. Hehehe.

Anyhoo . . .

My family is rarely surprised by anything I do. Sure . . . they probably do think I'm a dork but ya know what? . . . I don't give a plying pluck.

Now that I think about it, they're the one's who bought me my Little Yellow E-trex. Maybe they don't think I'm a dork, after all. Or, maybe they're just trying to keep me busy and out of trouble.

(sigh)

Whatever, nevertheless . . .

Happy caching and stuff and I got lots of stuff!! How cool is that?

March 4, 2004

My folks really enjoy it and have had a GPSr longer than I have. Whenever I visit, they want to go geocaching, hiking, or canoeing. My uncle always hid buried treasures around the forests for me and gave me maps when I was a kid, so they kind of look at it the same way as that.

4.7k · March 4, 2004

i was always geeky. not computer geeky, but "in three bands at school and two choruses and mom-i-need-a-ride-to-quintet-practice" geeky.

now i'm "has a GPS and five bicycles and just took up climbing" geeky.

i have permatent bad hair, no fashion sense, and am enormously popular at the MIDDLE SCHOOL where i work.

life's ironic sometimes.

March 4, 2004

O.k., another parent of a teen here. You first need realize that for a few years now, you sweet lovable child who once worshipped the ground you walked on is going to think anything you do that isn't mainstream with all the other parents makes you weird. :lol: It's ok, it goes away. My oldest (now 21) isn't ashamed by the strange things I do anymore, she says it's what makes me cute!

My son, 17, REALLY hated us going Geocaching....at first. He would still rather hang with his football buddies at the Mall, but knows that one day each weekend is for Geocaching. Again, at first, he hated it. He was afraid one of his friends would see us. He referred to our new hobby as GeoTrashing. We tried letting him use the GPS and guiding us, that didn't work. Then we tried letting him actually make the find on a cache, we spotted it, but acted like we didn't and kept telling him to help us look and he did find it. But that really didn't change his mind about the whole thing either. He did keep saying he knew some woods by his high school where it would be a cool hide. After a couple of weeks, we let him show us and it was a cool spot. We let him find the hiding spot and take the coords over a couple of days. Now that made a difference. He likes seeing if anyone has found his cache and what they say. He also had a weekend where something big he had planned fell through and he suggested to me we go cache, it was better than sitting around the house. Talk about shock! :lol: He has also started to have fun on the hikes and enjoys the challenge, especially when it's rugged terrain we are hiking around in. He hasn't come out and said caching is cool, but he doesn't complain about going and hasn't called it geotrashing in sometime. :lol:

In regards to the upcoming trip: just remember like all phases, the embarrassment will pass. Don't push the issue, just let her know you love her and support her and her thoughts, ideas and values and expect the same from her. Leave it at that. The teens are a hard age, not only for them, but for us! Good Luck!!!!!

24.7k · March 4, 2004

My daughter is approaching that age where even having parents is an embarrasment. I told her if she was ever embarrased by me I'd make a face that makes me look like I have an IQ of 25 and insist on driving her to school every day while honking the car horn. Then I demonstrated the face.

Once she got over the shock she decided that bad as things are in the embarrasment department, they could be worse. But she does think that geocaching is cool.

4.7k · March 4, 2004

oh, and please remember that it's developmentally appropriate for them to be embarrassed by you. it doesn't matter what you do. i'm given to understand that it's a normal part of the individuation process. they hate it when you tell them that...

1.3k · March 4, 2004

Still being somewhat of a kid, what all of you has said about it being a phase is definitely right. I was never really embarassed to much about my parents, because they have always been cool, but many of my friends used to be, and that has all changed for the better.

My mom thinks that caching is a little silly. She thinks that because there is no real incentive to find a cache, that I will lose interest very fast. My dad thinks its cool.

When I first started, I didnt really tell anyone about it, including my closest friend. One day, out of the blue, I told him everything, and he looked at me like I was crazy. He couldnt believe that people hid things everywhere. He told me to take him to one right then (it was around 10 at night). We went and found one close by, and he was so amazed, that he ordered a GPS the next day. I think dorks, nerds, geeks, etc. are great for the world. They make you feel so much better about yourself! :lol:

My daughter was upset the other night because she couldn't find her geocaching hat, it made me smile inside.

Oh one other thing. At least I'm not breeding them!

March 4, 2004

Like Sparky, my family has known for a long time that I am something of a dork/geek. I have grown out of some of my dorki/geeki-ness over the years. I still enjoy a good game of chess now and again, and still enjoy a good strategic first-person shooter on the ol' PC (Counterstrike, the Rainbow Six series, etc), but I have normalized in a lot of ways (still an avid reader, but no longer a steady diet of sci-fi, etc). I actually enjoy the outdoors and adventure/treasurehunting aspects of geocaching much more than the computer-based aspects. I have to spend enough time at work sitting in front of a PC. Sitting in front of one at home doesn't have the luster it once did. Julia, the wife, enjoys geocaching and encourages me to go as often as I can. She will go with me on micros and quick easy finds. She is not really into the elongated hikes and bushwhacking involved in finding some of them, though. She will gladly stand on the trail and yell encouragement to me, though. :lol:

March 5, 2004

My Caching name says it all!!

<--------- see avitar.

March 5, 2004

No....my family doesn't THINK I'm a dork, they KNOW I am. :lol:

March 5, 2004

I guess my whole family and my girlfriend are dorks/nerds since we all love it :lol: I guess there are no teenagers around though so that could make a difference.

March 5, 2004

yes :lol:

March 5, 2004

And as Maxine puts it:

I think it goes for fathers, as well.

1.2k · March 5, 2004

My father introduced so that would be a no for him.

My wife thought it was quite dorky when I started but is starting to warm up to the idea of more hiking now that the snow is beginning to disappear.

March 5, 2004

My daughter loves caching, and she even suggested we plan a multi-state motorcycle trip hunting out good ones this summer. My wife found her first cache last weekend hiking in the woods so she's beginning to 'see the light'. :lol:

1.8k · March 5, 2004

This could be my personal website... :lol:

March 5, 2004

My family thought I was weird and didn't "understand" the concept than figured if you "cant beat em join em" Now when we go they have been arguing about who gets to hold the GPS now...hehehehe...weirdos :lol:

1.2k · March 5, 2004

My kids are teenagers (3 of them) and they think geocaching is silly. Sometimes they snicker when they explain to their friends what geocaching is all about. I don't mind that. It's when they say geocaching is stupid that I ground them for a week, make them go to their room, withhold their allowance for the week, and make them write 100 sentences of "Geocaching is the Best thing in the whole wide world." :lol: (Just kidding. Don't call CPS).

March 5, 2004

The wife, yes...

She's right y'know.

The dog, on the other hand, loves when the GPSr and ammo box is loaded in the truck. We're going on a hike!! No dorkdom whatsoever!

March 5, 2004

Does my family think I'm a dork? No, but they think you're a dork. :lol:

Seriously though, show me one teenager who thinks their parents are cool. If Jay-Z ever has a teenage daughter, she'll even think he's a dork. Oh, wait... bad example.

March 5, 2004

Does your family think that there is something “wrong” with you for geocaching?

My Mom and Dad don't think so, because they're both geocachers. As for everyone else...

Well, most people think I am a dork, but not necessarily because of caching!

Hey, I'm in that same boat! :lol:

March 5, 2004

My family is full of dorks.. (Geese, my father was an Electrictal Engineer who built radios in the 30's ??!!??)

After fixing my next-door neighbours computer one day, his son actually said I was "geek'y, in a cool kind'a way"

That makes me an official Geek (Dork?)

March 5, 2004

My wife thinks i am a dork but likes to cache as well when she can. As for the kids they both like to come but the 10 year old has actually been grounded from cachingfor a bit til he gets his grades back up. Everyone else we know....thinks I am a dork and the fam doesn't admit to it.

1.3k · March 5, 2004

Jay-Z is off the hizzle. For shizzle. My nizzle. :lol:

5k · March 5, 2004

If Jay-Z ever has a teenage daughter, she'll even think he's a dork. Oh, wait... bad example.

Who?

Jamie

March 5, 2004

My kids are all young adults and like to geocache...but not as much as I do. I tell my 22 year old son that it's geocaching or I would be in biker bars picking up one night stands--so which would he prefer? My parents just shake their heads...but then they've been doing that to me for as long as I remember. My students look at me as if I've lost my marbles (but I do teach high school, so that shouldn't be surprising, I guess).

And you know what? I don't care what anyone thinks because I enjoy it. I only wish I didn't have to go to work every day so I could do more of it.

March 5, 2004

although i prefer the term "geek".

My family members think it is a good idea but are too lazy to do it. My friends think it is dorky, but they have their dorky hobbies as well. The wife and I have known for years that we are geeks....long before geocaching. You can tell by our names!

March 6, 2004

They think I'm a compulsive dork!

March 6, 2004

My family has known I'm a dork for many, many years....long before I ever discovered geocaching......

Yes, my family knows that Sparky is a dork too.

4.4k · March 6, 2004

Why do you refer to VULGAR SLANG??

This if you look it up is not a family friendly word!!!!!!

add the word to which I am refering,

DORK is the same as D**K

edit sp

Edited March 6, 2004 by GEO*Trailblazer 1

March 6, 2004

Why do you refer to VULGAR SLANG??
This if you look it up is not a family friendly word!!!!!!

add the word to which I am refering,

DORK is the same as D**K

edit sp

You may have a point.

Main Entry: dork

Pronunciation: 'dork

Function: noun

Etymology: perhaps alteration of dick

slang : NERD; also : JERK

4.4k · March 6, 2004

I Know my Famiy thinks I am a little off when it comes to Geocaching,

and even a little geeky,but I know they do not think I am a Di**

Dork or Pen**.

March 6, 2004

I Know my Famiy thinks I am a little off when it comes to Geocaching,
and even a little geeky,but I know they do not think I am a Di**

Dork or Pen**.

You could still be a nerd or a jerk.

Edited March 6, 2004 by GeoFool

4.4k · March 6, 2004

I Know my Famiy thinks I am a little off when it comes to Geocaching,
and even a little geeky,but I know they do not think I am a Di**

Dork or Pen**.

You could still be a nerd or a jerk.

OK I will go for nerd.

And I sure hope I have not been a jerk.

If so I apologize.

March 6, 2004

My wife is cool with Geocaching, she goes sometimes. My 3 year old Son doesn't understand it yet, but he likes to go to the parks. 75% of the time, i'm by myself, but that should change once he gets a little older, at least I hope he wants to go and Geocache. I'm optomistic, hence the name "Team BlackZ"

1.3k · March 6, 2004

DORK is the same as D**K

From what I have always hear, a Dork is not just any D**K. I have heard that it specifies a whale's D**K. Those bigass mammals that swim in the ocean. Seriously.

March 6, 2004

With my collection of assorted LED flashlights ranging from 1 to 12 bulbs each, I don't need a GPS or geocaching to be a dork.

Someone once asked me how many flashlights that I had. After 20, mostly LED, I gave up counting.

My motto "If it shines and has an LED, buy it."

Latest addition to my collection is a 3D cell, 12 LED light. Part weapon, part light - Darkness beware.

1.3k · March 6, 2004

I like my 4D cell maglight. All weapon, some light.

March 6, 2004

At first my wife and kids and everyone I work with thought I was addicted and over the top. Now they are all right there with me. At work we just bought some group GPSr's and probably the last 5 cache outtings with my family was my wife's idea.

Family time in the woods is not dorky. Collecting LED flashlights is another story (just kidding to that poster...)

March 6, 2004

did not explain it to them at all. i go out at night for geocaching (much more fun) or with the bicycle so it just looks like going out for fresh air to them

March 6, 2004

If Jay-Z ever has a teenage daughter, she'll even think he's a dork. Oh, wait... bad example.

Who?

Jamie

Is geocaching dorky? I'd like to submit the following:

Jay-Z: Doesn't geocache, does have Beyonce as a girlfriend.

Jamie Z: Does geocache, doesn't have Beyonce as a girlfriend.

I rest my case.

March 6, 2004

Why do you refer to VULGAR SLANG??
This if you look it up is not a family friendly word!!!!!!

I guess we should inform George Carlin that he needs to add a word to that famous list he has.

Does Your Family Think You Are A Dork?

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