Tag: Geocaching

We did head out to Joyce Kilmer National Forest in North Carolina recently, a wonderful place to hike and take in nature.  Just take the trail to the right, it makes it a little easier.

As we get closer to the end of 2013 I hate to leave everyone on a cliffhanger, but… It may end up that way.  We’ll see how the weekend treats me.  I just want to say I really appreciate the folks who continue to stick by me as life get’s in the way of this creative endeavor. I am going to really push myself in 2014 and maybe get 12 comics out!  Actually, I do have some interesting (and terrifying) plans for 2014 to stretch me way outside of my comfort zone, I hope you keep following Cecil and my misadventures- that is if we can survive this!
On the other blog that I manage (indianageoaching.com) I have a list of all the geocaching challenges in the state of Indiana.  I update it quarterly, and from time to time scratch my head at the complex challenges people have come up with…
Yes, those of us who have a spouse that is into caching know this feeling…  You plan for a quiet night out, maybe finally that romantic dinner for two- not at the local pizza place (although I have nothing against the local pizza place- Gramboli’s Pizza in Oaklandon- blatant plug).  But just when you think nothing could be nicer, wham! a new cache is posted.  That or you realize why your significant other chose this restaurant, because the valet staff had placed a cache in the parking lot so they could chuckle at folks digging around through the foliage in their evening wear…
I was attending NECC (for simplicity sake now called the ISTE Conference) in San Diego in 2005 an had just finished a session on Geocaching.  The local cachers had pulled together a number of GPS units and placed a series of dummy caches around the convention center.  I had a choice… sit through another PowerPoint where someone tells me about the importance of hands-on learning, or experience it for myself.  So I headed out and wandered.  I had a basic Magellan Explorist (I now use a Garmin) I wandered & wandered getting a basic knowledge of the cenvention center which would help me at Comic-Con.  Yes, I did get a shout out from someone nearby as I looked for one of the caches… but hey, it was my first time.

San Diego Comic-Con: Day 3

Posted on July 24, 2011 by Bruce
So, I’m at the San Diego Comic-Con, it’s Saturday… What should I do? I decided to avoid the con almost completely. The started out with breakfast with some geocaching friends and then we headed to Mexico to color in the map. Sue seems to be rather competitive when it comes to caching, so a chance to get another country could not be turned down. So after getting warnings from my overly concerned family we walked across the boarder. About an hour later we were in line to come back, mission accomplished. Actually the three caches we went for are multi-caches since maintaining a cache in Mexico can be a headache. What you do is go to certain coordinates in Tijuana, record some information, then plug it into an equation to get the final coordinates. The final coordinates are in the U.S. But since part of the cache is in Mexico it counts as a find in Mexico. It was a great day of walking, but both of us are sunburned. So after that adventure we headed back to San Diego for a geocaching meet & greet for attendees. On the way we happened across the Zombie walk which was a hoot. At the Meet & Greet I had a great time chatting with Sonny (of Podcacher) and while there were just a few of us, I could see it growing each year. Sue & I were rushing a bit to get to the final event of the evening… Just down the street from the world premiere of “Cowboys & Aliens.” The Nerdist podcast was doing a live show with Matt Smith & Karen Gillan of Dr. Who. It was great. I’ll check for when it gets posted although it was definitely NOT all ages. A special surprise guest showed up Wil Wheaton from Star Trek: TNG, Big Bang Theory, Eureka… etc. Again, I can’t say how great it was and the burritos were yummy. Since GeoWoodstock I had decided to drop my digital SLR and only use either my iPhone or iPad for basic photographs. If I was going someplace to take pictures I would bring along the SLR, but normally I felt I should be able to make it with just my iDevices. I have learned a few limitations… The biggest (and worst) was low light like the Nerdist show. Normally, with the iPad you can set where the lit meter takes a reading… This did not work from a distance in the dark looking at a well lighted stage… I have been happy with my other pictures throughout the trip except for low light situations. Live and learn, & yes, I just posted a negative comment about an Apple product, time to mark your calendar.

20110724-115304.jpg Can you say “epic failure?” the stage shot of the Nerdist podcast the white glowing blob with ginger hair is Karen Gillan, to her right is Matt Smith, to his right is Wil Wheaton.

Dr. Who Cache Series Update -Ugh!

Posted on July 9, 2011 by Bruce
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The Dr. Who Series is going strong, but since launching this series I have learned a lot. First of all “Take your time” I ended up rushing at the end to get the caches placed and I should have just sat and reflected for a bit and triple checked everything. Instead we ended up with the wrong final coordinates in every cache and if it wasn’t for the eagle eyes of one of the folks placing the cache I would never had known. I think if I hadn’t rushed them out I might have caught that mistake. Next “choose your friends wisely.” When I decided to launch this series and make it a continent encompassing adventure I looked at my “friends list” on gc.com saw who had a significant number of finds and were placed in various spots around North America and asked them. Sadly some of my “gc.com” friends I had only met once or in some cases never face to face. This has lead to me not feeling as if I can really talk with them about any problems with the caches, or not even knowing if it was a “quality hide” Most people have been really excited to join in the game, almost as excited as I was to start it. Then there are others who this is just one more thing on a list and they’ll get it done, when they get it done. I also needed to learn when to say “No” I think I would have been better off just saying – this series is for the Television version of the Doctor instead of (after hearing a complaint) expanding it out. While I think the placement of the last two Doctors will be great, I also feel that (again) I was almost rushed to get the designs done and then pestering the person who volunteered time & resources to make the wraps. But I think the biggest thing I learned is not to have a final cache tied to a series that relies on so many other people in so many different places. It has been a bit of a headache placing the cache, then (because of my mistake) having to send out new stickers. Then getting complaints because one cache had both the old and new coordinates on it. Which (as far as I can tell) led to an email to Groundspeak, because the quick wording on the final lead to the belief that there were other logging requirements (contact me for the correct coordinates so you don’t get hit by a semi in the middle of the interstate). Everything had to fall into place, and it didn’t. My thanks to our understanding volunteer reviewers for working with me to get this addressed quickly, but I know how much of a headache it was for me- I can’t imagine the headache it was for them. It has been a wild a crazy trip and if I were to try something like this again I will most definitely take my time, choose my friends wisely, and ignore complaints… also I probably won’t have a grand finale. If I do that, I’ll do the series on my own. Grumble, grumble… Yes, I sound like the Caching Curmudgeon & yes I already have a couple ideas for other series that I would like to do- just don’t rush me. 🙂
Saturday was the first annual “Reviewer’s Ball” for those who are not geocachers the thing you need to know is that every state has volunteers that make sure that a cache meets certain rules before people can go out and find them.  It can be a thankless job since they also are the first point of contact to Groundspeak (the folks in charge of geocaching) when someone is upset.  The Indiana Reviewers decided to put on an event that originally went by the name “GeoProm” but was changed to the “Reviewer’s Ball.”  It was a lot of fun and yet another chance to get together with geocachers and talk about Tupperware.  Cecil did end up with a lovely “little” travel bug called “The Ol’ Ball & Chain,  Married to Geocaching” TB3ZRQ8.  Kind of a “Hey buddy could you help a fella out and move this bug along?”  New Rule # 1 always look at the travel bug before saying “Yes.”
"I wear a fez now, fezzes are cool!"
Oh and this was the public unveiling of my fez from Fez-o-rama.  Sue said I looked like Sydney Greenstreet when he played Signor Ferrari in Casablanca.  I decided with that comment I should probably go on a diet. Then again I thought I looked pretty dapper especially since Cecil & I had matching shoes! Congratulations to David & Lisa of 4Rushateers for being the actual King & Queen of the Ball. and thanks to all the reviewers who make it possible for monkeys like Cecil, and folks like Sue to go out in the rain and snow, and look under light poles for stuff.
For geocachers sometimes icons are worth their weight in gold… kind of like “badges” in Foursquare.  For those readers who are not aware of geocaching (using million dollar satellites to find Tupperware in the woods) let me just say that each type of geocache has a specific icon related to it.  Some are more difficult to get- one of those is the GPS Adventure Maze, basically because it is an exhibit that travels the country spreading the gospel of geocaching.  As a traveling exhibit sometimes it is hard to track down.  It started off in Indiana B.C. (Before Cecil) so the monkey had never logged it and therefore was missing the icon.  This weekend the exhibit started its run in Nashville, Tennessee at the Adventure Science Center (until September).  So being a three day weekend and having nothing else to do… we headed down to catch the exhibit, get the icon, and a smiley.  All I can say is if you know nothing about geocaching, but would like to learn and are anywhere near Nashville stop by.  The next time it will be near to Indiana (my home base) will be in 2012 when it goes to Dayton, Ohio. Besides the exhibit Cecil would also recommend- the World’s Largest Travel Bug Hotel, Walk Like an Egyptian, The Anchor… and a bunch more.  If you are looking for icons- there are a lots of virtuals & webcams in town.  Cecil did pick up is 1500th find on the way home- so he considers it a good weekend. This week marks the end of school and while I will be free to pursue other interests starting Friday, I can only hope that I will get all the paperwork done in time to produce the comic this week…  keep your fingers crossed.
Sue joined me at C2E2 this year (last year he headed up for one day, this time she came up for the entire weekend) and never set foot in the exhibit hall.  She didn’t want a badge (imagine that) and just told me to go have fun.  I was glad that she also had some fun too. Sue and I tend to get confronted with questions when we are together about the key to being happily married for over 20 years (much to the chagrin of my parents).  To me it is simple- Sue has never really tried to change me, and I have never tried to change her (fine… early on, we both tried, but after a while we both gave up). I tend to get grilled about how I could be so understanding when Sue is at a yarn shop or needlework store spending money.  More shocking is that I will join her on this little expeditions.  We both have our hobbies and if we were to total things up I’m sure we would come out even, besides (as Sue’s parent’s point out) we ended up growing up together and while we might not completely understand each other’s eccentricities they are what makes us special. So when Sue talks about buying Mink yarn… I might roll my eyes, but I know she will do the same thing when I “need” the most recent gadget or a classic comic book.