Since I'm feeling too lazy to do any caching today, I spent some time poring over the GOWT forums. As expected, most of the new posts are in the off-topic area. I was surprised to find almost no mention of the reorganization. I guess most people really don't care. 76Stinger has computer problems, nothing new there. I've been silent on the forums lately because I have nothing to say.
I spent some time reading about the GOWT leadership structure. It operates mostly in the way I had intended when I proposed it to the reorganization committee. Other than the makeup of its committees, I don't really have a problem with how it operates. As I expected, the group decided that representing all areas of GOWT was more important than just picking competent people. I can't waste any more of my time worrying about that, though. For the record, one reason the committees are so large is so that do-nothings like chibongo can continue to do absolutely nothing and it should not affect the operations of the committees.
I found it odd that GOWT chose to post its paid membership list online in the form of a rankings list. Especially at this time. Not only does it allow the likes of JAG to see what percentage of GOWT is comprised of JAG members, but it also will allow GOWT members to see how many of its current membership does not renew its membership when it expires shortly. It is unknown how many members will simply not bother to renew their membership, especially since they can enjoy the vast majority of the benefits of GOWT for free.
I will be renewing my membership whenever I get around to it. Mostly because I like using the GOWT logo on my blog.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Christmas 2007
I had no big caching plans for this day. My primary objectives were to move a travel bug out of a cache in Atoka and make it to Christmas dinner in Rosemark with my family. Since it was a perfect day, I thought I'd hunt a few caches on the way if I had time. Turns out I should have set aside more time!
The first cache I went after was Potter's Field by Chance Encounter (GCVB16) in beautiful Frayser. Frayser is a part of North Memphis that normally I avoid like the plague. The area where Potter's Field is located is now a park with a commuinity center nearby. The neighborhood is a bit rundown, but the park looked nice. I found a good place to park/hide my car and walked across the park to the cache location. Even though the park was empty, I stayed low and out of sight of any possible muggles. The cache was a quick find and I got out safely. I hunted two more quick caches Skeeter by masmason12 and Poptart12 (GC120T7) and GS - Goin' To The Park by cgeek (GCWKNM) before heading north up Hwy 51 to Atoka.
Upon arriving in Atoka, I decided to get a couple of park and grabs at places that are normally very busy. On this day there was nobody around and I got both caches found and logged in about 5 minutes.
I then headed for Atoka Ball Park to check out my adopted cache Atoka Park Nature Trail by Spencersb (GCKR81) and also hunt O, IC ! by minismiths (GCW3E9) if I had time.
I adopted this cache fairly recently and had not personally visited it since January 2005 when I originally hunted it. I had read over the logs online and knew that it had been found exposed before so I hoped everything was in place. I found it at its coordinates which seemed to be away from where it was two years ago. All the better for me since its current spot isn't covered in thorns. The cache was well-hidden, but when I opened it up, I found mostly junk inside. All of the listed travel bugs are gone. The log book still has plenty of room, so I won't need to change it out for a while. I will go back soon to put in some fresh contents and investigate possible alternate spots to relocate it.
After coming out of the woods, I realized that I didn't leave myself enough time to hunt the nearby caboose cache, so I'll have to get it next time I'm out that way. I went after one more cache - Meteor Madness by 76Stinger (GC14YVE) on my way to Christmas dinner.
The first cache I went after was Potter's Field by Chance Encounter (GCVB16) in beautiful Frayser. Frayser is a part of North Memphis that normally I avoid like the plague. The area where Potter's Field is located is now a park with a commuinity center nearby. The neighborhood is a bit rundown, but the park looked nice. I found a good place to park/hide my car and walked across the park to the cache location. Even though the park was empty, I stayed low and out of sight of any possible muggles. The cache was a quick find and I got out safely. I hunted two more quick caches Skeeter by masmason12 and Poptart12 (GC120T7) and GS - Goin' To The Park by cgeek (GCWKNM) before heading north up Hwy 51 to Atoka.
Upon arriving in Atoka, I decided to get a couple of park and grabs at places that are normally very busy. On this day there was nobody around and I got both caches found and logged in about 5 minutes.
I then headed for Atoka Ball Park to check out my adopted cache Atoka Park Nature Trail by Spencersb (GCKR81) and also hunt O, IC ! by minismiths (GCW3E9) if I had time.
I adopted this cache fairly recently and had not personally visited it since January 2005 when I originally hunted it. I had read over the logs online and knew that it had been found exposed before so I hoped everything was in place. I found it at its coordinates which seemed to be away from where it was two years ago. All the better for me since its current spot isn't covered in thorns. The cache was well-hidden, but when I opened it up, I found mostly junk inside. All of the listed travel bugs are gone. The log book still has plenty of room, so I won't need to change it out for a while. I will go back soon to put in some fresh contents and investigate possible alternate spots to relocate it.
After coming out of the woods, I realized that I didn't leave myself enough time to hunt the nearby caboose cache, so I'll have to get it next time I'm out that way. I went after one more cache - Meteor Madness by 76Stinger (GC14YVE) on my way to Christmas dinner.
Monday, December 17, 2007
GOWT Reopens for Business
I received a form letter from GOWT this morning informing me that the forums were back online. I was already aware of the majority of changes made to GOWT - some of which necessitated my resignation from the Reorganization Committee.
I didn't really care for GOWT's version of the "Patriot Act" that I had to agree to before my forum account would be reactivated. If they had competent moderators and leadership lined up, they wouldn't have needed such a document. Fear does not inspire confidence. I found this line particularly odd: “This will allow a member to re-commit to serving the GOWT community in the proper way.” I’m not really sure I even understand what that means.
I like the new design of the forums. The new content areas will be great if they can find people willing to provide relevant content. It won't be easy finding volunteers who are willing to actually put in the work to keep it up to date. The forum guidelines were adapted from fark.com and are basicallly a wordier version of what we had before. The guidelines were never the problem. It was a lack of enforcement that caused our forums to descend into utter chaos.
I was disappointed to see that anonymous accounts were created for the administrators, webmaster, and moderators. These actions were taken so that members would not know who was responsible for doing what. The problem I have with this is that it violates the spirit of "openness" under which I believe GOWT was intended to operate. People who fail to take personal responsibility for their decisions and actions do not inspire confidence in their leadership abilities.
I was pleased to note many respected members of GOWT were appointed to the Leadership and Advisory Commmittees. Although many of them remained silent during GOWT’s troubled period, I believe they are good people at heart. Unfortunately a few bad choices were made as well during the committee selections. Since I can't remain silent on this issue:
I call for the immediate resignation of prontopup from the Leadership Committee.
I call for the immediate resignation of chibongo from the Advisory Committee.
If they choose not to resign, I respectfully request that their respective committees remove them.
Prontopup will leave when somebody hurts his feelings which usually occurs when someone disagrees with him or chibongo.
When GOWT's problems became visible to the majority of the members through our discussion forums in February 2007, Prontopup, chibongo, and cgeek immediately set to work forming Delta Area Geocachers whose forums came online in March 2007. Chibongo and cgeek, two members of GOWT's 2007 Executive Committee literally had to be drug back to fulfill their duties as GOWT's officers. As moderators, they failed miserably at maintaining order and in fact only acted when they personally were offended by posted content. Prontopup is merely a sycophant supporting whatever crazy position chibongo supports. Nothing can be expected to change in that regard and GOWT deserves better.
Friday, December 14, 2007
Cypress Grove CITO - October 1, 2005
This was my first CITO event and only one of two that I have done outside of Memphis. The event was at 10am in Jackson, TN and since I was find-hungry at that time, I wanted to cache before and after the event. I left my house fairly early that day and arrived in Brownsville shortly after sunrise.
Back Porch Blues by Canoe Guy (GCQEGW)
The location of this cache is an information center just off of I-40 in Brownsville. I struck out on this day, but came back 3 weeks later and found it.
Metal and Magnolias by Canoe Guy (GCQEGZ)
This cache was in the heart of Brownsville and was a two-stage cache. It's funny now that I remember the second stage more than the first given the oddness of the structure at stage 1. In fact, until I re-read the logs, I had completely forgotten about the 1st stage!
Good Hope Cemetery by i_am_wood (GCPX4E)
This cemetery was located just outside of Bells, TN. The only thing I remember about this cache is that I had problems finding the general area of the second stage....
Bailey Park Multi by Titansfan (GCPQ4Y)
This was a quick two-stage cache placed by my buddy Titansfan in a nice little park in Humboldt. I'm pretty sure that this was my first find in Humboldt as it seems I passed through that town a lot while going to cache elsewhere. The second stage was a tough find for me and I didn't know at the time what the hint referred to.
---
Cypress Grove Nature Park CITO by BigDaddyD (GCQCBW)
I had been to this park once before (in August) to hunt Bird's Eye View by Canoe Guy (GCQ0EN). It's a really cool nature park that has long elaborate boardwalks to take you around to various areas/observation points. Lots of big caged birds on display. On this particular day, I arrived a little after 10am and just in time to help haul stuff back to the worksite. Our job was to paint an observation structure with grey latex paint. Mattalbman, who I think is a painter by trade, brought ladders and brushes. It was a tough structure to paint due to its height/size and the fact that the wood soaked up a lot of paint. We painted for a few hours and took a break for lunch.
I didn't bring anything to eat so I bided my time watching a raccoon stealing food from one of the tables. Door prizes were awarded - I won an aluminum hiking stick.
After lunch we went back to work - mostly touch-up stuff to finish out the day. Several pictures were taken with the GOWT banner and the proud work crew. It seemed like it took more trips to haul stuff out than it did to haul it in. I'm not sure if some people left early or if we just packed stuff out in a more inefficient manner.
Right after we packed all of the stuff out and people were leaving, it started to rain. Since it was still light out so I looked for a caching buddy. Pcsenn was the only one who wanted to cache. Thanks to his log notes, I know what time we hunted each cache.
---
Savannah Williamson Park by Mattalbman (GCQNHB) found at 5pm
This cache was a quick find for us. There were basically two places to look and pcsenn picked the right one.
Hear That Harmonica by dalls (GCQ38F) found at 5:30pm
We took a rather circuituous route to this one. Pcsenn's autorouting laptop really came in handy for this cache. The location was definitely interesting. It was near the gravesite of a blues singer and the tombstone was adorned with harmonicas. When pcsenn had his 1k event nearly two years later, I gave him a harmonica to remind him of our hunt for this cache.
At this point, we hunted a cache near a church that pcsenn had on his list - I had done it before, but don't remember the name of it.
Medon Trails by dalls (GCPKJD) found at sunset (6:30pm?)
This was a three-stage cache (at that time) and pcsenn had already found it, but he graciously accompanied me on my hunt. I had been here before and had struck out at the first stage. It turned out that the approach was important. The first two stages weren't that difficult on this trip, but it was getting dark as we got to the 3rd stage and I know I wouldn't have found the cache without his help. We still had problems even with pcsenn knowing the approximate location of the cache.
After this cache, we headed north to Jackson to hunt a few more before parting ways.
Fountain for A Legend by Mattalbman (GCQHKN) found at 7:30pm
I couldn't even describe what this fountain looks like as it was very dark at this time. I actually found the cache just by feeling around. Given the size of the container, I was very lucky to find it!
When Love dies... by Mattalbman (GCQDP5) found at 7:45pm
This was the perfect time to hunt a cemetery cache. It was dark and stormy which added to the eerieness of the hunt.
Road Closed 2 by yogi and dolphin (GCQE4H) - found at 8:05pm
This was the last cache of the evening for us. Like most of the caches in the "Road Closed" series, I remember absolutely nothing about it two years later. I'm sure I enjoyed it, though.
All in all, it was a long and fun day. I often wonder if the rain messed up the fresh paint on the structure but never went back there to check it out. This was one of GOWT's better CITOs, in my less than humble opinion. This was the last time I saw Mattalbman and Taterdude - they soon afterwards went on a mission to Albania (I think). I enjoyed caching with pcsenn after the event. It was the first time I saw someone cache using a laptop for routing. [I will probably flesh this story out as I remember more details]
Back Porch Blues by Canoe Guy (GCQEGW)
The location of this cache is an information center just off of I-40 in Brownsville. I struck out on this day, but came back 3 weeks later and found it.
Metal and Magnolias by Canoe Guy (GCQEGZ)
This cache was in the heart of Brownsville and was a two-stage cache. It's funny now that I remember the second stage more than the first given the oddness of the structure at stage 1. In fact, until I re-read the logs, I had completely forgotten about the 1st stage!
Good Hope Cemetery by i_am_wood (GCPX4E)
This cemetery was located just outside of Bells, TN. The only thing I remember about this cache is that I had problems finding the general area of the second stage....
Bailey Park Multi by Titansfan (GCPQ4Y)
This was a quick two-stage cache placed by my buddy Titansfan in a nice little park in Humboldt. I'm pretty sure that this was my first find in Humboldt as it seems I passed through that town a lot while going to cache elsewhere. The second stage was a tough find for me and I didn't know at the time what the hint referred to.
---
Cypress Grove Nature Park CITO by BigDaddyD (GCQCBW)
I had been to this park once before (in August) to hunt Bird's Eye View by Canoe Guy (GCQ0EN). It's a really cool nature park that has long elaborate boardwalks to take you around to various areas/observation points. Lots of big caged birds on display. On this particular day, I arrived a little after 10am and just in time to help haul stuff back to the worksite. Our job was to paint an observation structure with grey latex paint. Mattalbman, who I think is a painter by trade, brought ladders and brushes. It was a tough structure to paint due to its height/size and the fact that the wood soaked up a lot of paint. We painted for a few hours and took a break for lunch.
I didn't bring anything to eat so I bided my time watching a raccoon stealing food from one of the tables. Door prizes were awarded - I won an aluminum hiking stick.
After lunch we went back to work - mostly touch-up stuff to finish out the day. Several pictures were taken with the GOWT banner and the proud work crew. It seemed like it took more trips to haul stuff out than it did to haul it in. I'm not sure if some people left early or if we just packed stuff out in a more inefficient manner.
Right after we packed all of the stuff out and people were leaving, it started to rain. Since it was still light out so I looked for a caching buddy. Pcsenn was the only one who wanted to cache. Thanks to his log notes, I know what time we hunted each cache.
---
Savannah Williamson Park by Mattalbman (GCQNHB) found at 5pm
This cache was a quick find for us. There were basically two places to look and pcsenn picked the right one.
Hear That Harmonica by dalls (GCQ38F) found at 5:30pm
We took a rather circuituous route to this one. Pcsenn's autorouting laptop really came in handy for this cache. The location was definitely interesting. It was near the gravesite of a blues singer and the tombstone was adorned with harmonicas. When pcsenn had his 1k event nearly two years later, I gave him a harmonica to remind him of our hunt for this cache.
At this point, we hunted a cache near a church that pcsenn had on his list - I had done it before, but don't remember the name of it.
Medon Trails by dalls (GCPKJD) found at sunset (6:30pm?)
This was a three-stage cache (at that time) and pcsenn had already found it, but he graciously accompanied me on my hunt. I had been here before and had struck out at the first stage. It turned out that the approach was important. The first two stages weren't that difficult on this trip, but it was getting dark as we got to the 3rd stage and I know I wouldn't have found the cache without his help. We still had problems even with pcsenn knowing the approximate location of the cache.
After this cache, we headed north to Jackson to hunt a few more before parting ways.
Fountain for A Legend by Mattalbman (GCQHKN) found at 7:30pm
I couldn't even describe what this fountain looks like as it was very dark at this time. I actually found the cache just by feeling around. Given the size of the container, I was very lucky to find it!
When Love dies... by Mattalbman (GCQDP5) found at 7:45pm
This was the perfect time to hunt a cemetery cache. It was dark and stormy which added to the eerieness of the hunt.
Road Closed 2 by yogi and dolphin (GCQE4H) - found at 8:05pm
This was the last cache of the evening for us. Like most of the caches in the "Road Closed" series, I remember absolutely nothing about it two years later. I'm sure I enjoyed it, though.
All in all, it was a long and fun day. I often wonder if the rain messed up the fresh paint on the structure but never went back there to check it out. This was one of GOWT's better CITOs, in my less than humble opinion. This was the last time I saw Mattalbman and Taterdude - they soon afterwards went on a mission to Albania (I think). I enjoyed caching with pcsenn after the event. It was the first time I saw someone cache using a laptop for routing. [I will probably flesh this story out as I remember more details]
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Death of a Legend
I got up a little earlier than normal for me on a Sunday and decided to go after a cache that was within walking distance of my residence. I had located this cache earlier on a satellite map and since it appeared to be in somebody's yard I had ignored it. Today I figured I would at least scout it out.
I took my old Garmin Legend with me because I didn't need maps and I wanted to use a GPSr that stood out less than my newer 60csx. As I approached the neighborhood where the cache was, an old bum walked past me and said "This is not going to be your morning." When I got within three blocks of the cache location I turned on the Legend and let it warm up - slowly. I walked to probably within 50 feet of the cache and realized that searching for it would leave me extremely visible to the neighbors. When a small dog ran across the street and started barking at me, I turned around and started to walk off. At this point I looked down at my Legend and saw the screen was blank except for a thin vertical line running down the middle-right side of it.
The old blue Legend has served me well over the last three years. My Dad bought it for me as a present shortly after I started geocaching and I used it to find more than 1000 caches across 15 states before breaking down and buying a 60csx. After that, I had only used it on days when I hunted caches while running.
The last cache I had hunted with it was BSA by itcomagic (GC15WBB). It had acted up on that day as well right after I had found the cache so I knew its days were numbered. Because of my tendency to anthropomorphize electronic gadgets, my Legend will be laid to rest in my golden ammo can.
I took my old Garmin Legend with me because I didn't need maps and I wanted to use a GPSr that stood out less than my newer 60csx. As I approached the neighborhood where the cache was, an old bum walked past me and said "This is not going to be your morning." When I got within three blocks of the cache location I turned on the Legend and let it warm up - slowly. I walked to probably within 50 feet of the cache and realized that searching for it would leave me extremely visible to the neighbors. When a small dog ran across the street and started barking at me, I turned around and started to walk off. At this point I looked down at my Legend and saw the screen was blank except for a thin vertical line running down the middle-right side of it.
The old blue Legend has served me well over the last three years. My Dad bought it for me as a present shortly after I started geocaching and I used it to find more than 1000 caches across 15 states before breaking down and buying a 60csx. After that, I had only used it on days when I hunted caches while running.
The last cache I had hunted with it was BSA by itcomagic (GC15WBB). It had acted up on that day as well right after I had found the cache so I knew its days were numbered. Because of my tendency to anthropomorphize electronic gadgets, my Legend will be laid to rest in my golden ammo can.
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Mission Improbable
Mission Improbable by bitbrain (GC16JZR)
Because this cache was heavily hyped and because the cache hider is known for having exceptional caches, I was looking forward to hunting this cache. When my friend Spencersb told me that he and Hoot Owl and possibly a few others planned to hunt this cache on the evening of 12/7, I contacted jbgreer and we both made arrangements to join in on the hunt.
Jbgreer and I met up with Hoot Owl and Spencersb at a spot in Collierville and rode together to the location of the second stage. After a bit of a rocky start, we found the first set of tacks and
proceeded off into the woods. The walk itself was fairly uneventful. There were no problems with terrain and we did not need to bushwhack. At one point I decided to take a bathroom break and when I turned around, the guys had found the cache! D'oh!
In the can was the logbook and bags of envelopes with customized "missions" for each finder to complete before they could officially log the find. While I signed the log, the others went through the bags looking for envelopes with our names on them. Since there was no personalized mission for either jbgreer or me, we took generic ones. It kinda harshed my buzz knowing there was no personalized mission for me, but was glad to see that several JAG folks did have personalized missions awaiting them. I only hope that JoGPS's mission doesn't involve writing a coherent paragraph.
My mission was/is simple enough - the "improbable" part is me completing it anytime soon. Anyways, we found a more convenient way back to the vehicle. About the time we got back to the road, jbgreer noticed that he left his walking stick back at the cache! No problem, it gave us all more time to talk while walking back and forth to the cache site.
After leaving the site, we hunted a nearby cache Chickasaw Basin Cache by searchingforit (GC11JF7) and found it just as my GPS batteries were dying.
I really enjoyed talking with the guys and was glad I got the chance to see Spencersb again since his visit to Memphis was relatively short and his schedule was busy.
Because this cache was heavily hyped and because the cache hider is known for having exceptional caches, I was looking forward to hunting this cache. When my friend Spencersb told me that he and Hoot Owl and possibly a few others planned to hunt this cache on the evening of 12/7, I contacted jbgreer and we both made arrangements to join in on the hunt.
Jbgreer and I met up with Hoot Owl and Spencersb at a spot in Collierville and rode together to the location of the second stage. After a bit of a rocky start, we found the first set of tacks and
proceeded off into the woods. The walk itself was fairly uneventful. There were no problems with terrain and we did not need to bushwhack. At one point I decided to take a bathroom break and when I turned around, the guys had found the cache! D'oh!
In the can was the logbook and bags of envelopes with customized "missions" for each finder to complete before they could officially log the find. While I signed the log, the others went through the bags looking for envelopes with our names on them. Since there was no personalized mission for either jbgreer or me, we took generic ones. It kinda harshed my buzz knowing there was no personalized mission for me, but was glad to see that several JAG folks did have personalized missions awaiting them. I only hope that JoGPS's mission doesn't involve writing a coherent paragraph.
My mission was/is simple enough - the "improbable" part is me completing it anytime soon. Anyways, we found a more convenient way back to the vehicle. About the time we got back to the road, jbgreer noticed that he left his walking stick back at the cache! No problem, it gave us all more time to talk while walking back and forth to the cache site.
After leaving the site, we hunted a nearby cache Chickasaw Basin Cache by searchingforit (GC11JF7) and found it just as my GPS batteries were dying.
I really enjoyed talking with the guys and was glad I got the chance to see Spencersb again since his visit to Memphis was relatively short and his schedule was busy.
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Failing to Learn From History
Not too long ago I was participating in a geocaching-related discussion thread where the topic was [top secret]. One of the things that has been frustrating me about our forum threads is the constant deviation away from the subject/topic we are discussing. On this particular day a person decided that before we could continue with the subject of [top secret], we needed to first "discuss" who was to blame for the problems of GOWT. Being the rather blunt person I am, I stated that we needed to focus on the original topic and if others wanted a "blame" thread, they should start a separate thread for that. I was told that I was rude and inconsiderate - which is true but irrelevant.
A few of the others did eventually start and participate in a "blame" thread which they referred to as a "history" thread. I should have stayed out of it, but curiosity always gets the better of me and once I read the totally one-sided view of what supposedly happened, I asked the person who prompted the thread and who served as GOWT's Vice President during the time the problems supposedly started what role SHE played in causing or resolving the problems. She had the authority and ability to do something early on to help head off the problems that were looming and apparently did nothing! My comments were not terribly well-received. I was not smart enough to save the content of that thread, but it doesn't really matter. The truth eventually reveals itself even when clouded by drama.
I am by no means an angel, but even I realize that assigning blame is not the same as learning from history and moving on. I hope that others will eventually learn that same lesson as well.
---
Since I realize most of you prefer reading my enthralling geocaching stories to my geocaching "editorials", it is time for me to get back on the road and do some caching!
A few of the others did eventually start and participate in a "blame" thread which they referred to as a "history" thread. I should have stayed out of it, but curiosity always gets the better of me and once I read the totally one-sided view of what supposedly happened, I asked the person who prompted the thread and who served as GOWT's Vice President during the time the problems supposedly started what role SHE played in causing or resolving the problems. She had the authority and ability to do something early on to help head off the problems that were looming and apparently did nothing! My comments were not terribly well-received. I was not smart enough to save the content of that thread, but it doesn't really matter. The truth eventually reveals itself even when clouded by drama.
I am by no means an angel, but even I realize that assigning blame is not the same as learning from history and moving on. I hope that others will eventually learn that same lesson as well.
---
Since I realize most of you prefer reading my enthralling geocaching stories to my geocaching "editorials", it is time for me to get back on the road and do some caching!
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