Above the clouds

It was pretty foggy in GP today when Iseek, Eyeseek2, and I took off for Grants Pass Peak. It didn't take long to get out of the fog. We passed the road we wanted so we continued to Dead Ends! A view for a King. It was a nice view to look down on a sea of white... sadly I left my camera in the car and was too lazy to go back for it. After that we went up the right road, past a pig, and to the top... it was not the easiest cache to reach. I took this pic of Iseek and Eyeseek2 at the cache site

Odd cache log

I went to check out my Wilderville Cemetery cache today. The cache location filled with water and the contents were soaked. Fishgoofus placed a rock in the spot so the cache was above water and Two Tracks replaced the log book. So today I cleaned it up a bit and took the soaked logbook. Since there was a missing travel bug I took the wet log book apart looking for a mention of someone taking it (it was taken by Oregon Trailers Cachers) but I also found this log

The Wildman
You are at my Fathers
grave + my dog
Ocean. Please don't
step on his grave.
if any of you friends
have taking a
crystal from my
fathers grave please
give it back (Wildman)

The location also featured a new painted stone (name and dates) which I looked at but thought nothing of until I saw this log because it wasn't there before. Now I wonder if I should return and remove this cache. Any advice?

Sunday

Iseek and I have decided to postpone our trip to Grants Pass Peak until Sunday. We had planned on tomorrow, but the chances are good for rain. Sunday should be nice and dry and I hope to take some pictures from the top for everyone to enjoy.

I've been thinking a lot about some of my caches that don't get visited often. I'm thinking of archiving them and then replacing them in the same general area. I'll leave Roxy and Taylor Camp Cache in place but all my others are up for relocation. I have several containers sitting around and a few ideas of places to hide them... I just need the time.

Stats

I was just looking at this stats site. It is one of the better sites I've seen, but even this one has problems. While I am ranked at 1296 I noticed fellow cacher BIGGIEET_AL is not listed at all. This site uses "statistically significant" caches to update the page and if you haven't found one of these then you aren't listed. You can also have your name removed. I doubt they had their name removed, but its posable I suppose, if they didn't then a cacher with over 400 finds must have slipped past this site. It makes me wonder just how accurate it is. I sure wish GC.com had a stats site of their own... I find stats to be very interesting. Sometimes I think I should have majored in statistics.

blog problems

I just lost a good hours worth of writting to my blog about lame caches and this thread in the GC forums about a cacher stopped by the FBI. This blog site has been acting up the last couple of days and I don't feel like retyping.

Pixxa

BIGGIEET_AL has planned the newest pizza event The Round-Up (Pizza XXV). So far the year is off to a good start with events. I plan to do at least one more event this year myself depending on how many cachers wish to take on the responsibility of the logbook.

Take a peak

Uncle Duck went and found Grants Pass Peak yesterday. It has been at the top of my cache list since DrDan hid it a little over a month ago, but snow, bad weather, and other stuff has kept me away. Iseek and I are planning to make the trip up on Saturday weather permitting. It should be fun and I hope to be able to take some pictures from the top... we'll see how clear it is.

Wow

The Blazers won a game! Defeating San Antonio, the best team in the league. This is a team with lots of talent and sometimes it clicks... other times they just suck.

Today Lazyboy went up Roxy Ann peak in Medford and check on my adopted cache Roxy. It is there and in good shape, but is rarely visited due to the difficulty of getting there. Not found was a sister cache to this one called Roxy View - the other side of the mountain. That cache was hidden by Zafara who has the advantage of occasionally coming up the hill in a truck to work on the radio tower. I was hoping to get up to this cache so I hope its still there.

Sunday Cachin'

Found 3 caches today

GP Riverwalk
Greenwood Overlook
Cache for the Holidays

It was a pretty nice day and none of the football games really excited me. There are now 6 caches in the All-Sport Park area... just last spring I walked the park from front to back and decided that there wasn't a single decent hiding spot in the whole park... at least not for the container I was trying to hide.

Despite the nice weather there was no one playing basketball or tennis there were a couple of groups practicing softball. A few years back I use to come down here and play basketball every week during the summer... It wouldn't hurt me any to start doing that again.

my oh my

The Blazers lost again. It wasn't a bad game... they played hard and were short yet another player when Theo Ratliff couldn't play. I've been thinking back and can't remember a time with injuries to so many key players... not that they were playing all that great with them.

As for geocaching the forcast has changed a bit with some showers but it still looks like mid 50's for the weekend.

There has been a lot of talk in the forums lately about forum regulars intimidating others from posting. I think there is probably some truth to it... after all the forums are a community all to themselves. My opinion is that the useless chit chat posts in most topics are what intimidate people... you can post an opinion in a topic just to find the conversation pushed 2 pages forward soon after... it can get cumbersome to read especially when most of it is meaningless. So the influence of regular forum users is really "all about the numbers." The vast quantities of posts that are produced make new users question why they should reply. Really its sad that I've thought about this that much... I'd much rather be out finding caches... I need to find a way to retire and travel the globe. Maybe I can have my own show on the Discovery channel "Geocaching the Globe with blazerfan"

Dang it

The blazers lost last night to the Kings in overtime. It was a good game for the blazers since they were without 3 of their best players. Tonight they play Cleveland and both teams will wear throw-back jerseys to commemerate their first game played in 1970 when they were expansion teams. I sure wish they'd win one for a change.

This weekend the temperature is suppose to reach the mid 50's maybe even 60 on Sunday. So it sounds like a good time for some geocaching.

Nurse Dave has recently built this page to show off his geocoins and other signature items. I notice that beyond having some great looking blazerfan coins he has a rare Lazyboy & Mitey Mite button.

MLK day

For MLK day I decided to go out and find a cache. I was a little lazy and only found one, Diamonds are Forever. I'll save another cache in the area for a lunch time grab... or just another weekend. No sense in doing them all at the same time.

I've heard a lot of things latley about a new browser called Mozilla Firefox. With all the spyware out there are many competing browsers such as Opera that seem to be getting more popular. I've seen a lot of computer systems crippled by spyware (including my own... its a long story but I wasn't careful enough and I ended up formatting) Anyway after Lazyboy mentioned using Firefox I decided it was time to try it out. So far it is working great. This might be a good alternative at work as well.

I like Pizza

Today was a good day for geocaching. I found a few caches earlier today with Duck and BIGGIEET_AL.

Up a Creek
A Beach in Ruch???
The Pit Stop
Things in the Sky
Bunny Meadows
A Touch of History
Little Bean's Four
Penny for your thoughts, have a nickel instead!
South of the border
Billy Goats Gruff
Shotglass and Bug Bar Cache

After all the cache finding then it was time for Pizza. My second event had a pretty good turnout. in attendance were Lazyboy & Mitey Mite, Duck-n-Deedy, Peanuthead, ChrissySkyking + Blaze, drdan5200, BIGGIEET_AL, Iseek & Eyeseek2, Fresh_Meat, geniustara, Mailleman, Mailleboy, HappyBunny, and mommieJo

Overall it was a good time and I look forward to the next event.

Another new cache

There is another new cache in GP, Diamonds are Forever by Biggie et_al. The weather forcast for this weekend has changed to rain, but a little rain shouldn't hurt for finding a few caches.

I'm really looking forward to the cache event and a 3 day weekend.

New and interesting

With all my new readership I'm feeling the pressure of trying to write something new each day to keep people coming back. Lazyboy has icicles hanging off his ass to report and all I've got is that I forgot my GPS so I won't be grabbing a cache today at lunch. Other than that I've had a lot of toner cartridges to replace at work, and a printer transfer kit... and a dumb old typewritter that went bad. Dealing with printers is a pain in the butt. Not to mention how pointless I think the 6 typewritters in this bank are... we might need one or 2 even but 6? Thats one for every 5 employees... mainly for typing an envelope that they could just put into one of our 7 lazer printers... why we have 7 printers is another story all together. But if I wrote too much about work I know nobody would read this.

Looks like Lazyboy couldn't find the end of the road. Its one of 3 newer caches in that area all hidden by new cachers as well. Good to see some hides from new cachers. Maybe they will make it to one of our pizza events as well.

First Cache

I found my first cache of the new year Not Much Effort by uncle Duck. It is located in a brand new (but not yet complete) park and my advice is to not go off the wood chip trail because it is muddy. I didn't have my GPS so lucky for me Biggie et_al showed up with his. He also traded me a silver Trail Blazer coin for a couple of state geocoins. Always fun to meet another geocacher on the trail. If it is another nice day tomorrow I might go and find Cache for the Holidays at lunch... I'll have to bring my GPS.

New Readers

Ever since Lazyboy put a link in his blog I've noticed a lot more hits on my blog. Sadly I have very little new or interesting to say geocaching wise... but really neither does lazyboy... so for all of you out there reading this thank you and feel free to comment.

Today is another of those days when it is sunny outside and I'm stuck at work. Its still plenty cold out but I could manage a cache or two today if I wasn't working. Looking at the calendar earlier today I noticed that I will have this Monday off for MLK day. The weather channel forcast has Monday showing "few showers" and "Partly Cloudy" for Saturday and Sunday so it looks like this weekend will bring my first finds of the new year.

I recently ordered some new Idaho geocoins. It has quite a different design than other state geocoins, and many of them will be etched with user names. I had mine left blank, and it will be interesting to see how they turn out.

There are a lot of new geocoins in the works including UK, Colorado and a new coin for Texas. Plus a few personal geocoins are in design and production. This should be a good year for geocoins.

And the Blazers won last night! Changes to the starting lineup seem to have helped some. Telfair did not start but it is only a matter of time... this kid is good... the last time I was this excited about a rookie was Jermain O'Neil who was traded off and is now an all-star who enjoys punching Detroit fans.

Cash or Cache

Here at work I sometimes deal with a company called InstantCash which is an ATM network associated with Wells Fargo and other banks. That part doesn't matter... what matters is how many times I write the name as InstantCache... I find myself spelling cash as cache all too often now.

In other news the Blazers have lost 4 in a row... they suck... the best part of them losing is that you get to see some of the young guys get opportunities to play. I look for Sebastian Telfair to start tonights game vs Philadelphia. This kid is the future of the team and if we are going to lose I'd prefer we did it with him on the court... at least he's exciting to watch. Travis Outlaw is another good young player... he can jump so high he has to watch out not to hit his head on the rim... and his jump shot is looking good. Even Ha Seung-Jin has seen some playing time... I don't think he's ready to contribute yet, but the Blazers have some good development oriented coaches (as shown by the progress of Outlaw) I have a lot of faith that Ha will be ready to play in a season or two.

Snow Day

With 4 inches of snow I just didn't feel like going out geocaching. I spent a good portion of the day outside sleding... I suppose I'm just a kid at heart. Otherwise I'm getting ready for next weekends cache event... I have a few prizes ready to give away... and I have a new log book ready. Hope to have a good turnout and maybe a few new cachers will attend.

Geesh

Some people are never happy. Today in the forums was a well known cacher bitching because an out of town cacher hid 7 new micro caches in the area. The cacher in question actually has a home in the area and currently all 7 caches are unfound. What kills me is not only did they complain about lame micros before they even bothered to look for them but the complainer is a top seller of micro containers and supplies.

I've been known to hide my share of lame micros... I have a couple under guard rails... one under a lamp post cover... not terribly challenging but yet I find them fun. Most of the time when I go caching I prepare myself for the type of finds I expect... I expect regular caches when I'm out in the woods and micros when I'm in town... and a little of everything in between.

I once took a several week break from the forums and it might be time to do so again... it is such a negative place.

Some Quick Math

Last night I saw a thread in the gc.com forums about cache density. so I did some math and figured out that from the 97526 zip code there are 327 within 30 miles. 19 of those are mine, and 91 I have not found. Being that I have 500 finds the fact that I had 91 caches within 30 miles surprised me. I wonder how many of those 327 are actually active and how many are in bad shape. I don't really want to look at them that hard, but in the spring I plan to clean a few of those 91 up.

Just my luck

It was a nice sunny day and I was stuck at work. It is suppose to be sunny tomorrow as well... and then be more rain and snow for the weekend. It is still cold despite being sunny, but I can stand the cold for a cache or two. Oh well it just wan't meant to be.

Bufford sent me a new HappyFrog wooden nickel that he found in Eugene. I've looked on GC.com but can't find a cacher by that name. Its a nice looking item and I'm glad he thought of me and picked it up. You sure meet some great people geocaching.

Day two

Two days of 2005 have passed and I haven't done a thing. The weather today wasn't so bad that I couldn't have gone out caching, but I just didn't feel like it. I've been a little "down and out" lately. I think I might need a change of scenery... so I have my best friends (both of them) looking out for me a new job... I like my current job, but if something good comes up I don't think I'll hesitate at taking it.

On a lighter note I think I have my puzzle cache all but figured out... it will involve a little brain power, some 5th grade math, and a little bit of research... but first I need a nice enough day to go and hide it.

New Year

So far 2005 has been nothing but rain and snow. Sometimes I think Lazyboy has a good idea in moving to Maui. At least the Blazers won today, but it wasn't on TV.