NO COFFEE!!!!!!!!!

We had a unannounced change in our coffee vendor overnight. A memo was issued this morning by the Executive assistant of our company. The text is below:

All,

Since you each either took the time to help us by pointing out the complications with our coffee vendor changeover this morning or were copied on that correspondence, I just wanted to let you know I’ve made the vendor aware of the issues, and they are here now addressing them. I appreciate your concerns, and on behalf of the vendor, apologize for all the inconvenience. I had hoped for a far smoother transition and introduction to our new Seattle’s Best brew.

Thank you in advance for your continued patience as we make this right.

Meanwhile, there is rioting in the hallways. I've locked my office door in hopes of survival. If this ends up being my last blog post, thanks for reading.

Update at 1:15 PM

..Peace and tranquility came over the world as coffee service was restored. Although no one knows what happened to our CEO in the riots.

ipod touch and paperless geocaching

For a post-Christmas gift to myself, I made the investment in a new 8 GB ipod touch. This was after watching the family enjoy their new Ipod touches on Christmas day. I discovered that I could replicate many of the business functions that I rely on with my Windows Mobile based PDA. The new Touch seems to function easier and with less effort then the PDA I was using.

However, the only application I have not been able to find in the Apple App Store is one that will import and use a geocaching GPX file. I hope someone can develop this App in the future (Bish0p, are you listening?) I would try this myself, but the developer kit is designed for Macs only.

However, I did discover a way to at least have a way to display cache listing on the ipod touch using a App called Air Sharing by Avatron Software. This App allow for viewing of various types of document files on the ipod Touch.

I'm also creating HTML export of caches from GSAK, then copying the folder into the app.

The Air Sharing application requires the use of a wireless or ADHOC wireless setup between the PC and the Touch.

Have a safe and enjoyable geocaching year in 2009.

Treasure Hunting... What do you win??

If you look at the 'Getting Started' section of the geocaching.com website. Groundspeak defines geocaching as: 'a worldwide game of hiding and seeking treasure'.

When I use this definition, the first question I get is, "Oh... What have you won?"

I then need to explain that the 'treasure' is in the joy of the hunt, or the new places geocaching can take you. Anything in a cache is often very nominal in value.

"Oh... that's nice"

Now I describe geocaching as using a GPS receiver to find containers people have hidden throughout the world.

"You mean it is like treasure hunting?"

ARRRRRRRRR.........!!

I don't question how much they earn when they golf on the weekend.

Why does there need to be a profit motive in anything we do? I would dread the day a cache was placed and 100 people go and search for it at the same time and destroying the landscape because there was a substantial prize inside.

I lost the enjoyment of collecting stamps in the 1970's because of a few 'collectors' who ran up the price of stamps to turn a profit (Geek alert)

Why can we not just enjoy a activity because for a short while, it allows up to forget the troubles of the world?

You can now 'listen' to our blog posts

Click on the subscribe to odiogo link on the right hand side of the page. This will allow you to have a audio version of our blog that can be part of you ipod or other mp3 listening device. You can subscribe via itunes or you favorite 'reader' service. The text to speech conversion is very good. The 'reader' remindes me of HAL9000. Enjoy.

I wish people were a little smarter about what they place in a cache

This is a picture of what I pulled out of the cache called Curt's Bill Gates Booty #2. As you can see, two very old cupcakes and a tube of toothpaste was part of the bounty found today. Since this was the first of four caches we found over a two mile hike, yours truly got to carry them over the course of the day. Contrary to popular belief, these commercial baked goods do not have a shelf life that can be measured by carbon dating.

I don't know if this was just a inexperienced cacher attempting to provide survival items to someone who found it, or a practical joke to those who found it after these items were placed. Leaving food or other smellables can be a hazard to those who are trying to enjoy the sport of geocaching.

I spend much of my time explaining what smellables are to the Scouts and how damaging they can be to Troop equipment if left in tents or containers. Smellables are items that animals, with their acute sense of smell, will go after if they think it is food. Items like batteries and camera film are considered smellables. Animals will tear in to the container, destroying the container and its contents. Destroying the hard work of the person who hides the container, and destroying the enjoyment of the cacher who finds the prize.

I hope all who geocache place a bit of thought into what they place in a cache. If you leave something, you should ask yourself, "Would I want to trade for this item?"

Why did you bring me here?

The fun for me of geocaching is discovering new, previously unknown locations right outside my backyard. The better caches I experience bring me to a scenic view, a whimsical sculpture, or a historical location. These caches are always worth slowing down for, an to experience a WOW moment.

In the book by Jeannette Cezanne Open Your Heart with Geocaching: Mastering Life Through Love of Exploration she discusses exploring the 'Why' the cache hiding place important to the cache owner. Sometimes this is tough to evaluate when you are in a shopping center parking lot, and why this hiding location is special to that person.

We need to remember that it is not always the quantity of the cache hides that you have, but the quality too. In difficult times, the moments of enjoyment are sometimes few and far between.

Please clean up after yourself!

On show #10 of Centennial State Geocaching, we told you about our evening at Heritage Square and the short geocaching trip the next morning. We did not tell you about our unplanned adventure because of the remains of a multi-stage cache we found by accident.

I knew there was a cache in the parking lot of Heritage Square. I has found it a few years ago, but was looking for it with Karen. I remembered it was hidden under a lamp skirt, but could not remember exactly which one. Karen and I had split up in an attempt to find the cache. We were down to the last two lamp posts. I lifted the skirt (the only time I can lift a skirt without getting into trouble) and found a container. I called Karen over announcing the find. When she opened the container, there wasn't the usual log, but a laminated card that said "The final stage is at... " WITH COORDINATES. We had make a discovery of a multi-cache, with only one step to go!

We quickly abandoned the original cache hunt and entered the coordinates in our GPS receivers. As we headed further west, we realized that the final coordinates will take us to the Mother Cabrini Shrine.

We got to the parking lot, and looked up in amazement. We had a half mile climb up a large hill to get to the top of the shrine. I decided that I would climb to the summit with hopes of finding the elusive cache. The final coordinates placed me in front of the shrine. After forty minutes of searching, I surrendered to the failure of my search, and would look up the cache later on the geocaching.com website.

My search online proved inconclusive, concluding that the cache was archived.

This story is to remind all who hide caches the responsibility you undertake when you agree to follow the rules for hiding a cache. Please clean up after yourself when you archive a cache, you never know who may find it and run on a wild goose chase.