Hello Blogoshpere!
Well, life is changing for me. Last Monday I received news from my director that my position was being done away with. I was given two weeks to work and then after that... DONE! So I have been making my appearances at work to get my pay and then I am done. I have been on the job hunt as soon as I found out.
I want to take some time and thank all my family, friends, and contacts for helping me through this time. The biggest thank you of all goes to my lovely wife, Indika. Without her support I would be up a creek with no paddle.
As with a lot of things that take the back burner when something changes in your life, geocaching for me is going to take a little time there for a while. While this is a hobby, my family, my life, and my work come first. When things get a little more stable, I will make a triumphant return to the hobby I love.
See you on the other side!
Trevor
TKM99
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Caching Stats UPDATE and Life
What up Peeps?
So my latest and greatest of geocaching stats have been updated. See the bottom of my page to see my total numbers and the estimated time it will take for me to get 600 total finds. I will let you know now that I am closing in on 550 finds and with the upcoming weekend in OKC, I will be getting even closer.
The trip down to OKC I have planned to make a couple of quick stops once we cross into Oklahoma. One stop is a redemption stop at the OK Visitor Center on I-35 South. In November 2009, Indi and I made a trip to San Antonio, TX to visit my brother and his fam and we stopped at said visitor center and grabbed two of the three possible caches there. When we moved to the 3rd cache, we happened to be on the wrong side of the building and ended up back on the highway, totally missing the 3rd cache. So this time around it will be gotten and I will have my cache redemption. The next cache is a little further South on I-35 at a turn out stop. This one should be a quick grab if there aren't any muggles in the area.
In OKC, I have a pocket query completed to give me the most up-to-date active caches near the hotel we are staying at and in and around the OKC Marathon race start/finish. Saturday will be the racers' prep day and I might get a couple of caches found but Sunday is my day while the runners are out on the course. I know that there is going to be a few thousand muggles come race day, but I plan to get some caching done in Downtown Oklahoma City. Once the race is done for my wife and friends, I plan to grab a few caches on the way out of OKC. Once we get out of the OKC Metro Area, it will be a straight drive back to Kansas and Emporia to drop off our carpool guests. Upon dropping them off and getting back on the road, I have about 7 more caches planned depending on the daylight. Good thing I have Monday off next week because this weekend is going to be a busy one.
Before I go, I did get some caching done on Monday. It happened to be a frustrating caching trip in Olathe. I went out to go find about 13 caches to jump my total of 527 (starting) to 540 so I would be closer to 550. I only ended up finding 4 caches. Not very good since I average close to 7 finds every time I go out caching but at least I got a few finds to help my overall total. I now sit at 531 total all-time. This weekend, for me to go to my 550 milestone, I need to get 19 finds. If everything goes well, I already have 9 in the bag with the road trip portion of the OKC trip (2 on the way down and 7 on the way back). The rest is in OKC and all I have to do is get 10. Any more than that is a plus and helps get me closer to 600.
That is all I have for now but stay tune. Same Bat-Time, Same Bat-Channel.
Cheers!
So my latest and greatest of geocaching stats have been updated. See the bottom of my page to see my total numbers and the estimated time it will take for me to get 600 total finds. I will let you know now that I am closing in on 550 finds and with the upcoming weekend in OKC, I will be getting even closer.
The trip down to OKC I have planned to make a couple of quick stops once we cross into Oklahoma. One stop is a redemption stop at the OK Visitor Center on I-35 South. In November 2009, Indi and I made a trip to San Antonio, TX to visit my brother and his fam and we stopped at said visitor center and grabbed two of the three possible caches there. When we moved to the 3rd cache, we happened to be on the wrong side of the building and ended up back on the highway, totally missing the 3rd cache. So this time around it will be gotten and I will have my cache redemption. The next cache is a little further South on I-35 at a turn out stop. This one should be a quick grab if there aren't any muggles in the area.
In OKC, I have a pocket query completed to give me the most up-to-date active caches near the hotel we are staying at and in and around the OKC Marathon race start/finish. Saturday will be the racers' prep day and I might get a couple of caches found but Sunday is my day while the runners are out on the course. I know that there is going to be a few thousand muggles come race day, but I plan to get some caching done in Downtown Oklahoma City. Once the race is done for my wife and friends, I plan to grab a few caches on the way out of OKC. Once we get out of the OKC Metro Area, it will be a straight drive back to Kansas and Emporia to drop off our carpool guests. Upon dropping them off and getting back on the road, I have about 7 more caches planned depending on the daylight. Good thing I have Monday off next week because this weekend is going to be a busy one.
Before I go, I did get some caching done on Monday. It happened to be a frustrating caching trip in Olathe. I went out to go find about 13 caches to jump my total of 527 (starting) to 540 so I would be closer to 550. I only ended up finding 4 caches. Not very good since I average close to 7 finds every time I go out caching but at least I got a few finds to help my overall total. I now sit at 531 total all-time. This weekend, for me to go to my 550 milestone, I need to get 19 finds. If everything goes well, I already have 9 in the bag with the road trip portion of the OKC trip (2 on the way down and 7 on the way back). The rest is in OKC and all I have to do is get 10. Any more than that is a plus and helps get me closer to 600.
That is all I have for now but stay tune. Same Bat-Time, Same Bat-Channel.
Cheers!
Friday, April 16, 2010
Rainy and Blah but it's FRIDAY!
So here I sit listening to the music of my twisted youth. Alternative music soothing the savage beast. As I sit here thinking of all the wonderful things I could be doing, geocaching it on top of the list. Spending time with my lovely wife is another. Spending time with her geocaching is another. This could go on and on. So I will spare you from my rantings.
Here are a couple of quick updates in my world. Geocaching is planned for some time today, or over the weekend. SHOCKER! SURPRISE! Ya know with the weather being warmer, and the rain not coming down as heavy, I enjoy getting out and playing this game. As you have seen from some of my other blog posts, the is nature in your back yard and the only way you see it is by getting out there. Geocaching gets me out there so I can commune with Mother Earth. I enjoy it.
Another update is one that has to do with the Running Sri Lankan (my wife) directly and me indirectly. In 8 days we will be heading down to Oklahoma City for her to run in the OKC Half Marathon. I will be there for support as the Sherpa (my nickname given to me by the Running Quadruplet [Running Sri Lankan, Dork, Worm and Lawyer]). During my time down there waiting for the runners to finish, I will of course part take in some of my past-time. What could that be you ask? Come on, do I have to say it? Ok, Geocaching. I will be adding some more to my overall total and to my Oklahoma finds that I already have. During this trip I will be showcasing the game of geocaching to the group with some intent to convert the non-believers. Oh if you haven't realized yet, geocaching is a religion on to itself. You pray to objects in the sky to help guide you to the correct path and then glory will be yours. I follow the ways of the Coordinates. It should be a good to great time had by all. I am looking forward to see these awesome ladies again and meeting their partners as well.
Well I think I have wasted enough time for now but be sure keep checking back to see my updated detailed stats for geocaching and to get more blog updates from me as well.
Cheers!
Here are a couple of quick updates in my world. Geocaching is planned for some time today, or over the weekend. SHOCKER! SURPRISE! Ya know with the weather being warmer, and the rain not coming down as heavy, I enjoy getting out and playing this game. As you have seen from some of my other blog posts, the is nature in your back yard and the only way you see it is by getting out there. Geocaching gets me out there so I can commune with Mother Earth. I enjoy it.
Another update is one that has to do with the Running Sri Lankan (my wife) directly and me indirectly. In 8 days we will be heading down to Oklahoma City for her to run in the OKC Half Marathon. I will be there for support as the Sherpa (my nickname given to me by the Running Quadruplet [Running Sri Lankan, Dork, Worm and Lawyer]). During my time down there waiting for the runners to finish, I will of course part take in some of my past-time. What could that be you ask? Come on, do I have to say it? Ok, Geocaching. I will be adding some more to my overall total and to my Oklahoma finds that I already have. During this trip I will be showcasing the game of geocaching to the group with some intent to convert the non-believers. Oh if you haven't realized yet, geocaching is a religion on to itself. You pray to objects in the sky to help guide you to the correct path and then glory will be yours. I follow the ways of the Coordinates. It should be a good to great time had by all. I am looking forward to see these awesome ladies again and meeting their partners as well.
Well I think I have wasted enough time for now but be sure keep checking back to see my updated detailed stats for geocaching and to get more blog updates from me as well.
Cheers!
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
6 in the Bag & More To Come
Morning World!
Another day down and more caching done as well. If you haven't guessed by now, I got nutz for geocaching. I never thought that I would but now I am just as bad as my dad (no offense to him cause I love him to death). I spend time thinking about my next caching trip at every moment I get. When get a free moment to get on the Interweb, one of the first sites I visit (besides checking me e-mail) is www.geocaching.com. I go on to see there are any new caches that have been posted close to where I live, update my stats, or run a pocket query of caches that I can go find in a day or so. I also have started (not new recently) calling out caches (found or not found) while driving in the car around town with my wife (drives her crazy). This is where I am becoming my father. That is a scary thought. Ugh! Even just driving around I scope out places that might be good geocache hiding spots because I am on the search to find a place to put out another geocache that I own for people to find. I own one already and you are more that welcome to check out the site but to see all the details you have to a membership to geocaching.com.
So yesterday (4/13/10) was another beautiful afternoon! I based my search in Lenexa, KS for the afternoon at Sar-Ko-Par Trails Park (site of the Great Lenexa BBQ Battle every June) for a multi-cache (means multiple stage). I spent the better part of a hour searching for all three stages leading up to the final stage. I made the first three stage finds fairly quickly and easily but the final stage was part of the reason it took me so long. The other reason that made that search long was the walking I had to do between stages. I got some walking exercise in the process. But in the end I could not locate the final stage container. I know I was at the correct location but no luck in locating it. So with a DNF (did not find) after all that work, I was pretty much pooped and ready to give up and go home at that point. But I looked at my watch and saw that I still had a better part of an hour and a half to get at least a few finds before I call it an afternoon (I got some good pics of the park and some local water fowl - check them out up top).
So I took a look at my iPhone geocaching app (yes there is an app for geocaching) and did a quick search of some easy traditional caches (single stage and the most abundant type) that happened to be close by. So I input the coordinates of the next 8 caches into my Garmin Nuvi (car GPS) to get me by road to each cache. Out of the 8 cache attempts I made 6 finds for the afternoon. The two that I didn't find, I didn't even attempt because of one thing that hampers any search.... Muggles. Yes, yes I know what you are thinking, "he's silly cause that is a Harry Potter term for a non-witch". Well that term is also used for non-geocachers and people that might mug or steal the geocache that I am trying to find or found. So those 2 caches that I didn't attempt got placed in the bookmark section of my geocaching account for a night-time caching trip that I will have to make when the muggles are not out and about.
So 6 finds out of a total of 9 attempts, I will take it. My new total to date is 527. I have to apologize in advance because I will have two conflicting stats on my blog page. The "Quick Stats" on the right hand side is the most accurate because it updates every time I log a find. The stats (more details and numbers) at the bottom of the page can only be run once every week. As soon as I can run a finds query then I will update the more detailed stats so you can see what I am up to and how quickly I am getting to my goals.
Ok that is all for now.
Another day down and more caching done as well. If you haven't guessed by now, I got nutz for geocaching. I never thought that I would but now I am just as bad as my dad (no offense to him cause I love him to death). I spend time thinking about my next caching trip at every moment I get. When get a free moment to get on the Interweb, one of the first sites I visit (besides checking me e-mail) is www.geocaching.com. I go on to see there are any new caches that have been posted close to where I live, update my stats, or run a pocket query of caches that I can go find in a day or so. I also have started (not new recently) calling out caches (found or not found) while driving in the car around town with my wife (drives her crazy). This is where I am becoming my father. That is a scary thought. Ugh! Even just driving around I scope out places that might be good geocache hiding spots because I am on the search to find a place to put out another geocache that I own for people to find. I own one already and you are more that welcome to check out the site but to see all the details you have to a membership to geocaching.com.
So yesterday (4/13/10) was another beautiful afternoon! I based my search in Lenexa, KS for the afternoon at Sar-Ko-Par Trails Park (site of the Great Lenexa BBQ Battle every June) for a multi-cache (means multiple stage). I spent the better part of a hour searching for all three stages leading up to the final stage. I made the first three stage finds fairly quickly and easily but the final stage was part of the reason it took me so long. The other reason that made that search long was the walking I had to do between stages. I got some walking exercise in the process. But in the end I could not locate the final stage container. I know I was at the correct location but no luck in locating it. So with a DNF (did not find) after all that work, I was pretty much pooped and ready to give up and go home at that point. But I looked at my watch and saw that I still had a better part of an hour and a half to get at least a few finds before I call it an afternoon (I got some good pics of the park and some local water fowl - check them out up top).
So I took a look at my iPhone geocaching app (yes there is an app for geocaching) and did a quick search of some easy traditional caches (single stage and the most abundant type) that happened to be close by. So I input the coordinates of the next 8 caches into my Garmin Nuvi (car GPS) to get me by road to each cache. Out of the 8 cache attempts I made 6 finds for the afternoon. The two that I didn't find, I didn't even attempt because of one thing that hampers any search.... Muggles. Yes, yes I know what you are thinking, "he's silly cause that is a Harry Potter term for a non-witch". Well that term is also used for non-geocachers and people that might mug or steal the geocache that I am trying to find or found. So those 2 caches that I didn't attempt got placed in the bookmark section of my geocaching account for a night-time caching trip that I will have to make when the muggles are not out and about.
So 6 finds out of a total of 9 attempts, I will take it. My new total to date is 527. I have to apologize in advance because I will have two conflicting stats on my blog page. The "Quick Stats" on the right hand side is the most accurate because it updates every time I log a find. The stats (more details and numbers) at the bottom of the page can only be run once every week. As soon as I can run a finds query then I will update the more detailed stats so you can see what I am up to and how quickly I am getting to my goals.
Ok that is all for now.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Sunday Caching 4/11/10
Hello Bloggers!
Today was an absolute beautiful day out there in geocaching land! Spring is in full force in the KC Metro Area and things are blooming. The trees are popping, flowers are blooming, and the green is returning. Please enjoy the pictures below on some of the views that I saw while I was caching this morning.
Spring time is one of my favorite times each year. Everything is still not in full bloom and it makes for easy geocaching. Plus the poison ivy, oak, and sumac hasn’t grown in yet. For some of you that are considering getting into geocaching, don’t worry, not all caches are in wooded areas so you don’t ever have to mess with these irritating and annoying plants. But you do miss out on the most beautiful parts of nature when you don’t go to the wild areas.
Caching today took me to the far western side of Olathe and Lenexa. I was planning to go out and get 15 caches but ended up getting 11. Some of the ones that I had to pass up are ones that are going to require a night-time caching trip. Out of the 11 caches I did get today, it got to run the gambit of urban, to suburban and wilderness caches. My first cache found today was something that gave a bit of brain scratching. I had attempted this particular find before with no luck and this was round two. When I finally located it, it actually fell into my hand. The the cussing started because I had remembered that I touched it last time but didn’t think twice about it. See for yourself just some of the cache containers I found.
Today’s caching also took me to two cemeteries. Now don’t worry, this is not a morbid thing. It is interesting to see these places of final rest. Some are history lessons and others are ways of remembering loved ones that may have even played the game. These sites can be very beautiful and very solemn.
I know sit at 521 total finds with today’s caching. I now am working towards 600 finds. During the week, next week, it looks to be great weather, so look for me to get some more caching in. I will keep you updated on what I do and where I go.
Take it easy out there fellow bloggers!
Trevor (tkm99)
Friday, April 9, 2010
CACHING DAY (Moved to Sunday)!!!!
Morning Blogging Peeps!
It's that time again for another round of... GEOCACHING!!!!! Yes, that's right, I will be out and about on another whirl-wind tour of the KC Metro Area playing the game that I love! Why yes I am addicted but at least I can admit to it.
The plan today is once work it done, to go get some lunch and then hit the trail for the afternoon. I have my eye on about 10 (this is a usual amount that tend to go for) caches to get this afternoon. If I am able to get that quickly then I will step it up and get a few more to help my overall total. Ya know, I have said that for me it's a game of numbers but I like that geocaching takes me to new and unusual places with in the city that I live. Places that I would have never gone to... EVER. Yeah I know that some of these places can be questionable but that is when I take a partner or group with me. Safety in numbers is a good thing. But when I am out by myself, I hit places that I feel comfortable with. If I don't like the area then I move on. With that be said I also try not to do caches that are super difficult by myself.
If you follow me on Facebook, then back in Sept. '09 I broke my left elbow while on a bike ride (this was a scouting mission to locate areas for cache hides that I am going to place). So I am not looking to do any more damage to myself and while I am by myself as well. I play smart. One way I play smart is that I have this handy dandy wrist band thing called a Road ID. My Road ID is like a Medical bracelet but made for active peeps like runners or bikers who don't like to carry ID or insurance while being active. I got this for two reasons, when I go biking (remember the elbow) and geocaching. This neat little wrist band comes with an engraved tag on it that gives my name, emergency contact and then has a website to go to or number to call to get all my medical info if I have to be taken to the emergency room. The tag is interactive. So First Responders can get my info if I am unconscious.
So here is a list of things that I carry with me when I go caching.
GPS (given. You have to have this to play the game)
Car GPS (to get me from point A to point B by the roads)
iPhone (phone for emergency. This is how I record my finds. It's Green)
Watch
Road ID
Insurance and DL
Money
Pen
Note Pad
Gloves
Whistle
First Aid Kit
Batteries (extra charged pair for GPS
Water
This list is pretty basic but if I was going to go hike or hit the backwoods areas then I will pack some more things like a compass, hiking stick, food, and rope (never know when you might need some rope).
Okay so I have bored you enough for now. Stay turned however cause there is always more to come!
Peace!
It's that time again for another round of... GEOCACHING!!!!! Yes, that's right, I will be out and about on another whirl-wind tour of the KC Metro Area playing the game that I love! Why yes I am addicted but at least I can admit to it.
The plan today is once work it done, to go get some lunch and then hit the trail for the afternoon. I have my eye on about 10 (this is a usual amount that tend to go for) caches to get this afternoon. If I am able to get that quickly then I will step it up and get a few more to help my overall total. Ya know, I have said that for me it's a game of numbers but I like that geocaching takes me to new and unusual places with in the city that I live. Places that I would have never gone to... EVER. Yeah I know that some of these places can be questionable but that is when I take a partner or group with me. Safety in numbers is a good thing. But when I am out by myself, I hit places that I feel comfortable with. If I don't like the area then I move on. With that be said I also try not to do caches that are super difficult by myself.
If you follow me on Facebook, then back in Sept. '09 I broke my left elbow while on a bike ride (this was a scouting mission to locate areas for cache hides that I am going to place). So I am not looking to do any more damage to myself and while I am by myself as well. I play smart. One way I play smart is that I have this handy dandy wrist band thing called a Road ID. My Road ID is like a Medical bracelet but made for active peeps like runners or bikers who don't like to carry ID or insurance while being active. I got this for two reasons, when I go biking (remember the elbow) and geocaching. This neat little wrist band comes with an engraved tag on it that gives my name, emergency contact and then has a website to go to or number to call to get all my medical info if I have to be taken to the emergency room. The tag is interactive. So First Responders can get my info if I am unconscious.
So here is a list of things that I carry with me when I go caching.
GPS (given. You have to have this to play the game)
Car GPS (to get me from point A to point B by the roads)
iPhone (phone for emergency. This is how I record my finds. It's Green)
Watch
Road ID
Insurance and DL
Money
Pen
Note Pad
Gloves
Whistle
First Aid Kit
Batteries (extra charged pair for GPS
Water
This list is pretty basic but if I was going to go hike or hit the backwoods areas then I will pack some more things like a compass, hiking stick, food, and rope (never know when you might need some rope).
Okay so I have bored you enough for now. Stay turned however cause there is always more to come!
Peace!
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Stats Update - The First of Many!
Morning Bloggers!
Here is the first of many posts that highlight my geocaching adventures. See below for a more comprehensive listing of what I have done in my quest for the elusive geocache. I have reached my milestone of 500 total finds on 4/1/2010 and now it on to 600 finds.
In other news, a birthday has been celebrated (my lovely wife Indika turned 29 on 4/1). Another Easter has come and gone and a wedding anniversary (Indika and I for 7 wonderful years) has passed as well.
At the end of this month, I will be heading to OKC with my wife and her running friends (The Running Lawyer, Dork & Worm) so they can participate in the OKC Marathon and Half Marathon this year. I will be down there for support and to also geocache as well. Remember bloggers, that this Cylon is on a quest and that quest is numbers. So caching on the road trip down to OKC. Caching in OKC. Caching on the road trip back to KC. I couldn't ask for anything more.
So that is all I have for now but stay tuned for further updates!
Peace!
Here is the first of many posts that highlight my geocaching adventures. See below for a more comprehensive listing of what I have done in my quest for the elusive geocache. I have reached my milestone of 500 total finds on 4/1/2010 and now it on to 600 finds.
In other news, a birthday has been celebrated (my lovely wife Indika turned 29 on 4/1). Another Easter has come and gone and a wedding anniversary (Indika and I for 7 wonderful years) has passed as well.
At the end of this month, I will be heading to OKC with my wife and her running friends (The Running Lawyer, Dork & Worm) so they can participate in the OKC Marathon and Half Marathon this year. I will be down there for support and to also geocache as well. Remember bloggers, that this Cylon is on a quest and that quest is numbers. So caching on the road trip down to OKC. Caching in OKC. Caching on the road trip back to KC. I couldn't ask for anything more.
So that is all I have for now but stay tuned for further updates!
Peace!
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