The ever creative RVStauff had an idea for creating a “puzzle” in VB that a cacher would have to download and solve before being able to find the actual physical cache.  But after some discussion on the Greater Charlotte Geocaching Club’s forums (GCGC) it was decided that many people would probably not be willing to download and run an executable on their machine so I got with RVStauff to create his idea web based.

After seeing his original idea run as an actual program I immediately had a few ideas in my head of things to try.  The first hurdle was that he had a static screenshot of a map and a picture of a GPS that would update a distance label depending on where you clicked.  My mind immediately told me to implement this using the Google Maps API.  Using the google map API I could start the user experience off by zooming out over the entire United states.

RVStauffs vision

My Spin

The challenge with what I had in mind was that I wanted an arrow that pointed in the correct direction to more fully simulate the “caching experience.”  To get the effect I was looking for I had to implement a few great JQuery plugins.  After all, why reinvent the wheel?

The most helpful plugin I used was JQuery Rotate.  All it really does is take an image, or div, or any other type of element and rotate it.  It was simple to use, and understand.  Once I had this plugin installed all I had to do was get my arrow positioned correctly and let the rotating fun begin.  Well, that is of course after I figured out the angle in which I needed to rotate it based on the click in the google map.

What came in handy when figuring out the angle was Google’s own geometry classes.  by making a simple call to the computeHeading method I would quickly and easily have the data I needed in order to make the spin complete.

<br /> clickLoc = new google.maps.LatLng(35.1407667, -80.6243333);<br /> dest = new google.maps.LatLng(34.114667, -83.6255633);<br /> var heading = google.maps.geometry.spherical.computeHeading (clickLoc , dest ) ;<br /> //Depending on how you draw and originally place your arrow you may need to adjust the math on the rotation.<br /> $('#directionArrow').rotate(heading - 180);<br /> 

Now that the arrow was done, which I thought was going to be the hard part, I moved onto the distance. Once again Google saved the day with their google.maps.geometry.spherical.computeDistanceBetween method.  None of this proved to be as challeneging as i thought, but I still learned a lot.

The second phase of this cache had users clicking what amounted to an HTML image map with 5 options, each of which have a different outcome.  No real challenge here other than to semi obscure the final coords behind a php page that you users can’t freely get to without posting  expected parameters.  (I find this part boring so I’m not going to discuss it)

Lastly, RVStuaff wanted to try to find a way to simulate a log sheet.  So I hacked up a quick and dirty way for this to happen.  It all starts with the page initially loading.  That load will prompt the user to enter their caching name which will be stored in a javascript variable.  Once the user “find the cache” that name, the total number of clicks, and the date/time of the find is written to a file on the server.  YES, a file, not to a database.  Why?  Because I was lazy and didn’t feel like implemented a whole UI to edit the “junk” names that come in, and I didn’t want to give anyone access to the backend database.  All of this is once again done using php to append new records to the file.  There is even an ugly interface for RVStauff to edit any erroneous, extra, or useless logs that may come in.

Well there it is.  A Simulated LPC Experience.  It may not be the prettiest UI in the world, but it is all there and it works.

What do you think of it?

While this may not seem like much, it’s a neat little concept that doesn’t really take too much work at all.  You’ll just need access to a server where you can write some code, PHP in my case, store some images, and a URL shortener like bit.ly.

The first thing you’ll need to do is create a directory on your web host where you will put your code and images.  Once you have the directory created put all of the images you may need in there or a sub directory, or somewhere.   I don’t really care where they are.

Step 1 – Create the PHP Controller

Next you’ll need to create your “controller” page that will contain all of the logic.  In my case this was done using PHP.  The backend code for controller looks something like this:

<br /> header('content-type: image/gif');<br /> header('Cache-Control: no-cache, no-store, max-age=0, must-revalidate');<br /> header('Expires: Mon, 26 Jul 1997 05:00:00 GMT'); // Date in the past<br /> header('Pragma: no-cache');</p><p>if (strstr($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'], "&amp;test=2") != null || (strstr($_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER'], "&amp;test=2") != null)) {<br /> $im = file_get_contents('./2.png');<br /> echo $im;<br /> } else if (strstr($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'], "&amp;test=3") != null || (strstr($_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER'], "&amp;test=3") != null)) {<br /> $im = file_get_contents('./3.png');<br /> echo $im;<br /> } else if (($_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER'] == null) || ($_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER'] == "") || (strstr($_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER'], "&amp;") == null )) {<br /> $im = file_get_contents('./1.png');<br /> echo $im;<br /> }</p><p>

What you should note of is that there are three distinct IF statements.  Each one checks the URL, and URI, of the referrer.  Depending on the parameters that are passed in it returns a different image.  Pretty easy on the back end, eh?

Step 2 – Create the cache listing page

I’m not going to go into how to create a geocache listing page, hopefully you already know that.  Instead I’m going to start at the step where you include your image.

Whenever you have your formatting complete and you are ready to add your image just do something like:

<br /> <img src="yourdomain.com/imageswitcher/controller.php" alt="" /><br /> 

Assuming your backend controller.php is similar to the one I posted above you should see whatever image you place in the final else of your conditions.

Step 3 – Test the Controller

The easiest way to test this is to append a new parameter at the end of the current URL.  The URL of the cache listing probably looks something like the following:

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=2ff64e4e-3eb1-43d6-a896-aecad20fc339

Test your image switcher by putting the parameters on the end of that URL.  In the case of our PHP example above we want to add the parameter “”test” and the value of either 2 or 3.

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=2ff64e4e-3eb1-43d6-a896-aecad20fc339&test=2

If everything worked you should see a different image on your cache listing page.

Step 4 – Make the page “functional”

The last step may be the most tedious, but it is sadly necessary.  Since geocaching.com strips certain characters out of links, “&” being one of those characters, you’ll need to find a way around that limitation.  That is where a good URL shortnener like bit.ly comes in handy.

Copy the URL you used above for testing, assuming they worked, and enter them into bit.ly and you’ll have links to the caching page with parameters on the querystring.  At this point, feel free to customize the random URL bit.ly create for you.  Maybe something like bit.ly/GCCODELINK1

Step 5 – Add links to listing page

The final step should be pretty apparent.  Add the URL’s to your listing page.  The traditional <A>nchor tags can be wrapped around text or an image.  (Or an imagemap!!! – but that is my little secret for now.  Shhhhh)

I’m not sure exactly how this would be useful, but it is kinf of neat.

Caveats

There is a lot of talk about how some browsers, websites, users dont send header information needed for this to work.  Not everything will have the request parameters that are necessary, so use this cautiously, and be prepared for it to not work for some users.

Uses

Like I said above I’m not exactly sure how this can and will be used but one use has already been though of by FailedApparatus.  He has included a link on the page for a *hint*.  While it may be confusing to the user clicking the link will reload the page with a different / easier puzzle image that contains a hint.

[UPDATE 1/17/12]

FailedApparatus has implemented this in his “FA01 : Forest For the Trees” cache.  If you click the hint link underneath the picture it will reload that page and swap out the image with an “easier” version of the puzzle.

If you use the image tag in you post and link that image to a php page you can return a different image depending on whatever logic you want.  The most apparant to me is a different image based on times of the day / day of the week.

For example.  In your cache listing you put the following code:

<br /> <img src="puttzy.com/getImage.php" alt="" /><br /> 

That .php page can “do some logic” and return an image based on what ever you want.  All you have to do is on your getImage.php page do something like:

</p><p>$rnd = rand(0,4);<br /> header('content-type: image/gif');<br /> header('Cache-Control: no-cache, no-store, max-age=0, must-revalidate');<br /> header('Expires: Mon, 26 Jul 1997 05:00:00 GMT'); // Date in the past<br /> header('Pragma: no-cache');</p><p>if ($rnd = 1){<br /> $im = file_get_contents('PathToImage1.gif/png/jpg/ect);<br /> } else if ($rnd = 1){<br /> $im = file_get_contents('PathToImage2.gif/png/jpg/ect);<br /> } else if ($rnd = 2){<br /> $im = file_get_contents('PathToImage3.gif/png/jpg/ect);<br /> } else if ($rnd = 3){<br /> $im = file_get_contents('PathToImage4.gif/png/jpg/ect);<br /> } else {<br /> $im = file_get_contents('PathToImage0.gif/png/jpg/ect);<br /> }<br /> 

This opens up a while world of possibilities!!!

Just think.  Thus backend page can return images based on time and/or day.  It could return 1 image out of a set of 100, 1000.  Whatever.  The logic you lace one the backend gives you a limited, yet actual, way to add code to you listing page.

On a side note…..I am getting closer to hacking up a listing page that may actually allow some javascript.  I doubt it will work but, hey, it would be awesome!!

[Update]This has now been implemented in a few cache listings.  Check out “24 hours of Booty” or “Larry The Leprechaun“

I’ve been working hard lately on coming up with ideas for new types of geocaches. Clever hides, good places, fun challenges, and mostly new technology that could be brought into geocaching. My best idea, or the or I’m most proud of, so far came on Shallow Esophagus which I’ll describe more in a later entry.  My most recent idea came from Momma-Cache: a concentration / memory game puzzle.

As soon as she mentioned it I loved it.  Nothing too hard.  Something everyone understands and in theory, can do.  I started working on the basic of the game a few nights ago and struggled mightily to get it to match the idea I had in my head.  In the end though, thanks to some javascript, and a lot of help from some great jquery plugins it is finally complete.

This whole thing was surprisingly easy from a technology standpoint.  Once I found the great JQuery Flip! plugin and understood the intricacies and quirks of it I progressed pretty quickly.  The biggest thing I had to overcome with the plugin is that I couldn’t get the “revertFlip” method to work properly for me.  I’m not sure if this is because I was not initializing my boxes fully, or because I’m a puttz.  Either way I found a work around by just calling the flip method again and setting the content back to blank.  No big deal.

Other things I envisioned when I pictured this in my head included the pulsating/flashing timer that would grow in intensity as time ticked away.  Once again a simple JQuery pulse plugin and liberal use of the javascript setTimeout method let me accomplish this effect.  The set.Timeout also came into play with the cards changing colors every some many seconds.  This frequency also get more frantic as time runs out.  Just a little something to add to the drama.

My last fear was that someone would be able to look at the javascript source and find the image that I’m using to display the final coordinates.  My workaround for this was to submit to a php page that would check the refferrer.  If the referrer, and another hidden variable, were correct then the image containing the coordinates would be returned.  Otherwise and image telling them they were cheating would be displayed.  Not the most secure implementation, but if someone wants to take the time to spoof the referrer and figure out the hidden field and value rather than have fun with the puzzle good for them.  Either way is the same amount of work probably.

All told I’m pretty happy with the final outcome of the project.  I wish it was a little prettier, but I’m not a UI designer so I did as good as I could with as little effort as possible.

If you would like to know more about the specifics of the implementation, or have ideas for other fun games/puzzles I could implement into a cache let me know.

If you wanna play the game click the screen shot below.  Who am I kidding…everyone wants to play the game.

I actually came across this cache before the “Lost treasure of the confederates” and knew i wanted to do it.  I just needed a ground crew, or spotters for when I fell, to go with me.  Thankfully I found that crew.  The day of my 1000th cache started with crawling / walking through tunnels for a different cache, getting the burn in my legs.  Thankfully we completed that cache in less than an hour with no incident, and without any huge challenge.  After a few other nearby caches, including the oldest cache still alive in North Carolina, the crew and I decided to take a lunch break.

Sitting in a small restaurant in Concord I couldn’t help but make jokes and show my nerves about the challenge ahead.  We had no real idea how tall the rusty structure was even though we all had our ideas and had extrapolated the height in our own ways.  Over all it didn’t matter how tall it was since it sat on a rusty, solid, metal base with plenty of jagged angles to hit if one fell.   After treating myself to a spicy chicken sammich, and slice of peanut butter chocolate pie (decided I could have this as my last supper) we took off to the cache location.

We parked near the some of the poorest excuses for baseball fields I had ever seen and started our quarter mile hike toward the old rusty tower.  I’m not sure I can sum it up any better than I already have in my log for the cache.

I’m really not sure how to sum this one up. I could throw out a bunch of adjectives: Crazy, stupid, awesome, fun, challenging, rusty, tall, muscle burning. Or I could just leave a quick note and say that you gave me one hell of an adventure for my 1000th find. I’ll take neither of those approaches since they are both WAY to short for my long-winded self.

We approached from the listed parking coordinates and saw baseball fields that were completely depressing, but more importantly we saw the cache in the distance. Yes. Thats right. We could spot the location about .2 miles away. My heart fluttered as I knew I had designated myself the climber for this rag-tag group. As we made the descent through the (thankfully) dead Kudzu. My mouth dried up a little as I made jokes about falling to my death. (which my boss told me I would)

We arrived at GZ and I immediately hopped up onto the failed apparatus (that’s a pun – although it sounds gross/dirty when I think about it now) hoping to see the cache. Bending over backwards and tilting allowed me to place my head in the center of the device and look straight up….uncomfortably. I couldn’t see anything but that didn’t mean it as there. I decided to let SmithPeaknuckle stand on my back as I rested on all fours to see if he could see it. Still nothing. dang. Guess I’m just going up.

The first step up was the hardest. Some might say one giant step for man. Not sure who those some are though. Before I knew it I was scaling the rust beast without a safety rope and a small crowd of soon to be happy cachers, if I found it. I got near the top and was thankful to spot the cache within arms reach as I was originally afraid it would be somewhere way to hard to grab. I immediately had a realization. There was NO WAY I was going to be able to retrieve, open, and sign it for all of us with my limited strength and wavering nerves. We decided that the best bet was to throw it to the ground. I did. As the log was being signed, I made my descent to that perilous first step where the container was tossed up to me for my second climb.

Arms burning, breathing heavy, cache in my mouth, and my mind thinking back to the time as a young kid where I got stuck on my parents garage roof because I was too scared to take the first step on the ladder, I reached the summit for the second time in about 15 minutes. (maybe longer. I kind of blacked out for a bit) I quickly placed the cache container back to the spot where I found it. or at least roughly.

Back down I come. As hard as that first step was the last step was even harder for me. Thankfully SmithyPeaknuckle guided my foot to a safe spot and I touched down safely. Everyone in the crew contributed on this one. R&R was the photographer, SmithyPeaknuckle was the guidance, FailedApparatus was the log signer, and some other guy stood around a lot.

As I write my final words on my 1000th cache I sit here wondering…..did he really sign my name to that log?

The only other things to note are:

• I took my camera up with me hoping to take a picture from the top.  You’ll notice there are no photos from up there
• I’m not sure of the percentage, but I know that some of the previous people had safety harnesses.  Wusses!
• I’m not sure if my arms hurt more because of using the muscles, or because of how tense the muscles were.
• Overall it wasn’t THAT tall.  You wouldn’t want to fall for sure, but it really wasn’t too bad.
• I’d do it again in a heartbeat.  In I’ve already found other “Death wish” caches I want to try.

There it is.  My 1000th cache find is complete and the challenges, history, fun, and adventures have been awesome.  I can’t wait to find number 2000!

While 1000 caches may seem like a lot to many people outside the hobby, it really isn’t.  Not when it’s compared folks that have 10,000, 20,000 and even 50,000 finds.  In reality I’m a noone in the geocaching community, and I don’t really care.  Hell, I’m only “ranked” 276th in North Carolina.  My 1000th cache is even less impressive when you look at how long it took me to do it compared to others.  Not that the numbers matter.

A few weeks back I mentioned that I was planning my next great adventure, my first 5 (difficulty) / 5 (terrain) geocache.  Since I basically put it out there for the whole world to see, even though probably only five or ten people actually saw it, I HAD to do it or I would be a failure.  So after a few weeks of planning, gathering the right equipment, and mentally preparing myself I set off on my adventure.

After grabbing the directions from the first stage I was excited, nervous, and slightly confused.  For a few weeks a friend and I looked it over and guessed at what it could all mean.  Days passed, weekends flew by, and finally we both had an empty Saturday to see how far we could get.  Being out of shape, semi-lazy, cubicle dwelling folks we knew we weren’t going to set any land (tube?) speed records so our goal for day one was to figure out what it was all about.  Within 5 minutes of arriving at the second stage we understood.  To avoid giving too much away to people that have yet to embark on this adventure, I’ll only use nondescript, vague, generic terms that will make sense to others that were with me, or to those that may have completed it.

Finding the first marker we set out slowly and cautiously into the darkness.  Our eyes were pealed looking for signs of Confederate soldiers from the past.  This was our first lesson in missing the obvious.  A lesson we (I) didn’t take to heart as I would soon screw up again.  After going too far and having to double back we found an entrance that we originally overlooked.  Feeling stupid, yet relieved to have found out we were back on track we “suited up” and went into the unknown.  Excitement and novelty quickly faded into the darkness as the challenge in front of me materialized.  For a brief few seconds I contemplated if I really wanted to do this.  I did.  Overcoming that obstacle was my first affirmation that I may be able to complete this challenge.  Although I was FAR from done.  After few more mistakes of overlooking the obvious, traveling too far, redoing a large portion of this stage, I managed to get the required information back to mission headquarters for decoding.

Tired, a little wet and sandy, but invigorated by completing and decoding this first message we set off to the next phase of our adventure.  This phase would be the one that made us think long and hard about whether we were actually up to this challenge.  I think this stage is meant to scare away any wannabe gold seekers  Truth be told we didn’t complete the full stage.  We made it about 3/4 of the way through, but started to doubt ourselves and turned back before we got all of the information.  It didn’t matter much though.  I’m not sure if I went any farther if I could have come back.   As it stands when I arrived back at the car I could barely move or see straight.  Lightheaded, confused, and sore we called it a day.  We spent about 4 hours and made it through two stages.  One of which we didn’t officially complete.

Frustration, exhaustion, and desperation led us to email another cacher who had the information we missed from this stage.  Thanks to his help we were able to fill in the missing information and continue our quest…..on another day.

The second Saturday came and we set out planning on meeting a new friend once our progress matched his.  Luckily we managed to breeze through stages 4 and 5 in about an hour which left us rejuvenated and feeling confident again.  The only remarkable thing about either of these stages was the pair of relative clean jeans and tighty whiteys near the entrance.  Talk about going into the unknown!

Grabbing reinforcement and building our team we set off onto stage 6.  We could only hope that we didn’t meet the same fate as the nearby decaying deer carcass.  Not even sure it could be classified as decaying as much as decayed.  Quickly, since we were becoming pros at this we had the next clues in our hands, and the familiar burning back in our thighs.

After consolidating cache vehicles we were on our way to stage 7.  In less time than we had done the first two stages we had completed three stages and were on our way to our fourth.  Its amazing what a little confidence can make you forget.  You’ll ignore the muscle pain, the limp arms and the tight legs.  That light headed feeling you called exhaustion before now becomes euphoria.  The wet feet seem to dry quicker and the sand in your shoes doesn’t seem as annoying.  Puzzles make more sense and are solved quicker and easier.

Stage 7 seemed to just click as we found all of the necessary clues in short time.  There was an awkward moment of eyes meeting though.  I was inside a bunker poking my head up to marvel at the view when some folks walking their dog on a nearby trail spotted me and gave an inquisitive look.  Moving quickly though we were able avoid any more detection.  We weren’t even detected when we stumbled across a makeshift camp site.  We weren’t sure if it was from a hobo, or possibly kids in the nearby apartment complex.

Confidence was soaring at this point.  There was even a time where I was outwardly admitting I was feeling cocky.  I wasn’t ashamed of it at all.  Stage 8 brought me back to earth a little though.  There was a lot to figure out in this one.  But knowing that we were much closer to the end than the beginning was reassuring.  After securing all of our clues from the stage we went to a nearby restaurant to get a drink and start putting the pieces together.  Which proved to be not as reassuring as we hoped.  Studying clues, putting pieces together and making some assumptions still didn’t make the whole picture any clearer.  The good news is that we had a phone a friend that would put us on on the right track.  The bad news was that we were out of time for the day.  It wasn’t late but it was quitting time as I had evening plans.

Riding high from a productive day we decided we NEEDED to finish this cache.  Sunday would be the exciting finale.

Less than 24 hours after we went our own ways we were standing at stage 9 ready to complete the challenge we had all set out on weeks before.  Burning quadriceps, achy palms, sore toes, and stiff backs were at the back of our mind as we took off to the final destination.  Still not sure of all of the puzzle in front of us we dove in.  At this point you just have to.  There is no time to hesitate, no need to address the uncertainty.  After nearly losing my entire leg to an enemy quicksand trap, we ventured the long way to the final destination.  But we got there.  We finally found this cache that took us about 16 total hours. But there was one last challenge facing us.  Thankfully the brains of our operation came through once again and within a few minutes I was rolling in gold!.

This adventure was everything I wanted it to be.  Challenging, fun, rewarding, and something very different.  I hope I didn’t give away too many details of this cache since part of the fun is the unknown.  Not knowing what all of the things you find along the way mean.  Not knowing what is around the next corner.  Not knowing what you’ll have to do, how far you’ll have to go, how small you’ll have to be, or how wet you may get.  There are so many things that make this an awesome cache and one that I will use in the future to guage the rest of the caches i do.  This is unfair, but I don’t care.  It will be hard to top this both mentally, and physically.  Although I do already have my next big one picked out.   The name is more daunting (Death Wish), but I don’t think it match the challenge this cache gave me.

The images below are in a random order as to not give anything away

Without typing up the full two page sheet of instructions and guidelines that we were handed, I’ll summarize what I learned about the next phase.  This round of this contest is based on two things.  Getting people to come to games and supporting the team at different events.  There is a third factor, but that is kind of made up as we go along since this is a whole new promotion.  This is a learning experience for the Checkers as well as for us fans involved and I love the fact that they are asking us for ideas for prizes as well as for different contests they could have for us.  That is a sign of a great organization in my mind.

Already I have a million ideas running around my head.  Well maybe not a million, but not far from it.  Some of those ideas I’ll be posting over the next few weeks, while others I’ll save and keep as my secret weapons.  I don’t want any of the other candidates playing off of my strategies after all.  I will say that part of my “campaign” will be playing the social media card as much as I can.  Not sure HOW exactly, but I do have plenty of ideas.  Thankfully I have an amazing group of friends that are already lending me MANY ideas and much more.

In earlier blog posts I said I was looking for something that involved more creativity than my current job as a computer programmer.  Maybe this is that creative outlet and a chance to spread my marketing/ promotional/ abstract task implementation wings.  Plus it is a competition and I hate to lose.

My first phase of my social media blitz is this post.  While it may not seem like much, it is a subtle start.  I’ll also mention that I have created a micro-site within puttzy.com dedicated to the Checkers and hockey.  Checkers.Puttzy.com is now live and will hopefully fill with content very quickly.  The first things I’m planning on adding is a series of posts explaining the basics of hockey.  I’ll continue to write about my experiences here and keep that site very focused on just the checkers and winning the contest.

I set out today to keep my daily streak alive.  (29 days and counting! – yes I’m nerd)  During the week I’ve been taking care of some of the easy ones, but on the weekends I’ve been trying to challenge myself a bit more and it has been very worth it.  From learning some local history, to finding some creative outside the box hides like the short and sweet Brew Master Series, I’ve had a couple very fun weekends.  Today I took off to a nearby park that had about 7 caches I had yet to grab.  After a few quick traditional grabs I came across what appeared to a daunting cache.  (I won’t give the name of it in case some how someone finds this little corner of the interwebz looking for a hint)

A few minutes of circling prompted the park rangers to come out and start making fun of me.  Apparently they were VERY well aware of this devious hide as they routinely make poke fun at visitors wandering.  I know this because of previous logs mention it, and because they had fun telling me about other peoples quests in the pasts.  In between their laughs they were at least kind enough to offer subtle nudges in the right direction.  Within a few minutes I finally managed to have the container in my hand.

That was the easy part.

For the next 20-30 minutes I fiddled with the homemade container trying to open it up.  I pretty much knew what I had to do, but doing it was another story.  (Isn’t it always)  Twisting, pulling, shaking, and maybe even a little blowing at one point.  Dont ask.  Finally though, as if the whole thing operated on a timer that would only allow a person to be frustrated for so long, a tiny key fell out of the hole and I just about jumped up in the air.  Thankfully this all happened just as the Park Ranger came back and saw my success.  (See lady, I’m not a total loser!)  I unlocked the bottom half, took out the log, and read some of the previous entries.  The great part of this was sharing in other peoples frustration.  It was good to know I wasn’t the only one.

With the log signed, returned, locked, and key tucked back away, I replaced the cache container and thankfully could cross this cache off my list.

This kind of creativity make me realize how un-handy, un-creative, and almost boring my brain is.  Sad to think that in this hobby, and within this group of people, I’m the boring brained one.

Below are pictures of the creativity that went into this cache.

Where's the cache

Fake bottom

tada!!

How the hell do I open this?

Seriously? Any help would be appreciated

I did it!! Time for me to do a little dance

All that work for this. So worth it

What could very well be my next great adventure will take place right here in Charlotte.  No need to travel to a different state and risk the need of new tires or worry about getting snatched up by some hill billy.  There will be no ocean sunsets as the day ends and dark runs through alligator alley and swarms of bugs that splatter against your shield so thick you can’t see.  No late night searching for a hotel in a strange area on a holiday weekend.  None of the normal things I’ve become accustomed to on my travels.  Although there is no telling what I’ll find on this upcoming adventure.

I’m planning on doing my first 5/5 (difficulty/terrain) geocache, “The lost treasure of the confederacy”  Only the toughest caches in the world have this rating.  Some of them involves scuba diving, or mountain climbing, or just crazy crazy stuff I’ve only read about and never even come close to accomplishing.  But for my quickly approaching milestone of 1000 caches found I’m going to attempt to do the closest one.

From what I can gather from reading the description and the logs on the cache this will not be easy at all.  It involves knee high or higher water.  Crawling through pipes and tubes all over the Queens City, paying attention to detail, and solving puzzles along the way.  The quickest anyone has done this cache is 14 hours, which is fine by me.  I’m not setting out to make any time record on this.  Actually I may be looking to spread it over at least two weekends.  Just depending on how well it goes.

The best part about this cache is that it is based on some history.  It appears that the “Lost gold of the confederacy” is a known legend/myth/historical story/fact?  Maybe people that grew up in the south know of this, but being a Yankee myself I had never heard of it.  But after reading a few resources I realized that the gold is indeed true.  People were even tortured over it.  While I obviously won’t be looking for the actual gold the story is a good read and fun to imagine just stumbling across it on my way.

If you get a second check out the gallery of images that kind me a clue of what I may be getting into.  Anyone wanna tag along?

Earlier this week I got some information on the next phase in this journey that will end with a “Puttzy” jersey hung in Time Warner Cable Arena. Patrick Stack, the Checkers Director of Corporate partnerships, sent an email to the 16 finalists congratulating us and providing us with the next phase in the process.  While it was good to get some contact, the email only left more questions unanswered.

Here’s the letter:

Fan of the Year Candidates –

On behalf of the Checkers organization, we would like to thank you for taking the time to complete your ‘Fan of the Year’ submissions and wish you congratulations on becoming 1 of 16 candidates for this terrific award.

We have learned about your passion for the sport of hockey and the Checkers but now it is time to see how willing you are to share that passion!

First thing is first, we would like to host you at a Fan of the Year “Welcome Reception” on February 6.  This will be an opportunity for you all to learn more about the specifics of the program, the tasks you will be assigned and our overall expectations for each and every one of you.

The “Welcome Reception” will take place prior to the February 6 game at 1:30pm in a TBD location of the arena.  Please report to the Season Ticket Holder entrance at 1:20pm and we will escort you to the appropriate location.  If you cannot attend the meeting, contact me directly and I can fill you in what you missed.

Food and beverage will be provided.

Please contact me, not your Account Representative, with questions related to the Fan of the Year program.

Thank you so much for your continued support of the Checkers and GOOD LUCK!

Patrick

Where do I even start with my comments and questions.  First of all Superbowl Sunday?  You want us to meet up on Super Bowl friggin Sunday?  Thankfully we’re meeting well before the supposed kickoff time.  So I’m not freaking out too much.  I’ll still get to watch the Steelers beat the Packers.

I can’t help but wonder what they man by learning about the “specifics of the program, the tasks you will be assigned and our overall expectations for each and every one of you.” Do I have to dress up and make a fool of myself?  Help advertise the Checkers and get people to come to games?  Beat up Zach Fitzgerald? Something involving the Checkmates.  Oh please let it involves the Checkmates.  It doesn’t really matter what it takes.  I’ve come this far.  I’ve got to win now.

All I can hope is that the “challenge” is something up my alley.  Like finding a tupperware container in the middle of the woods.  Or wearing an empty “party ball” on my head.  Or how about finding a motorcycle shop in the middle of nowhere that has the correct tire and the ability to replace one in a short amount of time.  Any of those things I’m golden.