Geocaching

So recently the term geocaching has been flying forth from my mouth with increasing frequency. I had been introduced to the idea many years ago, but since I was a poor college student with no money to spend on a handheld GPS unit- I never gave it a go. Fast forward to a month or two ago, when one of my coworkers (Michelle) was surprised to find out I knew what this whole geocaching thing was all about. She took me out for my first time a little while back and I was hooked- hence the increase of the term in my vocabulary. All that being said- I still haven't said a word about what it is. Well- to sum it up very nicely... here's a t-shirt that I find amusing

Hehe... ok, now to expand on that a bit. From geocaching.com- "Geocaching (pronounced geo-cashing) is a worldwide game of hiding and seeking treasure. A geocacher can place a geocache in the world, pinpoint its location using GPS technology and then share the geocache's existence and location online. Anyone with a GPS device can then try to locate the geocache"

So it's all pretty simple. Get your hands on a GPS unit, hit up the aforementioned website to find some caches near you, plug the coordinates of said caches into said GPS, and off you go. Caches range in size from micro (film canisters, hide-a-key magnets, M&M minis containters, etc) to large (ammo boxes, tupperware containers). Generally the micro caches are hidden in more populated areas, while you'll probably have to hit your local woods to find the larger caches. At the very minimum- all a cache needs to contain is a log for those who find it to sign, but the larger ones will also contain various little treasures ("swag" in caching terms). It's a good idea to bring some swag of your own along with you, because caching etiquette says that if you take something from the cache, you leave something of equal value behind. Some caches also contain "trackables", which are coins or items with a Travel Bug dogtag attached to them. The coin or dogtag will contain a unique ID that you can lookup online to find out the original location of that item and it's path to you. Some items even have a destination they are trying to reach, or even a mission to complete.

(This is T-Bone. He's from Virgina and has traveled south to the Carolinas before a long trip up north to the northwestern part of Pennsylvania, and then eventually making his way to a cache near the Middle Creek Reservoir where I found him.)

Caches are also rated on a 5-star scale on both difficulty to find as well as the terrain to get to the cache. This information really comes in handy on the woodsy caches so you have an idea what kind of hike you have in front of you. From what I understand- a full 5 star difficulty will require special equipment to find the cache (scuba or rock climbing equipment for example).

So yea- that's a pretty good introduction to geocaching I think. For more info- hit up geocaching.com or contact me... I'm pretty new to it as well, but I'm always happy to talk about it! Hehe. And if you wanna try it sometime, let me know! I'm waiting for payment to clear on a newer GPS I bought on ebay, so I should have that within a week and I'll be looking to try it out. The first one I bought was an older model that didn't have the newer high sensitivity GPS chips in them, so it's accuracy under tree cover was pretty crappy. I'll end this post with a couple pics from my geocaching adventures thus far...

This is my first piece of swag! I name him C.C. (short for Cache Cow)

Ordinary looking stump? Nope!!

random stuff

So I've come across a bunch of stuff today and I figured I'd put it all together in a blog post...

Double Rainbow

If you haven't seen the video that started it all off- here's some guy that I really hope is trippin big time on something... cuz he is completely blown away with this double rainbow

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQSNhk5ICTI

So then a few days later- behold the power of imagination and auto-tune!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX0D4oZwCsA

And now, as of today, there's a rock/hardcore cover of that song!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3hJhVvGP7k

mc chris - I Love Drugs

While this would probably be a fun tune regardless... it really helps if you're familiar with the song Your Love Is My Drug by Kesha (if you listen to pop radio at all- it's almost a given you've heard it recently)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uB_UmsrcgT0

Count Censored

Last but not least... this one isn't new- but it never ceases to make me laugh!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-Wd-Q3F8KM

...so please don't divide my mind tonight

I'm a sucker for catchy vocal trance...

In This Moment

Just listened to the first single from In This Moment's upcoming CD, and the first thing I'm thinking is- Maria's screaming again... and I'm not sure how excited I am

I "discovered" In This Moment awhile back, mainly cuz I've got a soft spot for good female fronted bands- especially in the heavier music categories. ITM has always had a hard rock sounds with metal influences (some heavier riffs, double bass, and of course some screaming). I was hooked on their song Beautiful Tragedy from their debut album of the same name and really liked Maria's mix of singing and screaming- I think she does both very well.

Then came The Dream, their sophomore CD, and it threw me for a bit of a loop because suddenly the screaming had pretty much disappeared. It quickly grew on me, however, and I came to really enjoy Maria's singing voice even more... which I think is beautifully showcased in the song Mechanical Love.

So back to this evening when I found out they have a new CD dropping in about two weeks and they've got the first single and video out already. The song is called Gunshow- and this song's sound is on the other end of the spectrum. The music is heavier and the vocals are almost all screamed- and I'm not quite sure how I feel about that. I like the song- but I also miss her singing. Guess I'll just have to wait and see what the rest of the CD sounds like

blast from the past

Totally random- but I've recently dug out a CD entitled Europop by a certain group called Eiffel 65. Yes, the group and CD that spawned the love-it-or-hate-it song Blue (Da Ba Dee). Personally- I loved it... hence me having the CD. But beyond that song- I really dig the rest of the songs as well. Even now, some 10ish years later- I think it's a fun listen from start to finish. Granted the same rule applies to the CD as does the aforementioned single- if you hated that song, you're probably going to find the CD more useful as a coaster.

That's all really- nothing too profound or anything... just enjoying some Italian electronic dance

music

Some songs that have been stuck in my head over the past few days- so I thought I'd share and see if they'd stick in yours too!


Burden of a Day- Remember [post-hardcore]



Before Their Eyes- Sing To Me [post-hardcore]



Haste the Day- Travesty [metalcore]



lvl- Home [?? - something dancey]



Rafael Frost- Black Box [trance]

LET'S GO FLYERS!!!

So last year, I attended my first Flyers game. I had been a mild Flyers fan before I guess you could say... watching some games on TV every once in awhile and all that. But after going to that first game- I was hooked!! There is such an energy on the ice and in the crowd that you don't get the feel of watching a game on TV! And I had been to some Reading Royals and Hershey Bears games before- but that energy is on a whole different level for an NHL game. So needless to say- since that game I've become a much more avid fan.

Well this love affair with hockey and the Flyers reached another level last night! After their dramatic (and historic) comeback from three games down to defeat the Boston Bruins in the last series- they are squaring off against the Montreal Canadiens in the Eastern Conference Finals. While sitting around the fire this past weekend- my friend Frank mentioned that they were looking at getting tickets for Game 2 and wanted to know if I was interested. I knew I was going to be looking at a pretty hefty ticket price, but I also knew I had just received lots of graduation money- so I said, sign me up!

And thus- last night I found myself swimming in a sea of orange and black! That energy I had talked about earlier... the energy that's on a whole other level for an NHL game... well there is an even higher gear yet- and that's NHL Playoff hockey!!! The way the entire place exploded after every goal!! The noise level after the Flyers would kill off a penalty or after goalie Michael Leighton would make a great save! I have never chanted and yelled so much during a game before! And not even just during the game- the "Let's Go Flyers!" and "Ole Ole Ole" chants continued even as we were making our way out of the arena! To be completely honest- I'm still getting goosebumps thinking about it! It was an absolute blast and if the guys keep playing the way they are and move on to the Stanley Cup finals, and if we can get tickets for a "decent" price- I may very well be going back to see if the Wachovia Center can rock even louder yet!!