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A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

Pathtags

Day Zero Project: Completed No. 7

April 8, 2015

A Day Zero Project goal of P.J.’s has been completed!

Goal completed: Create and produce three new pathtags

Date completed: March 19, 2015

Number: 7

Description: Pathtags are small, coin-like items that are used as signature items in geocaching. There is also a very active community that trades, so people’s collections can grow quickly if you do that with your tags. Pathtags, unlike geocoins, that are found in the wild are able to be traded for like any other swag and kept. When you find or trade for a tag, you log it on pathtags.com and it remains in your collection. These tags can have a lot of detail to them and are quite cool. They look like a medium-size coin and have a hole in them, so people can attach them to items, such as a keychain.

My 2015 signature tag.

My 2015 signature tag.

Why I wanted to do it: I have had several pathtags made over the years and have always loved them, as well as the community that trades. I have a large ammo can full of these tags (eventually, I am going to take photos of my tag collection, all signature items I’ve collected, and all coins in my personal collection and put them into a coffee table book – hint on a future Day Zero Project goal). I hadn’t had a tag made in several years (remember the whole unemployment thing?) and I wanted to get some new ones done so I could get back to gifting and trading.

How I did it: Since this project started and the time of me writing this, I actually have five either produced, in production, or submitted and awaiting the final blueprint. The designs were either done by me, or by Chris Mackey – an amazing coin and tag designer. The tags are as follows: One in memory of my cat, Molson; my 2015 tag (Calvin of Calvin and Hobbes), a tag for the ASP Geobash Mega, a tag for Geowoodstock, and one to celebrate my 4,000th find, which I hope will be Geowoodstock.

The design process – whether I do my own or have somebody else do it – is the same for the most part. I have an idea, I try and get it down to get an idea and then the final version is made. It’s sent in to get a blueprint, which is then approved or rejected (with notes and what needs to be fixed) by me. That repeats until it goes into production. Then, 4-6 weeks later, the tags come in the mail.

I have a few more in the pipeline and I look forward to having them made.

About P.J.’s Day Zero Project: Day Zero is a project where people come up with 101 things to do over 1001 days. I started the project on August 1, 2014 with an anticipated finish date of April 28, 2017. Goals will not be revealed until they are completed. A private list is at the Day Zero website and the list will be made public upon completion of the project. It’s my thoughts that if things are kept private, should I not do them, change or find a way around it, I’d only be cheating myself.

Filed Under: challenges, Day Zero Project, My world, Pathtags Tagged With: day zero, day zero project, my day zero project

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Getting back into the pathtag game with my 2014 edition

June 25, 2014

I haven’t had a pathtag made in a few years.

For those of you who aren’t geocachers, pathtags are affordable, coin-like tokens people use to trade or as signature items. I’ve had several made over the years and have many in my personal collection.

The original concept.

The original concept.

But it’s been a while — mainly as an affordability thing — since I had some made. So, I made it my quest to look to have one made.

The reality is, though, that despite being able to work with Photoshop quite well, and that I can envision things, I just can’t really design tags well. OK, I can do basic things… but I wanted something more.

At the recent ASP Geobash, I was talking with Chris Mackey, who I’ve known for a few years in the geocaching world. He is, in my eyes, one of the most amazing coin designers out there (I actually have a print of one of his designs, as well as the matching coin) and I would love for him to design me a coin. Alas, right now, my funds aren’t that deep. However, he also does pathtags, so I enlisted his help for my newest one.

The tag look, before a tweak or two.

The tag look, before a tweak or two.

His work is amazing.

He captured what I wanted for this one. I had bigger ideas, but he pointed out how hard it can be to do ones like I had wanted.

So he worked with me to come up with something more simple and, honestly, better.

I’d like to point out that Chris is extremely affordable when it comes to pathtag designs and he works with you to make sure you have exactly what you want. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Chris if you are looking for pathtag design and I know I’ll be using him again in the future for more designs.

There’s only a tweak or two remaining. Once done, I’ll get the final work from him and submit and then the process of creating my pathtag will be underway. I believe it takes about six weeks or so, at which time I’ll have them in hand and ready to trade or hand out or place in some caches.

And I can’t wait.

One note about me and pathtags, however. I won’t trade for anything and everything online. I like personal tags and I like to meet people. So I will do some trades online, but they will be slim as I am only going to get 100 tags made.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Filed Under: Geocaching, My world, Pathtags Tagged With: caching, caching pathtags, geocaching, geocaching pathtags, geocaching signature items, pathtags, signature items

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Geocaching 101: Trackables

November 29, 2011

The Travel Bug is a popular traveler inside the geocaching game. (photo courtesy Martyn Wright via Flickr)

Not too long ago, I did a Geocaching 101 blog post for people who had asked for more information about the game.

I wanted to expand on that post with a few others about the game in hopes of giving new geocachers a place to see everything in the eyes of someone other than Groundspeak.

This edition of the 101 is about trackables, which is basically a game within the game of geocaching.

The basic definition of trackables is an item — either a travel bug, geocoin or other traveler — that has a unique number on it. That number is connected to the geocaching.com website. When a geocacher picks it up, he or she logs that they picked it up and will move it along soon. When that geocacher drops it off, they put it in a geocache and then when they log that cache as found, there’s an option to drop the traveler, too.

The traveler can be one of several things, so let’s go over each.

Travelers

The Travel Bug: The most popular is probably the official Groundspeak travel bug. The travel bug is a basic dog tag, attached to a small chain. That chain and dog tag can be sent out on its own, or it can be attached to something. It can be attached to anything — toy cars, key chains, sporting things, homemade crafts — whatever. Just remember that it needs to fit in a cache. Some items might be difficult to place, unless it’s a bigger cache. So keep all that in mind when sending a travel bug out or moving one along. The bonus about travel bugs is that they come with two tags — one to send out with your item and the other as a backup, just in case your traveler goes missing.

Geocoins are sought after, but come up missing more than most items.

Geocoins: Geocoins are more expensive, but more sought after. Geocoins are made by someone and resemble actual coins. They are metal and can differ in sizes. Most are designed and have a limited number made. Coins can range from $5 to more than $20, depending on the coin, its availability and if it’s even in production anymore. Because of their price, geocoins are often purchased new by collectors and never released into the wild. They are collected and the collector often lets other cachers check them out so they can be discovered instead of being moved.

Other travelers: In recent years, companies have come up with things that are basically in the middle of Travel Bugs and geocoins. They are usually the thinness of the Travel Bugs, but are more custom looking, such as in the shape of animals or something else. However, these come one to a package, so if they come up missing, you don’t have a backup. Some companies have, however, surfaced that offer a low-cost replacement for your missing trackable, should it happen.

How you can participate

First, let me give a little dose of reality when it comes to travelers — they don’t always survive. I placed one on my trip to Ireland last year and it disappeared before it ever left the cache I dropped it in. The reality is that people steal travelers (more likely coins than Travel Bugs) to add to their own personal collection. It’s sad, but true.

However, coins and travel bugs can still be found.

If you find them, don’t worry about what a cache description says (many will say to take a trackable, you need to leave one. Don’t believe it. A cache owner has no say over the travel bug. None whatsoever.) If you can help a traveler on it’s mission, take it and move it to another cache. If you can’t, feel free to discover it, which lets the owner know the trackable is still there and in the wild.

The rule of thumb is you should move it within two weeks. Alas, real life gets in the way. And with more and more micros being hidden, sometimes cache size makes it hard to move trackables. So just try and move it within a reasonable time and all should be OK.

When I grab a traveler, I love looking through the history to see where it’s been and see if anyone has added photos. A traveler can really have a history and can be fun to see what it’s done.

For example, I have one I placed in my father’s memory a few years back. It’s traveled more than 17,000 miles and has visited several states and has even been in Iraq.

A traveler page can really show a lot of things.

How to start one

My first time caching, I picked up a geocoin. I didn’t know much about it, but I did a search and learned about it. I realized I was supposed to move the coin within two weeks or so of picking it up. I found what I thought was the perfect cache and let it go back into the wild. For a while, I “watched” the coin as it moved all over. After a while, I didn’t want to watch it anymore. I wanted to set loose one of my own.

So I did.

And I’ve done it many times since.

It’s easy to set one out. Just buy a traveler (which you can do on the Geocaching.com website or buy from many, many geocaching online stores), attach it to something and place it in a cache. Then wait. Sometimes travelers will take a while before they move. Sometimes it will seem like it will never move.

Sometimes they disappear.

But don’t give up hope. There are stories of travelers that seemingly disappeared years ago and resurface.

My 2010 pathtag.

Other “Travelers”

Though not really travelers, Pathtags often get confused as travelers because of their number on the back. Pathtags, however, are signature items. People can register them on the Pathtags website. Pathtags look like small geocoins and are quite detailed. But in the end, they are normal swag one can trade for and keep. People do, however, place them back in caches for others to eventually find.

People also have signature items, which can range from wood coins, to pencils, to custom-made items to many other things. These, too, are swag items and are not travelers, unless of course they are attached to a travel bug or coin!

Final thoughts

Travelers are a great aspect to the game of geocaching. It gives people the chance to travel through something they have set out into the world. Many of these travelers have goals — to reach a different place, to see something, to get to another geocacher or something else. Others just have the goal of traveling.

When you pick them up, do your best to move them along as soon as you can. People love seeing their travelers move often! And when you send them out, have fun with them and realize these things can — and will — disappear. It’s an unfortunate part of the game. When you release them, you’ll likely never see them again, so try not to attach anything valuable. Have fun and see a different side of the game!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook by clicking the button on the right side of the page!

 

Filed Under: Geocaching, My world, Pathtags Tagged With: caching, geocaching, geocaching traveler, geocoin, pathtag, signature items, trackable, travel, travel bug, travel bugs, traveler

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Geocaching and things…

February 7, 2011

This year has been slow for geocaching, I can say that.

Since the turn of 2011, I’ve found seven geocaches. SEVEN! The whole thing is, I’ve become a bit of a fair-weather cacher. I like doing it when there isn’t a foot of snow on the ground or the temps aren’t at 10 degrees or colder!

Brrr!

Anyway, a few new caches have popped up in the area that seem to be winter-friendly, so sometime in the next week or two I think I’ll try and pick them up. Alas, I’m not as much into the long days in the cold to find these things.

So, I’m awaiting good weather.

That doesn’t stop a guy from peeking around though, eh?

Once the spring breaks, there’s a few small roadtrips I’m hoping to make to grab a few caches. Though I don’t mind the park-and-grabs, I want to make sure on any caching trips I do anymore, there will be some good caches lined up as well. Part of my goal, too, is to complete the New York DeLorme  Challenge. If all goes well, that is.

I’ll give a peek of one of the caches I want to try in the spring. Click here to see it.

One thing I am looking forward to are a pair of mega events — Allegany GeoBash and GeoWoodstock. Both are close and a few months apart, so I’m excited about that.

The Geobash is in May and it will be the third time I’ve attended. I was looking at hotels for the weekend, but they are priced quite high and I don’t know about that. So, I might look into a cabin again as I did last year. I will likely only stay Friday and Saturday (as long as I can get it off from work) this year, so I can probably deal.

As for GeoWoodstock, I found a hotel about 25 miles away at a good price. I made a reservation for three nights with the hopes that I can get it off from work. I’ll look forward to that as it will be my first GeoWoodstock. I’m also in the early stages of planning a pathtag for the event that I’ll look forward to trading with others who made a pathtag etc.

The only other caching idea and hope I have this year is to take a chunk of my vacation to head to the top of Maine and come down the coast. It would be for more than caching, however, as I’ll be looking to photograph waterfalls, covered bridges, lighthouses and Acadia National Park.

We’ll see how the planning for all of these ideas go.

With snow (again) coming down a bit outside, I’m in the mode of thinking about nice hikes and well-hidden geocaches. Hopefully the better weather will come sooner rather than later. I’m hoping that groundhog was right.

More later!

Filed Under: Geocaching, Pathtags

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Early thoughts on the Kindle (and some randoms)

September 26, 2010

I’ll have a more in-depth review on the Kindle down the line, after I get through a few more books. But I wanted to share my early experiences with it.

First, it’s awesome. It’s light, easy on the eyes and very easy to use. There are some curves to learn and get used to, but once you get through a few of the things, you’re moving right along.

Let me note that I purchased the non-3G version as I don’t plan on purchasing books on the run most of the time. I have the wireless off and download any I buy to the computer, then sync things.

I’ll worry about the technical things when I do a full review, but here’s one major reason I love this thing — the books I never would have found without it.

There are many authors who have Kindle-only books. After reading reviews and plots, I’ve put several on the wish list so when I get through the four I’ve already purchased, I’ll get more. I used to be someone who purchased basically sports books or real-life. In recent years, I’ve become a fiction guy, but never know who to look for etc. I have a waide variety of book tastes.

Now, I have a chance to read authors many have never heard of and who have published these books in this format, but not in print. I look forward to checking many out.

In a couple of weeks, I will give a full Kindle review.

—

I was coming home from the New York State Associated Press Awards the other night. It was almost 10 p.m. and I wanted to listen to some baseball. Knowing the Yankees and Rays had a long rain delay, I figured I could find them somewhere on the AM dial.

Nope.

I’m in Albany and there has to be someone who carries Yankees games. I couldn’t find it though.

What did I find?

I got WGN out of Chicago and heard some Cubs talk. I listened to the end of the Reds game. Of course I heard WFAN out of New York, but that station is the Mets. Other stations included a political show out of Missouri and a country radio station in French and out of Quebec.

But no Yankees.

AM is quite wild, no?

—

I got my Guinness pathtags for the Beer Cap club today. I’ll be shipping them out to people with whom I’ve traded later this week.

—

I haven’t had the chance to geocache much lately, but I’m now in the process of planning my trip to Maine, so hopefully I’ll be able to get a bunch up there, mixed in with a lot of photographs.

Speaking of photographs, I’ve reached Day 268 of the Project 365. I’m now in the home stretch. Looking forward to finishing this one as it’s been a fulfilling, albeit frustrating at times, challenge. Not sure I’ll do it again, but I will be happy when I finish this one.

—

Went to an independent pro wrestling show the other night with a friend. We were looking to have a few laughs and I was interested in finding something cool to take photos of — and this paid off.

The end of the night featured someone being powerbombed through a table that had been set on fire. It also turned out to be just feet from us. As I scrambled to get the smaller lens on the camera before it happened, I basically had one shot at this.

I’ll leave you this day with my shot:

More later!

Filed Under: A 'lil HooHaa, Books, Geocaching, Pathtags, Postcrossing, Sports Tagged With: Kindle, pro wrestling

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Harper is counting down to Santa Paws! You know, Harper is counting down to Santa Paws! 

You know, of course, Santa Paws travels with Santa Clause, making sure to find treats and toys for all the good little doggies! (We know they are all deserving, right?) So, Harper put out some milk for the big guy, carrots for Rudolph and the reindeer, and special cookies for Santa Paws! She is ready! 

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One of the best parts about having Harper as my be One of the best parts about having Harper as my best friend… ❤️
Couldn't resist stopping on the way to work to sna Couldn't resist stopping on the way to work to snap this shot. The colors in the sky were fantastic and the scene was nice looking (though, to be fair, I drove by what I think would have been a better scene -- the valley and hills full of snow etc.)

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The best of times??? 🤪🤪🤪 The best of times??? 🤪🤪🤪
Just a break on our morning walk … #goldenretri Just a break on our morning walk …

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Tired. Tired.
Harper is ready for tonight! Let’s go Phillies! Harper is ready for tonight! Let’s go Phillies! 

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I look at her and sometimes still can’t believe I look at her and sometimes still can’t believe I have her. It’s been a year and four months and she makes me smile and laugh more each day. It’s amazing how much a dog changes your look on life, and how much joy they can bring. 

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I’ve recently realized how many photos I have to I’ve recently realized how many photos I have to post here, as well as on Harper’s (@harper_dublin) account). So, as I start to transfer photos, I’ll try and catch up. So photos coming could be from all seasons and who knows when. 🤣

This one is recent from the courthouse square in Delhi. We had some pretty good fall colors this year. 

#fall #delhiny #seasons #iphoneonly #love #photography #photooftheday #instagood #happy #picoftheday
From a few weeks ago. I was trying to get Harper t From a few weeks ago. I was trying to get Harper to put her paws on the bridge and looked out, but she was more content jumping on me and looking up. I do love the way she seems to be looking at me.
Instagram post 17992900117561614 Instagram post 17992900117561614
Couldn’t resist a quick stop this morning with t Couldn’t resist a quick stop this morning with the fog and frost settled in. 

Hamden Covered Bridge 

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Harper’s friend Lucy is around this weekend! #g Harper’s friend Lucy is around this weekend!

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So… @harper_dublin wants to know why she can’t So… @harper_dublin wants to know why she can’t have @mallons_homemade_sticky_buns.
This is why we can’t have nice things. Saw this This is why we can’t have nice things. Saw this on me morning walk Friday with Harper. Likely some college kids, but also as chance at local hooligans. I had Harper so not a lot I could do, but I managed to get the cart off the chair. (See second photo) This was in a local park.
Harper is ready for #nationalfetchday on October 1 Harper is ready for #nationalfetchday on October 15! @chuckitfetchgames 

Should be fun! @discgolfdarren @harmm23
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Street lights hidden in a tree. #life #light #wa Street lights hidden in a tree. 

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Finally learning this Canon M6 MarkII before my tr Finally learning this Canon M6 MarkII before my trip starts this weekend. Really like it now that I took the time to set it up and learn the differences between this and my 7D MarkII. This and the iPhone will do most of the work on the trip. 

Photo is inside on a dark and dreary day. Transferred to phone and edited with #snapseed. 

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I hate being in front of the camera, but also realize sometimes it's not the worst thing in the world. So, I'm getting better with it. Week 4's theme was all about us and having us in front of the camera, so I tried to come up with a creative way to do it. 

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