A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

Entertainment

Laughter is the best medicine — for pretty much anything

Ralphie Mae performs at SUNY Delhi.

I’m jealous of people who live where there are comedy clubs readily available.

I fully believe if I lived anywhere near a comedy club and the ticket prices were affordable, I’d go often. I’d especially like to go on open-mic nights to be able to see different things and people.

I can’t really explain what Ralphie May is talking about here as I’ll keep it clean on the blog. But let me say it was absolutely hilarious!

Comedy has long been a part of my life. From watching many big-name comedians at a local college (George Carlin, Howie Mandel, Michel Winslow, Carrot Top, Jay Mohr, and Sam Kinison, to name a few), to seeing smaller shows all over the place, I’ve long loved stand up comedy.

I’ve had the chance to see many different comedy places. From a cool little spot in Montreal, where we met and struck a friendship up with comedian Steve Caouette, to little dives with people hoping to make a few bucks in the world of comedy. Whether 15-minute quickies or an hour and half of pure hilarity, I’ve loved pretty much every comedy show I attended.

With that in mind, it’s pretty safe to say, whenever I get a chance to go, I like to do so.

On Sunday, I added a comedian toward the top of my list.

Chad, Ralphie May’s opener, got the crowd revved up and ready.

Ralphie May, well-known through his Comedy Central specials and for his appearance on Last Comic Standing, came to SUNY Delhi. He’s been to Delhi before, but I had never had the chance to see him. He was supposed to have a show a year or so ago, but had to cancel because of health reasons.

Allow me to say it was well worth the wait to see him perform.

First, his opening act, Chad of the Smash Brothers, was hilarious. He got some solid digs in on a few people in the front row, told some extremely funny stories and had the crowd warmed up amazingly for May.

Here’s one thing though — this definitely wasn’t a “family friendly” show. In other words, profanity and things along those lines were open game.

That made it really good.

Ralphie May and Marty following the show at SUNY Delhi.

His topics included pretty much anything, including some politics, racial lines, himself, and of course, some adult topics. He also utilized one of the students Chad had picked on a bit and got some good digs in as well.

It’s also safe to note that I was in stitches most of the night. I love a good laugh. It makes you forget anything else going on in the world. It can help make you forget anything bad going on and it gives you a way to kind of ignore anything else and just have a good time.

This was also the final big comedy show at the college under the watch of Marty Greenfield, SUNY Delhi’s Student Activities Director, who is retiring at the end of the semester. He’s been at the college for more than 25 years and has brought some amazing shows — comedy, music, sports (Globetrotters etc.), wrestling and so many more things.

Ralphie May was an excellent closing big comedy show. It’s safe to say the students and community members who attended the show went home happy, which is one of the main things a student activities director could ask for.

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

Looking back at 2012: Finding the good in an awful year

No matter how bad things are, sometimes you have to sit back, realize it’s a blessing to be alive and smile.

This post definitely will have its ups and downs.

Last year when I did a look back at the year, I was in the same situation I am now — unemployed. But I still was optimistic. I had taken advantage of the year by being able to see things as I did my job search.

But as those months continued into 2012, it got worse.

I didn’t go see things as much. I canceled — understandably so — a trip to GeoWoodstock X (to be fair, it sounds like canning the trip wasn’t the worst thing. I hope to get back to GeoWoodstock some time in the future). I also didn’t do several things I had hoped to do, such as do a repeat trip to my Aunt’s house on the Jersey Shore.

Still, I’ve tried to remain as upbeat and as positive as I can. Despite knowing the end is near (or done if nothing has happened) to unemployment benefits, I realize I’m not even close to many others. I have a roof over my head, food to eat and family and friends who care enough about me to try and help or get my mind off things, if even just getting together for a slice of pizza or a beer.

That doesn’t take away from the negative thoughts I have in my head. I look at others who are successful and happy in life and wonder if I’ll reach that. I realize I chose a bad career path — or at least it seems — and I need to figure out something to do.

Hopefully, 2013 will be that year.

That being said, 2012 wasn’t a total wash. The reality is, I try and do whatever I can to try keep an upbeat attitude, if even just for a day or two. The lack of finances has made me look for more affordable things to do, especially in the local area. From photography to community events, I’ve seen a lot more of the area, which is a positive thing.

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One of the biggest — and brightest spots of my year was Rattling Chains, a blog I created to cover the sport of disc golf. This was done as a hobby during my spare time as I wanted to see if a niche blog like that could work. Disc golf is an extremely fast growing sport, so maybe something like this could take off.

And, compared to my hopes, it did.

I had a fun year in disc golf, but would have liked to played more!

Since launching the blog in early March, the site has received more than 115,000 views. That’s not shabby for a small crew (there are 3-5 of us who write on a regular basis) and with no financial backing or gain. We’ve put out some quality content and that’s been something I’ve really been proud of.

At times, it’s been hard to continue. And there’s no guarantee we’ll make it. Who knows what life brings. But for now, we’re doing well and have a loyal group following us.

In other parts of disc golf, I didn’t play as much as I would have liked this year. Unfortunately the drive to get a local course failed, so that made it harder for me to play. Driving 1 1/2 hours to play a round isn’t smart in regard to time or finances.

That meant I also only played in five tournaments this year — two PDGA-sanctioned tournaments (I reached my goal of hitting 700 as a rating), two doubles tournaments (we cashed in one!) and one Ace Race.

I’ve also played a bunch of casual rounds — including one with 2010 world champion Eric McCabe. So, in the end, I think I improved quite a bit, which is something I wanted to do.

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During this year, besides seeking a job, I was also seeking something else — peace.

The reality is, I have a lot of hate when it comes to some things in my life. I’m coming to terms with much of it and, I think, by the end of this job hunt, I’ll have come to total peace.

In fact, I really think I’ll face it head-to-head when I know my life is taking a better turn.

In the meantime, as I tried to shake it — I wanted to find some sort of peace. Kind of finding that place where I knew I could get away and just relax and not worry about anything else.

For those of you who know one of my closest friends Darren, you know he’s got his hands into so many things. That usually means when I get the chance to hang out with him, there’s going to be something different.

Finding kayaking was an important part of my year.

Kayaking was one of them.

Though I had always wanted to learn to kayak, I had never done it until this year. The first couple of times I went was with Darren. I used one of his kayaks and we paddled the local river. However, the kayak wasn’t truly good for me.

The next several times I went, I rented at a local kayak place. The owner was extremely helpful every time I went, helping me find the right kayak and showing me what I needed to do. The first time or two I went, I had to get the feel of it. From then on out, I got the “feel” of it within the first five minutes and I was all over it.

I still can’t do like others — have the legs out while chilling — but I’m sure that will come in time. I also need to figure out how to kayak for a couple of hours without back pain!

The one thing I truly found with kayaking?

Peace.

There is something to be said about being on the water with not many around and just coast, soak up some sun and listen to nature. It’s peaceful. You can get into a great place when out there.

I also held our area’s first water-based geocaching event. We had more than 30 people come out on a warm fall day, paddle a mile and a half to the event and enjoy everything.

Way too cool.

I don’t set resolutions or anything like that, but I’m really hoping to be able to afford a kayak and a roof rack this year. I can definitely see me going kayaking a whole heap more, especially if I don’t have to rent every time I go.

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Speaking of geocaching, I had a decent year with that hobby.

According to my statistics, I found 539 caches this year, which is my highest total since finding 1,030 in 2009. Since then, I’ve founf 491 (2010) and 396 (2011).

I finished a monumental challenge in completing the New York State DeLorme Challenge, which is something I’ve worked on for several years. Two big one-day road trips helped me get to the final point, which was awesome. I was excited to share the moment with some friends and it was nice to know I completed the challenge.

It’s been fun finding caches and doing some DeLorme road trips this year.

The challenge final was also my 3,000th find.

I’ve also completed the New York County Challenge, but I have yet to go find the final.

During the year, I had the chance to hit up 13 events, including the first New England mega event, which was held in Massachusetts  We made it a one-day trip (it was only a few hours from me) and had a good time, despite the crazy heat.

Including the seven events I hosted this year, I have launched 16 new caches in 2012. One of those was also my 50th hide (I now have 59). I think I’m most proudest of that, because it’s always nice to put out new caches.

It hasn’t been all great, though. We had a geocache attack this year, stealing upward of 10 ammo cans. A good bulk of them were mine or one other persons. I wondered if it was somebody local or somebody coming through the area and stealing them. The worst part was when my golden ammo can was replaced (it was done by someone else), it was stolen a second time — and one of her caches that was nearby was also close. I don’t know if it’s somebody local, but I won’t lie when I say I think it has to be someone with some sort of a vendetta. Since then, however, it seems to have ceased. So we can hope, anyway.

In the end, it was a good year for caching. I had the chance to go on some really fun caching days and got to meet new people. Though I had to cancel two trips to mega events I wanted to hit for financial reasons, I still enjoyed the year of caching. In the end, it did what it normally does — gave me an out to forget things for a while and took me to some places I likely never would have found without the game.

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This has been an interesting year when it comes to photography, which is why I’ll be breaking that down into more than one category.

First, professional wrestling. I’ve blogged about this before, but when it comes to photography, I’ve really found a lot of fun in shooting wrestling. Especially independent federations. First, it’s cheap entertainment (usually, tickets are $10-$15 for about three hours of action). Second, you can get some great images, be it action, close-ups or even the fans.

One of my favorite images this year in regard to wrestling — Brodie Lee. He’s since been signed by WWE and is wrestling under the name Luke Harper.

I have to say, I’m kind of shocked at how many events I went to this year. I took photos at 16 wrestling events and attended at least one other where I didn’t take any images. That’s quite a few. But I’ve loved the images I’ve taken. I also had the chance to tag along with a couple of indy wrestlers to a training seminar.

You get quite the variety of quality, too. Some is bad, some is good, some is awesome.

Either way, it’s a slice of variety that makes it fun to take photos.

I’ve also had the chance to get to know some of the personalities and am working on some writing projects with a few of them. In the end, I hope to talk to several others and make this one massive project — possibly a book.

After all, the photos only tell half the stories.

Though many people look own upon this sport, these guys (and gals) who do this really have some interesting stories to tell. Some are wild, some are good and some are bad. Some are downright tragic.

I am happy I’ve been able to shoot this sport. I’ve grown up a wrestling fan, so being able to capture these images has been awesome. That being said, one thing the training session taught me is being able to take photos at ringside is way better than being back in the crowd. Maybe in 2013, I’ll get that chance to get up close and personal to shoot the sport in a different light. I’ll look to rent a lens beforehand if that opportunity comes.

I didn’t use my favorite wrestling shot of the year in this post because it’s graphic and I want people to make their own choice if they want to see it. Note it’s bloody. If you want to see it, click here.

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This year hasn’t always been the best for photography.

I started out the year with a bang being involved in the second year of the HooHaa 52 and taking part in the 366 Project.

Some of you may remember I completed the 365 Project in 2010. The project is where you take a photo every day for a full year. I finished in in 2010 and swore I’d never do it again.

My Feb. 28 shot for the failed 366 Project.

However, 2012 was a leap year, so …

Needless to say, I didn’t make it. I sputtered throughout the summer and forced myself to keep going. Once the fall hit, I really hit a wall. No job equaled fewer opportunities to travel around and taking photos in my immediate area was becoming a bore.

So, after about 250 days, I called it quits.

I realize I only had three months or so remaining, but I knew I wasn’t going to make it. So I had two decisions — push as long as I could, or end it there. I decided to end it there, knowing I’d really get mad if I made it to December or something and then slipped.

Also, I think knowing I had completed this project in 2010 made it easier for me to call it quite.

The HooHaa 52 was also a failure. I was about 10 weeks shy of finishing. The reason there is the majority of people who joined this challenge had faltered. And others were using older photos or logging too many in a row. So I got frustrated and gave up.

That being said, Year 3 of the HooHaa 52 is starting this week and I’m more excited than I have been in the past for this challenge. I think we have a good group of people and have tweaked the rules to make it easier. Hopefully by this time next year, I’ll be telling you all about how I finished the project and how proud I am of the group and everything that got done.

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Travel this year was limited. I hit up the Lancaster area early in the year for a couple days of disc golf. Same with a short weekend trip to Philly in November, where I also got to stay with relatives and see some relatives I hadn’t seen in a while.

The Cooperstown Winter Festival was one of the local events I checked out this year.

There were also the two days of 22-plus hours of travel and caching to fill the DeLorme squares. And I ventured a few places to play disc golf, usually day trips.

But things I had hoped to do this year — a couple of geocaching trips, a trip to the Vibram Open — it just wasn’t in the cards this year.

And I’m OK with that. I realize my time needed to be spent (and still does) applying and searching for employment. It’s part of this crazy part of my life I’m in. Throwing money out for big trips just isn’t justifiable, when I’m trying to keep my head above water with bills.

That being said…

What this year taught me was to find more things locally. Things such as area fairs or festivals that are low cost (or free) and things put on for the community. I had the chance to see different things in a different light.

I also explored more of the local area, through geocaching and photography, to try and get out and visit local parks and such. There are a few I missed and I look forward to checking in 2013. There are also many awesome state parks within a couple hours from here. They offer many things and after receiving an Empire Pass for Christmas this year, I plan on trying to visit as many as possible this year.

I got involved with helping people looking for photos of headstones via Find A Grave and did some personal photography challenges. I worked on geocaching things in the local area. There really are so many things in people’s local areas they don’t know about. It’s unfortunate it took me this long to realize it. I look forward to looking at things like this in the future though.

It truly is amazing how you look at things differently when you have to find more cheap and inexpensive means of entertainment.

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In the end, the year featured more than I can put in this post.

It definitely had its ups and downs. Though a lot of the downs outweighed some things, the reality is I still am here on Earth, have good family and friends and am better off than so many others.

I also do believe things happen for a reason.

What the reason is that I’m going through all of this right now? No idea. But hopefully it will show its face in 2013.

Thanks to everyone who has visited the site through this year and I hope to have many more things to post about in the upcoming year!

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

Bumps and tosses: Training for pro-wrestling isn’t easy

Chuck Szili demonstrates a hip toss to an aspiring professional wrestler at a training seminar led by Szili and tag-team partner Sean Carr.

For those who watch pro wrestling beyond WWE, you know it can be a zany world.

From large crowds at smaller venues or smaller crowds at the same venue — sometimes being fewer than 100 in the crowd — the life of a wrestler on the independent circuit can be hard.

In recent weeks and months I’ve talked to several independent wrestlers and personalities with the hope of working on a series for the blog. The idea is to tell the stories of these wrestlers, the life on the road and the good and the bad.

The great thing about wrestlers? They all have a story to tell and, usually, it’s a different story. My hope is to take these stories and add on and have longer versions and turn those into an e-Book, but the series and/or book won’t be finished for at least a few months as I’m just starting to get into it.

It’s a crazy life these wrestlers live. This series of stories should even be compelling to non-wrestling fans because  there are things you’ll read that will make you wonder why any sane person would get involved with this profession.

Chuck Szili locks up with a wrestling student as tag-team partner Sean Carr (bottom left) and other trainees look on in this long-exposure shot.

I know what many people will say — “Come on, wrestling’s fake…”

When describing professional wrestling, one thing I despise is the word “fake.”

You want fake? Ask indy wrestler Charade if it’s fake. Check out this YouTube video. Be warned — this is kind of crazy and I firmly believe Charade should feel lucky he’s alive today. There’s no blood in this video, but what happens will make most people cringe. Note that the wrestler did live and apparently is better off than many might be in this situation.

So, the word “fake” is the wrong one to use.

Maybe planned? Choreographed? Worked? It’s entertainment. This isn’t the 50s or 70s or something like that anymore where the public didn’t — or acted like they didn’t — know what was going on.

These guys, after all, are still athletes and do some insanely crazy things.

When watching, you just hope they are trained correctly, can put on a good show and don’t get seriously maimed doing it.

This past Saturday, I had a really cool opportunity to join Binghamton-area wrestlers Sean Carr and Chuck Szili, who competes as Kage in the wrestling world, on a road trip to the Scranton area and see a training seminar. Carr, an acrobatic wrestler, is a relative newcomer to the sport, competing for about four or five years. Szili is the veteran, entering his 13th year. He’s traveled throughout the world to wrestle, even getting a proverbial cup of coffee with the WWE, wrestling on the Smackdown show a few years ago.

The two also form the tag team “CK,” and compete in 2CW (Squared Circle Wrestling), a top-level independent federation based out of Syracuse. Like many indy wrestlers, they also compete in other federations throughout the Northeast, but 2CW is their main spot.

Over the past few months, I’ve had to chat with these two at cards and such and have really been impressed with them. Not just as athletes, but how they look at this profession, realistically. They see it more than doing 15 high-risk moves and not doing anything beyond it. They think about telling a story, saving the big spots for when needed and being able to connect with the crowd.

Sean Carr slaps a headlock on a trainee at the Back Breaker Training Center.

That’s refreshing.

As a fan, I appreciate that. When I go to a wrestling event — whether it be the best of the best or the worst of the worst — I just want to believe for a few hours. I still enjoy heroes and villains, cheering and booing and going along with being part of the show. After all, the crowd is a major part of wrestling. But if a wrestler is poorly trained, it becomes less believable.

In the dozen or so 2CW cards I’ve seen, the believability is there. The villains are villains. The heroes are heroes. Does that line sometime get skewed? Sure. But for the most part, the good vs. bad is present.

Many federations don’t seem to be able to do this well — thus taking away believability. I once went to a card where one of the guys yelled to the crowd “we’re supposed to be the good guys.”

Here’s a bit of advice — if you are having to tell people if you are the villain or the hero? You haven’t done your job.

Beyond that, the action has to be believable. I want to watch a show, be entertained and know the people put everything into it. Federations like 2CW are like that. Others are the complete opposite. It might be about being “hardcore” or doing a ton of crazy things that could send one to the hospital.

It’s not worth it when you are getting $20 or $30 a night — if you are lucky.

Saturday’s trip took Szili and Carr to Back Breakers Training Center. Szili had trained there some 10 years ago and has a good relationship with the head of the school, Justyn Glory.

What followed was an impressive 3 1/2 hour session full of hip tosses, slams, running of the ropes, stories and advice.

I walked away with a new appreciation of what these guys do.

Here’s a bit of history. When I was in high school, one of my dreams was to be a professional wrestler. I’ll touch more on this when I run the full series of these stories, but I dreamed of one day being the (then) WWF champion. I actually researched wrestling schools and was pretty close to attempting it.

I’m not sure what stopped me (money, most likely), but watching this training session made me realize I likely never would have made it to mid-card status on an independent show, let alone the WWF champion.

Chuck Szili — Kage — discusses techniques during a training seminar.

Wrestling is a lot different than when I was in high school, too.

Back then, there was a fine line between giving away “secrets.” Wrestling was still “real.” These days, the majority of wrestling fans realize what it is — entertainment. These are highly athletic people who put on one hell of a show. Whether it’s a 50-minute endurance match or a 5-minute quickie, they entertain.

If what they did was fully real, there’d be many more injuries and, likely, deaths.

Still, when you step foot into these rings, you have to know what you are doing. From taking a bump to delivering basic moves, you are not only working to keep yourself safe, but to also keep your opponent safe. You are also telling a story to the fans in the crowd and giving them the chance to forget the real world for a few hours, taking them on a journey of believability.

Alas, this isn’t a backyard wrestling thing — just like anything else, you have to train to become a professional wrestler.

The harsh reality is probably 99 percent of all these guys who train to wrestle or wrestle on the independent scene won’t ever make it to the WWE, or even TNA. That’s not to say that there’s not a lot of places an indy wrestler could do well — such as Ring of Honor, Chikara or a place like 2CW.

Students work during a training seminar headed by Chuck Szili and Sean Carr.

It depends on what one is looking for.

One of the people at the training session even noted to Carr and Szili that he doesn’t have the goal of getting to the WWE. To that, Szili made sure to point out to give everyone one has at whatever level they are on.

The two made some great points to the students — from noting to have fun to making sure the youngsters stay out of politics and drama.

The best part was watching everything unfold. The students who attended were really focused. They listened and asked questions. They seemed to hang on the words of Carr and Kage. During the workout, they took additional bumps to better techniques. They listened. One guy even took his first hip tosses. Pretty cool to watch.

They told stories of the road — about how promoters can swindle you out of the small payday. Or how some promoters will treat you like gold, no matter who you are. There are the stories on the road — such as Carr missing the birth of his child because he got into an accident on the way home from a show.

The life isn’t glamorous — and it’s something Carr and Szili made sure to show these new wrestlers.

One thing I really saw was how good Szili was with these students. I have no doubt that one day in the future, when the days of in-ring work are over, Szili could have a calling as a trainer. His experience as well as his demeanor in the ring worked really well in this environment.

Partners Kage (orange) and Sean Carr demonstrate the art of pro wrestling to aspiring students at the Back Breakers Training Center in Scranton.

For those who only watch wrestling on television, it’s usually a polished product. The independent scene is anything but. Though you’ll have the chance to see some amazing people, there’s a reason not everybody makes it to the “big leagues.”

That’s what makes it so wonderful, though. It’s not perfect.

And not many people get the opportunity I got with Szili and Carr — having the chance to watch a training session up-close and personal.

The business has changed over the years, that’s for sure. There will always be good and bad people in the business. There will always be good and bad workers, promoters and anything else.

In the end, the business continues. At the lowest levels and at the highest levels. The dreams will always be there, too. To be the next big thing or whatever else. But with wresting — as it is with nearly everything else in life — one needs to be grounded and realistic to truly succeed.

With the way Carr and Szili carried themselves this weekend, it shows why they have been successful in their careers. Hopefully, that will rub off on these newer wrestlers, allowing them to also find success in their careers.

You can see all the photos from this day at this Flickr set.

Submitting as part of Dude Write’s weekly challenge. 

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

3,000 finds and counting — a look back at four years of fun

Darren signs a log at a very early cache outing.

In life, sometimes little things can make one smile.

Whether a moment, a person, a hobby — just about anything. And to get a smile, you can feel like life isn’t so bad.

In February of 2008, we were in the midst of a normal upstate New York winter. Some snow, cold and everything else. It was also but six months since my father had died, so I hadn’t really gotten out of a funk.

Then came geocaching.

A friend, Darren, told me about a game he had discovered. Geocaching, he said, was a game where people placed things out and about and you then used a GPS to find it.

Though I don’t fly out the door anymore for FTFs, it is nice on occasion to see a blank log book when you get there.

I believe my initial reaction was something along the lines of “Why would anyone want to do that?”

Soon after, plans were made to try the game out the following weekend as Darren had a couple of GPS units we could use. He told me about the website and to sign up and get a name and all. I did that and peeked around a bit, trying to figure out what this game was about.

It seemed simple enough.

People — known as geocachers — hid containers in the wild. It could be in the woods or in an urban setting and the size of the container could be anything from the size of a thimble to the size of a car or bigger. The hiders took coordinates and uploaded them to the website. Finders would get those coordinates and then go search for the geocache. Once found, you signed the log and, if you wanted, you traded for things people left in the container. The one rule there was to trade evenly or trade up. Then, when home, you logged the find online.

Me and my 1,000th find.

I figured I could handle this game.

Once I had an idea of what was going on, I was interested. I wasn’t sure if I would like it, but it was worth a day. Darren and I had talked about letterboxing — a non-GPS treasure hunt — before, so this seemed OK.

March 1, 2008 is when we set out. The first cache found was one just a few miles from me. It was at a covered bridge. As a covered bridge nut, I was into it.

But I felt odd. Here we are looking around on this bridge for something. After starting to understand what was going on, the cache was found. I did feel a little odd as a car or two passed us.

My first log:

Two of us ventured out today — my first day of geocaching! Found this one. GREAT spot. This was the first of, I think, five we hit. Really cool spot and wild how you set it up. And being I’m a fan of covered bridges, this was awesome for my first time. Well done! TNLNSL.

Imagine that. First log and I was using abbreviations.

The Wicklow Mountains in Ireland — I never would have seen this if not for geocaching.

We had printed a few caches out (no paperless when we first started!) and hoped these would be winter friendly ones. There was snow out, you see, and we didn’t know what it would be like to find these suckers in the snow.

We ended up tromping through snow for a few of them. One cache, we even asked some people who worked at one place about it. They said they knew about it, but weren’t sure where it was. We ended up finding it, thankfully.

In total, five caches were found that day.

Five days later, we went again. Six more caches were found. There were several different sizes, too, including a nano cache for the first time. One was a pretty long hike in the snow, too, which was somewhat miserable. But in the end, not too bad.

After all, this was exciting.

People were hiding things all over the place. It could be in my backyard, basically, and I never knew about it. This was cool.

I didn’t have my own GPS, so I was kind of stuck. Darren let me borrow one of his for a couple of weeks and I ventured out to find some others.

Geocaching friends at GeoWoodstock IX.

I soon purchased my own GPS — a Garmin 60CSx. I really debated which GPS to buy. The 60CSx, which was about $300 and seemed to be perfect for geocaching, or the Garmin eTrex, which was about $125. In the end, I decided to go with the big one in hopes that it would be perfect.

It was and I still use that GPS unit to this day.

I remember the feeling I had when I first found caches. It was invigorating. To think that I was doing something that not many people did as well. How cool was that?

Many firsts followed.

My first cache out of state. My first event. My first Earthcache.

As time went on, I discovered more and more things about geocaching and I loved it. There weren’t many negatives. Every experience was different and very cool.

Darren and I hit up an event a few months after starting out. As we pulled into the parking lot, we saw two people get out of a truck and head in. We stared and our thoughts were “What are we doing here?”

In the end, it was fun.

The first caching event I hosted.

Since then I’ve been to dozens of events and have hosted many others.

As I look back on the four-plus years I’ve played this game, most of the thoughts are positive. I’ve met many wonderful people — some of which are good friends to this day. I never would have met them if not for this game.

Heck, when I went to Ireland in 2010, I had the chance to cache with several people there, but two specifically who took me on an amazing day of caches throughout the countryside. Talk about fun! This game has taken me all over the place. According to my GSAK stats, my cache-to-cache mileage is 41,916 miles. That’s as the bird flies, too. And doesn’t include ones I traveled to and didn’t find. Or miles I traveled to get to a spot or to meet somebody.

I bet it’s easily in the 50,000-75,000 mile range traveled.

All for a box in the woods or something small in an urban setting.

It’s a game that forces you to get outside. Whether it be a long and challenging hike or a quick urban grab, you’re outside and moving somewhat. The long hikes are great and some of the views and spots I’ve been brought to are simply amazing.

The geocaching community, as a whole, is pretty solid, too.

When I first started, I was looking for basic info about everything caching — placing caches specifically. I went to the Geocaching.com forums and soon, a volunteer on the site, offered to send me a few things. I’ll never forget that and have tried to give things to newer cachers as well when I have the chance.

A geocache in the woods.

I also always try and stay positive. That’s not to say that I sometimes won’t let something get to me. But, for the most part, I stay positive. With cachers, with hides, with logging and with anything else. There’s a lot of negativity and uppity attitudes in this game and I try and stray away. It’s easier that way. Avoiding it is hard sometimes, but I tend to try and ignore it now and move along.

The only thing that stinks is after four-plus years and 3,000-plus finds, sometimes that original feeling isn’t there.

I remember starting and finding the geocache. It was such a thrill. I’d dig through it and see what’s there. Now, the thrill isn’t the same. Seeing so many different hides, sometimes you just walk up on them. But, sometimes you can have that feeling when somebody designs or places a really wild cache. Something you haven’t seen before or that often.

But it’s still fun.

I have no idea how long it will take me to get to 4,000 finds. I don’t really care, either, as I’m to the point now where I just like to go out and find some geocaches. Let the numbers count. I’ll pay attention as I’m a stat junkie, but the time frame of it is of no worry.

People hide. I find. I hide. People find.

It’s an ever revolving cycle in this game. And it’s really cool.

Found it!

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be doing more about my four-plus years and 3,000 finds. The posts will be periodic, but I’ll be going through some of my favorite finds/hides, cheating in the game (seriously!), and some other things I’m working on. This game has been very good to me and I have some fond memories I want to share.

In the end, though, I’m still mesmerized by 3,000 finds. Somebody asked me if I ever thought I’d get to this point when I first started. Heck, I remember how stoked I was when I found No. 100, let alone 3,000.

In that time, I’ve seen waterfalls and bridges. Forests and roads. Back roads I didn’t know existed and rest areas along major highways. I’ve seen some of the most beautiful countryside ever and abandoned buildings. I’ve been questioned by cops and gotten looks from people passing by wondering what the hell I was doing. The experiences are many and most are ones I’m fond of.

This game, no doubt, has been very good to me. And for that, I’ll be forever thankful.

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

Thank you for adding nothing to the conversation!

I often view comments on blogs as a place for conversation.

Sometimes it’s one-sided — the readers make their comments and move on. Sometimes, it’s more of a conversation where there is some dialogue. But in the end, it’s a place for someone to view their thoughts and/or opinions about what you have written.

There are other times where you just wonder what the heck is going on.

I know I’ve tackled this topic before and I think it’s time to re-visit it.

It’s all about the SPAM bots.

For those that don’t know what SPAM bots are, they are automated accounts that go around to blogs and message boards and other Internet sites and comment with bizarre things. There are instances where it really seems like a real person. They have profile photos and the whole nine yards. Until you see the links they leave as their website etc. Then it all comes together that they are SPAM bots.

And SPAM bots are downright annoying.

Still, the comments they leave can be rather humorous. It makes you wonder what kind of things they look for when they post to blogs. In the past several days, many have leaked through here and reached my e-mail. They were eventually flagged as SPAM and I didn’t have to see them in the comments filter, but the e-mails were funny enough.

That made me think this was a good time to share a few and the insanity that is SPAM bots.

The first doozy comes on a post about Peyton Manning. Our friendly reader says:

I do not even know the way I finished up here, but I assumed this publish used to be great. I do not recognize who you are however definitely you’re going to a well-known blogger if you aren’t already. Cheers!

It’s all good here because I don’t recognize who this person is, either!

A while back I wrote a post about wondering if I would do the college life again. Somebody appears to have found this post and here’s what the person had to say:

Hi there, just became aware of your blog through Google, and found that it’s truly informative. I’m gonna watch out for brussels. I will be grateful if you continue this in future. A lot of people will be benefited from your writing. Cheers!

I think I am going to watch out for brussels, too!

What in the world does that even mean??

Also a while back, I wrote a post about Jim Thome being one of the good ones in the game of baseball. Someone stumbled across this post and it appears they wanted to comment…

I’m now not sure where you are getting your information, however great topic. I needs to spend some time learning more or working out more. Thanks for magnificent info I used to be in search of this information for my mission.

An opinion piece… and wondering where my info came from?

You need to spend more time not being a SPAM bot!

On my post about needing some ideas, two people posted! And boy did they have some fantastic ideas!

Coach purse is a totally fashionable brand in a extraordinarily believable price.Good quality of products of the late-model tutor leather discharge leather-ku,mentor,and trainer outlets,specialty hoard brands and offers first-class transcribe at take price.Delivered in outspoken shipping.

And…

Tods Shoes UK Stockpile Take care of A Series Products of 100% Legitimate Tod’s Shoes For Mens & Womens Online,For twopence Tods Shoes On Exchange With the Most Favourable Honorarium 65%-79% Dippy, Most appropriate Worth and Set free Shipping Worldwide.

Well thank you very much!

I thank goodness for SPAM filters each day because it would be entirely too hard to delete every single one each day.

Keep in mind that I’ve had this site for a long time, but the stats of SPAM are simply amazing. Akismet — a plugin that snags known SPAM — has done its work on my site, capturing 160,907 SPAM comments. Yes, that number is right.

160,907!

Sheesh!

Currently there are 9,178 comments in the SPAM queue.

Not for long.

It’s a bit ridiculous how it all works, but it gives a small piece of entertainment every once in a while to see what kind of idiotic things these SPAM bots post.

Then it’s fun to rid the site of them fully.

Fundraiser: I am, again, trying to raise money for the Relay For Life. If you donate to me — even a small amount — you will be entered to win a super-sweet quilted scarf. Click here for all the information!

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