A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

Friends

Remember the name — Malloy

This was the main reason to head to Philly — but other things made the trip awesome.

His name was Joe Malloy.

Ol’ Joe as I would like to think his friends call him, came into our lives this past weekend. It was only for a brief few moments, but his memory will last a lifetime.

Three of us — myself, Rod and Marc went to Philly for a baseball game. We had some other plans on this short trip, but baseball was the main thing. See, Rod had gifted me tickets to this Phillies game for Christmas. And with many points built up, we got hotels, too.

I’ll get to the other details in a moment. For now, let me talk about Joe Malloy.

‘Twas Sunday morning and we left the hotel in search of a breakfast place I had found and researched. The place had decent reviews and it had what I wanted — scrapple. See, there aren’t any joints around me where you can get scrapple, so if I am in Philly or that area, score.

Herein lies the issue — my TomTom GPS system was being quite bitchy and wouldn’t allow me to put the address in. We tried and tried, but for some reason, the road wasn’t even on there. We found a similar road, albeit without the “West,” but we thought that would work.

It didn’t.

We got to the area the GPS wanted us to be at and there’s nothing. No breakfast joint. Nothing. We started to turn around and that’s when Joe came into our lives.

Marc pulled up to Joe, who was walking down the street. The idea? Ask for some directions to this joint.

Unfortunately, Joe said he hadn’t eaten there before.

Fortunately, however, Joe did know where it was.

Score!

There’s more unfortunate, however. See, it would seem Joe knew where this place was. He then proceeded to tell us how to get there. Go back down to this road, take it for a bit until you hit the trolley tracks, then look for a BP (gas station) on the left and the trolley station on the right.

If we got there, we’d be closer.

During him telling us these actions, he asked us to make sure we were paying attention. Then he blabbed about something else. And told us we needed to make sure we understood his name.

Or the meaning of his name.

Considering he didn’t tell us the meaning of his name, how the heck were we supposed to remember it. Maybe we were supposed to ask the people at the breakfast joint? I dunno. He never told us. He just wandered off.

And then we got out of there.

We tried Joe’s directions, but we got confused. We went back to the hotel, found a way from there and eventually found this place. The breakfast, for the record, was excellent and I’d definitely eat there again.

From there, we headed to a geocache in Delaware so I could color in that state. As we started heading that way, via the GPS, something looked odd. We got to the end of the road where the breakfast place was, and what did we see? A BP and the trolley station. Turns out Joe was quite right.

Amazing.

The trip, overall, was excellent.

We saw baseball, with good seats. It’s always nice to watch a game with friends. The guy behind us was obnoxious and made sure he told everyone how this was wrong or this and that. Annoying. Just watch the game already.

This Phils lost, unfortunately. But I got to see Cole Hamels pitch at the major league level for the first time. He also homered, as did Ryan Howard and Chase Utley.

We ate at Geno’s Steaks (a separate post about this will run this week), and grabbed some tasty during other parts of the trips. We also stopped at a nice bar near our hotel, where I had the chance to sit back and enjoy a Guinness (though the bartender put it in a frosty pint… bad move).

I’ll look forward to my next trip down to Philly. It’s always a fun time to get away and catch a game or whatever else.

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

A win doesn’t always need to end with a victory

Neil focuses on lining up a putt.

If the title of this post confuses you, hopefully it will make sense when you finish reading this.

Sometimes in life, you don’t have to win to be victorious. A win is a wonderful thing, especially when talking about sporting events. Still, sometimes just battling to the end makes one a winner.

Especially when he’s overcome many adversities.

This past weekend was our county amateur golf tournament. It’s a wonderful tournament with upward of 150 golfers each year. Winning the championship on this course is quite the accomplishment. Especially if it’s somebody other than the person who has pretty much dominated this tournament for more than a decade.

A long putt drops on the 16th hole.

Enter Neil.

Neil is a long-time friend of mine. Years ago we used to sit around on Sundays during the winter and watch the Colts (my favorite team) and the Saints (his favorite team). Those days were filled with pizza, breadsticks (from Pizza Hut) and conversations about many things.

Golf was often the topic.

A passionate golfer, Neil once promised me if he ever made it on tour and reached the Masters, I’d get to be his caddy during the Par-3 tournament during the week leading into the Masters, which I always assumed would guarantee me being there to watch the actual tournament, too.

Though he didn’t make the tour, Neil’s always been one hell of a golfer. He hits the ball a country mile, has some of the best putting I’ve ever seen and usually stays calm when pressure hits. And he’s one of those guys who plays with focused abandonment — in other words, he’s not afraid to take a massive chance.

Alas, all the talent in the world usually isn’t an even battle when life intervenes.

Neil will be the first to tell you he’s battled some demons. He’s had many adversities in life that he’s had to overcome. These adversities aren’t little petty things. He’s had to battle some serious stuff.

Many of us always wondered when these adversities would win — or if they would?

I always tried to bet on Neil. I never was willing to give up on him. I’ve had long talks with him and have tried to give input where I could. But he’s made his mistakes. And he admits it. He knows it.

He kept battling.

Many of us cheered for him. We hoped. We hoped some more. In some cases, people really put themselves out for Neil.

A few years ago, things seemed to be coming together. He held the lead at the County Am. Could this be the tournament that helps him straighten life? Many people would look at this tournament and wonder why it would mean so much to somebody. After all, it’s just a County tournament.

It’s much bigger than that. For golfers in our area, it is the Masters. It’s the U.S. Open. It’s our “major.” And Neil was leading it and looking good in the process.

He missed his tee time the next morning.

When it happened, people said “That’s Neil.”

Despite regretting how things went down, I remember talking to him that weekend. You could see disappointment in his eyes in missing that tee time. Almost like it was major missed opportunity. That might have been something where some people might have thrown in the towel.

Neil kept pushing forward and has since turned a new leaf.

Watching a drive.

This year, the tournament came around and he was in it. Boy was he in it. In fact, he held a 1-stroke lead with five holes to play.

And focus? Wow was there focus.

After falling into a tie at the top, he drained a twisty 20-plus foot putt on Hole No. 16 to keep things tied.

Alas, it wasn’t meant to be.

He got a bogey on 17 and 18 to eventually lose by two strokes. His tee shot on 18 went out of bounds and you could almost hear a collective sigh of the crowd following.

It wasn’t that people were cheering against somebody else — it’s that they were cheering for Neil. Many local people know his story and have pulled for him.

When he finished 18, he smiled. I think he knows his time is coming and his name, one day, will be on that trophy.

He didn’t win the tournament but Neil won in many more ways. Many, many more ways.

The word “proud” was used many times after that tournament ended when people spoke about Neil. I’m sure many people shared my thoughts of being proud of how he battled and competed — both in the tournament and everything he’s overcome in life.

Here’s to it continuing.

And if it does, all the golf tournament victories in the world won’t add up to the biggest win of all — life.

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

This post is also being submitted to Dude Write, a weekly place where dudes show off their blog writing.

Winner of a Dude Write Chairman’s Choice Man Card for Week Six of Dude Write.

2011: Looking back

One of my most vivid and humbling memories of 2011 is walking around Arlington National Cemetery.

As I write this, I’m still in 2011. When it publishes, it will be 2012.

I’m ready for the change.

To say that 2011 has been one of the most frustrating and stressful years for me since I’ve been on this planet would be an understatement.

I’m in the midst of one of the biggest battles of my life — unemployment. I’ve had interviews. I’ve had callbacks. But I haven’t gotten that job offer — yet. I know one will come, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that I’ve dealt with this for an entire year — and still feel that losing my job was unjust. I realize cuts have to be made, but I still can’t and probably never will why mine was cut.

That’s neither here nor there and it’s in the past. I keep pushing forward.

When I look back many years from now and think of years during my life, this one will stand out. Why? Because of everything I’ve had to go through. And I’m not the only one. There are so many talented people throughout the country dealing with the same thing. With unemployment as it is, the market is tougher. I’ve even cashed in many favors to get noticed, to no avail.

Something will happen. And this year will have made me stronger. That’s something that I will take away from all this frustration.

That doesn’t take the distaste away from my mouth. I haven’t been to the doctor in nearly a year (who can afford it when no insurance?), I haven’t seen a dentist (oh how I miss the teeth cleaning) in 9 or 10 months, and I’ve battled the up and down feelings at different times. I’ve learned everything I need to know and then some about unemployment insurance. And the job market. And resumes. And cover letters.

And the list goes on and on.

I’ve learned how to battle some of these items and push forward. I’ve let some of those feelings win at times, however, and that doesn’t feel good.

It took me many months to come to grips with what happened. I finally, in October or November, finally let it go. I’m at peace with it now. I am shocked it took me that long, but it did. I will say that there are certain people of whom I used to have amazing respect and admiration for. That’s gone. There were people I considered friends. That’s gone. The reality is I only keep in touch with a few people from my former place of employment. Once employed again, there might be a couple of others I touch base with.

There are a few, however, whom I will never — ever — have contact with again. There is a strong feeling of dislike, or worse. And I’m OK with that. I’ve learned to keep it under control. I know one day, I’ll rise above all of that and be able to laugh.

Still, with all that negativity, this year hasn’t been all bad.

I’m going to take a personal look back at 2011 and hopefully not bore you in the process!

***

The year started off OK, but then, for the first time in my professional career, I found myself on the short end of a layoff. It wasn’t performance based, but there were several cuts in our newsroom.

Anytime I get worked up about things that happened to me in 2011, I try and look at images like this to realize life isn't bad.

Somehow, despite winning or being part of six awards and being extremely loyal, I was one of the short straws. It still boggles my mind.

That put me in a different mode.

I had to re-write my resume, secure references and work on cover letters. I had to basically be a full-time job seeker. That still hasn’t paid off, but I’m pushing ahead.

I battled this early. It was tough, as it still is. But I was pretty in the dumps.

I battled out and went in here and there. But I kept fighting. Still, I made the best of this 2011.

***

A friend of mine, Brendan, who has always been more like a little brother, graduated from the Navy’s basic training. I had the opportunity to go out there and see it.

Brendan after graduation.

The experience was excellent. The ceremony was very cool and it was good to see him happy and excited for the next steps in his life. Since then, he’s continued his schooling and is doing well. I hope one day he really gets to make an impact. It’s good to see his life on track better than before.

The military isn’t for everyone. Though I am loyal and always considered myself hard working, I like knowing that if something is really bad, I can look for a new job and move on. It’s not that way in the military, so I don’t think I would have done well with it. But Brendan has done well and I hope his success continues and this becomes something he can continue to embrace and utilize to make his life better.

The trip to Chicago also served as a chance to meet up with an old friend, Scott. The two of us grew up three houses from one another. I’ve kept in somewhat contact with him over the years, but I hadn’t actually seen him in several years. He’s in the Chicago area, so I got to meet up with him one night, have a few drinks, dinner and catch up. I’ve long since realized that making contact with old friends and family is a big part of this life and a way to find some happiness. More on that, as well, late in the post.

***

Not long after that, I then had the chance to take a few days and go to the biggest geocaching event in the world.

GeoWoodstock.

The Ferreteers at GeoWoodstock!

It was in Pennsylvania, so not a bad drive. There were more than 5,000 people at this event. And what an experience.

Over the course of three days, we hit up eight events (including the big one), met many new people, saw a lot of familiar faces and had a great time. Of course there were many caches to be found as well!

The experience itself was quite amazing. This was probably the best geocaching experience I’ve had yet. I can’t even put it into words, for the most part. Vendors, people, food, fun. It was excellent.

Hopefully, if all goes well, I’ll be able to travel to Indiana for this year’s edition of GeoWoodstock. We’ll see how the job hunt goes.

As for geocaching, it hasn’t been an awful year. My numbers have gone down, as they have the past year or two. But I still enjoy it a lot. I just don’t go flying our for first to finds in the middle of the night or look for 40-plus find days anymore. A cache here and there makes me happy, especially if it’s a good one. Events are still the most enjoyable part of the game to me and I look forward to continuing this fun in 2012.

I had the chance to have a lot of great finds this year (and many crappy ones, too), but the game maintained its fun factor. That’s the key to me. I always wondered if geocaching would keep that fun and it has. I think that I’ve slowed down and spread it out more has prolonged the fun for me. I know many people out there have so many more finds, plan vacations for geocaching, and live and breathe the game. But if I had done that, I would have lost the interest a long time ago. I’ve kept it and I look for that to continue in 2012.

***

And though I’ve had to do it on the cheap (which isn’t bad), I’ve had the chance to do some small trips this year, specifically to Washington D.C. and South New Jersey.

I stared out at this for many hours when in South Jersey.

I crashed at a friend’s house in the D.C. area and had an excellent time. I caught up with him and another friend, saw some great things and had some good food. I hadn’t been to D.C. since I was 5 or 6 years old and don’t really remember it.

I had the chance to do some photography, find a few caches and just relax. It was nice to get away. And, I was even treated to a NHL playoff game, which was wild to watch, especially with the Capitals winning. Good times.

One of the parts of the trip I will remember are the two times I went to Arlington National Cemetery by myself. I just walked around. Took some photos and really took in the scene. It was amazing. And very powerful and humbling.

In October, I had the chance to hit up the Jersey shore. My aunt and uncle own a place in Avalon and offered me the chance to stay there. Despite having a hard time getting in when I first got there, I had three or so days of enjoyment down there. There was hardly anyone there. I walked the beach, took photos, went geocaching and relaxed. I also had the chance to meet up with a cousin I hadn’t seen in many years and we went out for a night of photography, which was a blast.

One of the cool things during a trip to NYC was going to 5 Pointz in Queens.

I also got to take two day trips down to New York City to visit with friends, which is always excellent. I went in the spring and then about a week ago. The city is a great place for photos, food and fun. I don’t think I’d ever want to live there, but visiting isn’t a bad thing. I got some great photo opportunities and it’s a great getaway that doesn’t cost too much for one day.

On the spring trip, I even finally got the chance to go to the top of the Empire State Building, which was really cool.

The best was keeping these trips on the cheap end. All of them of them helped clear my mind some, which was excellent.

***

A game that I’ve embraced more in 2011 is disc golf. This game has been a fantastic addition to my life. For one, it gets you out walking/hiking to play. It taxes you physically and mentally and it’s an interesting culture.

The Ace Race was a fun and relaxed tournament.

Personally, my game has improved some. Not as much as I’d have liked it to, but that’s part of the problem when the closest good course to you is 1:20 away. There has been a push for a course in our area (there had been hopes of having it in the ground this past June or so), but political red tape has stonewalled it. There’s still hope and maybe by this spring we’ll have the dream of this course realized. If that happens, I look forward to my game taking off a bit better.

Still, I had the chance to play many rounds. I also played in seven tournaments (five of which were PDGA sanctioned). I had plans to play in a few more, but I got a little burnt with the game earlier in the year.

I found that playing too many tournaments and not enough casual rounds could really do you in. Why? Because the game becomes too competitive. As much as I like to compete, I also don’t like to get smoked by everyone. Finishing last is one thing, but finishing last by many strokes is another.

So I stepped away from tournaments, except a few. I played more casual rounds. I found the fun again. I even had my best round ever, shooting a 64 at Central Park in Schenectady. That was an awesome feeling. I’ve since had several rounds in the 60s and feel I’m improving a lot, but I need to practice more. Go throw. Putt. Work on things.

The best for a tournament though? The ElectrCity Classic. My opening round was awful. One of the worst rounds I had ever shot at the course (again, Central Park) when I finished with an awful 83. I had been paired up with three players in a much better category than I. They were shooting from the blue tees and me from the white. It was very tough to do this and I still wonder why I wasn’t paired with at least one other in my division. But, that’s neither here nor there. The round dragged on. We got smoked with a nasty thunderstorm. And then finally finished.

With nothing to lose in round two, I relaxed. I was also in a fivesome — all of which were in the same level, for the most part. And I improved. I shot a 72 (and could have been better, sans a couple of idiotic putts), got the most improved round (a $25 gift card to a local sports store) and didn’t finish last in a legit tournament.

I volunteered at the Vibram Open this year. It's impressive watching players, such as Avery Jenkins, throw that plastic as far as they do.

So not bad.

I’m hoping 2012 will continue to see my game improve. I’ve made some great contacts in the industry and a few of us are working on a really fun project. I’ve met and chatted with some of the finest pros in the world, had the chance to volunteer at one of the most prestigious tournaments on the national tour (the Vibram Open) and really got to see a lot of new things in regard to the game this year. I see no reason that won’t change!

Here’s hoping that my game can continue to improve and that I can keep having fun playing!

***

As many people who know me know, most of my online monikers have the word “softball” in them. That’s done on purpose as I’m a softball junkie.

The one good thing about being unemployed during the summer is that I can do all my job seeking during the day and have the nights free to play softball. I’ve played softball since I was in high school and I love the game.

This year was a new experience for our team in our current league. We came in as defending champions.

Champions... again!

And we left as back-to-back champions.

It was a great season. We lost twice, both coming to the same team. One of those losses came in the best-of-three final. It didn’t look good for us in the third game, either. But we rallied in the bottom of the seventh to win on a walk-off single.

It was a tremendous scene, too, as our bench emptied to celebrate the win. I realize it’s adult recreation softball, but the reality is we are not going to be playing pro ball. So this is the competition we have. This is our big time. And to win a game in that fashion after such an awesome series, it was an incredible feeling.

Winning doesn’t suck.

Only time will tell if we can make it three straight this upcoming summer. But I know we’ll give it a run and have fun in the process.

***

Probably the best thing this year though?

Our family reunion.

It’s been something I’ve wanted to do for a long time and after some hard work with several people in the family (especially my mother), we pulled it off. Family from my mother’s and father’s sides came to this area for a fantastic day in August.

I met family I had never met before.

Our family reunion was, happily, a big draw.

And saw members of the family who I had only really seen at weddings and funerals. So what a difference.

We had good food, drink, games and fun.

In the end, there were more than 50 members of the family present. There were several generations, too, which made it even cooler.

There were a couple of times where I just stood back and looked around at all the smiles and such. I know for many years, I wasn’t the most family oriented person. I missed some smaller reunions, weddings etc. I regret that now.

But, as I’ve grown older, I realize how great these reunions can be.

I don’t know if I’ll try and do one again this year, but I know I want to do one again, soon. It’s a tough time for many people in this economy, so getting up here every year might be tough.

I did learn a lot from this reunion, however. And I think the next one will be better from those lessons.

But in the end, no matter how much we may have over planned (too much food!), this was a tremendous experience and great time. I look forward to doing it again!

***

With having more time on my hands, I had the chance to work on my blog more often. I think that has been successful.

For the year, my statistics were solid. I only started keeping stats at the very end of February, but according to those attached to my blog, I’ve had nearly 21,000 hits. That’s quite solid for a personal blog, I think.

And, since August, I’ve averaged almost 3,000 hits per month.

I’ve also had a chance to really dive back into photography and work on some personal projects. And seeing as my love of photography has come back, I’m going to once again attempt to do a 365 project. The reason I am doing it, however, is because 2012 is a leap year and it will actually be a 366 project.

I finished this project in 2010. So hopefully I can do it again this year. I always said I wouldn’t do it again, but heck… let’s see what I can get done this year!

***

In the end, 2011 was a tough year. Unemployment has given me a different outlook on this world, people and other things. I’m not political, but it’s my hope that the government will eventually find a way to help people instead of always fighting with other countries. That’s all I have to say about political stuff.

But I’ve met some really good new friends. I’ve had some successes and I look for better things in 2012. I do feel blessed, to a point, for having what I have and knowing life could be worse.

My outlook is good. I am positive. I have a roof over my head. I can pay my bills (for the most part) and I am breathing. I have it far better than many. But that doesn’t take away from the thoughts of personal failure and wonderment on what lies ahead. I’ll overcome, I hope, in 2012.

I am not much for “New Year’s resolutions,” but I do like to set some goals. My goals, in no specific order (outside of the first one) for 2012 are:

  • New job
  • Reach 3,000 finds in geocaching
  • Become a 750 rated disc golfer (I’m at 672)
  • Improve my health (get to seeing a doctor regularly again, lose weight, etc.)
  • Find personal happiness
  • Continue for my blog to grow
  • Complete the 366 project

***

Finally, I want to end this post with some more photography. I’ve decided I wanted to pick out my 15 favorite photos that I took this year. I will put them in no particular order and, I can assure you, this was a very rough decision to make to pick just 15 (I could have easily gone top 25!) (Note: The ones already used in this post are among some of my favorites, but I won’t use them for a second time in this part).

Disc golf basket during sunset. April.

Snowshoeing during an LL Bean course in Albany. January.

Speeding bullet. April.

Changing of the Guard, Arlington National Cemetery. April.

On-site fundraiser at Relay For Life. April.

Kite flying in South New Jersey. October.

Mother's Day golf outing. May.

Delaware County Fair. August.

Eddie Edwards vs. Jay Freddie, 2CW. August.

Vibram Open winner Nate Doss has his photo taken by top women's pro and girlfriend Val Jenkins after taking the ceremonial pond plunge. September.

David. August.

Oneonta Ultimate Idol winner, Liz Walker. August.

Sarah making the final out during a tournament game. September.

Catherine. May.

Washington D.C. (From Arlington). April.

***

To everyone, I hope you have a great and wonderful 2012. May it be full of dreams, good reality, good pizza, an awesome hot dog or three and perfectly poured pints of Guinness. May you smile often and find success in whatever you do.

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!

Cops in the woods can’t stop a fun geocaching day

Geo Santa is assuming all geocachers were good this year!

There was rain.

Oh was there rain.

And a sneaky red car. There was also a state trooper in the most unlikely of spots. How about a park and grab or two? And maybe a large cache or three? There were trees and lampposts. Guardrails and parks. Everything, indeed, on this caching trip.

And did I mention the rain?

Sheesh was it heavy at times. But no matter, for most parts of the day, it remained overcast and dry. Well, as dry as could be after already getting wet. But the caches were there to be found.

Alas, it didn’t stop a couple of us from venturing north of Albany to do some geocaching. With the plan to find the annual Christmas Cache as well as conquer a series of caches based on the board game Clue, off we went on a rainy day.

The drive up on the Northway was tough. And it made me fear the day was going to be a wash. It was hard to see and drivers were a tad crazy. It was nothing to worry about, however, as a quick stop at a rest area for a cache made everything feel at ease.

Onward we went.

A park-and-ride was next and it was fine as can be. The rain, you see, appeared to be letting up.

Then it was off to Geo Santa’s workshop. A place made for cachers, kids and pooches alike. A prop out front to take some photos and Santa’s sack upon the porch. It’s Geo Santa’s way of giving back to the community, so there’s a sack o’ presents for cachers. One per cacher, the log notes, and each is made out to a senior, junior or a geo pup, to boot.

I swore I heard a “Ho, Ho, Ho” when we arrived, but there was no Santa in sight. Maybe he was working his elves a bit to make sure everything was done by Christmas Eve.

Still, after a grab from the satchel, we were soon on our way, to continue our massive caching day!

Have your GPS out and ready to search if you are going to park here!

Soon it was to a nearby cache, one of the larger ammo cans I see. This, too, was on the property of a cacher with parking just for fellow finders. A sign, you see, was waiting for me. Alas, because of the Jetta, I decided just to park in the street as it was easier to navigate that way. This cache wasn’t hard at all, a good laugh indeed.

What an ammo can this one was. The cache page notes to wave if we see anyone, but again there was nary a person around. So we signed the log and disappeared, looking to continue this caching adventure.

A DNF (did not find) followed,but that’s neither here nor there. It happens in this world of caching, despite wanting to never get that blue sad face.

Weather was playing kicks on us and we wanted to make sure we had enough time for the investigation that was to follow.

Tavis (Kiltlifer Scott) works quick so as to not get the contents of a cache all wet!

As I noted before, it had been raining. So, you need to keep caches dry in the best possible way.

Then it was on to the Clue series.

This was a fun little series that went quick. Most caches were found within seconds and all the hints were there.

Well…

Except for one! One of the caches was missing and that proved to be costly, in a way. You see, by doing all of these, you got pieces of things to cross off. That way, you could figure out the missing coordinate numbers via the end result.

With one missing, we had two numbers to guess with.

That’s where things got interesting.

During our working of the Clue cache. a small red car had been near us several times. If they were caching, I would assume they would have stopped and said something to us a couple of times when we were looking. Alas, the car parked behind us once and drove by us three or four other times. The driver was solo and seemed to be in his early 20s, at most. Maybe in his late teens.

It was odd. A cacher? Someone wondering what we were doing? Maybe someone hoping we would walk away long enough to rob my car? Who knows?

Then it got interesting.

We took a guess on which missing number it was. It pointed down an old road. But the road seemed to be more of a work road of sorts. We looked and decided to try the other coordinate. After turning around and starting to plug things in, a state trooper slowly drove by.

Good grief!

We continued on to where the other coordinate was and it tried to take us into a landfill. So, off we went back to the original spot.

After discussing, we moved our way into the woods via this road. However, I saw some puddles ahead I did not like, so we decided to hoof it the rest of the way. About 200 feet later, Tavis (Kiltlifer Scott) stopped and said “There’s the trooper.”

We were pretty much blocked by trees, but through them, you could see the cop.

In the woods.

This was freaky. What to do? Do we walk in? Leave? Go chat with him? What if he’s doing something wrong? What if this is a crime scene? What ifs were all over the place.

So we retreated and drove back a bit to see where the cop could have entered. Maybe we missed something. We debated. Finally, it was decided we’d walk in and go for it.

In we went.

We chatted with the cop. He seemed to know what geocaching was. Off we went. Though he did give the cryptic “Not in the woods, is it?” He did also note that it “was a little wet for that” game. Indeed, sir, indeed.

The coords I had punched in (the wrong one) showed us 500 feet into the woods.

We had wet feet and stomping all over 10 minutes later and found nothing. So I switched the coordinate. Guess where it led? About 25 feet from where the cop was sitting.

Was he a cacher? Had he known people were looking for his cache? Was he just eating his lunch?

Either way, it was very interesting.

And in the end, despite tromping through the wet woods and such, we ended up finding the final part of this series. Even without having the find on one of the caches.

One of the best ways to find a lamp post cache? Look official!

We then started the trek home, grabbing a few more caches, of course.

And let me tell you, it’s not always easy grabbing lamp post caches during the holiday season. Alas, if there are enough props, you can look official and people will pay you no mind. See the photo to the right for proof.

In the end, it was a worthy day. I landed 20 more finds to the total, including finding my 2,600th cache. I realized that after when I was logging everything. I keep inching closer and closer to that 3,000th find.

I also got some really cool ideas for a few caches I might work on doing. I have some caches I’d like to archive, so I’ll open up a few spaces to maybe place a couple more. We’ll see how things go with that.

So, despite the rain, it was a good day to get away, forget a few things and find some caches. I haven’t done many caching adventures this year, so this was a good slip away. We did end up with four DNFs, which always stinks, but it’s all good in the end.

Plus, you can never be upset when the Geo Santa has shown you’ve been nice and not naughty, right?

To all cachers out there, I hope the Geo Santa is good with you as well this year. And may your holiday season be filled with finds and fun and the new year give you many more finds!

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!

Notes from my Noodle: December 20 edition

There's nothing like a trip to the city during the holidays.

First, my apologies for a lack of a blog post the past couple of days. But it seems like, all of a sudden, I’m packed up with everything. I’m back, however, with some notes and such from recent things.

On Monday, I took my annual trip down to the city to New York City. I like to try and get down there during the Christmas season because it’s quite the place to be. From the lights to the decorations to everything else, it’s really quite magical.

For avid readers of the blog, you’ll remember I went out to Chicago earlier this year to see a friend, Brendan, graduate from the Navy’s basic training. He’s been in the Chicago area ever since, working through his schooling and such. He got liberty for a couple of weeks, however, and is home. So I took him with me to the city and met one of the finest guides one will ever have for the city — fellow geocacher Heather.

Brendan with his new buddy, Elmo!

Despite a delay in the train leaving Harriman, it was a fun day. A little colder than it was supposed to be, but still a fine day. We got to see a bunch of good things (including Rockefeller Center, as seen above). We had a couple of solid meals, saw some interesting things and I, of course, got a dirty dog on the street.

Why wouldn’t I, right?

With this season in full bloom, there were a lot of characters wandering around, looking to earn a few extra bucks by posing with people. It was quite funny to see. And, being it was Brendan’s first trip to the city in this time of year, he had to take advantage of this, no?

The hustle and bustle of the city was definitely there. That comes with people who still don’t have the thought of slowing down and peeking at things. But, I wouldn’t expect anything different.

We stopped and saw the building of the new skyscraper at Ground Zero and went inside and checked out the 9/11 memorial building. We were going to try and check out the new fountains and garden, but ended up having to look at it just from afar and above as the lines to get in were quite long and daylight was dwindling as we were thinking about that. I’ll hope to visit in the spring and see it closer.

We did, however, get to find a geocache this day. A regular-sized cache in the middle of the city, which was awesome.

Heather with Cirque du Cache.

Heather (and her husband, Jim, who met us later for dinner) are mega fans of Cirque du Soleil, mentioned a new cache. Of course, it has a Cirque theme — called Cirque du Cache.

This was a fun cache to do and it’s always nice to snag a cache in the city.

What was really cool about this cache was that once you opened the cache, you signed the log and all, but there was also this piece of fabric. And you could draw something on it. Very neat stuff and very well thought out. The best part is that it was in a high-traffic area, so it was pretty fun to retrieve the cache, walk away a little bit to check things out and then put it back. Fun times.

In all, it was a lot of fun to head down to the city and see things. I got to also see a former co-worker and catch up a little bit and it’s really nice to see things all lit up.

I even got one of the thickest hot chocolates I’ve ever had (thankfully it was small, because it was rich!) while we hung out a little bit at Bryant Park.

Bryant Park is a great little spot in the city.

***

Speaking of geocaching, two of us worked to organize and run an annual ornament exchange event. It was quite the success, too, which is always nice. Having halfway decent weather recently probably didn’t hurt us, either!

A large turnout at our holiday event.

We had about 55 people to the event, by far one the largest since this annual event started four years ago, and also one of the largest turnouts of any of event in our small area.

I co-planned the event with Beth, who had a successful game she created for the event. But, more than that, was her Toy Drive idea. It seemed that most people brought unwrapped toys and filled the large box her and her brother and sister-in-law brought. They then delivered the toys to the local Salvation Army, making sure that the toys would remain in our area.

So as fun as the event was (the spot we held it was excellent as well), it’s even better to know that our geocaching community was good enough to give back to the community during this holiday season and thought about others in need.

As this week continues, if you have the chance to give to an area Toys for Tots or something else, try and remember that there are people out there that have it worse than many of us. So if you can give at all, try and do so this holiday season.

***

Eddie Edwards vs. Sami Callihan delivered on a recent 2CW card.

For the final part of this Notes From My Noodle, I want to turn to 2CW, an independent wrestling federation out of the Syracuse area. Several of us have gone to a bunch of their events, but basically in Binghamton. We took the trek to Syracuse on Friday to see one of their biggest events of the year and to see a match that indy fans have wanted to see — Eddie Edwards vs. Sami Callihan.

Each time we’ve gone to watch 2CW, I thought the federation has delivered some great entertainment, good matches and a well-planned event. But this event was really solid (seeing matches such as Brodie Lee vs. Jay Freddie was outstanding and many other matches were excellent). And it was capped by Edwards vs. Callihan, a match that made me really want to drive to Syracuse.

I have seen Eddie Edwards many times. He’s athletic and works stiff — in other words, believable beyond belief to the point where some of the things he does really make you wonder how these guys do it.

Callihan, well known among the independent fans, is also a top-notch talent.

A five-star match was predicted. And these two delivered. It was a high-paced match, full of athleticism and character. Say what you will about professional wrestling — no matter if the outcome is determined or whatever — you have to be athletic and be able to tell a story inside that ring. These two did it.

The card, overall, was excellent. I would make the trip to Syracuse to see these guys again.

A funny afterthought. We stopped at a convenience store down the road from Syracuse to grab something to drink and something to snack on. While there, Sami Callihan came in. I noted that we had traveled a couple of hours to see that match because everyone was talking about it.

He asked me if it was worth it?

I told him they delivered and it was worth it. We chatted with him for a few moments and he shook hands a couple of times and thanked us for coming. I’ve talked to a few of these others and they, too, are very friendly with fans. That’s a good thing. Independent wrestling survives on smaller fanbases and these guys have the hope to, one day, make it big. Being friendly and outgoing will hopefully help them in their quest to reach the top.

Until then, it’s my hope they keep working local promotions so, when I can get away and go, I get the chance to see this top-notch and affordable entertainment.

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!