A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

letterboxing

Traveling Notebook: Looking for some creative fun

A few years ago, I attempted to do a traveling notebook. The goal of it was for it to travel and eventually make its way back to me.

Always with an ulterior motive, I wanted something to blog about.

Unfortunately, during that time, I was unemployed. The interest was rather low and I lost interest trying to figure the best way to organize it. But the idea has always remained with me. It’s something I still would love to do.

So I figured what the heck, how about we revisit this?

traveling_notebook

The idea behind this is simple. We have a list of people who agree to get involved. I’ll try and set up a list of how things can get to one another as close as possible. So, for example, I’d send to Pennsylvania, not to somebody in California. But we’d try and get it going so it wanders around before coming home.

I’m going to open this to more than just bloggers, though. I am offering this, first, to people I have dealt with online and a few I know in the real world. Whether through Flickr, geocaching, blogging, letterboxing, disc golf, softball or something else, I want to see what I can come up with. I want different people to be involved and see as this book makes its way around. The only thing is this … I’d like to try and keep it to people who I’ve had interaction (even just a tad) with in the past and such, even if just through blogging or something else. This way, I kind of have a feel for those involved. I won’t rule anybody out, so if you are interested, post a note in the comments section!

I’ll have to cap it at some level, though. I’d love to get like 20 or so people to make this something that could last a bit as it traveled.

Once we get all the interested parties, I’ll divide it up geographically and then get going on it – the book will start its journey.

Each person, depending on how many sign up, would get a certain amount of pages. Right now I am looking at a spiral-bound sketch pad with 100 pages. But each person will get a number of pages to do whatever they want.

What does that mean?

Write a story. Make your pages scrapbook-like. Put in a photo or three. Do a couple of  drawings. Put your favorite recipe in there. Maybe a label from a beer bottle. Or a wine bottle. And a story or two to go along with it. Maybe you’ll write about a day in the life of _____ .

That’s going to be the best part of this book — people can do whatever they want. Maybe a concert ticket. Or a speeding ticket. Let’s just try to keep it as flat as possible!

Please, though, keep it clean. Let’s not put anything in there that could offend somebody else.

You also don’t have to necessarily use up your allotted pages. That’s up to you.

The one thing I ask is that you at least put your name (first only is OK) and where you’re from and a little something on at least one or two pages. After all, what’s the point of getting involved with this if you aren’t willing to do something?

For now, I am going to limit this to the United States/Canada to save on shipping and to be able to have tracking. I would request that when you send it out, please send it with confirmation so we can track it. And, please, when you send it, e-mail me to let me know the number. If you are Canadian, my plan would be to group all of the Canada spots together and not have it going back and forth between the US/Canada. Basically, one time up, then one time back down.

There are but just a few rules for us to follow:

  • Please don’t share/blog the pages. The reason I am doing this is partially a blog project, so I’d like to blog about the whole thing once it’s done. I plan on scanning/photographing each page and having it available for all to see.
  • Please agree to be able to send this out within seven days of getting it. I realize things come up, but if people keep it too long it can become long and tedious for others. If there is a delay (vacation, illness, family etc.), please just let me know.
  • Please use delivery confirmation when sending this and make sure the package is secure and sealed. I will be putting the notebook in a heavy duty ziplock for inside the package, and this might need to be changed (as well as the mailer) at times.

A couple of other notes for you to all know.

I will be attaching a Geocaching.com travel bug. If you are not a geocacher, then this won’t matter. But if you are, please feel free to discover this.

I am also planning on making a letterbox stamp to put with this. If you like stamps, feel free to stamp something with it. Please keep this with the package. I will also make this available to log on Atlas Quest. If you are a Letterboxer, stamp your personal one in the book when you do your pages!

When this is done, my plan (as long as we have enough people) is to have a pathtag made. Everybody who participates will get one. For those who don’t know, these are small little “coins” that cachers use as signature items, or as trading items. The best is you can put a keychain on it for that purpose. Please, though, log it when you get it as it will be neat to see. I will only make these once we see how many people are involved and once the book successfully makes it back to me.

I would love to see this start and end within a year. That might not be possible, but I am hoping. An occasional photo of it on Instagram or in the Facebook Group I am setting up with be fantastic, too.  I am posting this now so I can share with friends and such to see if we can start this soon after the start of the year.

If you are interested, let me know. You can comment here or e-mail me or call or text, depending on how you know me. I’ll put you on the list and keep you up to date.

The day it launches, I’ll do a post on my blog. I’ll then send it out. If you are a blogger, I’d like to make sure everybody is linked up so others can check out your blog and such, too.

I look forward to seeing if this will take off and if it will do well!

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50 questions that free your mind: No. 17

As part of my Day Zero Project, I will be answering the 50 Questions That Free Your Mind. For each of these, I will blog an answer and then it will be linked here as well. Some of these will have longer responses, some will be extremely short. But by the end of the Day Zero Project, I will have answered all of these.

No. 17: What one thing have you not done that you really want to do? What’s holding you back?

This, for the most part, is an easy one.

I’ve always wanted to road trip across the US and back.

Why? Because it seems cool. Originally, it was to see the country and people, baseball stadiums and take photos. Now I’d add geocaching, letterboxing and disc golf to the list.

It was something that I felt I could do by myself or with a couple of friends. An adventure for sure. I always figured it would take a few weeks. A lot would be driving. Maybe a little camping. Maybe some sleeping in the car. A hotel here and there.

But what a way to see the country!

You could plot out your daily stops, cache/letterbox along the way and find some great disc golf courses. And, at night, find a great minor league baseball park, watch a game and have a fantastic (or not-so-fantastic) hot dog!

And the photo opportunities… oh my!

Add in technology and you have twitter, blogging and everything else — and the opportunity to meet so many people along the way.

Alas, there’s also reality.

Money.

That’s the reason I haven’t done it. If, during this time of my job hunt, I had built a good savings, it probably would have been the thing to do with all this awful time off. But, I had to be smart and not do something like that.

I figure a trip like this would run me about $5,000 — when you factor in gas, oil changes, hotels, food etc. I would definitely eat cheaper — buy stuff at stores, use coolers etc. I wouldn’t eat out every night. But I would plan for some amazing places to eat, that’s for sure.

The goal would be to start by going across the northern part of the country and do a complete circle. There are certain places — national parks, ball parks, disc golf courses, certain landmarks etc., that I really would want to see, so those would all be planned. And, as I said, with the way technology is, I’m sure there are certain people from caching, twitter and everything else I’d want to meet!

But oh that mighty dollar!

I still think one day I’d like to try and make this happen. I haven’t given up on this dream. Maybe, if the right job comes along and I can make enough money to put aside a good amount for this — and can build up enough vacation time — I’ll be able to do it. One can never tell. I think it would be a fun way to live for a few weeks, that’s for sure.

This question was easy. And maybe, one day, I’ll be able to do it.

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!

Hobbies dealing with the media — a reality check

Letterboxing and geocaching are a lot alike in that being stealthy and keeping things hidden from people is a must. But if it's in the mainstream media, sometimes the good have to be taken with the bad.

I am involved with several hobbies that aren’t “main stream.”

I like to geocache. I’ve recently started letterboxing. I play disc golf. These items don’t get regular play in the media, whether it be newspapers, television or whatever.

Personally, I don’t mind. At the same point, it’s good to see these hobbies when they get a little ink.

But people expect too much.

I’ve spent most of my professional career in the media, whether in newspapers, magazines or public relations. I’ve seen both sides of the coin and understand how things work. Though I know most people in these hobbies think that everything is going to be kept how they hope — it won’t happen. It can’t happen.

Why?

Because it doesn’t tell a story.

This idea for a blog post came to me after reading an article in a Massachusetts-based newspaper about letterboxing. The article does a decent job at explaining the game (albeit not using the word stamp, instead using “seal”) and talking to letterboxers. However, there’s a video that shows the reporter going on a hunt, showing the find, and showing stamps in the log book.

This is something that some letterboxers are not pleased about and that I can fully understand. But, there’s something that needs to be understood by the public about the media.

It has a job to do.

That means reporters, editors and whoever else decides on a story. Then they decide how it needs to be told. Then it’s told. Let’s take the letterboxing story and such.

If you told the story just a little bit, left some things our and whatever else — it makes the readers wonder. What is missing? Same with the video. Now, I won’t disagree that it could have done a better job hiding some things. There’s no reason to have 5-plus minutes of watching this person going after the letterbox, finding, showing everything etc. It could have been done where he shows the start, maybe at some point show the trail, then show the find (after found, so as to not give away its spot).

But the contents? Have to be shown. A stamp needs to be seen. A book needs to be seen. People watching and reading this have to see what the end result is. By not doing that, the reporter isn’t doing his job and is doing a disservice to readers and viewers. Now, it could be argued that he could have asked a couple of letterboxers to show some stamps for the video. That would have worked. And I think having some letterboxers along for the video would have been good, to give it a different approach.

That being said, it can’t be both ways. If people want mainstream coverage, there’s going to be a bad to go along with the positive.

Let me give an example.

When I first started geocaching in 2008, I was enamored by it. The newspaper I worked for had a quarterly magazine, and I had the chance to write and take some photos for a pretty big spread on the game. I talked to many people for the story, used a lot of cool photos and got a good reaction to it. I covered my bases though — I talked to people, I talked to two of the founders of Groundspeak, and made sure I didn’t give away secrets.

Not everyone has the luxury of an extended deadline, however. Sometimes, you only have a short amount of time to write a story and you do the best you can to tell the whole story and inform your readers.

During my college years — and in the real world — one thing has always been said about media and such: There’s no such thing as bad PR. Though that’s not always true, it holds true in many situations.

Let me give an example.

A few months ago, a 30-minute sitcom was going to use disc golf in one of its shows. In the end, said show (Happy Endings) ended up making fun of the sport. It called it frolf. It made it sound like a waste of time.

But it showed the sport. It put it out there. And in the end, there were probably some people who got interest out of it via that show. That didn’t stop disc golfers from getting all fired up about it and calling the show out and such about the way it treated disc golf.

In the end, who cares what a dumb show thinks?

Again, I’ve worked most of my professional career in the media. I can’t blame people for getting upset about things when something they are passionate about gets portrayed in a light that they might think is bad. That’s a human reaction. But, put yourself in the shoes of others before getting too upset. Realize these people have a job to do, too. And they have a large group of people to answer to when it comes to the general public.

It’s the beauty of how things work, though. Everyone is entitled to an opinion and nobody is wrong. It’s people who keep media in check and that’s a good thing. And in the end, getting the word out there about a hobby isn’t a bad thing. It makes people aware of what’s going on and at the same time might get some good people involved.

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: January 6 edition

Hello blog readers and welcome to the first edition of Notes from my Noodle in 2012. I hope you all had a wonderful New Year’s and holiday season as this world gets back into full gear.

Alas, another weekend is upon us. There is good weather in the forecast in my part of the Northeast, so I’m looking to go out and geocache/letterbox/photograph for a while Saturday. Why not take advantage of it?

My January 4 choice for my 366 Project.

With this year being a leap year, I’ve opted to do the Project 3656 again. I was successful in 2010 with it, so I thought with the extra day, it would be cool to do it again.

Now I just have to make sure to get a photo each day!

I’ve been good with it so far. And I plan on heading out today to find a photo. As I peer outside right now, there are blue skies, the sun is shining and the temps are in the upper 40s.

Score!

There has to be something out there to snap photos of, I would think.

And though I have the iPhone, which has an excellent camera, I am hoping to do the bulk of the 366 this year with my Canon 7D. I love the use of the iPhone — I really do — but for this project, I’d like to challenge myself artistically a but more with my DSLR. Plus, I got a really cook bokeh kit for my lenses for Christmas and I’m looking forward to trying that out for sure.

If any of you have some cool and fun ideas for photos I should look into taking for my 366 project, post them in the comments section. I want to keep a small notebook of ideas, in case I get in a pinch!

I know a few others doing the 366 this year. One of them is fellow Flickr/Twitter user and fellow geocacher Mike, who has been doing the 365 since 2010. That means, unless he somehow skipped a day this year and hasn’t said anything yet, he has been taking a photo a day for 736 straight days (or more)! (For readers of this blog, Mike was a guest poster in November).

That’s insane!

Keep it up Mike. By the end of this one, you’ll have reached nearly 1,000 days, which is no small feat!

 ***

I wish I had more to report on the job hunt. Applications are still being sent out. But, for the next batch, I’m taking a different approach.

Being that the first approach hasn’t worked too well, outside of the few interviews and such I’ve had, I’m going to change the tone of my cover letters. At this point, what’s it going to hurt? I think I am going to attempt to make them a little more edgy, a little more cocky. I imagine that it will, at worse, get somebody’s attention. Maybe it will get me a few more interviews. And maybe (gasp!) an offer.

Something has to change.

I want to try and re-work my resume a little, too. I don’t think it’s awful, but a tweak or two probably wouldn’t hurt.

My big thing is trying to make it so my block of not working doesn’t stand out so much. I have to work on that as well and hope something comes along soon.

This has, by far, been one of the most trying things, professionally, I’ve ever dealt with in my life. I’m just hoping the light at the end of the tunnel gets big soon!

***

This past Sunday, I went and played a round of disc golf. On January 1, in the Albany area in New York, it was in the high 40s. Me, my niece Nicole, Darren and his wife Jodi played 18 holes at Schenectady Central Park.

My niece sizes up a putt.

What a day.

I played a round of disc golf last Jan. 1 as well, but it was not nearly as warm as this!

But it was a perfect day to go out for a nice little walk and play a round. We only came across people a couple of times, but no major issues. We stopped for a couple of letterboxes and pretty much took our time.

Without a doubt, though, it was great just to be out walking around and moving.

I haven’t played in a while (I think my last round had been on Thanksgiving), so I didn’t throw as well as I would have liked. Still, it wasn’t bad. I had some decent shots and hopefully my game will improve as this year moves on. My niece has only been a few times, but I think she’s starting to get the hang of things and hopefully she can keep improving and liking the game as well. Starting at a younger age will only make her better as she continues to age and play. It’s also a great game to be able to just get out and play.

Now if we can get a course in our local area…

Speaking of disc golf, I continue to work on a certain disc golf project I have going on. I am hoping within the next two weeks to be able to announce something here about it. I’m extremely excited about it and hope it works out for the best!

Until then, keep clanging the metal and rattling those chains when you are out on the disc golf course!

***

I’m sneaking out of the area this weekend to do a little day trip. I’m not going far, but I’m meeting up with a friend to do a day of geocaching/letterboxing and catch up on some things.

Here’s something I’ve figured — it’s not as easy planning a trip to involve letterboxing as it is geocaching.

See, with geocaching, you have a map you can open up and see where everything is. That way, you can plan a route that is somewhat economical and such.

With letterboxing, you can bring up a google map — for each box. Then you have to figure what’s close etc., and try and keep them somewhat in a route to make it worthwhile.

Hopefully by the end of tomorrow, we’ll have piled up a bunch of finds for both. And I also hope to have had several cool photos taken before the end of the day.

Though the temperatures are supposed to be slightly cooler tomorrow (not too bad, though), it is still supposed to be sunny and nice out. So I look forward to a day of finding stamps, caches and photo opportunities.

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I have finally gotten back into reading books on the Kindle again. I’m reading one of Jodi Picoult’s latest books, “Sing Me Home.” So far, so good. I’m a big fan of Picoult and always enjoy what she brings to the table with her books. Well-written and well-researched make things a good and smooth read.

I have a couple of other books lined up as well.

Anyone get a Kindle Fire over the holidays? I’m curious to see what people think. I have a 3rd or 4th Generation Kindle and I like it. But down the line, I might look to upgrade, though if I really want a tablet, the iPad seems like the way I might lean. I like my reader to be just that — a reader.

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!

Carving your place in the hobby world

Who knew how in-depth carving your own stamps could be?

As a long-time geocacher, I have always been interested in the letterbox hybrids. Maybe it’s because of the different and not-so-often used icon. Maybe it’s because it’s different.

But I like them.

The stamps, the idea of them. It’s a different side of the game.

To go back in time, however, letterboxing was my first interest. That interest never came to fruition, however. I started geocaching March 1, 2008. But earlier that winter, the friend who introduced me to geocaching had mentioned letterboxing. I had done a little research on it and it seemed cool.

You got clues and had to follow them to find the treasure. When you got there, you used the stamp to make an imprint in your log book and then took your stamp and put it in the log book that resided in the box.

That sounded fun.

Alas, it was a tough winter. A bunch of snow and with everything else happening, we opted to wait until spring to try it. Of course, geocaching came along and pushed letterboxing back. I came across letterboxes many times during my caching excursions. It seems letterboxers and geocachers think alike in placing these items!

When I found one, I always looked. Sometimes I’d sign the log thinking I would like to try and find these online. I soon purchased a stamp and stamp pad at an art store to carry with me, in case I came across one or two or found the letterbox hybrids.

Still, I didn’t sign up anywhere.

Alas, this year has been tough. Without a steady flow of income, I looked to do more things around here. Late in the year, I found letterboxing and just a week or two ago, I went and found a few for my first “official” finds. I was still using that store-bought stamp, however.

I realized that most people didn’t use the store-bought type. I looked through past finders and saw some amazing stamps.

Luckily, Santa came through with a basic carving kit and a few other things needed to get carving.

I did my first carve Monday.

Getting things ready to start carving!

After reading a whole heap on carving and such, I found a piece of are that I thought would be somewhat easy to carve. With my love of my Irish heritage and because I often think of my trip to Ireland back in 2010, I decided a shamrock would be a perfect first carve. I found one I liked and went forward by tracing the image and then transferring it to the carving block.

I liked how the trace came out and it gave me an idea on what to do. I used several different carving bits to get the thickness and all. It was a learning process to me as I slowly carved away the pink rubber.

Carving, itself, was easy enough. You get rid of the open space to that your image is raised, becoming the stamp.

The tighter spots were harder. I had to switch out the carving tools for smaller bits, which was interesting to learn each one. I look forward to doing stamps with greater detail down the line.

In the end, this one didn’t take me too long. From start to finish, maybe about an hour or so. I thought for my first go at it, it came out OK. Some of the sides are a little sloppy, but I think that gives it a little character. Being I have a green ink pad, I at least had the color I think the stamp should be in!

The final product.

I’m not sure what I’m going to do with this stamp.

After reading a lot about letterboxing, I know that there are personal travelers that people can gather by meeting you. Because I know I’d like to get more into letterboxing, I did that with this one. I want to go to events and meet up with fellow letterboxers. And being this is my first carve, it’s a little special to me!

If you want to see the page for the personal traveler, click here.

I plan on attempting to carve my personal stamp sometime today or this week. I have a few other designs I want to try out as well. It’s a nice way to spend an hour or two when you feel “artsy.” It’s probably a good thing to be able to take a break from writing cover letters and sending out resumes to do something like this. Then I can go right back at it.

I am going to need to order some more rubber stamp material, however, as I think I’ll be going through what I have pretty quickly!

Now I just need to find some letterboxing events that aren’t far from me as I’d love to go to one. There are several in Massachusetts, so I’d be looking at a three-hour ride. I’m hoping to find some closer to me. And heck, depending where this job hunt takes me, maybe I’ll find myself in a letterbox hotbed!

So those of you reading — have you carved your own stamps? Any tips? And if you’re a letterboxer, leave your thoughts on the game, stamps and whatever else in the comments section!

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!