Behind The Scenes: Geocaching Podcast - 2012 Holiday Gift List

 Well last night's recording of the Geocaching Podcast was jam packed with holiday gift ideas AND was the switch over and away from Talkshoe. I cannot tell you how happy I am with this decision from podcast originators XpunkX and Darrylw4.  Talkshoe for me personally and to many others was a complete and utter pain in the arse. Constant changes to the software, VOIP conflicts and consistent unreliability made Talkshoe a pain to work with.  Now I will give it this, that the Chatroom was very nice to use with our listeners. The pro version was even nicer so finding a close alternative may be a bit of a challenge for Producer XpunkX. I have faith though that a good solution is not far down the road.

HHH, Darrylw4 and XpunkX shown here doing the Geocaching Podcast - LIVE!

What are we using now? Well, instead of just listening to us talk during the podcast recordings and type chatting in the Chatroom. We are now using Google+ On Air and the Geocaching Podcast Live website.  So now all you have to do to watch us record live is go to www.geocachingpodcast.com/live and you are done. There is an embedded video right there that let's you watch the three of us as we record and then just below is the Chatroom. We still have to work a couple of kinks before it is complete but all in all I think you are going to have an even better and more enjoyable experience with our show.

Speaking of which, last nights show was absolutely jammed packed with Holiday Gift List information for the geocacher in your life.  We started out at gifts under $10 and worked our way up. Each of us gave enough of a variety to give most everybody some great gift ideas. Be sure to check it out when the podcast goes live in the next day or so and there should be a YouTube version available as well. Enjoy.

The Geocaching Podcast is recorded live each and every Wednesday nights at 9:30pm ET. Be sure to see us as we record live by visiting us at www.geocachingpodcast.com/live.

See you next week,

Andy HeadHardHat Smith

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Our award winning, geocaching based blog: GeoCache: I'm NOT Obsessed... Right?
http://headhardhat-geocache.blogspot.com/ 
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Please don't forget to visit our GeoSnippits Geocaching Tutorial Videos Website at
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A Day With Debaere: Eight Geocaching Types and a Benchmark

I really love geocaching... can you tell? Then add to the fun in a combination of geocaching with friends AND going for a particular goal makes for a fantastic adventure. So when good buddy Debaere (Dave Debaeremaeker) asked if I wanted to try and pick up eight different types of geocaches in one day... I was geeked.

A real Durham Bull!

That's right we went for a

• Traditional cache
• Multi-cache
• Puzzle cache
• Whereigo cache
• Virtual cache
• Earthcache
• Letterbox hybrid cache
• Webcam cache 
• and also found a Benchmark ta boot. 

HeadHardHat with Debaere in the background...

The cool thing is it all really was just for fun. To see if we could do it without it turning into a major pressure cooker. It really was not. We had a great time which also included a good lunch stop somewhere in the middle of the day. All in all we clocked about 60 miles or so and ended up finding a bunch of traditionals in a park after we reached our goal. That was just as the sun was setting.

So all in all, tons of geocaching greatness. Had fun with Debaere as always, got up-close and personal with a bull (don't ask), had a great tour of downtown Durham, NC, managed to parallel park in front of witnesses and not make a complete fool of myself (plus), geocached all around the Durham, Apex, Raleigh area and added several firsts to my geocaching career. Awesome!

Big thanks to Dave "Debaere" for the invite. Looking forward to many more!

-HHH
-------------------------------------------------------
Our award winning, geocaching based blog: GeoCache: I'm NOT Obsessed... Right?
http://headhardhat-geocache.blogspot.com/
Get our RSS feed for this blog here:
http://feeds.feedblitz.com/geocacheimnotobsessedright/

Watch my Internet TV show Geocaching World (RVNN.tv)
http://rvnewsnet.com/category/shows/geocache/

Twitter me at
@headhardhat

Friend me at Facebook
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Please don't forget to visit our GeoSnippits Geocaching Tutorial Videos Website at
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Debaere and HeadHardHat Out Geocaching in Durham, NC

Out geocaching on a very chilly fall day in Durham, North Carolina.

Sent from my phone. Please pardon my autocorrect.

Geocaching World (RVNN.tv): 2012 Geocaching Holiday Gift List

Geocaching World (RVNN.tv): 2012 Geocaching Holiday Gift List

There are many celebrations of the Holiday Season,
we hope yours is full of good will and cheer!

We had another great show this year for our annual Geocaching World (RVNN.tv)  Geocaching Holiday Gift List and as with each year, I have been doing them since 2008, we get some surprises. Lets see if your geocaching wish list item is here. By the way you may want to print this out, put in some arrows and circles then leave to be seen by your spouse or significant other. Just saying .

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Right on my Geocache:I'm NOT Obsessed... Right? blog we ran a poll with twelve of the most popular geocaching holiday gift ideas from past years. The rankings for all these items change from year to year but this is how they turned out for 2012. (Note - you were able to choose more than one item this year so that is why the percentages do not add up to the expected 100%)

Holiday Wish List Poll on Blog:

- Time  (62%) - winner and still champ! Don't we all want more time to geocache.

- Geocoins/Pathtags  (33%)

- More Quality Hides  (31%)

- Geocaching Gizmos  (27%)

- Gas Card for Cachemobile (25%)

- Geocache Containers  (25%)

- Outdoor Clothes (16%)

- Geocaching Mentor  (14%)

- GPSr  (14%)

- Rechargeable Batteries  (8%)

- Geocaching Smartphone Apps  (4%)

- Annual Park Pass  (4%)

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I then also asked the same question to the geocachers on the geocaching.com forums what they would like. Check out the top four most selected then the rest were evenly spread out across the board so we grouped them together by category for ease of viewing.  Here are the results:

2012 Christmas Geocaching Holiday List

 #1 - AA Rechargeable Batteries - Winner, have to keep those GPSRs powered!

#2  - Time

 #3 - Gas Card

 #4 - Ram Mount for Bike

Gizmos and Tools:
Telescopic mirror
Space pens
Head lamp
Write in Rain Notepads
Pocket Recorder

GPSr Units:
Oregon 450
Delorme PN-60

Clothes:
Hats
Winter pants
Geocaching Gloves
Snowshoes and Socks

Geocaches:
Ammo Cans
Nanos

Swag:
Swag in General
Personal Tokens as swag

Misc:
Photo Book of the last years adventures
Nice Weather
TB Window Sticker
Travel Bug Tags
Renew Premium Membership
Moun10bike Geocoin

We hope you enjoyed this year's Geocaching Holiday Gift List for 2012 and if you did not see what you want please be sure to participate in our polls and posts to get your suggestions in next year. 

All of us at RVNN.tv, Geocaching World, and GeoSnippits want to wish each and all geocachers around the world a joyfull holiday season!!! Be safe out there.

-------------------------------------------------------
Our award winning, geocaching based blog: GeoCache: I'm NOT Obsessed... Right?
http://headhardhat-geocache.blogspot.com/
Get our RSS feed for this blog here:
http://feeds.feedblitz.com/geocacheimnotobsessedright/

Watch my Internet TV show Geocaching World (RVNN.tv)
http://rvnewsnet.com/category/shows/geocache/

Twitter me at
@headhardhat

Friend me at Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/HeadHardHat/

Google+
http://gplus.to/headhardhat

Please don't forget to visit our GeoSnippits Geocaching Tutorial Videos Website at
http://www.geosnippits.com

A Munzee Benchmark

Had an absolute blast today on a gorgeous fall day here in Raleigh, North Carolina. The temps were near 70 with an abundance of sunshine. So I just had to go out and get some geocaching/Munzee Hunting done.

Below you can see my Munzee attack route for the day. It was great, not only were the hides done very well with a minimum of searching required but it didn't take all afternoon to do the run. In fact it only took about 40 minutes or so. Awesome.

A dozen Munzee sweep

Oh sure don't get me wrong I love geocaching and taking those long walks on the greenways or enjoying the woods in all their glory. Though when it comes to urban hides where all you have to do is walk up and do a click and scoot, there is nothing like it.

As an added bonus I also was able to do a benchmark find as well. The hider of the Munzee saw fit to point it out which was very much appreciated. See below.

Benchmark near a Munzee hide

Well the afternoon is young and while I wait to see what this evening will bring in weekend activity I think I am going to head back out for some geocaching. So, what are your geocaching plans this weekend?

-Andy HeadHardHat Smith
 Geocacher

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Our award winning, geocaching based blog: GeoCache: I'm NOT Obsessed... Right?
http://headhardhat-geocache.blogspot.com/
Get our RSS feed for this blog here:
http://feeds.feedblitz.com/geocacheimnotobsessedright/

Watch my Internet TV show Geocaching World (RVNN.tv)
http://rvnewsnet.com/category/shows/geocache/

Twitter me at
@headhardhat

Friend me at Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/HeadHardHat/

Google+
http://gplus.to/headhardhat

Please don't forget to visit our GeoSnippits Geocaching Tutorial Videos Website at
http://www.geosnippits.com

Behind The Scenes: Geocaching Podcast - Spooky Geocaching Hides

 

 Well last nights Geocaching Podcast show was some scary good fun. We had a full crew with XpunkX, Darrylw4 and myself - Andy HeadHardHat Smith in full glory as we discussed Spooky Geocaching Experiences right there on Halloween night.

Starting off the show we had our usual recounts of geocaching for the week. It was interesting to me in how Hurricane Sandy effected not only my geocaching time this past week but also the guys up north. That was indeed a massive, monster of a storm and we all expressed our hopes and prayers that everyone got through it in the best way possible.

After jabbering about our week's geocaching adventures we sunk our teeth right into the subject at hand which included several different spooky geocaching hunts that our listeners were kind enough to tell us about. Nothing like geocaching in the moonlight at a cemetery and reaching down for the cache only to see several sets of eyes staring back to you... Scary! We also recalled different occasions in our past being into the woods and having animal encounters. Like Darrylw4 as a toddler trying to sit on an actual bear cub or myself in the UP of Michigan coming face to whiskers with a mountain lion. 

Imagine the things you can encounter at night in a cemetery. Now that is ghoulish fun.

We continued our discussion of other haunted hides which took up the rest of the show. There is so much great discussion here you really should give a listen when the show goes live in the next day or so. Your favorite podcatcher application will be able to find us.

Oh and I almost forgot. Next weeks show is our November Cacher Coffee episode which means YOU fellow listeners can call in and discuss just about any geocaching based thing you want. It is always a great show when you are there and besides its always nice to hear other geocachers talking about our favorite pastime. So be sure and visit us in either the Talkshoe Chatroom or the Google+ hangout.

We record the Geocaching Podcast each and every Wednesday at 9:30pm ET. You can get all of our past shows and how to get on Talkshoe by visiting our website at www.geocachingpodcast.com.

See you there!

-HHH