As I mentioned in my last posting, I spent some time today grabbing a few more waymarks and working to complete my current quad. It was relatively uneventful, and I didn't spend as much time as I had anticipated at either activity since it has been raining and dreary all day today.
I did manage to get 17 new waymarks while out there. These included a Quonset hut, a cannon, WWI memorial, a peace pole, old church, ice cream stand, water tower, Dairy Queen, fire house, SuperFund site (thanks Hikenutty for approving that one so quickly), outdoor basketball court, playground, community park, Masonic Lodge, observatory, and a U.S. National Register of Historic Places....uhhhh place....I also got a bowling alley, but I'll have to get more information before I list it, and I thought I had a welcome sign, however I didn't pay close enough attention to the category before to see that it has to have a slogan on in....obviously the one I marked doesn't.
I managed to get a few of them listed already this afternoon, but I still have some work ahead of me to get 'em all up there.
The only excitement for the day was my visit to the SuperFund site which is the Delaware Landfill. I wasn't sure about going out there this afternoon, since I really wasn't sure if it fit the category or not. Looking at the other sites posted in the category, they had much more information pertinent to their sites. This one I found had very little. I decided to head out there anyhow and grab the coords and some pics. I first stopped at the main which was closed, locked, and posted that it was closed permanently. I grabbed the coords and a picture there, and headed over to the other gate. I found that one to be open, but I didn't try to go any further in. I stopped my car right at the gate and got a few more pictures. As I was jotting down some information a Delaware City Police office came around the corner in his SUV. I had to back up to let him through and he came up beside me. I worried that I was going to get ticketed for trespassing. He asked what I was doing there, and I explained. He told me that they had been having trouble with illegal dumping there and he wanted to make sure I was "tossing out some beer bottles." I apologized for causing any alarm and he left, as did I right behind him. it all just sort of surprised me since there is on the one way in, and I didn't see anyone back there. I guess maybe they are patrolling the area due to the problems they've been having out there. Seems to me they should lock the second gate to help stop that.
Near N40° 18.775 W083° 07.073
Saturday, March 31, 2007
New video card, and a few more Waymarks posted
This afternoon I received a new (to me at least) video card that I've been waiting for. The PC I'm using came with on-board graphics, which were poor at best, and recently I've been having a lot of trouble with it causing my system to crash. I picked up a slightly used BFG GeForce 6200oc card on Ebay for a decent price. So far everything is working very well with the new card.
I managed to catch up on a few Waymarks this evening. I figured I should do so as I'm planning to go out tomorrow and finish my Map Corps quad and will probably pick up more Waymarks along the way. This evening I posted 2 Neon Lights; Bun's Restaurant and The Nectar Candyland, both of which were promptly approved. The following have not been approved as of this writing. Ohio Wesleyan University under Universities and Colleges, a water tower, a webcam, and an art museum.
So we'll see what tomorrow brings. I know for certain that I'll be getting a Quonset hut, a couple of ice cream stands, and a cannon, but I'm not sure what else I'll find.
I managed to catch up on a few Waymarks this evening. I figured I should do so as I'm planning to go out tomorrow and finish my Map Corps quad and will probably pick up more Waymarks along the way. This evening I posted 2 Neon Lights; Bun's Restaurant and The Nectar Candyland, both of which were promptly approved. The following have not been approved as of this writing. Ohio Wesleyan University under Universities and Colleges, a water tower, a webcam, and an art museum.
So we'll see what tomorrow brings. I know for certain that I'll be getting a Quonset hut, a couple of ice cream stands, and a cannon, but I'm not sure what else I'll find.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Wii, and playing catch-up.
It's been a couple of days, but not much of anything has happened lately.
I did manage to get the aforementioned Wii. I ended up being first in line for it at Circuit City. Dewgrl and I got there around 5:45ish, and were the only ones in the line until about 6:30. The majority of people didn't show up until around 7:30-8:00a, even though they were supposed to start handing out tickets at 9am. We had intended to get the ticket at 9a, then go grab a bit of breakfast and come back around 10a when they opened. Circuit City didn't end up passing out the tickets until 9:40a. At that point we figured we'd just hang out until the store opened, which they finally did at about 10:10a.
I've played the system a little bit over the past few days and have really been enjoying it. The new gameplay and controls are great, plus I can still play all my old favorite Game Cube games on it as well. I'm still getting used to it, but the included games really help as tutorials to get one used to the controls.
In waymarking notes, I haven't bagged any new locations since the last writing, but I have made some lists of places that would have potential waymarks, and scoped out a few as well. I did work through some of my back log tonight by posting the Delaware County Jail and Sheriff's residence under both the U.S. National Register of Historic Places (not approved yet) and Retired Prisons. I also got a Time Capsule up there. A shooting range, and a truss bridge. That truss bridge happens to be one of my favorites, since it's where I grew up and pretty much the little town's biggest pride and joy....even if it's just a rusty old bridge. Sadly it's going to be torn down later this year to make way for a newer, stronger, safer, but more boring bridge.
I did manage to get the aforementioned Wii. I ended up being first in line for it at Circuit City. Dewgrl and I got there around 5:45ish, and were the only ones in the line until about 6:30. The majority of people didn't show up until around 7:30-8:00a, even though they were supposed to start handing out tickets at 9am. We had intended to get the ticket at 9a, then go grab a bit of breakfast and come back around 10a when they opened. Circuit City didn't end up passing out the tickets until 9:40a. At that point we figured we'd just hang out until the store opened, which they finally did at about 10:10a.
I've played the system a little bit over the past few days and have really been enjoying it. The new gameplay and controls are great, plus I can still play all my old favorite Game Cube games on it as well. I'm still getting used to it, but the included games really help as tutorials to get one used to the controls.
In waymarking notes, I haven't bagged any new locations since the last writing, but I have made some lists of places that would have potential waymarks, and scoped out a few as well. I did work through some of my back log tonight by posting the Delaware County Jail and Sheriff's residence under both the U.S. National Register of Historic Places (not approved yet) and Retired Prisons. I also got a Time Capsule up there. A shooting range, and a truss bridge. That truss bridge happens to be one of my favorites, since it's where I grew up and pretty much the little town's biggest pride and joy....even if it's just a rusty old bridge. Sadly it's going to be torn down later this year to make way for a newer, stronger, safer, but more boring bridge.
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Unplanned Waymarking
Dewgrl and I ended up doing a little impromptu waymarking this afternoon. I headed up to Prospect to visit my folks, and on the way grabbed a truss bridge, benchmark, a river gauging station, and an airport. After leaving there, I got another truss bridge, then headed further up into Marion. My intention was to grab some lunch, and head to the library to try to get some information about a few other waymarks that I have in my backlog.
In Marion I didn't intend to do any waymarking, even though I know there are many around town. I did grab two places on the National Register of Historic Places, the city hall, a bell, a time capsule, and the municipal flag. Then I went to eat, and visited the library.
The library ended up not having much information, which wasn't surprising since it's in a different county from where the waymarks are that I was looking up. I just figured it would be a good start since that library has a more extensive section on Ohio history than the one in Delaware county. Maybe I'll stop by the Delaware County historical society one of these days.
On the way home I stopped in Waldo for a mecca of waymarking. At the town hall there (1), there are two cannons (2-3), a bell (4), a WWI memorial (5), a WWII memorial (6), an Ohio historical marker (7), all in front of the hall, along with a warning siren (8) on the top. Right behind the hall is the fire house (9)...which wasn't open so I couldn't get the fire trucks inside. Across the street is an independent pizza joint (10), a post office (11), and another place that may or may not fall into a category (12?)...on down the road is a community park (12 or 13), which has a playground (13 or 14).
I planned to go home after that, but we decided to visit another little town nearby to see if any waymarks could be found. There we found another warning siren, a water tower, library, town clock, 2 payphones, post office, independent pizza place, town hall, fire department, community park with playground, and outdoor basketball court, and a 100+ year old church. Just up the road is a "country church" that was a significant part of the underground railroad.
Following that we ran a couple more errands, then headed back to Delaware where we checked on a couple places that are waymarkable, which they are, but it was getting too dark to get decent pictures. But now we know where they are and how to get there to record them later. Finally we hit the local Wal-mart to grab a few things...and of course waymark it, and headed home.
All in all it ended up being a very good day for waymarking, however it's put me even further into backlog. It seems I'll never get caught up on these things.
An interesting thing I noticed today about waymarking is that when you stop for one waymark, you end up noticing many other things that are often nearby. What normally seems like it's going to be a minute or two to getting some pics, and coordinates often turns into a half hour or so of documenting everything nearby.
I should be getting to bed, since I'm getting up in about 4 hours or so to run down to the local Circuit City, as they're supposed to have Nintendo Wii's available. Gotta get there early to get in line, as I've been wanting one since they were released in November. I've already picked up several games, and accessories in anticipation, but I've not been able to get my hands on one yet. Hopefully tomorrow (or later this morning, for that matter) will be the day!
In Marion I didn't intend to do any waymarking, even though I know there are many around town. I did grab two places on the National Register of Historic Places, the city hall, a bell, a time capsule, and the municipal flag. Then I went to eat, and visited the library.
The library ended up not having much information, which wasn't surprising since it's in a different county from where the waymarks are that I was looking up. I just figured it would be a good start since that library has a more extensive section on Ohio history than the one in Delaware county. Maybe I'll stop by the Delaware County historical society one of these days.
On the way home I stopped in Waldo for a mecca of waymarking. At the town hall there (1), there are two cannons (2-3), a bell (4), a WWI memorial (5), a WWII memorial (6), an Ohio historical marker (7), all in front of the hall, along with a warning siren (8) on the top. Right behind the hall is the fire house (9)...which wasn't open so I couldn't get the fire trucks inside. Across the street is an independent pizza joint (10), a post office (11), and another place that may or may not fall into a category (12?)...on down the road is a community park (12 or 13), which has a playground (13 or 14).
I planned to go home after that, but we decided to visit another little town nearby to see if any waymarks could be found. There we found another warning siren, a water tower, library, town clock, 2 payphones, post office, independent pizza place, town hall, fire department, community park with playground, and outdoor basketball court, and a 100+ year old church. Just up the road is a "country church" that was a significant part of the underground railroad.
Following that we ran a couple more errands, then headed back to Delaware where we checked on a couple places that are waymarkable, which they are, but it was getting too dark to get decent pictures. But now we know where they are and how to get there to record them later. Finally we hit the local Wal-mart to grab a few things...and of course waymark it, and headed home.
All in all it ended up being a very good day for waymarking, however it's put me even further into backlog. It seems I'll never get caught up on these things.
An interesting thing I noticed today about waymarking is that when you stop for one waymark, you end up noticing many other things that are often nearby. What normally seems like it's going to be a minute or two to getting some pics, and coordinates often turns into a half hour or so of documenting everything nearby.
I should be getting to bed, since I'm getting up in about 4 hours or so to run down to the local Circuit City, as they're supposed to have Nintendo Wii's available. Gotta get there early to get in line, as I've been wanting one since they were released in November. I've already picked up several games, and accessories in anticipation, but I've not been able to get my hands on one yet. Hopefully tomorrow (or later this morning, for that matter) will be the day!
Friday, March 23, 2007
Blogging waymark.
I just listed this blog under the "bloggers" waymarking sub-category. I ended up getting the waymark code WM1BAD. Nice!
Sorry, that just amused me for some reason. It's like a random personalized license plate.
Sorry, that just amused me for some reason. It's like a random personalized license plate.
It's Been Awhile
As you can see, it's been a while since I've last posted here. Not sure why, but I just sort of forgot about it. Once in a while it would pop up in the back of my mind, but I never did anything about it. I've been on many hikes since the last posting, but I've either not taken my camera, GPS, or both. I figure I'll now make this blog multi-purpose. I'll try to remember to record my hikes, and I'm also going to start including my Waymarking and Geocaching adventures here as well.
For those not aware of what Geocaching and Waymarking are, here's a crash course. Or feel free to ignore what I have to say and visit http://www.geocaching.com and/or http://www.waymarking.com for yourself.
Geocaching is a GPS based "treasure hunt" mixed with a little hide and seek. The basic premise is someone hides a container in a park, or where ever, and records the coordinates of said container using a GPS receiver. After obtaining permission to place the container, one then posts the coordinates online at geocaching.com with a little description about the "cache." Once posted others can then input those coordinates into their own GPS device and then head out to find the cache. The original hider of the cache will normally stock it with small trinkets, and the subsequent finders can, if they wish, trade a trinket they bring along with something inside the cache. Some caches are large with lots of "swag" inside, others are too small for anything inside. However all caches must contain a log book of sorts. When someone seeking the cache finds it, trading is optional, but you must sign the logbook. You can then record your adventures on the cache's page at geocaching.com. It's a great way to get outside, and get some exercise. Geocaching is also great at introducing people to places and things they may have not known was there otherwise.
Waymarking is a branch of Geocaching. Back in the day there was what were called virtual and locationless caches. These were eventually disallowed and the locationless caches completely removed from the geocaching.com website. They have essentially been moved to Waymarking.com. The idea here is a gathering of waypoints of various sites of a historical, interesting, or utilitarian value. You can find anything here from the local McDonald's and Wal-Mart, to Civil War Battlefields, and ancient Roman sites. I've been getting more and more interested in the waymarking aspect of things. I like to "show off" my local neck of the woods, and along the way I'm learning things about my own hometown while doing research. The way it works is everything is broken down into categories. Let's take McDonald's for example. There is one large heading for all McDonald's restaurants that is run by a group. So I, as a waymarker, can do two things within this category; visit, or list. As a visitor, I can look to see what's near me, or what's near to a place I may be traveling to. If a particular McDonald's is listed, I can post a "visit" to that McDonald's. On the other hand, I can also "list" McDonald's restaurants. For example, the McDonald's right down the street from me is not currently listed on the waymarking.com site. I can go there, snap a few pictures of the building, and get coordinates of the location using my GPS. I then "list" the waymark under the appropriate category. Once it's approved by the group, I now "own" this waymark.....sort of like owing a cache in geocaching. I get notified when people visit it and whatnot.
Now that I've bored you with all of that information, go and visit the various sites and give it a try sometime!
For those not aware of what Geocaching and Waymarking are, here's a crash course. Or feel free to ignore what I have to say and visit http://www.geocaching.com and/or http://www.waymarking.com for yourself.
Geocaching is a GPS based "treasure hunt" mixed with a little hide and seek. The basic premise is someone hides a container in a park, or where ever, and records the coordinates of said container using a GPS receiver. After obtaining permission to place the container, one then posts the coordinates online at geocaching.com with a little description about the "cache." Once posted others can then input those coordinates into their own GPS device and then head out to find the cache. The original hider of the cache will normally stock it with small trinkets, and the subsequent finders can, if they wish, trade a trinket they bring along with something inside the cache. Some caches are large with lots of "swag" inside, others are too small for anything inside. However all caches must contain a log book of sorts. When someone seeking the cache finds it, trading is optional, but you must sign the logbook. You can then record your adventures on the cache's page at geocaching.com. It's a great way to get outside, and get some exercise. Geocaching is also great at introducing people to places and things they may have not known was there otherwise.
Waymarking is a branch of Geocaching. Back in the day there was what were called virtual and locationless caches. These were eventually disallowed and the locationless caches completely removed from the geocaching.com website. They have essentially been moved to Waymarking.com. The idea here is a gathering of waypoints of various sites of a historical, interesting, or utilitarian value. You can find anything here from the local McDonald's and Wal-Mart, to Civil War Battlefields, and ancient Roman sites. I've been getting more and more interested in the waymarking aspect of things. I like to "show off" my local neck of the woods, and along the way I'm learning things about my own hometown while doing research. The way it works is everything is broken down into categories. Let's take McDonald's for example. There is one large heading for all McDonald's restaurants that is run by a group. So I, as a waymarker, can do two things within this category; visit, or list. As a visitor, I can look to see what's near me, or what's near to a place I may be traveling to. If a particular McDonald's is listed, I can post a "visit" to that McDonald's. On the other hand, I can also "list" McDonald's restaurants. For example, the McDonald's right down the street from me is not currently listed on the waymarking.com site. I can go there, snap a few pictures of the building, and get coordinates of the location using my GPS. I then "list" the waymark under the appropriate category. Once it's approved by the group, I now "own" this waymark.....sort of like owing a cache in geocaching. I get notified when people visit it and whatnot.
Now that I've bored you with all of that information, go and visit the various sites and give it a try sometime!
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